chicago real estate: An Hour of Showings at New Bucktown Condo Listings
- 02/18/12 02:36 AM
Saturday. Just after noon on another action-packed day amid the fray of the Chicago real estate market. With the first of January arrived the spring market. And so far the spring market has been just that - springy! Things are active, showings are up, written contracts are many, and activity is expressly increased from what it was last fall. As I momentarily catch my breath in the Bucktown office of my @properties brokerage I try to squeeze the truth out on the face of my tippy-tappy mac book pro. I staged an unofficial open house for the last hour of my (1 comments)
chicago real estate: Snow or No - Whether It Comes We are Ready
- 01/12/12 05:11 AM
Puffy cheeked angels are hurling ever-damper spitballs earthbound as Chicago gears up for its first substantial snow of the season. Sitting in my North Shore perch, a Starbucks near my sons' school, I ease from one task to the next, observing the gathering expression of wintry nature. From the voices weighing in on the radio during the drive to school this morning GoreTex clad prognosticators are gathering on various bridges around the city to observe anticipated blockages and impediments the storm surely will bring. Unless it doesn't. That's the thing with prognostications, estimations, pontifications and gesticulations. The best (and worst) of (2 comments)
chicago real estate: A Subtle Rain and Prices Fall Like Autumn Leaves in Chicago
- 10/13/11 12:23 PM
It is 4pm on a rainy Thursday. Dampness combined with coolness and a general lack of sunlight imbues me with a Nordic dread of the season to come, the season after fall in Chicago. Well, at least the windows at home are still open. While temps dipped at least a dozen degrees from yesterday the air is not so chill that the panes need defend against icy gusts. But I wonder if today is that one day in the season when the rain seeps ceaselessly down down, glistening each trees bark and chasing down the red and yellow and brown leaves (1 comments)
chicago real estate: fresh perspectives . a kid's view informs my own
- 04/15/11 06:51 AM
Fresh sensibility. It's one of the things that kids do so very well. Whether it's coloring outside of the lines or singing a song with the slightest lyrical alteration. Another gift they provide is saying words they've heard me or you say but offering them through the filter of their own hearing. And so we have "insects." [See this post as it dwells originally at The Real Estate Lounge Chicago] Don't know what "insects" is? Well, it's the perfumed stick that you burn when you meditate. Or wish to fill the home with a subtle and pleasant aroma. Or, if you (0 comments)
chicago real estate: $300 Roll of Paper Towels and Keys for $825k
- 04/12/11 04:16 AM
I laughed at a friend's facebook post yesterday. She said something to the effect of a roll of paper towels at Costco costing her $125. I wonder how she does it when the same roll costs me $300? As I mull over lopsided economics and prices we pay for common and typical things let me parlay her humorous perspective to my line of work, connecting local citizens with their new homes in the Chicago real estate market. What I noticed is that my clients at my most recent single family home closing spent $825,000 for a set of keys. Phew! One (1 comments)
chicago real estate: The Heave Ho and Chicago Realtor
- 04/12/11 04:15 AM
Staccato. That describes yesterday and much of the last week. It was busy in spurts, with the busy-ness of the business of the Chicago real estate market erupting in spurts. Kind of like the teletype machine back in the day I wrote for the United Press International broadcast desk in Chicago when a big story hit the wires. Chickety-chickety-chickety-chick went the clatter of the key strokes as the fall of the Berlin Wall was spelled out or as Nelson Mandela walked out of his Robben Island cell to freedom. Not that any of my tasks in the last week were on (2 comments)
chicago real estate: The Heave Ho and Chicago Realtor
- 04/10/11 05:34 AM
Staccato. That describes yesterday and much of the last week. It was busy in spurts, with the busy-ness of the business of the Chicago real estate market erupting in spurts. Kind of like the teletype machine back in the day I wrote for the United Press International broadcast desk in Chicago when a big story hit the wires. Chickety-chickety-chickety-chick went the clatter of the key strokes as the fall of the Berlin Wall was spelled out or as Nelson Mandela walked out of his Robben Island cell to freedom. Not that any of my tasks in the last week were on (0 comments)
chicago real estate: Architectural Archeology . Visiting A Client's Childhood Home
- 03/27/11 09:30 AM
Today is a bit busy. Just as yesterday was and so too the past week. A bit busy. Sporadic and occasional showings to clients both buying and selling homes in Chicago and dashing from here to there in a timely manner that would have a Swiss watchmaker grin with glee. Among items checked off the to-do list was an interesting journey to Chicago's North Shore with an old client of mine to view an upper-bracket home on the lake with a private beach. And though my client has given me his ok to relate elements of the story, we'll cover him (0 comments)
A few nights ago Jackson rewrote history in the magnificent manner that a five-year-old will, telling the story of how mommy and daddy fell in love on the beach. While we have shared more than a few beach front holidays with sand beneath out feet, our initial meeting was a bit more urbane with the concrete of Chicago's sidewalks beneath our feet. But as with any good tale, we will let Jackson spin his narrative, grateful that his drawings dwell within the realm of smiles, grins and optimism. Speaking of optimism, he said as he steered The Real Estate Lounge (0 comments)
chicago real estate: Lessons from Lucas . When to Wear PJs
- 03/04/11 04:11 AM
Maybe my son Lucas has it right. Last week when my wife said it was time to get dressed he responded simply and succinctly, I stay in my pajamas when I stay at home. I wear outdoor clothes when I go outdoors. Right now I am at home so I am in my pajamas. I will stay in my pajamas. Ah, there's my baby Hugh. Not that I think that he, one week shy of entering the realm of being 4, is channeling the eternally pj-clad Hugh Hefner. But I can't help but chuckle to myself that at this precious young (1 comments)
