Quote of the day: Buying into a piece of junk
Unfortunately there are some real estate practitioners – and this is a sad statement as far as the industry is concerned – who will recommend a home i [...]
Quote of the day: Targeting the five senses
"A color can change their thinking from 'Oh my God, what a huge mortgage' to 'This house is so comfortable, I feel like I already live here,' " he sai [...]
From the vault: The state of Chicago loft design
According to Google Analytics, one of the most frequently read posts in the YoChicago archives is a short commentary from Barry Pearce regarding the [...]
Report: Chicago homes valued fairly
Homes in Chicago are priced fairly in relation to household income, population density, and other factors, according to the latest quarterly market su [...]
NYTimes: Architects' views of the recession
A story in the Sunday edition of the New York Times checks in with how architecture firms, large and small, are coping with the construction slowdown. [...]
Quote of the day: "Supersize me"
"The Baby Boomers are buying condos now and they don't want to downsize too much. They only want a few bedrooms, but they want them to be big and have [...]
Market snapshot: A look at last week's sales
Apropos of nothing, here's some fresh Chicago sales info courtesy of Midwest Real Estate Data and the Chicago Association of Realtors.
Units sold, Ap [...]
Quote of the day: When you're sad and lonely…
“It’s like a country-western song: They’re out of cash, out of credit and out of time."
- Steve Murray, owner of the publishing / consulting firm REA [...]
Chicago, an incredible urban success story
Aaron Renn, writing at newgeography.com, offers this provocative observation:
Chicago is an incredible urban success story, but only for some. Intern [...]
Quote of the day: The gospel of suburbanism
Since the start of the housing crisis, urbanists and pop sociologists have projected a tectonic shift in the way people live, with several high-profil [...]
When blogs and real-estate robots collide
For every decent real-estate Web site or blog, there are probably about a hundred sites that have been set up as phishing schemes, intended to both op [...]
Flickr finds: Chicago and the CTA of the 1960s
Adrian Holovaty of EveryBlock points the followers of his Twitter feed to davidwilson1949's Flickr sets of Chicago transit photos and city pics shot [...]
It's another Case-Shiller Tuesday!
It's the final Tuesday of the month, which means its time for another wet blanket / wake-up call from Standard & Poor's and Case-Shiller. The Janu [...]
Networking in the city: denser neighborhoods are more valuable
Life in a city is very expensive: Not only do you pay more for your home, you also pay more for the things you enjoy about living here. Our museums, s [...]
Skyscraper, skyscraper
If you're a budding buff on tall buildings, or a Chicagoan who wonders about their impact on the city, you ought to check in periodically at the forum [...]
Are foreign investors returning to Chicago?
Has anyone who pays attention to such things noticed a resurgence of foreign investment since last fall? According to the New York Times' "Raising the [...]
Movesmart.org pushes for more transparency for affordable housing and transportation
About a year ago, former Yo editor Patrick Rollens sat down to chat with Justin Massa, the executive director of MoveSmart.org, a start-up non-profit [...]
Quote of the day: Case on the "sticky market"
“If you’re looking in a good area, there’s no free lunch. People will not sell out. If you want bargains, look in the low income areas. It’s not freef [...]
At long last, a few mortgage fraud arrests
When you've been around Chicago long enough you simply shake your head and mutter forlornly about the near-complete lack of law enforcement while a wa [...]
'Month on month' sales trends can be misleading
It’s a common refrain that the real estate markets pick up in the spring and summer, as the weather gets better and families prepare to move during su [...]