Tag: Tips
iMove Chicago asks whether you’re tired of broken promises?
If you've been scanning real estate jobs at Craigslist you've probably seen the above ad for a rental service that currently goes by the name of i [...]
Another major Chicago landlord joins the Craigslist Apartment Cleanup
Some of Chicago's rental services, also known as apartment locators and apartment finders, have been known to lie to renters about Chicago propert [...]
Are renters and landlords losers with Chicago Apartment Finders?
The Habitat Company, for those of you who may not be familiar with it, is in the top-tier of professional management companies. In its more than 4 [...]
Urban Lux – the dumbest Yelp reviews ever?
Reading positive reviews of rental services on Yelp invariably reminds me of what Oscar Wilde said of a Dickens' short story. "One must have a hea [...]
Are you ready for Humboldt Park?
The blocks just south of North Avenue east of the park in Humboldt Park have seen a great deal of new construction activity in the past ten years, [...]
How Chicago rental services can help clean up Craigslist
As you might expect, I pick up the phone and talk to Chicago rental services. They almost all describe themselves as "one of the good guys" who ab [...]
Zillow purges illegal Chicago rental service ads
We can find many things to criticize about Zillow Rentals, and we've already focused on one of them – misleading descriptions of who renters are c [...]
Chicago’s dirtiest dozen rental services – Rent Proactive is #1
You'll find scores of sleazy rental services on YoChicago's do-not-call list. In the coming weeks we'll single out twelve of them – the dirtiest d [...]
Killing Rent Proactive spam ads on Craigslist
According to Craigslist, "Free classified ads sufficiently flagged are subject to automated removal."
Rent Proactive, a Chicago-based apartmen [...]
These apartments are unbelievable, awesome, amazing
If you scan enough Craigslist ads you'll find words that are almost always used only by Chicago's sleazy rental services.
We searched Craigsli [...]
New apartments are getting smaller in major cities
We've previously posted on the trend to micro-apartments. According to Multifamily Executive, one city is bucking the trend:
Washington, D.C. i [...]
On Zillow, Trulia and hotpads, almost every rental service ad is illegal
The headline makes a broad but defensible claim, and one that reflects grossly indefensible behavior on the part of Zillow, Trulia and hotpads.
[...]
Apartment Savvy doubles down on dumb law-breaking
The Illinois Real Estate License Act makes it illegal for real estate brokers to run blind ads, i.e. ads that don't include the brokerage name, an [...]
State slaps $10K and $25K fines on Chicago rental agents
The most recent summary of disciplinary actions (pdf) from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) includes the follo [...]
The Craigslist Apartment Cleanup begins today
YoChicago is launching a campaign to clean up Craigslist apartment ads by putting a stop to the many 1,000s of illegal ads placed every day by the [...]
Most Craigslist ads violate the Illinois Real Estate License Act
The great majority of the tens of thousands of Chicago apartment ads you see on Craigslist are placed by rental services, also known as locators o [...]
Add $30 to the cost of selling your Chicago home
The City of Chicago has raised the fee for a Certificate of Zoning Compliance from $90 to $120, effective January 1, 2013.
The certificate “is [...]
An updated rental service do-not-call list
Note: See the 2014 version of the do-not-call list. This version of the list is out of date.
New renters in Chicago are often confused or misle [...]
December is deal time for renters
The tight rental market of the past year has made this a dismaying year for many renters who've seen rising rents and limited apartment availabili [...]
Is this a den or a dining area or an office?
In the not-too-distant past the area labeled "Den" in the above floor plan would have most likely been tagged as a dining area. Many first-time re [...]