chicago real estate: Honey and Vinegar (and How it Works When Buying a Chicago Home)
- 02/19/11 02:33 AM
On Thursday night we came back. With a series of bankings, deaccelerations, accelerations and hydraulic whinings that I don't recall in the past we made our way to a safe landing at Midway. Nice to get back still wearing South Beach garb and not have to battle the elements on the way to the parking garage. Also nice to see the earth now that nature had done its magic on the massive mounds of snow that we last saw when we headed out of town to get some much-needed warmth and natural vitamin D. In the brief time out of town (0 comments)
chicago real estate: Fingerprints on Chicago Real Estate Listings
- 01/29/11 04:22 PM
We leave our fingerprints. Whether it is the Chicago real estate market or anywhere else where homes are being sold (or at least listed in the hope of being sold), we leave our fingerprints. Meaning what? Meaning there is a record of what was paid and when it was paid. There are tax records that reflect the amount of and number of loans of any home in the Chicago market. There is google for the "depth-charging" researchers to figure out if someone has gotten a new job or lost their old one. Some folks will even trace the thread back toward (1 comments)
chicago real estate: Bear Down Chicago Bears (as I sit on my Living Room Couch)
- 01/16/11 07:46 AM
Sunday arrives. Awaited. Nay, anticipated. And unlike other Chicago Sundays, so many Chicago real estate Sundays, this Sunday is reserved for a position on the couch with a clear view of the tv to watch and (it is hoped) to enjoy the Chicago Bears. So far I have said yay! thrice in person and in the tech vein via facebook. A bit about myself. A fundamental if not slightly outdated description of myself is "Southside Irish." Still it is true. From Markham and Irish, I qualify as such. I mention the Irish part, in case my name McCarey didn't give me (1 comments)
chicago real estate: 22 Quarters for 105 Minutes of Parking in Chicago
- 01/09/11 06:50 AM
Sullenly it stands there, like its metalic brethren dotting Chicago streets. Parking kiosks I suppose they are called, though a name with "bandit" in it seems more apropos. Though years of ads intone "don't leave home without it," today I did. No excuses offered, but the combination of an early morning showing of a single family home listing in Sauganash, dropping off keys to Mitch Aronson who is hosting an open house of a Bucktown loft listing of The Real Estate Lounge Chicago, and then dashing to my Gold Coast brownstone listing (where I now write this) followed by two afternoon (0 comments)
chicago real estate: 30 Degrees Less, 2011 Commences in Chicago
- 01/02/11 02:36 AM
From 50 to 20. And so the new year commences with a capricious if not pernicious drop in temperature in Chicago. Shocking! After two weeks in Paris where the mercury rarely approached the upper 30s and typically wavered at or below freezing, yesterday's venture into spring-like territory was beyond welcome. And like anything delightful, I just assumed that it would persist.
Imagine my surprise as I and my kin readied ourselves this morning to maintain the daily diet we sustained while abroad. Namely, a long walk there followed by a long walk back. Our destination would be triangular, first Clark (0 comments)
chicago real estate: google talk . making the computer a boom box-sized phone
- 01/02/11 02:29 AM
Working vacation. While the term "stay-cation" gained currency in the past year or so, a truer, more real term for most of the populace links working with vacation. The challenge comes in ensuring that one maintain his compass to ensure that the vacation portion not be overwhelmed by one's working necessity. I was fortunate in my recent family trip from Chicago to Paris to accomplish a healthy mix, working as needed but not so much that my wife and kids felt like we were simply living like it was Chicago instead of France. Pardon me while I momentarily channel Richard Nixon (1 comments)
chicago real estate: Cold Well Diggers and Warmer Market in Chicago (for Right-Priced Homes)
- 12/02/10 07:54 AM
Have you ever met a well digger? Well, neither have I. So it's hard to gauge how cold the guy gets. Especially in specific parts that may just be best left described as where the sun doesn't shine. And while the sun seems to be shining today, old Sol is having little impact on the mercury here in briskly felt Chicago. And so the reference to the well digger and that part of him that is oh so cold. Somewhere along the way my relationship with cold soured. The least intimation of chill and my extremities become dull, blunt ice chunks. (0 comments)
chicago real estate: three tens and a chicago surge
- 10/10/10 04:16 AM
If ever there was a day to stop on a dime, today would be that day. Three of them in a row. Ten / ten / ten. A few years back, when the days lined up in a sequence of sevens, we traveled to Vegas. Like droves of others I figured that since numbers don't lie, I would be set up for a big payday. In the back of my mind was what happened to a guy I know, Brian. I had run into Brian at CostCo after not seeing him for several years. A big-boned lad of Irish and German (0 comments)
chicago real estate: Seeking Bliss. Gaining Pain
- 10/09/10 12:14 PM
Tony Two Hands. I think that's what he said his name was. I entered the waiting room where I waited, awaiting the arrival of the person who would shepherd me to a blissful state of relaxation. And in came Tony Two Hands. "Tom," said he. Fortunate as to the monosyllabic nature of my name, he mustered "Tom." I rose to witness Tony Two Hands spinning away, 180 degrees in the opposite direction, walking huskily down the corridor in this Chicago establishment. Mystified by his people skills I shrugged my tense shoulders and wondered as to the meaning of the tattoo on (0 comments)
Today Chicago. The boys and I returned home to Chicago Monday evening, an unfurling bit of ribbon that traced the sky from Dallas to Austin and from Austin home to Chicago. Jackson and Lucas won the admiration of surrounding single-flying adults for their big-boy behavior and smiled heartily in the momentary celebrity of praise. Nicole returned late the next night with her mom well on her way to an astounding recovery and transition from Baylor to a stint at a secondary care facility before returning home. Which is where I am. Where is where I started. We got to Dallas (0 comments)