Category: Don DeBat

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Better hurry to buy or refinance, home-loan rates are rising again

If you are planning to buy a home this spring, better hurry. With home-loan rates nearing 6 percent, it appears that the best mortgage deals since the [...]

$1 million-plus market for new condominiums thrives in Chicago

Whether you have a paltry $1 million to spend, or as much as $16 million, Chicago's luxury condominium buyers have plenty to ogle these days. If you [...]

Can shuttered Cook County Hospital be resuscitated as rehabbed housing?

Old hospital buildings, like the long-term benefits baby boomers once expected from Medicare, seem to be on their way to extinction. In recent years, [...]

Condo conversions boosting apartment taxes, rents in city

The New Year likely will bring gloom to rental apartment owners in Chicago and suburban Cook County unless some real estate tax assessment relief is p [...]

Condo conversions make comeback in value-conscious market

Condominium conversions are cooking again as Windy City developers offer a growing menu of units in 2003, real estate experts say. Appraisal Research [...]

Developers thinking small in tougher market for new homes

To counteract the glut of larger new-construction condominiums downtown, some of Chicago's most savvy developers are starting to think small, real est [...]

Uptown emerging as hot market for homes

Uptown is emerging as the hottest area on Chicago's north lakefront for condominium and single-family home sales, according to Sudler's Lakefront Mark [...]

Use common sense, over-design with city gem: the Chicago porch

There's a cherished half-century-old photo on my wall at home in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood. In the 8-by-10-inch sepia-tone photo, a cocky, bare [...]

Affordable "green" homes touted for urban in-fill locations

With the cost of new homes in Chicago going through the roof, the time has come to use some "good old-fashioned common sense" to design and build affo [...]

Uncertainty slows market time for lakefront homes in Chicago

Marketing expensive homes and condominiums in Chicago's posh lakefront neighborhoods is getting harder as economic uncertainty lingers through spring, [...]

Consider benefits and problems particular to your condo

When shopping for a new home in Chicago, prospective home buyers should realize that the "great condo hunt of 2003" will involve much more than tourin [...]

Builder programs lock in today's low mortgage rates

Hoping to turn hundreds of condominium shoppers into homeowners, Chicago developers and lenders are teaming up to offer 5 percent down payments and fr [...]

Incentives, quick delivery abound in buyer's market

When it comes to new-construction condominiums in Chicago, the idea of "immediate delivery" is almost mythical. But 2003 appears to be a magical year [...]

Big housing developments planned in Chicago's future

The "City of Big Shoulders" looks as if it's about to flex its development muscles – again. Seven major new residential and mixed-use developme [...]

Condominium conversions are Chicago's great housing bargain

Smart home shoppers this autumn are scanning the Chicago lakefront for condominium conversions, which experts say are the best housing bargains in the [...]

Average home price hits $1 million along lakefront

The lure of lakefront breezes has had an uplifting effect on resale home prices in four key Chicago lakefront neighborhoods, boosting the average sale [...]

With housing values rising property offers top return

With the stock market spiraling lower and interest rates nearing a 40-year low, real estate is looking more and more like the best investment opportun [...]

Prices eased in 1st quarter for prime lakefront houses

For sheer snob appeal in Chicago housing, nothing beats a posh single-family home in Lincoln Park or a luxury condominium on the Near North Side. Amo [...]

New homes and loft condos are rejuvenating Bridgeport's diverse mix, blue-collar streets

The neighborhoods were part of the larger ethnic states. To the north of the Loop was Germany. To the northwest was Poland. To the west were Italy and [...]

New condo buyers sitting pretty in the catbird seat as builders scramble for sales

While 2002 may be the worst of times for condominium developers, it may be the best of times for would-be condo buyers. "Condo buyers are in the catb [...]
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