Five years ago we posted the following report:

Sales of new homes downtown fell 46 percent during the first quarter, according to a story in Crain’s Chicago Business, which quoted a new report by Appraisal Research Counselors. Buyers signed contracts for 1,207 new homes downtown during the first quarter, a 46 percent drop from the 2,243 units they bought during the first quarter of 2006, according to the story.

It was the seventh straight quarter of falling sales, but the number of new units that began marketing downtown roughly matched the number of sales during the quarter. That stability is a sign that some developers have scaled back or postponed plans.

Sales for the first quarter of this year were more than 90% below the first quarter level of 5 years ago, according to a recent Chicago Real Estate Daily report.

When our then-editor Barry Pearce picked up his copy of the June 2007 issue of Chicago Magazine, he was “astounded … to learn that the South Loop is pretty much perfect.” The issue’s cover touted the neighborhood’s “booming real estate … hip restaurants … exploding population … Welcome to the hottest neighborhood in the country.”

The South Loop has developed quite a bit in the interim, but Barry’s take still resonates with many residents:

In our experience, even the most ardent fans of the South Loop have some serious complaints. Some complain about the fact that there aren’t more shops and restaurants and bars and churches – in short, that there still isn’t enough of the stuff that makes a neighborhood a neighborhood.

In February of 2009 Coldwell Banker’s David Hall called the South Loop “our Las Vegas,” but called attention to its advantages.

Studs Terkel, as probably everyone in Chicago knows, would have turned 100 today.

Back in 2007 YoChicago attended the Studs Terkel Community Media Awards ceremony. Afterwards, the staff and board of the Community Media Workshop joined Studs on stage for a sing-along.

The Chicago Tribune’s Chris Walz on banjo, Eric Zorn on guitar, and Mary Schmich on piano supplied the music.

Some high-rise buildings have very elaborately engineered machinery for washing their windows.

For some buildings, window washing is as simple as having a man rappel down the side of the building with a bucket of soap and water.

As you can see from the following photo, the window washer is about 20 stories up on the south façade of 1133 North Dearborn in the Gold Coast.

City living in the suburbs is how Missy Jerfita of Koenig & Strey describes this luxurious 4000 square foot, 4-bedroom, 3.5-bath townhome in The Glen in Glenview.

The Glen is a complete neighborhood built on the former Glenview Naval Air Station base that includes parks, a lake, various housing, recreational facilities, shops, entertainment and golf. And if you want to get to the big city, it’s a straight shot from the nearby metra station or expressways.

Take a sponsored video tour of this colorful and spacious home at 1819 Admiral Court.

The international-style apartment tower at 1212 S Michigan Ave changed ownership recently, and has been renamed Park Michigan to emphasize its location across from Grant Park.

In addition to the rebranding, the building is in the midst of a major makeover of its common area and in-unit amenities.

One thing that isn’t changing, however, is the spectacular east and west views from most of the apartments. After wrapping up a sponsored video shoot I headed for the roof, where I shot these panoramas.

Five years ago we spotlighted a 3-bedroom, 2-bath condo for sale for $176,000 at 501 W 60Th Pl in Englewood as our deal-of-the-day.

Unit 2E in the building, also a 3-bedroom, 2-bath, sold for $164,500 with 100% financing in November of 2004. It resold last September for $27,500 – 85% below our deal-of-the-day price.

The sale appears to have involved a private-party buyer. One has to wonder whether the buyer was aware that the Norfolk Southern railroad has designs on the location for an expansion of its freight yard to the north.

Our recently-launched YoRents service connects renters directly with quality landlords.

Many renters, however, are daunted by the task of finding an apartment on their own, or unwilling to invest the time, and choose to work with a rental agent. That choice presents them with an even more daunting task: finding an agent who will respect their wishes and help them select the new home that best meets their needs and wants.

Yelp and other review sites are no help. Most of the reviews of individual agents and rental services are untrustworthy at best and fraudulent at worst. Personal referrals are a bit more reliable, but suffer from the referrer’s typically lacking broad experience with rental agents.

The staff at YoChicago has decades of experience in working with real estate agents. We know how to sort the good from the bad, the experienced from the rookies, the knowledgeable from the know-nothings, and the true professionals from those who lack integrity and commitment to their clients.

We’ll soon be launching an expansion of YoRents to introduce you to professional agents who have experience and expertise in selected neighborhoods. It will be a paid advertising feature, but only agents who meet our standards of experience and integrity will be allowed to advertise. We’ll introduce those agents to renters through a brief biography and video, so that renters will know exactly who they’ll be working with rather than walking into a rental service and running the risk of a random rookie.

Introducing Amy Reynolds
Amy Eigel Reynolds was born into the real estate business. The daughter of Prudential Rubloff CEO, Chris Eigel, Amy became a third generation Realtor in the Chicago area shortly after receiving her B.A. in music from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Amy is a licensed broker with a dozen years’ experience. She has expert knowledge of Chicago’s Gold Coast and Streeterville neighborhoods.

A former collegiate volleyball player, a musician and an animal lover, Amy lives in Wicker Park with her husband, her son and their dog.

Amy was recommended to YoRents by Francesca Rose, who I’ve known for twenty years.

Prudential Rubloff is an advertising client of YoChicago’s parent firm.

Day in and day out the best real estate reporting in Chicago can be found at Crain’s Chicago Real Estate Daily. If you want to understand what’s happening and what’s trending in Chicago real estate, you’ll want to check in frequently with Crain’s. We link most of the articles on that site from our Chicago Real Estate News page, which also links to 100s of other local, regional and national news sources.

