Why buy a town house when you can buy a single family home for $474,900?

FOR SALE NOW: 1808 W Diversey is a true three beds, three full baths single family house in the West Lakeview, Northcenter areas of Chicago. Priced at $474,900, it's bigger and priced less than most town houses in nearby Lincoln Park, Lakeview and Northcenter that offer similar or lesser features.

Check out more details at Rubloff.com!

Watch the Video: Gorgeous Ravenswood single family home for sale $469,000

5137 N Oakely offered at $469,000 is a fantastic corner lot single family home in the greater Lincoln Square community area. The affordable and popular sub-neighborhood of Ravenswood offers tons of city-life amenities. Transportation options include several bus lines and wo CTA Brown Line Trains at Western or Damen. Its also close to the Ravenswood Metra stop for downtown commuters or those going to the North Shore. Located just one block from Winnemac Park and four blocks from the heart of Lincoln Square retail, bars and entertainment...you'll love living here.

View more property details at www.Ruloff.com!

Joe Zekas of YoChicago.com stops by Winnemac Park down the block after our video home tour and chats with some neighbors.

Ravenswood Chicago Penthouse! Huge decks, garage for only $489,000

Summer is HERE! Check out video of the awesome roof terrace and deck at this Ravenswood neighborhood penthouse. Huge, awesome space, entire top floor of small 5 unit building for 4610 N Ashland #3NS now asking $489,000.

More information and photos HERE at Rubloff.com

YoChicago's Open House Pick: 4 bed Lincoln Square house, 5137 N Oakley

Check out our open house at 5137 N Oakley asking $469,000 tomorrow Saturday May 28th from 11AM to 1PM. An awesome value for the neighborhood...you will love this house!
YoChicago.com's Open House Pick.

More property information and photos HERE at Rubloff.com!

4 bedrooms, 2 baths, central air and heat, newer master bedroom/ top floor renovation, gorgeous sun/ breakfast room, two car garage with street curb cut for extra parking, fantastic patio and landscaping, finished basement...more!

House of the Week: Northcenter Colonial beauty

House of the Week returns for the summer!

Corner lots can make for dramatic homes. This excellent Colonial style single family home resides at the corner of North Wolcott and West Patterson in Northcenter, Chicago.

Check out our past House of the Week photos!

DePaul Art Museum construction in Lincoln Park nearly completed

The new DePaul Art Museum will feature it's first exhibit starting September 16th, 2011.

Here's a couple shots of the newly constructed DePaul Art Museum snapped by our own Bob DePalma... DePaul, DePalma... Anyway, the museum located at 935 W Fullerton adjacent to the Fullerton Red Line stop looks about wrapped up on the exterior.

The new Red Line station, the museum construction, the Dominick's food store and existing historic buildings and row homes make for quite a fantastic and convenient stretch of Lincoln Park.

Watch the video story by DePaul University:

Ravenswood Station development, Metra improvement woes

Curbed Chicago has an update via the Sun-Times on Ravenswood Station.

Here's two recent stories for the biggest hot spot in Ravenswood... the sometime conjoined and sometimes mutually exclusive issues of the Ravenswood Station development project and the Ravenswood Metra Station bridge and platform improvements.

Sorry...this has been brutal!

Chicago.cbslocal.com has the story on resident opposition to the newest Metra Ravenswood stop plans.

Read more Ravenswood posts HERE!

2011 Northcenter multi-unit sales, price stable in year to year comparison

In 2010 we wrote about two to four flat multi-unit buildings sales were pretty HOT in Northcenter and Lakeview. We discussed some of the benefits of purchasing a multi-unit rather than a single family home or even a condo for the same money (the multi-unit may not get you the same neighborhood as a condo at the same pricing, but may get you a different good neighborhood and better investment).

Let's take a look at 2011 Northcenter multi-unit sales so far and see if they kept pace with last year.

23 multi-unit buildings (two flat to four flat) closed already in the first 6 months of the year with a median price of about $475,000. We have 7 pending closing and 6 more contingent contracts at the moment. So, we should see a total of about 26-28 closed two- four flats by May 31st...the half way point of 2011.

