At first blush, the Chicago housing market doesn’t seem like the ideal environment for first-time buyers who are hunting for new-construction homes and conversions.

The average sales price of a downtown or North Side home in the first few months of 2008 was more than $500,000, according to Midwest Real Estate Data. Even in the city’s Northwest Side, hardly the seat of new residential construction, homes were selling at an average price of $315,000 earlier this year.

Those kinds of numbers at first can seem disheartening to buyers whose budgets can’t accommodate a half-million-dollar mortgage. What some buyers fail to realize (or renters who have never considered the prospect of purchasing a home, for that matter) is that the Chicago market is filled with new-construction and rehabilitated condominiums priced at or below $250,000.

That amount isn’t enough land a spacious mansion or a penthouse with horizon-to-horizon views, but it’s enough to get a home in any of the six city areas defined in the New Home Notebook: Loop/downtown, and the North, Far North, Northwest, West/Southwest and South sides.

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They're growing rare, but deals remain for those in the know

Wouldn't it be nice to turn back the clock to that golden age, just six months ago, when interest rates sat obediently under 6 percent? What a party that was. Chicagoans dived gleefully into the housing market, spurred by the kind of interest rates posted in February 2005, when the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage stood at a mere 5.14 percent, according to Freddie Mac. (more…)

As market booms, buyers should consider quirks, risk of buying new

Is now a good time to buy a new home? During 2004, plenty of buyers in Chicago thought so. In fact, after a slowdown that hit the market heavily after Sept. 11, 2001 and lasted several years, new housing roared back to life during 2004. Month after month, major new projects came to market, and enough buyers showed up at sales centers to push sales to record levels. (more…)

Homeowners in Cook County have until Monday to pay their property taxes, according to the Cook County Treasurer. Late checks for the second payment of property owners' 2003 tax bills will result in a 1.5 percent charge for each month they're overdue.

Mailed payments must be postmarked no later than Monday. Property owners also can pay online at www.cookcountytreasurer.com, at the treasurer's office or at 138 LaSalle Bank locations. (more…)

Surviving unexpected housemates, showerless bathrooms and other surprises in buying a new home

My wife and I recently purchased a brand new home on the Northwest Side, thinking that we were smart for choosing to build rather than to buy an existing home. We didn't want to buy someone else's problems in a used house. Neither of us had ever owned before, and we believed that a new house in a new development would mean a better investment and fewer headaches. –>