It appears to have gone unremarked at Crain’s, but Chicago Real Estate Daily recently began its sixth year of operation. We noted the launch on May 10, 2007.

The current headline story at Chicago Real Estate Daily concerns the downtown apartment rental market. According to Crain’s, rents at Class A apartment buildings in downtown Chicago rose 9.2% year-over-year and 20.2% since bottoming out at the end of 2009.

Last week I shot video at 16 different rental properties in Evanston, Lake View and Rogers Park with BJB Evanston and BJB Properties.

Whenever I’m shooting video at a property I like to talk to the residents about their experience living there. Most are reluctant to go on camera on an impromptu basis, but some are willing to share their thoughts.

Katie is a school teacher who moved to Lake View from Ukrainian Village / Wicker Park. She enjoys living in Lake View and is pleased with her apartment and the building she’s living in – 2850 North Sheridan, a half block from Lincoln Park.

Some of the apartments at 2850 have the following view over Lincoln Park, which I shot from the roof of the building.

The video was sponsored by BJB Properties.

Anticipating a slow Mother’s Day, the 215 West apartment tower in the Loop sent an email blast on Saturday reminding rental services that it’s paying a higher than normal commission for renting some of its apartments:

Hi Brokers!

We don’t have many showings scheduled for tomorrow (Sunday) so I thought I would reach out! Also we are still at 150% commission!!!

We have two 2 bedrooms on manager’s special! These are the only 2 apartments that are at 100% commission, not 150%.

Is this a sign that the apartments at 215 West aren’t competitive on their merits?

If you’re using a rental service you should negotiate at least half of its commission back into your pocket – unless you’re enamored of paying $1,000s of dollars for a few cab rides and bad advice.

You can hear about the services of 215 West’s “door-cierge” in the above video.

For the second week in a row the number of MLS-listed homes, apartments and condos in 6 north lakefront ZIP codes reached a new high since we began tracking earlier this year.

There are currently 581 units listed for rent in the MLS from Lincoln Park north to Rogers Park. That amounts to less than a 4-week supply at recent absorption levels, which saw more than 300 units rented during the past two weeks.

We’re seeing a growing number of major management companies listing rentals in the MLS, something they’ve rarely done in the past.

Lincoln Park‘s Belden-Stratford, which was recently acquired by the Laramar Group, has listed a number of units for rent with Koenig & Strey (a client of our parent firm). One-bedroom, 1- and 1 ½ bath units are renting from $2,399 to $2,925 a month – at the high end of the rent range for managed rental buildings in Lincoln Park.

The Laramar Group is converting 68 units that had been operated as a hotel into residential apartments. According to a recent news release:

Some of the amenities and features include granite counters, stainless steel appliances, in-unit laundry (select units) and central air and heat. Front Desk/Concierge staff is on duty 24/7, and the building is small pet friendly as well. For an additional fee, monthly parking spaces are available. Lease terms are flexible depending on the choice of a furnished or unfurnished unit.

Unfurnished apartments may be leased for a minimum of six months. The Belden Stratford also provides corporate suite options that can be leased for as short as one month.

You can follow our weekly updates of north lakefront rental data at this Google Docs spreadsheet.

Five years ago today our “deal of the day” spotlighted Lincoln Crossing, a 35-unit condo development at 5588 N Lincoln Ave in the Budlong Woods neighborhood of Lincoln Square.

The developer was offering $20,000 discounts on one-bedrooms priced from the $260s and $30,000 discounts on 2-bedroom, 2-bath units starting at $357,900. In November of 2007 we reported that 2/2 units were starting at $309,900.

Fast forward to a month ago and a 2-bedroom, 2-bath unit in the foreclosure-plagued development closed for $150,000. Other 2/2 units have seen similar price declines. Unit 404, which had been listed for $427,750, sold for $150,000 in December of 2010. Unit 301 closed two weeks ago for $151,000. Unit 201 closed last September for $156,000. And so on.

If you’re doing a rent-vs-own calculation, you’ll probably find that the numbers favor ownership at current prices, even with a minimal down payment.

I’m not a fan of domu’s rental search, despite its slick map-based interface and ease of use. I’d rather take a slower path to accurate, up-to-date information than domu’s quicker one to info that’s often stale and sometimes misleading.

If you’re a renter, check out our at-a-glance apartments lists and maps and search MLS listings at a reputable brokerage firm’s site as an alternative to domu.

If you’re a Chicago landlord, however, domu has some terrific information, advice and free forms available for your use, and a blog you should follow.

Domu’s Chicago landlord’s guide to security deposits, for example, is a must-read for the shrinking number of landlords who still charge security deposits. It’s a well-researched, lawyerly product, but written in clear, easy-to-understand language. The author summarizes the holding of Detrana v Such on the Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance as follows: “A hermit living in the basement qualifies for the ‘owner-occupied’ exemption.”

Twenty-five years ago you could have bought the equivalent of several square blocks of the western part of Old Town for unpaid taxes totaling less than $100K. In the interim, the area bounded by Sedgwick, Division, North and Larrabee has been almost completely transformed.

Chicago-based MCL Companies spurred development of the area in the mid-90s when it acquired the 10-acre site of a shuttered Oscar Mayer plant and transformed it into Old Town Village, a development of luxury single-family homes. The CHA’s announcement of plans for the demolition of the Cabrini-Green high-rises – and their eventual demolition – contributed mightily to the neighborhood’s redevelopment.

