Compared to the national statistics for 2008, the Chicago Metro area is not doing too badly. We’ve had low sales numbers and price drops, but we haven’t had the market fall-out that the coasts and states like Arizona and Florida have suffered.
2008 Sales Summary by County
County
Total Sales
Median Price
Cook
-25.8%
-5.1%
Lake
-26.0%
-7.9%
McHenry
-26.2%
-11.9%
Chicago PMSA*
-25.9%
-5.5%
Source: Illinois Association of Realtors
*Chicago [...]
This is a picture of Inverness Village Hall, affectionately called “Mac Hall” for the founder of Inverness, Mr. Arthur T. Macintosh. I love the architecture of the building and couldn’t resist the winter blue sky the other day as I drove by.
Inverness began as a community for young couples who wanted to raise their families [...]
I’ve gotten a few emails lately asking where a particular header photo was taken. I love getting emails from readers; it lets me know people are out there reading. So, always feel free to email me.
But, I thought I would let everyone know that I post the location of the header photos [...]
You may need it to qualify for a mortgage.
O.k., maybe not really. But, the pendulum has swung from one extreme to the other. We went from “no-doc” during the bubble to “all docs you got” today.
Mortgage lenders are playing it safe, which is probably a good thing. I can remember when I first heard of [...]
I just came from the office where I find out that two of my colleagues have just put their homes up for sale. They both want to move up to larger, more updated homes and feel that this is the best market in which to do it. They waited out the boom years for prices [...]
Congress passed the stimulus bill last night which includes an $8000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers. President Obama is scheduled to sign the bill into law this Tuesday.
First-time homebuyers who purchase a home between January 1, 2009 and December 1, 2009 will be eligible to apply for the tax credit. The tax credit does not [...]
Barrington began as a farming community, and one of its most distinctive and endearing characteristics today is its horse farm community. The rolling prairies and woods of Barrington Hills is a little known treasure of Illinois, and a sanctuary for nature, wildlife, animal lovers, and especially horse lovers.
This afternoon I was driving along Plum Tree [...]
