Comments on: What does it mean when a Chicago developer moves into his or her own building?

By: Carnival of Real Estate « Benjamin Bach’s KW Market Watch

Carnival of Real Estate « Benjamin Bach’s KW Market Watch — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 00:51:34 +0000

[...] YoChicago today on What does it mean when a Chicago developer moves into his or her own building? [...]

By: Dan Green

Dan Green — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 12:29:56 +0000

Nothing says “my building’s is a quality product” like the developer choosing to live in it. This is the ultimate eat-what-you-cook scenario.

One of the reasons why we bought our first condo in its West Loop location was because the developer lived there.

As you would expect, the building was built to code and was sturdy. If the building had been a POS, I doubt the developer would have moved in.

By: Carter

Carter — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 19:03:37 +0000

that’s my favorite bjuilding in Chicago, I call it the “Ghostbuster” building – I’d really like to know if you can have parties up in the pyramid so that blue light would be prominent.

By: Joe Zekas

Joe Zekas — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 22:23:28 +0000

Bruce Abrams of LR Development lived in several of his buildings, one on East Bellevue and one on East Lake Shore Dr.

To the shock of his many friends, Bruce jumped to his death from the balcony of his LSD home. He’s remembered by many as one of the nicest and most talented humans ever to walk among us.

By: K

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 21:18:08 +0000

Supposedly the developers of 1819 S. Michigan are moving into the top floor of this building (4 units). I don’t think any of the units are completely finished yet which is why I say “supposedly”. For me, as a first time buyer, I guess you could say it helped gain my confidence in the building, since this was the developer’s first leap into the mid-rise market.

By: anon

anon — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 18:49:45 +0000

The supervisor of the condo conversion at 6030 N. Sheridan Road took over the top floor and made it his own penthouse residence, which becamse a pretty good selling point for the Realtors involved.

By: Joe Zekas

Joe Zekas — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 17:22:05 +0000

I lived in several of my projects – for a five-year period in one of them.

The biggest benefit to me was that buyers – except for the ones who were totally whacked – approached me as a neighbor as well as a developer. That defused a lot of the hostility and aggression that typically occur in developer / buyer relationships.

I did get a deal on the units. Investors and lenders understood the value of having the developer living in the project and committing to a unit early in the game.

Developers and sales agents sometimes trade off part of their fees for a discounted purchase price when they intend to live in the unit. If done properly, this is a nearly foolproof way to get tax-free income or to turn ordinary income into capital gains.

By: Anon

Anon — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 16:44:37 +0000

I would love to live at the Metropolitan Tower, especially the pyramid portion of the building.