Major projects gave infill developers and individual homeowners the confidence to build a wide array of luxury single-family homes in the area.

One of those homes, a 5,500 square foot, 5-bedroom contemporary built on a 53 x 125 lot at 1330 N Cleveland in 1995 is now on the market for $2.5 million. The home, which has 4 full and 2 half baths and a 3-car garage, was acquired by its current owners in 2005 for $2.125M and extensively renovated.

The most distinctive feature of the home is its outdoor space, which includes an enclosed suburban-sized yard with a bluestone patio and a roof deck with outstanding skyline views.

Prudential Rubloff’s Leslie Glazier has the listing.

It’s been almost exactly three years since we received word that Kimball Station, a 59-unit condo development in Albany Park, had converted to rentals. Although we’d been told at one point that 15 of the units were under contract, none ever closed.

Crain’s has just reported that the project, which includes a mix of 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom apartments and 6,000 square feet of commercial space, has been sold to an affiliate of Inland Real Estate Group for $11.8 million. All of the units are said to be leased.

Kimball Station takes its name from the Kimball Brown Line stop, which is directly across the street.

Five years ago today we were reporting that the 43-unit North Beach Lofts, 1225 W Morse Ave, was nearing a sellout, with only four units still available.

A year later, in June of 2008, we were told that “only a couple of units were left.” Our reporter described the Rogers Park neighborhood as an exception to the housing sales slowdown, finding that it “still appears to be developing at a fierce pace…”

Last November I noted, based on a few listings, that prices had gone south at North Beach Lofts. After a random look at some resales, I think it’s fair to say that they’ve gone south at a fierce pace.

Unit 507 was purchased for $295,000 in February of 2006 for $295,000 and resold in March for $140,000. Unit 502 fared a little better, dropping from a $318,000 purchase price in December of 2005 to $200K in August of 2010 following a foreclosure. The purchase price of Unit 504 fell by more than 50%, from $359K in August of 2006 to $170K in April of last year, also following a foreclosure. Unit 511 dropped from $339K in March of 2006 to $160K in November of 2010.

The most recent resale, Unit 410, closed two weeks ago at $165,000, down from a purchase price of $332,000 in December of 2005.

At 7000 square feet on nearly one and a half acres, this home in The Glen of South Barrington is big and bright with incredible outdoor spaces. Lake Adalyn, in the center of the community has a sand beach for swimming and walking trails for taking in the vast green space of The Glen. The home has 5 bedrooms and 4.2 baths with two separate staircases, one to a private sanctuary.

The Glen of South Barrington is an accessible community off Barrington Road just north of I-90; just far enough to enjoy the quiet and serene landscape, but close enough to get where you need to go quickly.

Muffy Hostetler of Koenig & Strey takes us on a sponsored video tour of this home at 12 Blanchard Circle.

When we looked in on 77 West Huron, back in March, the River North high-rise had 22 vacancies and was offering a $100 a month discount on 9 to 12-month leases.

The building currently lists 48 of its 304 apartments available for rent between now and June 3, most of them for immediate occupancy, and recently sent this solicitation to rental services:

Thank you for all your support during our renovations. We appreciate your continued business during the pre-leasing phase. We would like to offer your clients a little incentive while construction on our amenities begins. We are offering 1 Month Free Upfront on all the renovated apartments.

We hope you are having a busy week and look forward to meeting with you!

$1555-1742 (studios 536 SF- 571 SF)
$1789-1975 (1 BRs 694 SF- 757 SF)
$2058- 2155 (1BRs 766 SF- 813 SF)
$2813- $2858 (2×2 1108 SF -1154 SF)

You can see all of your options in River North and nearby neighborhoods on YoChicago’s at-a-glance apartment list and map for the Near North area.

There are only a few dozen single-family homes in Wilmette that have private beaches, and it’s extremely rare to see one of them become available for rent.

The 6-bedroom home on a 50 x 509 foot lot at 1204 Michigan Ave was just listed as a short-term rental (August 25 to June 14) – just long enough for the next school year.

The rent is $14,000 per month.

The home is adjacent to Langdon Park Beach, a broad, sandy stretch of lakefront that you can visit in the above video. The home at 1204 Michigan is the third one from the left in the opening frames of the video.

CoreLogic has just released its MarketPulse report for May (pdf), based on March 2012 data.

The money quote:

Nationally, the housing market is in the process of transitioning to more stability in sales and home prices. Inventory levels are reasonable again, and even tight in some markets. The share of REO sales is declining due to an increased use of foreclosure alternatives to resolve distress.

Short sales, modifications and other foreclosure alternatives are playing a larger role than in years past and the flow of new foreclosures is declining with an improving economy. Home prices are benefiting and, having found the bottom of the chute as the Memorial Day weekend approaches, are ready to establish a foundation to climb the ladder.

On the local scene, CoreLogic shows distressed homes accounting for 39.7% of March sales in the Chicago metro area, and a 24.4-month supply of distressed homes. Chicago has the second largest months-supply of distressed homes among the 25 largest metro areas.

You don’t need to be in a downtown high-rise to enjoy spectacular views of Chicago’s skyline. You don’t even need to be in a high-rise.

The above view to the south and east was shot from the roof deck of a six-story Lincoln Park apartment building at the six-corner intersection of Diversey, Lincoln and Racine. The view below spans the skyline from Rogers Park to the West Loop.