In 2010, the first 6 months of the year saw 28 closed multi-unit sales with a median price of about $447,000.

It looks like multi-unit sales in Northcenter will be very close in unit sales and median price for year to year comparisons of the first half. This year's median price should come down a bit, near the $455,000 mark when the pending and contingent contracts close. This is good news of sorts for multi-unit owners.

Garden, home supplies in Lincoln Park

Lincoln Park home owners love to garden and entertain in fine homes. Bob took this quick photo when stopping by Jayson Home and Garden; a popular spot for landscape and interior touches located at 1885 N Clybourn.

For Rent $1775: Lincoln Park two bedroom, deck, location, garage available!

2237 N Clifton for rent $1775.00 per month

This 2nd floor apartment is located on quiet one-way Clifton in heart of Lincoln Park. Steps to great boutiques, restaurants, bars and el train (Fullerton). Only 2 blocks to Armitage, 1/2 block to Webster & 1 block to Fullerton. Enjoy all that Lincoln Park has to offer !

* 2 Bedrooms
* 1 Bath
* Washer/Dryer in Unit
* Central air
* Private deck
* Garage parking available on site

Floorplan:
Split 2 bedroom, dining room, galley kitchen, living room
Only 3 units in Building

Contact John 312-305-3509



Agent owned property.

Curb Appeal! Ravenswood/ Lincoln Square four bedroom single family home for sale $469,000

5137 N Oakley for sale now for $469,000. Not on the MLS yet!

Ravenswood/ Lincoln Square neighborhood single family home for sale. You will love this house. The restored and renovated wood detail, inviting rooms, expanded second floor and terrific lot can not be beat for this asking price.

The highlights:
-Renovated corner lot home (approximately 25x125) with unobstructed southern exposure
-Four (4) true bedrooms (two on second level, one on main level and one finished lower level)
-Two full baths
-Central air and heat

-Two (2) car garage with curb cut for street entrance!

Main Level:
Large entry foyer, attractive living room and true dining room. Central kitchen with huge pantry. Full bath on main level. Terrific four season sun room with serene backyard views and tons of unobstructed light. Organized mud room area! Deck off the sun-room leads down to pro-grade landscaped backyard, paved patio and sprinkler system. Entertain and impress!

Second Floor:
Outstanding, enormous master bedroom with true, high ceiling height, wood burning fireplace (gas starter) and WALK-IN closet. Spacious second bedroom, updated bath with large vanity, attractive tile shower and separate commode area.

Finished Basement:
Family-room and true fourth bedroom, recessed lighting, laundry room, tons of storage.

The home is one block to popular Winnemac Park, four blocks to Giddings Plaza in heart of Lincoln Square!

Call 773-687-4646 for an appointment. Pre-approved buyers please. If you do not have a pre-approval with a reputable banker or mortgage broker, we got a guy!

YoChicago.com Sunday Open House Videos for May 22nd, 2011

Check out 10 videos for properties hosting open houses from YoChicago.com on Sunday May 22nd, 2011.

Our Wicker Park duplex at 1250 N Wolcott #1 is featured. Watch the video!

Chicago Cubs at Boston's Fenway Park tonight!

The Cubs play the Boston Red Sox tonight at Fenway Park. According to MLB.com, it's the first visit of the Chicago franchise to Boston's Fenway since 1918.

Much of my love for Chicago is rooted in growing up a Cub's fan. Some of my best memories are of walking to Wrigley Field and of being a bat boy for the Cubs for a game in 1990. Even today, we live only a 10 min bike ride away from the park.

I also have a long history with the Red Sox having family in the Boston area. I will never forget watching the Red Sox Game 6 loss to the hated Mets in the 1986 World Series. Every baseball fan must visit Fenway for a game.

The Cubs trip to Fenway is more great national publicity for Chicago!

Wicker Park Open House Sunday May 22nd: Duplex with wow factor!

1250 N Wolcott #1 asking $424,900
Open House
Sunday May 22nd, 2011
12PM to 2PM

Watch the video!

View more photos and property information HERE at Rubloff.com

Where are the foreclosures?

This Lincoln Square home may be distressed and even already foreclosed on...but you can't buy it if it ain't for sale.

