New Construction Corner

The lake is Chicago’s hottest amenity – homes with waterfront access or views are invariably among the city’s priciest. But living near a force of nature can have its downside too, especially when it comes to the impact on structures. Water, wind and weather can – and often do – wreak havoc on buildings on or near the shore. If you’re buying a home near the lake, make sure it can withstand the punishing climate.

Chicago is named the “Windy City” because of its politicians, not its weather, but gales howling over Lake Michigan are an undeniable fact of life here. The wind picks up speed over miles of open water, ricocheting between buildings when it reaches the city. At one Gold Coast townhouse I inspected, wind shooting down from the roof of the neighboring high-rise kept blowing the pilot lights out in the furnace and water heater. (more…)

New Construction Corner

Home inspectors devote much of their time to divining what lies beneath a building’s surfaces, looking for clues that water is leaking or a foundation is shaky, for example. The more ornament a building has – moldings, flooring or dropped ceilings – the harder it is to spot defects.

That’s why minimalist, modern architecture can have an advantage for home inspectors – and, by extension, consumers intent on figuring out a new home’s potential problems. Exposing a building’s functional parts is usually an aesthetic choice, but it can be a practical one as well.

The ultimate example might be the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the museum and library famous for its tangle of exposed ductwork. Pipes are color-coded: red for heating, yellow for electricity, blue for air and green for water. That’s what you might call a home inspector’s dream. (more…)

New Construction Corner

If you’re shopping for new construction, chances are you’ve been to countless sales centers and open houses, trying to narrow your search. As long as the building is more or less complete, you can perform a rough do-it-yourself home inspection that will give you a sense of whether it’s even worth signing the development’s guestbook or registering on a Web site.

This isn’t a matter of making sure the building meets code. That’s something a professional home inspector will help you with later in the process. I’m talking about how you can independently get a rudimentary sense of whether the builder did a better-than-average job. Since you’re probably sinking your life savings into this home, better-than-average is the least you deserve. (more…)

New Construction Corner

Robert Frost wrote, “Good fences make good neighbors.”

I think most homeowners would agree. The aphorism (from Frost’s 1919 poem “Mending Wall”) is something to keep in mind as you shop for a home in a high-rise. The owner of a house can build a fence or plant a row of trees to shut out his or her neighbors. The owner of a high-rise condo, living in a box stacked in a tower of other boxes, has no such recourse. If your neighbors are Metallica lovers or aspiring bagpipers, you could end up with some sleepless nights.

But there are steps developers can take to seal off what I’ll call the “owner’s envelope” – the floor, ceiling and walls of each unit – to limit sound transmission. (more…)

New Construction Corner

If you're buying a condo, you're not just buying a home. You're also taking on financial responsibility for the whole building: roof, basement, tuck pointing, boiler room, sewer system, foundation and any other areas in which ownership and maintenance are shared by the condo board.

It's a heady commitment – and yet home inspectors don't typically look at common areas, even though that's where the majority of a building's problems occur. In my experience, that's because real estate agents discourage it. They'd rather not have an inspector turn up a rash of deficiencies that will give a buyer cold feet or launch a new round of negotiations with the seller. And inspectors too frequently go along with this ploy so that agents will continue to send them referrals. (more…)

City Homes

Despite gloomy rumors of unsold condominium units sitting empty downtown, there currently are only 177 new-construction high-rise condos, townhomes and adaptive-reuse lofts available for immediate occupancy.

That surprising ray of sunshine comes from Appraisal Research Counselors' latest study on the status of the downtown Chicago residential market.

"There are 6,507 unsold new-construction condos, townhomes and lofts in the pipeline, but only 177 of them are completed – less than 3 percent of the total new-unit inventory," said Gail Lissner, vice president of Appraisal Research Counselors, and co-author with vice president Ron DeVries of the Downtown Chicago Residential Benchmark Report. (more…)

New Construction Corner

Buying residential real estate tends to be an adversarial process. The professionals involved – real estate agents, mortgage brokers, attorneys, appraisers and home inspectors – don't always have homebuyers' best interests in mind.In my 22 years as a home inspector in Chicago, I've witnessed a disturbing trend. Real estate agents often operate with the tacit expectation that home inspectors will help them close a deal. In return, these inspectors get referrals from agents, bolstering their business. (more…)

New Construction Corner

Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood has a rich cultural history and some wonderful housing stock. The quality of new construction is good overall, but an immense number of units have been constructed or rehabbed there in recent years. My growing number of visits to the area has revealed some of the recurring problems that I see at developments in other neighborhoods. (more…)

New Contruction Corner

Developers and buyers in the market for new homes have started to realize the benefits of energy-efficient appliances and materials during the past two to three years. About 60 percent of the new condos, lofts, townhomes and single-family homes that I inspect in Chicago include at least some "green" appliances or building materials. (more…)

Take advantage of buyer's market to negotiate high-quality finishes

Market times have grown in Chicago during the last year, and the consensus seems to be that we are in a buyer's market. That's bad news for home inspectors, but good news for homebuyers. An overstocked market means more homes to choose from – and more freebies offered by anxious developers.

Buyers should take advantage of the slower market and try to get more bang for their housing buck. (more…)