BJB Properties, which owns and manages the renovated property at 1157 W Diversey, is one of our sponsors. Studio and one-bedroom apartments in the building rent from $985 to $1,185 a month.

I’ll be posting more of the 360-degree views from 1157, and will link to higher-res versions at Flickr. Click the above images to enlarge them and enjoy the view.

It seems like only yesterday that we were reporting steep price cuts on apartments at EnV in River North. It was, in fact, all of four days ago.

Yesterday’s email brought the details of another round of even deeper price cuts from EnV:

Bring a client into EnV Chicago and receive 100% commissions! This is for a limited time only; the client(s) must move in by 6/13/12. This week we are offering AMAZING specials – 2 months FREE on all floor plans if they sign a 13 month lease; they will get an ADDTIONAL [sic] 2 weeks FREE if they move in by 6/13/12. Finally if they look and lease within 24 hours they will receive 1/2 off the administration fees (we normally charge $500 so it would only be $250).

The latest discounting works out to 19.2% from pro forma rents, and 27% if you factor in the commission to the apartment rental services.

According to a recent Marcus & Millichap report, vacancy levels are low – in general – in Chicago.

EnV sold recently for a reported $483,000 a unit to a deep-pocketed owner – MetLife.

The latest email newsletter from 42nd Ward Ald. Brendan Reilly brings word of an upcoming public meeting to discuss plans for a proposed development at Wolf Point.

In typically Reillyesque phrasing, Ald. Reilly notes that “I have directed Hines Development Corporation and their team to start our community review process early, even before they take the initial step of filing a formal application with the City of Chicago.”

The details, from the newsletter:

The Applicant (Hines) has submitted a proposal for the development of three towers at this site, with Site “A” (West Tower) proposed as a residential, 525 foot tall structure containing 510 units and 200 parking stalls; Site “B” (South Tower) proposed as a 900 foot tall, mixed use structure containing 600 units and 885 parking stalls; and Site “C” (East Tower) proposed as a 750 foot tall, mixed use structure containing 200 parking stalls.

WHAT: 350 North Orleans (former Wolf Point site) Development Project

WHO: Hosted by Alderman Brendan Reilly, the River North Residents Association (RNRA) and the Fulton River District Association (FRDA)

WHEN: Tuesday, May 29th at 5:30 P.M.

WHERE: Holiday Inn, 350 West Mart Center Drive – Wolf Point Ballroom

Pending and proposed new apartment developments in downtown Chicago now total nearly 13,000 units.

CoreLogic has released its March Home Price Index report which shows that nationally home prices, including distressed sales, declined on a year-over-year basis by 0.6 percent in March 2012 compared to March 2011. On a month-over-month basis, home prices, including distressed sales, increased by 0.6 percent in March 2012 compared to February 2012, the first month-over-month increase since July 2011.

Excluding distressed sales, month-over-month prices increased for the third month in a row. The CoreLogic HPI also shows that year-over-year prices, excluding distressed sales, rose by 0.9 percent in March 2012 compared to March 2011. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.

In Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, home prices, including distressed sales, declined by 8.8 percent in March 2012 compared to March 2011 and declined by 9.1 percent* in February 2012 compared to February 2011. Excluding distressed sales, year-over-year prices declined by 2.7 percent in March 2012 compared to March 2011 and declined by 5.2 percent in February 2012 compared to February 2011.

The Chicago metro area had the largest year-over-year price declines of any of the nation’s largest metro areas.

As you can see from the following graphics, Illinois was one of the poorest-performing states for home prices.

Five years ago Barry Pearce, who was YoChicago’s editor at the time, sat down with developer Albert Friedman for a fascinating look back at River North – a neighborhood Friedman was instrumental in creating.

Watch our video interview to learn how a dilapidated manufacturing district evolved into a premier urban neighborhood and how restaurateur Gordon Sinclair helped inspire Friedman’s vision for River North as a dining destination.

In Part two of our interview, Friedman talks about key catalysts for transformation; in Part three he discusses River North’s continuing transformation; and in Part four, he talks about future residential development and current trends in the neighborhood.

The Marcus & Millichap Second Quarter 2012 Local Apartment Report (pdf) for Chicago was just released, and the forecast is for continued tightening in the city apartment market. From the report:

Vacancy and rents
Minimal construction and a steady flow of new residents into rentals lowered the city vacancy rate 30 basis points in the first quarter to 4.6 percent. Since peaking in early 2010, resurgent demand has shaved 230 basis points off the vacancy rate.

The average asking rent advanced 0.3 percent in the first quarter to $1,195 per month and has gained 1.2 percent in the past year. Effective rents are 1.6 percent more than one year ago following a 0.4 percent increase to $1,110 per month in the first three months of 2012.

Outlook: Vacancy will fall 60 basis points this year to 4.3 percent. Following a 1.4 percent increase in 2011, asking rents will rise 4.3 percent in 2012, joined by a 5.0 percent jump in effective rents. In 2011, effective rents rose 1.7 percent.

There’s much more in the full report, which you’ll need to register to access.

1000 Lake Shore Plaza is at the corner of Oak Street, where Lake Shore Drive meets the Magnificent Mile. It’s across from Oak Street Beach and steps from enough shops, restaurants, nightlife and recreation to make your head spin.

Join us for a tour of the building’s top-tier amenities package and a look at Unit 42B, a beautifully customized 2,200 square foot 42nd-floor residence with 2 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths and a host of upgrades.