One of our buyer clients earlier this season asked, "Where are all the foreclosures?". To paraphrase, he stated a website he was looking at said there are "42 foreclosures" around his target area for buying a house. "Why are we not seeing those" he asked. Of course, there were no addresses or information about those properties and he'd have to pay to get behind the firewall to view content.

I had three responses:
-First, those nearby foreclosures may not be so nearby when you pay for the content and see what and where those properties are.
-Second, he already sees any and all foreclosed homes that have been brought to the market and are listed on the MLS. The only other type of foreclosure he may not be seeing on our MLS searches may be an auction sale, but those are usually listed on the MLS too and almost do not exist in our target areas of Chicago otherwise.
-And finally, there have been VERY few actual foreclosed homes that have been listed and sold in the past year for our target areas... and that so far there are very few even available now. None that fit the budget and criteria we're looking at.

What most average retail buyers do not understand about foreclosures is you can only buy a foreclosed property if the bank/lender lists it for sale. Period. Many take a year to come to market after a foreclosure is complete. And if it does get listed for sale, you will see it in the property search I have set up.

What happened to this buyer client? A foreclosed property DID hit the market and was sent to them on their property search. It fit the criteria and my clients offered sight-unseen the property the first couple days it was on the market...and won it in a multiple offer! We still laugh about that conversation we had. This was the exception, but they were ready for it after they were educated on the local single family home market.

Lakeview Open House Saturday May 21st 11AM to 1PM: 3127 N Clifton #1, Duplex, Attached Garage!

3127 N Clifton #1 $439,900

Open House
Saturday May 21st, 2011
11AM to 1PM

2 beds, 2.5 baths, family room, attached garage, decks, upgraded and like new

Watch the Video!

Good morning Gold Coast!

Here's a quick mobile shot of a Gold Coast view from our embedded broker. Poor guy! It's no wonder, outside the restaurants, bars, shopping, the beautiful people, the not-so-beautiful but interesting people, the near Loop location, that someone would want to live here for the view alone!

Home pricing and selling not based on supply and demand alone

When discussing home pricing recently for one of our listings, a good point was brought up about supply and demand. Let's see if I can write this to make some sense:

Although we could price a house in a certain manner where there were few similarly priced homes with similar features (most houses are priced higher and inventory generally low for a subject house), this may not dictate that the house would sell close to that listing price. That is, it would get showings due to lack of quality house inventory, but possibly lack features that would elicit a strong offer and sale.

The features of the home and expectation of the buyers at any given time in a local market will determine price and sale of a house. It's a moving target. However, we are with buyers and sellers every day observing the very homes that sell. We gather data from those experiences that will help predict what features and price will sell houses now.

Bottom line: Even if you're the only game in town today's savvy buyers are still going to wait for what they expect and purchase greatly based on expectation rather than inventory.

Watch the Video! A unique Lakeview duplex, awesome location

Take the video tour our listing at 3127 N Clifton #1 in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood. Joe Zekas from YoChicago.com and I really love this part of Lakeview and the great block this condo is on. Location is key! This duplex with attached garage is for sale for $439,900.

Very low assessment and great reserves in the small three unit condo association.
Get more listing information here at Rubloff.com

2011 Lincoln Square single family home sales up slightly, median price down

Lookin' for some sales!

I love Lincoln Square in Chicago and with only a couple weeks left in 2011, I thought we'd look at single family home sales.

To date in the first half of 2011 (5/17/2011), we have 22 closed single family homes with a median price of about $450,000. It's two more closed than at the same point in 2010 (20 homes had closed by 5/17/11) with a median price of about $540,000.

At the 6 month point of 2010 we had 27 homes close for a median price of about $540,000. So far in 2011 There are currently 22 closed homes and 12 homes with PENDING contracts. We should see most of those pending contracts close by the end of the month to surpass the 2010 closed unit sales totals. The median price should end up just under $500,000.

It's important to remember that homes in Lincoln Square west of Western Avenue and north of Foster Avenue can sell for significantly lower than homes east of Western and south of Foster. You can really get a deal under median prices in this area, but you may be doing substantial renovations.