Tag: Advice
It’s high-rise spider time
A hat tip to the Huffington Post for a reminder that it's the time of the year when high-rise residents are advised to close their windows "to avo [...]
More landlords eliminating use of rental services
It's anecdotal data only, but what I've been hearing during the past month is that a number of major landlords have been reducing or completely el [...]
Never send a nickel to a Craigslist poster
Craigslist posters often scrape photos from Realtor listings and use them to enhance the credibility of fraudulent offers. The most common form of [...]
When real estate agents don’t know where they are
Over many years I've continued to be stunned by how little real estate agents are about the locations of the homes they're selling or assisting bu [...]
Chicago rental service offers golden shower
What's there to be said about this Craigslist ad from My Place Apartments, other than that it's an almost perfect metaphor for what you can expect fro [...]
How to find an experienced, professional rental agent
Our recently-launched YoRents service connects renters directly with quality landlords.
Many renters, however, are daunted by the task of findi [...]
domu offers excellent info for landlords, basement-dwelling hermits
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 in [...]
Apartment Savvy targets the dumbest renters on the planet
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 [...]
Reilly Reports a good read, Reilly ego notwithstanding
We have, on occasion, called attention to what we perceived as arrogant behavior on the part of 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly, and linked to o [...]
Quote of the day – a prestige name trumps a good school
Development names matter, according to syndicated columnist Lew Sichelman:
Home buyers pay an average of 4.2% more when the development has the [...]
Domicile Furniture’s vandalism spree
I don't know about you, but I would never do business with a company that litters my environment with illegal signage.
My travels around Chica [...]
Gold Coast studio apartments with in-unit washer / dryers
If you're looking for a studio apartment in the Gold Coast with an in-unit washer / dryer, you can stop looking: there aren't any. Ditto for one-, [...]
Condo – a dirty word for apartment rental services
A while back we wrote about 2-bedroom, 2-bath units in a full-amenity condo high-rise renting for the same price ($1,950 a month) as a convertible [...]
Chicago Association of Realtors continues to promote ethics violations
A week ago we wondered whether the Chicago Association of Realtors (CAR) was fostering trademark fraud. CAR has since removed the offending use of [...]
Supplementing the Trib’s apartment hunting tips
Today's Chicago Tribune has an informative article about apartment-hunting strategies in what's currently a landlord's market. It's generally good [...]
Would you like to hose your real estate agent?
Australian real estate agents have taken to video far more enthusiastically than their American counterparts, have been more creative in their app [...]
The rent premium for a second bedroom in the Loop
Renters often begin their apartment search with a fixed notion of what they're looking for. All too often their expectations are dashed – the size [...]
Does your condo building qualify for FHA financing?
A condominium's eligibility for FHA financing can have an impact on its market value, due to the low down payment requirement and lower underwriti [...]
Avoid MLS rentals that don’t disclose an address
In order for a real estate broker to list a property for rent in the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) it must have a written exclusive right t [...]
Take your apartment search offline
One of the biggest mistakes Chicago renters make in their apartment search is looking only online and only on Craigslist.
Take your search off [...]