Phyllis, one of the owners, is our tour guide in the sponsored video.

Coldwell Banker’s Meladee Hughes has the listing, which is priced at $1,000,000. Meladee can be reached at 312-636-8020.

I spent several hours earlier today touring vintage and modern apartments and shooting video with the folks from BJB Evanston.

The off-and-on sprinkles and constant cloud cover didn’t make for an optimal day for view shots, but I couldn’t resist pausing for this look at downtown Evanston from 1575 Oak Ave.

Click the image for a closer look.

The number of homes, apartments and condos listed for rent in the MLS in six north lakefront ZIP codes is up 17% over the past two weeks to 567, the highest level since we began tracking in early January.

Last week also saw the largest number of new listings added to and remaining on the market – 156. On average, units are remaining on the market less than 30 days, and quite a few are renting as quickly as they reach the market.

A 2-bedroom, 2-bath at 2650 N Lakeview was just listed for rent at $2,450 a month – the price of a 1-bedroom in a new River North high-rise. Rent includes cable TV, heat and air-conditioning.

The condo building has an indoor pool, tennis courts, and Lincoln Park’s North Pond at its front door. You won’t get the in-unit washer / dryer you would in a newer River North building, but you’ll only pay $130 a month for parking. What you save on parking ought to cover the cost of a laundry service.

You can follow our weekly updates of north lakefront rental data at this Google Docs spreadsheet.

Late last week the US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois announced the indictment of seven individuals on mortgage fraud charges. According to a news release (pdf):

The indictment alleges that most of the mortgages were obtained to finance the purchase of condominium units in a building located at 4725 South Michigan Ave., Chicago, by straw buyers, including a Chicago police officer, John Welch, and others. Defendant Yaseen Ahmed, who co-owned the Michigan Avenue condominium building, and co-defendant Eliot Higueros, who allegedly recruited straw buyers, caused proceeds of the fraud to be disbursed to themselves and multiple companies they owned or controlled, the charges allege.
…
As an example of the pattern alleged throughout the indictment, Higueros recruited Welch to purchase four condominium units in the 4725 South Michigan Ave., building, knowing that he would obtain financing by making false statements to mortgage lenders, the indictment alleges. Higueros paid Welch for each unit that Welch bought, knowing that the payments would not be disclosed to the lenders, it adds.
…
Since 2008, close to 200 defendants have been charged in Federal Court in Chicago and Rockford with engaging in various mortgage fraud schemes involving more than 1,000 properties and more than $280 million in potential losses, signifying the high priority that federal law enforcement officials give mortgage fraud in an effort to deter others from engaging in crimes relating to residential and commercial real estate.

That’s 200 defendants down or on their way down and, given the likely scale of mortgage fraud in the Chicago metro area, another 20,000 to go.

Don’t expect to see 20,000 indictments when we’ve seen only 200 in the past 4 years. The feds don’t have the resources, and local law enforcement authorities appear to lack the will.

Do expect to see more mortgage fraud. When a payday is certain and the odds of paying a penalty are only 1 in 100, the bad guys go with the odds.

The 3-bedroom, 3 1/2 bath home at 1515 N Paulina St in Wicker Park has large rooms throughout, a recently-updated kitchen / family room and an attached 2-car garage.

What sets it apart from the competition is its outdoor space. There’s a private garden adjacent to the lower level, a roof deck above the garage, and another roof deck that spans the entire length of the home.

The home is priced at $799,900. Sergio & Banks’ Melanie Giglio is our tour guide in the sponsored video.

Discount is a dirty word in the world of new rental high-rises, where price-cutting takes the form of “free rent” specials limited to new renters. Discounting is a no-no because you don’t want your investors to focus on a failure to achieve pro forma rents, and you certainly don’t want your existing tenants to ask for the same deal being offered new ones.

Late yesterday afternoon EnV circulated an email “hot sheet” to Chicago’s apartment rental services offering 2 to 2 ½ months’ free rent on selected apartments, an effective discount of 14% to 18% on 14-month leases. The free rent concessions can be taken upfront or amortized over the duration of the lease at the River North tower.

The hot-sheet headline enticed rental services with “1 Month 100% Commissions for ANY move in before June 5, 2012.”

Nominal rents (before discounts) for apartments listed in the hot sheet were $2,003 a month for a 16th floor studio, $2,566 to $2,827 for 1-bedrooms and $3,760 for a 26th floor 2-bedroom, 2-bath.

If you’re using a rental service you should negotiate at least half of its commission back into your pocket – unless you’re enamored of paying $1,000s of dollars for a few cab rides and bad advice.

A month ago we questioned whether EnV’s negative reviews on Yelp singled it out as Chicago’s worst new apartment tower. Since that time EnV has had two glowing reviews from new Yelpers, and another that was filtered as suspicious.

If you’re relocating to the Gold Coast from a lakefront home on the North Shore, you don’t have to give up your back yard grass or the beach outside your door.

You might have to wait a while to snag one of the very few lawns in the Gold Coast sky. You’ll certainly have to adjust to sharing the beach with a larger, but not necessarily more diverse, group of sunbathers.

Apartment Savvy, one of the rental services on our do-not-call list, has been reviewed 85 times at the Google Places page for its 2835 N Clark St office.

Almost all of the reviews give the company 5 stars, and almost all of them are so patently phony that they’ll leave you laughing and wondering. Can any company possibly be stupid enough to think these reviews help it? Why would a company hire such brain-dead reviewers?

