New Construction
Peeking at Spring in Chicago with Tom McCarey (and Trusted Resources)
As I selected the outfits my sons would don today I mused back to the tail-end of my childhood when “Garanimals” were introduced.
Garanimals, for those not in the know, was and is a children’s clothing line providing tops and bottoms each emblazoned with animal tags designed to make matching little one’s outfits a bit easier. [...]
By All Means a Bio - This is a Snap Shot of Being Tom McCarey
The first week has come and gone and I am glad to be a part of the @properties’ brokerage. Something about making a move that gets my blood moving and makes me feel a little bit more alive. It also grants me a wonderful chance to take a little of this and ditch a little [...]
Meeting Moses at an East Village Coffee Shop (When He Gets an Emailed Offer)
Moses tooled up to an East Village coffee shop earlier today on his new sleek silver Vespa.
It had been a while since I had seen the old guy, but I’m never surprised by what he does or how he does it. Today being a slight slice of Spring on what this year has been an ever-elongating wintry landscape he opted [...]
The Rumored Demise - Another Home Sells in Chicago
The Chicago real estate market today? I can’t help but think of Mark Twain’s quote, “Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
Yesterday my clients finalized negotiations of an offer for their home in West Town. Listed in the upper six figures, this residence attracted the prospective buyers back for three showings before they made [...]
The Tossing of Nader’s Hat - Things Relevant & Irrelevant in Chicago
Ralph Nader Sunday left the wintry hole that I think he shares with Puxatawny Phil somewhere in the Pennsylvanian hinterland. Upon emerging he saw his shadow and evidently that proved to be the deciding factor as he declared his intention to throw his hat into the presidential ring. All 157 of his supporters across the [...]
Chicago-Style Good Fortune (Cookie)
A beautiful Saturday visited Chicago today, providing Chicagoans from Lincoln Park to Edgewater with a pleasant dose of sunshine to offset too many days of gray and cold. And while the thermometer didn’t hit the season norm here the fact that we were able to cast shadows was a wonderful diversion to our ongoing battle [...]
A New Way of Looking at Things (with New Pair of Glasses, that is)
I can’t remember the first time I walked in the little optical shop on Broadway near Belmont.
I had popped into the eye glass place across the street but they didn’t have what I wanted. But with unrequested kindness and unexpected candor the clerk nodded to the shop across the way and said I might find [...]
Places to Insert One Thin Dime
There are any number of places where you might insert one thin dime. But one place I hadn’t considered is a gap in a hardwood floor.
Earlier today I met at one of my under contract new construction listings to meet with the buyer’s agent and my seller’s flooring guy before he started stripping and staining [...]
Baby it’s Cold Outside - Ready for the Chicago Winter to End
Cold? Yep.
It’s that time in the Chicago winter when the allure of snow has faded and been replaced by a simmering discontentedness.
As the mercury vacillated in the past several days above and below freezing, finally settling on the negative side of the freezing level, what we have here in Chicago is a mass of rigid [...]
Real Estate Tax Increase - Chicago’s Elected Leaders Railroad Higher Surcharge
Selling your home just got a bit more expensive in Chicago.
The 50-member city council acquiesced to Mayor Richard Daley’s faulty logic and pressure from the goof balls in Springfield as they voted to increase the Chicago Real Estate Transfer Tax by $3 (from $7.50 per $1,000 to $10.50).
Before you dismiss this hike as simply a [...]
