Why aren't more people taking the plunge on a new condominium or townhouse at the moment?

“They think that things may be worse than they are. They look at headlines instead of reading the details,” says Chad Baugh of Winthrop Properties.

Baugh and YoChicago.com’s Joe Zekas discussed the market for new homes during a recent tour of the Printers Corner sales center at 170 W Polk St. Watch the video above to hear more of their conversation, or click back to this recent Yo post to learn more about Printers Corner.

Chicago-based Terrapin Properties LLC may be in danger of dissolution following a foreclosure suit against one of the company's Kenosha, Wisc., developments, the Sun-Times reports.

That could be bad news for one of Terrapin's biggest local projects, The Residences at Burnham Pointe. The 28-story, 298-home high-rise under construction at 720 S Clark St is 55 percent sold, according to the Sun-Times. A Burnham Pointe sales manager told me last month that the building would be ready for first deliveries this spring.

So what's going to happen to these condos?

Sources said (Terrapin principal Jay) Geleerd begged for time Friday on a conference call with a large number of creditors. They said Geleerd asserted he was close to selling the Burnham Pointe condo inventory to somebody whose cash would prop up the company.

"The atmosphere was pretty intense," one person said. "And nobody believes that in this market, there's an investor looking for condos."

Terrapin's inventory also includes homes at the Grand Plaza condo conversion at 545 N Dearborn Ave and new construction units at 901 W Madison St.

In this video, Lexington Homes' Jeff Benach discusses the value of using home inspectors to check out new construction.

Jeff says that while he doesn't think inspectors are totally necessary, quality builders should cooperate with buyers who choose to employ one.

"The second you tell a buyer you can't have a home inspector, that flag's going to go up and they're going to think, 'What else is this builder hiding?' "

Check out more excerpts from YoChicago's wide-ranging video interview with Jeff on our YouTube channel.

Surprise! The flipping has begun at Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago.

The Sun-Times reports that the owners of a 21st-story hotel condominium just sold their unit for $899,000 after initially seeking $1 million.

Trump has priced the 339 hotel units from the $580s to $3.5 million, with floor plans ranging from a 530-square-foot studio to a 2,245-square-foot, two-bedroom / two bath residence (seen at right).

No word on what type of hotel condo these flippers sold or how much they initially paid. About 75 percent of the tower's residences (including those additional 486 luxury condos) had sold by late January. The building should top off in April 2009, according to the Sun-Times.

As Joe Zekas notes in this video, Chicago is overrun with real estate agents. How should buyers go about narrowing the potential candidate pool?

Joe posed the question to Lino Darchun, an agent with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage and a veteran of the real estate industry. Check back for more videos from our far-ranging interview with Lino.

A Gurnee-based lender is giving Greenlight Development LLC the red light over a Rogers Park development, Crain's reports.

Greenlight failed to pay off a $3.5 million of a $4.7 million loan for Hoyne Manor, 7401 - 7411 N Hoyne Ave, according to court records filed by NorthSide Community Bank. Seven condos in the 30-home conversion have sold, and another is under contract.

Rubloff's sales page lists the building's two- to three-bedroom / two- to three-bath units at prices from the $180s to $270s.

Back in December, we talked to Garry Benson and Christine Lutz of Garrison Partners about a variety of topics related to Chicago real estate, one of which was the importance of research. A simple Google search can reveal a lot about a developer's reputation and save potential buyers a lot of hassle and regret, they said.

A little more digging before the fact might have helped the blogger "Truth in Advertising," but he's certainly making sure his opinions about Bryton Development LLC and its principal, Kevin Bryar, ring out loud and clear for future home-shoppers.

Truth manages the blog Contractor Fraud @ 4525 N. Western Ave., which covers (you guessed it) potential contractor fraud at 4525 N Western Ave. He outlines a laundry list of complaints about his $390,000 condominium - the building lacks a sprinkler system, resilient channels in the ceilings, ventilation in the halls, proper sealing for hardwood floors, proper grout in the showers, etc.

Basically, he says, the building is… well… stuff we can't type on a kid-friendly site like Yo.

We're sure a lot of people (Mr. Bryar included) will say that there are better ways to deal with this type of situation than to go ape on a blog. But Truth is getting results, for better or worse; Google "Kevin Bryar" or "Bryton Development" and see how prominently those RipoffReport.com links are placed in your results.

So to paraphrase Truth's URL: Builder, you'd best beware. Hell hath no fury like a blogger scorned.

Chicago’s claim to the 2016 Summer Olympics is anything but a lock. The city faces stiff competition from six Asian, European and South American countries, and Mayor Daley and the U.S. Olympic Committee still have plenty of hurdles to clear before they can declare victory in their bid.

But if the City of Broad Shoulders does succeed in bringing the Summer Games to the shores of Lake Michigan, one thing is certain: The South Side will see a surge of construction the likes of which have not been seen since the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893.

At the center of this titanic undertaking will stand the Olympic Village, a $1 billion mixed-use development located on 105 acres of lakefront property immediately south of McCormick Place, in Chicago's Near South Side.

In an official application (PDF) submitted to the International Olympic Committee on Jan. 15, the USOC described the village as a collection of “new, accessible residential buildings that can host a minimum of 16,000 athletes, coaches and team officials in a peaceful courtyard setting.” A slew of amenities including a promenade of shops, clubs, movie theaters and concert stages will accompany the residences, the application states.

(more…)

Remember last year when Donald Trump ruffled feathers by canceling a slew of contracts at the Trump International Hotel & Tower?

Well, the leader of that pack of buyers, former Sun-Times publisher F. David Radler, has filed a lawsuit to reclaim his condo contracts.

According to an article in Crain's, Trump's "friends and family" discount program helped the under-construction high-rise get off the ground back in 2003 - and now the Donald's miserly behavior is on trial.

Dozens of Mr. Trump's business associates participated in the friends and family program, which helped him generate the early sales he needed to get financing for the project. Buyers in the program received a 10% discount on their units and put down deposits of 5%, vs. the 15% required from other purchasers. They also were allowed to flip their units to another buyer before the tower opened.

"Now that the market value of the units has risen significantly, (the developer) has embarked on a campaign to terminate the discounted friends and family sales in direct contradiction of its pre-sale promises and in violation of its binding contractual obligations," the complaint says.

We snapped the image above from 330 N Wabash last month.

Okay, so this may apply only those shopping for homes outside of Chicago proper, or for those willing to hasten their hunts for new digs, but we figured it was worth reporting, so listen up.

Lennar will match the Fed's new 4.875-percent, 30-year rate through its preferred lender, Universal American Mortgage Company, on select inventory and pre-construction homes, but only through this Sunday, Feb. 10.

Additionally, Lennar will pay up to 6 percent toward closing costs. Buyers must close by Feb. 29.

Lennar's suburban developments include Arlington Reserve in Arlington Heights (pictured above), Morgan's Gate in Wood Dale, Singer Landing in Lemont, Creekside Crossing in Plainfield and Orland Park Crossing in Orland Park.

The homebuilder, of course, is also behind the construction of the 21-story Parc Huron, located at the corner of Erie St and Hudson Ave. We walk past the Parc Huron's office trailer every day (it's just a few steps from Yo's front door) and figure it's about time to check in on the high-rise's status. Stay tuned for more…