Real Estate Guides

Posted on Friday, 24th June 2011 by Charles Melvin

Too many condominiums for sale. Prospective buyers are on vacation. Mortgage money is hard to get. Don’t let those pesky realities prevent you from trying to sell your unit this summer. The real estate market is slow, but it isn’t dead.

“People buy and sell every single day,” said Christine Lutz of Garrison Partners, sales agent for Van Buren Lofts in the West Loop. “The ones who are out in the summer and in the dead of winter are serious buyers. Otherwise, they would be out doing something else.”

We asked Lutz and others what condo sellers can do right now to attract those buyers.

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Tags: Sale
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Posted on Friday, 24th June 2011 by Stella Ransom

Four Allen Center, the former headquarters for Enron in Houston, was purchased by Chevron Corp. for $340 million this week as Brookfield Office Properties unloaded the property from its portfolio. According to the Wall Street Journal, Brookfield bought the property, which sat vacant for three years before Chevron leased the building. for $120 million in 2006 from Towanda Development I Ltd. The building at 1400 Smith Street stands 50 stories tall with 1.3 million square feet of space.

“We have created significant value through the sale of this stabilized asset concurrent with Chevron’s sizeable lease extension at our adjacent property,” said Dennis Friedrich, president and global chief investment officer of Brookfield.

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Tags: Allen Center, Center, Four Allen, Four Allen Center
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Posted on Friday, 24th June 2011 by Stella Ransom

Renting may be associated with a mobile lifestyle, but it isn’t just for the young.

At 92, Lucille Dritlein sold her Chicago house and moved to an apartment building on the city’s Northwest Side. The house was getting to be too much work, with yard duties and nagging repairs. A condominium was an option, but, Dritlein said, “I didn’t want to deal with property taxes and all that.” Besides, she plans to cushion her retirement with the proceeds from the sale of her house.

Medical Services Homes Condos Retirement Crystal Lake Contracts Washington, DC McHenry Irving Park Drama Brookdale Senior Living Incorporated Vincent de Paul Florida Martha Washington Real Estate The transition to renter can come with a small dose of regret. Full story…

Tags: Renting, Renting Comes
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Posted on Thursday, 23rd June 2011 by Blake James

Consumer Reports recently combined its rigorous product testing routine with advice from real estate agents to determine what makes kitchens hot — other than the oven.

CR July edition’s “Your New Kitchen” special report engaged real estate agents in order to pinpoint features that help sell kitchens and, by association, the home.

The report, which includes ratings of 400 appliances, kitchen materials and a look inside stores that sell them, is worth the nominal price of a subscription you’ll need to read the full article in print or online.

And you can use agents’ advice to help guide you in your kitchen improvements.

Here’s a peek.

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Tags: Kitchen
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Posted on Thursday, 23rd June 2011 by Blake James

Wakefield Park was designed as a planned residential development sprawling over nearly 100 acres of land in 1888, and in many ways, the neighborhood still looks the same. The Victorian at 24 Park Ave., with its grand, wrap-around porch, was built down the street from the stone pillars at the entrance to Wakefield Park. Like its neighbors, this Queen Anne sits back from the road, behind a large lawn.

“They wanted all of the houses dramatic and mansion-like,’’ said listing broker James M. Joly

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Posted on Thursday, 23rd June 2011 by Stella Ransom

I’ve come to the conclusion that all you need to track your business financials is a few good spreadsheet templates.

Going through this process of of upgrading made it clear to me that we use only a fraction of the features in QuickBooks and at the end of the year we end-up with a handful of spreadsheets so why not just do the whole job start to finish with spreadsheets? I’m sort of a minimalist at heart. I run my part of the world (PFRE Media LLC) entirely with a few spreadsheets and am totally convinced that’s all you really need. Levi doesn’t read this blog or I’d probably be in deep trouble for dismissing the importance of QuickBooks.

I have a s

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Tags: Business, Small Business
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