User Beanstock is a good example. He reviews Apartment Savvy on April 6, 2012:

Tara was exceptionally helpful and showed apartments that were exactly what I described and what I was looking for. I’m incredibly happy with the apartment I found.

Six days later, on April 12, Beanstock reviews Legend Park Apartments in Schaumburg:

I don’t know why everyone seems to not like it here because I’ve been living at Legend Park for over a year now and I love it. … I like it so much that I just renewed my lease and will be staying for at least another year.

Quite a few of Apartment Savvy’s reviewers, despite allegedly living in city apartments, also shop at Crescent Jewelers in Frankfort, get their dental care from Scott Brenner in Vernon Hills, spend occasional nights at a Days Inn in Naperville, shop for cars at Bob Brady Auto Mall in Decatur, have work done by Sutton Siding & Remodeling in Springfield, rent lift trucks from Wise Equipment in Schaumburg – and so on. They unanimously find each others’ reviews helpful – sometimes helpful enough that they copy and paste them as their own.

A number of the Apartment Savvy reviews are written in a generic manner that enables them to be copied and pasted into multiple reviews for almost any company, e.g. “Very quick and helpful.” Those four words are the entire review, and 7 out of 7 people found it helpful!

Apartment Savvy may be doing some niche marketing here – targeting the dumbest renters on the planet. Who else, after all, would do business with a company that tries to gain their business fraudulently and stupidly?

We don’t want to leave you with the impression that Apartment Savvy operates very differently from other Chicago rental services. You’re well advised to avoid all of the rental services and work directly with landlords, management companies, or established, brand-name brokerage firms.

If you’re looking to rent in Chicago’s lakefront neighborhoods, from the South Loop to Lake View, check out YoChicago’s at-a-glance apartment lists and maps and our YoRents service.

Five years have passed since we first wrote about the then newly-built home at 3908 N Kildare in Irving Park.

At the time, the 6-bedroom, 4 ½ bath, 3-car garage home on a 50 x 144 lot was priced at $1,790,000. It sold in November of 2007 for $1,535,000.

The home has been back on the market for nearly a year, and is currently listed at $1,169,000. According to the listing, “the home has everything today’s buyer looks for.” Today’s buyer, is apparently looking for something more – or something less.

I founded YoChicago’s parent firm, now known as Data Based Ads, in May of 1987.

The company’s initial business was publishing a bi-weekly real estate newspaper – The Real Estate Profile – which fairly quickly expanded to weekly publication and was rebranded as Apartments & Homes.

Our first specialty publication was the Loft Living Guide, which was launched in the late 80s, a time when almost all of Chicago’s renovations were lofts and new construction was almost non-existent. When the new construction market ramped up in the 90s we launched a 10-times-a-year New Homes Magazine, and folded it when the new home market tanked several years ago.

Along the way we published a quarterly Chicago Landlord Guide, a Co-ops & Condos desk-reference for Realtors, and a wide variety of one-off specialty print publications. We created and published a novel Chicago Lease that sold 100s of thousands of copies.

For several years in the late 80s we ran twice-yearly home shows – Sweet Home Chicago. The largest drew more than 20,000 visitors over a 3-day period to 150 exhibitor and sponsor booths at Navy Pier.

In the mid-90s we launched the InfoStore at Wellington and Broadway, a walk-in retail outlet that hosted racks of sale and rental brochures and a computer-based apartment finding service that enabled renters to ring through by phone to local landlords by clicking a Call button on their screen.

We also purchased space in the Chicago Reader for nearly a year and published a High-rise Apartment Guide, and in the Daily Herald for a year-long suburban community (subdivision) guide. Both of those ventures were based on InfoNow, an interactive voice / fax system we created that served up voice recordings, faxed floor plans and patched calls through to landlords and builders.

From the outset the company was database-driven with proprietary technology. In the early 90s we began producing system-ready picture ads (a category we created locally) for the largest brokers in Chicago in print publications throughout Chicagoland. We delivered the first-ever Adobe Acrobat real estate ad via FTP to the Chicago Tribune and, for a while, supplied all of the real estate listing data for the Chicago Tribune’s website and all of the Chicago listings on Yahoo when it was in its infancy.

In the early 90s we afforded our major brokers online access to our databases through remote control and Citrix software, and extended that access via the World Wide Web when that became feasible later in the 90s. Our Internet-based systems attracted the attention of major brokers and newspapers throughout the country, and we continue to serve those clients from coast-to-coast through our AdMaster and Wibiti systems.

YoChicago was launched half a dozen years ago, and we posted the first of our 1,000s of videos at YouTube in November of 2006, and the first of more than 15,000 photos to Flickr at about the same time. We recently launched YoRents, an online speed-dating service for landlords and renters.

On behalf of everyone at Data Based Ads, our heartfelt thanks to the many advertisers and clients who’ve generously supported our efforts over the past 25 years.

We’ve been especially fortunate to have a phenomenally talented, patient, intelligent, good-humored and professional cadre of employees – all of whom have been with the company long enough that they’ve become colleagues rather than employees.

If you’ve read this far, thanks for your interest. It’s been a long run, and it’s mostly been fun. Innovation is great fun. We’ve done more of it than this brief sketch of our efforts, and we’ll continue to innovate.

It’s called Old Town for a reason – the neighborhood is one of the first parts of Chicago to be settled in the 1800s, and its Old Town Triangle Landmark District still includes many homes built in the years following the great fire that destroyed much of the city in 1871.

That said, the Old Town moniker itself is old. It doesn’t reflect the waves of new construction that changed parts of the neighborhood beginning in the 1960s, or the dining and retail revival that began in the 1980s and appears on the verge of accelerating.

The location

Old Town begins just a mile-and-a-half north of the heart of Chicago’s Loop. Its neighbors include the Gold Coast on the east, River North on the south and Lincoln Park to the north.

The eastern stretches of Old Town have excellent proximity to Chicago’s greatest park, Lincoln Park, and to Oak Street and North Avenue beaches.

Old Town and the Old Town Triangle

When Chicagoans refer to Old Town they’re often lumping together two very distinct neighborhoods: Old Town, and the Old Town Triangle.

These very different neighborhoods are separated by North Avenue and stitched together by the vibrant, mixed-residential / commercial strip along Wells Street. It’s a visually interesting, pedestrian-friendly thoroughfare whose broad sidewalks are lined with a wide mix of restaurants, bars, nightlife, boutiques, theater and low- and high-rise residences.

Wells Street is so integral to the fabric of Old Town that it IS Old Town to the residents who live along it and the tourists who seldom venture beyond it.

Neighborhood boundaries. The Old Town Triangle is bounded on the south by North Ave (1600 N), on the east by Clark St, and on the west by the former Ogden Ave right-of-way. The Old Town Triangle is part of the Lincoln Park community area.

Old Town‘s boundaries are Division St (1200 N) north to North Ave (1600 N) and Clark St (100 W) west to Clybourn Ave and Larrabee St (600 W). Old Town is in the Lincoln Park“>Near North community area.

NOTE: This Guide’s primary focus is on Old Town. For more information about the Old Town Triangle neighborhood, see our Lincoln Park Guide.

Who lives here

Old Town attracts an affluent, educated group of residents: more than 80% of the 25+ population have a Bachelor’s degree or higher, one-third have graduate degrees, and nearly 40% have a household income exceeding $100,000. The neighborhood is culturally and ethnically diverse, and appeals to a wide range of age groups.

Why people move here

Old Town is a walkable, low-density, visually interesting neighborhood with a small-town vibe and a wide array of dining, retail, nightlife and everyday convenience shopping. It still retains some of the quirky attractions that made it a popular tourist destination in earlier years.

Old Town’s location affords easy access to the Loop via public transit, and it has great proximity to the popular Gold Coast, River North and Lincoln Park neighborhoods.

Why people don’t move here

Until recently, renters looking for new luxury apartments had no options available in Old Town.

Old Town’s relatively inconvenient access to Chicago’s expressway grid, the CTA Blue Line and the Metra rail system is a consideration for Chicagoans who reverse-commute to the suburbs or travel frequently out of O’Hare.

Housing stock

The great majority of the housing stock in Old Town consists of owner-occupied homes and condos, primarily in low-rise buildings. Rental housing is limited, although you can find the occasional home or condo available for rent, and a few apartments in smaller buildings.

New construction. With the exception of 1225 Old Town there have been no new market-rate apartment projects of any size in Old Town in the last 25 years.

1225 Old Town is scheduled to begin occupancy in September 2012. The luxury community will include 250 luxury studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with a range of common area and in-unit amenities not previously available in the neighborhood.

Income-restricted apartments. There are several large complexes in Old Town which have apartments limited to residents who meet maximum income requirements: Atrium Village, 545 W Division, and the Marshall Field Garden Apartments.

Lofts. Old Town has one large rental loft development, Cobbler Square, a former Dr Scholl factory that was converted to 295 apartments in 1985. You’ll occasionally find a loft condo for rent in one of the smaller projects in the neighborhood.

Neighborhood events

The Old Town Triangle has been the venue for the Old Town Art Fair since 1949. The event, which is ranked as one of the best in the nation, is held on the second weekend of June from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Each year it draws more than 250 accomplished artists and an estimated 50,000 visitors.

The Wells Street Art Festival, which also takes place on the second weekend in June, attracts a less well-known group of artists but has typically served up better music and food from Wells Street’s many restaurants.

Old Town residents don’t have to venture far to reach two of the city’s best farmers markets: Lincoln Park’s Green City Market and the Division Street Farmers Market.

If you’re a beer aficionado, the 3-day Craft Beer Festival at St Michael’s is a must-attend event.

There’s an updated calendar of local events at the Old Town Merchants & Residents Association website.

Restaurants, bars, nightlife

Old Town is a restaurant, bar and nightlife mecca that draws locals from around the city and tourists from around the world.

You’ll find a wide selection of dining and nightlife options along and just off of Wells Street: Bacci Pizza, Beijing and Bangkok, Benchmark, Bistrot Margot, Burton Place, Café Sushi, Corcoran’s, Dinotto, Fireplace Inn, FlatTop Grill, Flight 1551, Fresh Choice, Kamehachi, Las Pinatas, Mama Milano, Mizu, Nookies, O’Brien’s, Old Jerusalem, Old Town Ale House, Old Town Pour House, Old Town Pub, The Original Tsang Pan Asian, The Second City, Tokyo 21, Topo Gigio, Trattoria Roma, Twin Anchors and Zanies Comedy Club.

There’s also a good range of franchised fare for famished fast foodies: Boston Market, Chipotle, Dunkin Donuts, Einstein Bagels, Jimmy John’s, McDonald’s and Subway.

If you exhaust everything Old Town has to offer, the dense nightlife and dining options of Division and Rush Streets are a few short blocks to the east, and the Clark St and Lincoln Ave strips in Lincoln Park are a few blocks to the north.

Shopping

Treasure Island, an Old Town staple that bills itself as “America’s most European supermarket” is on Wells St, just north of North Ave. Another local favorite is the Potash Markets Sandburg Village location.

Old Town also boasts a number of chain grocery stores, including a Jewel at Clark and Division and a Dominick’s at Sedgwick and Division. Whole Foods‘ over-the-top Lincoln Park behemoth is on Kingsbury, just south of North Ave in the busy Clybourn Corridor area. It’s one of only five Whole Foods with a Wellness Club.

Long-time favorites in the neighborhood include The House of Glunz, The Fudge Pot, Village Cycle, Up Down Cigar, Collar & Leash, Old Town Gardens and Old Town Aquarium. Wells Street also has a few apparel boutiques, a good selection of salons and personal care venues, and a Pier 1 Imports.

The nearby Clybourn Corridor has a great selection of chain and big-box shopping options.

1225 Old Town will be adding 30,000 square feet of new retail space to the neighborhood.

Parks, recreation, fitness

Park space and recreational facilities are scarce within Old Town, but the neighborhood has good proximity to Lincoln Park and to Oak Street and North Avenue beaches.

Old Town has a limited selection of health clubs, including a Fitness Formula Club and an XSport Fitness location in Piper’s Alley.

Transportation, parking

There’s a CTA Red Line stop at Clark and Division streets, and a Brown Line stop just south of North Ave on Sedgwick. Multiple CTA bus lines run frequently along Clark St, LaSalle St and Division St.

Access to the city’s expressway grid is mediocre from the southern part of Old Town and downright poor from the northern part. The shops along the Clybourn Corridor cause frequent traffic bottlenecks along North Ave. There’s easy access to Lake Shore Drive from North Ave.

Taxi service is always readily available in Old Town, especially along Wells St and further east.

Parking – especially garage parking – is scarce in Old Town, almost all of which lacks alleys. Parking is expensive when available.

Schools

The neighborhood attendance-boundary public schools are Manierre (K-8) and Lincoln Park High School. The public K-8 Franklin Fine Arts Center, a specialty magnet school, fills approximately half its seats by a lottery open to students residing within 1.5 miles of its location. Walter Payton College Prep and other selective-admission public schools are within walkable distance of Old Town.

The private JK-12 Latin School is just beyond Old Town’s boundaries, in the Gold Coast neighborhood. Immaculate Conception – St Joseph School (Prek-8) is also nearby.

You might also consider …

Lincoln Park, the Gold Coast and River North (Guide links) are the most frequent backup choices for renters who can’t find what they want in Old Town.

We value your feedback

Add your comments below, with any suggestions you think will be helpful to people deciding whether and where to rent in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood.

Floor plans, prices and other details for 1225 Old Town, a new rental high-rise at 1225 N Wells St in Old Town, became available early yesterday evening when its new website went live. The site also has view shots taken from the 16th (top) floor of the full-service, full-amenity 250-unit tower.

Studio rents start at $1,485 a month, convertibles at $1,560, 1-bedrooms at $1,892, 2-bedroom / 2-bath units at $2,891, 3-bedroom / 2-baths at $4,490 and 3-bedroom / 3-baths at $5,051.

First occupancies are slated for late summer at the first new rental high-rise in Old Town in decades. The development also includes 30,000 square feet of new retail, which should enliven the southern end of the vibrant Wells Street retail / dining / nightlife strip.

NOTE: 1225 is the sponsor of our soon-to-be-published Old Town apartment rental guide.

The new Cook County Property Tax Portal has gone live, providing easy online access to a variety of property tax information through a single website.

The site is the result of cooperation among the elected county officials who take part in the property tax system.

The aspect of the site with the greatest impact is likely to be the access it affords to financial statements from the more than 500 agencies that levy property taxes in Cook County municipalities.

According to a recent news release from Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas:

The known collective debt of governments in Cook County has risen to $140 billion, according to the latest figures provided by the office of County Treasurer Maria Pappas. Property owners now can see on the Cook County Property Tax Portal how much of their money goes to each government that taxes them, Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced today.

Pappas issued a new report showing the latest figures compiled from data submitted by local county governments in response to the Debt Disclosure Ordinance, which Pappas helped pass before the Cook County Board of Commissioners.

Pappas reported today that 489 of 553 primary taxing agencies submitted data for 2011, and their known total debt was at least $140 billion, an increase of $32 billion from 2010. On a per-household basis, debt is $87,720 for Chicago and $35,774 for the suburbs, Pappas said.

Access to increasingly accurate information about the financial condition and debt levels of various taxing bodies and municipalities is likely to have a strong impact on real estate values as home buyers, builders, property owners and investors focus on the implications of that information.

Will real estate buyer agents take advantage of this opportunity to analyze the data and counsel their clients that some suburbs may be facing the choice between sharply rising property taxes or severe reductions in services? This seems to be an area in which highly-skilled professionals can perform a real service for their clients.

Real estate professionals have long offered CMAs to their clients – comparative market analyses – sketching the likely value of individual properties. The new CMA might be a Comparative Misrule Analysis detailing the likely impact of the taxing bodies a property is subject to when compared to similar property in different jurisdictions.

What are the implications for Chicago of per-household debt that’s at least 2.27 times the city’s median household income?