Feb. 7 at 7:23 a.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Real estate
Actor Jeff Garlin. (Tribune)
ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | Actor and comedian Jeff Garlin and his wife have paid close to $600,000 to buy a vintage six-room condominium unit on the Gold Coast, less than a block from Lake Michigan.
A Chicago native and a Second City alum, Garlin, 48, is best known for his longtime role as Larry David’s manager Jeff Greene on HBO’s popular “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Garlin also has appeared in more than two dozen films, including a major role in “The Bounty Hunter” and a significant voice role in “WALL-E.” Get the full story »
Feb. 1 at 1:57 p.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Real estate
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
The number of households forced to spend more than half of their monthly income on rent and possibly also live in severely substandard conditions rose by more than 20 percent between 2007 and 2009, the federal government said Tuesday.
Almost 7.1 million low-income households were defined as having “worst case housing needs” as a result of joblessness, rising rents and a general lack of affordable rental housing. Get the full story »
Feb. 1 at 12:44 p.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Real estate,
Sports
By Bob Goldsborough | Elite Street | Former Chicago Bulls guard Ben Gordon has tried to sell his three-bedroom townhome in Northbrook since August. Now, he has become motivated, cutting the 2,465-square-foot townhome’s asking price on Jan. 10 to $610,000 from $800,000 .
Gordon, 27, played for the Bulls from 2004 until 2009, when he signed a five-year, $55 million deal with the Detroit Pistons. Get the full story »
By Ameet Sachdev
Ventas Inc., a Chicago-based real estate investment trust, plans to offer 5.5 million shares in a public offering to raise money to repay existing mortgage debt and for other purposes, the company said Tuesday. Get the full story »
Jan. 31 at 4:36 p.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Mortgages,
Real estate
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
The number of delinquent Chicago-area borrowers in permanent mortgage loan modifications fell in December for the first time since the government started its program to help troubled consumers keep their homes.
According to Treasury Department data released Monday, 27,121 local borrowers have received permanent loan modifications since the Home Affordable Modification Program began 21 months ago, compared with 27,176 in November. Get the full story »
Jan. 27 at 3:07 p.m.
Filed under:
Government,
Housing,
Real estate
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
The Illinois Housing Development Authority said it completed the allocation of $359.2 million in federal funds used to build and rehab almost 5,500 affordable rental homes for working families, seniors and people with disabilities.
The state housing agency received the funds as part of the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Developments with Chicago accounted for more than $115 million of the disbursement.
Jan. 27 at 9:17 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Housing,
Real estate
By Associated Press
The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes rose in December, marking the fifth increase in six months.
The National Association of Realtors says its index of sales agreements for previously occupied homes rose 2 percent last month. The index posted a 3.1 percent increase in November. Get the full story »
Jan. 27 at 7:49 a.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Real estate
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Google Maps is getting out of the house-hunting game, at least for now. In a blog post this week, the company said it would “retire” on Feb. 10 the search option box on Google Maps that allows users to search for property for sale or rent in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Japan. Get the full story »
Jan. 26 at 11:17 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Housing,
Real estate
By CNN
New home sales climbed 17.5 percent in December to the highest level in eight months, the government reported Wednesday.
Sales of newly built single-family homes rose to an annual rate of 329,000 units last month, from a revised 280,000 units the month before, the Commerce Department said. That was the highest level since April but still down 7.6 percent from 2009. Get the full story »
By Dow Jones Newswires
The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission has concluded that the 2008 financial crisis in the U.S. was caused by a combination of corporate errors, regulatory failure and excessive risk-taking by Wall Street firms, the New York Times reported online Tuesday. Get the full story »
Jan. 25 at 8:40 a.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Real estate
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Home prices in Chicago fell to their lowest level in November since local prices peaked in September 2006, according to a widely watched index.
In the Chicago area, prices were just slightly lower than where they were in March 2010, and that was in line with prices in the spring of 2002, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index. Prices fell 2.2 percent in November from October, and were down 7.6 percent from November 2009. Get the full story »
Jan. 24 at 10:47 a.m.
Filed under:
Chicago executives,
Housing,
Real estate
Elite Street | By Bob Goldsborough | Former Tribune Co. Chief Executive Randy Michaels has listed his 31st-floor, penthouse condominium unit in Streeterville for $989,000.
Tribune Co. Chairman Sam Zell named Michaels, whose real name is Benjamin Homel, to the company’s executive team in December 2007 and promoted him to CEO in late 2009. Michaels resigned under pressure in October, after weeks of escalating allegations that he and some associates that he had recruited had tarnished the company with boorish, sexist behavior. Get the full story »
Trib Local | No qualified bids were made for the Riverside Square development in Algonquin, so a demolition hearing is the next step for the unfinished project once owned by Amcore Bank.
Jan. 20 at 2:55 p.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Real estate
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Sales of existing homes in the Chicago area rose appreciably in December from the previous month but were still down almost 10 percent from their year-ago comparison, the Illinois Association of Realtors reported Thursday.
For the year though, thanks to a tax credit that helped sales during the first six months, Chicago-area sales of single-family homes and condos were down only 0.5 percent from 2009, to 69,010 homes sold last year. The median price of $185,000 in 2010 was a 5.6 percent drop from the previous year but the declines in median price varied widely across the area. Get the full story »
Jan. 20 at 9:08 a.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Mortgages,
Real estate
By Associated Press
Rates on the 30-year fixed mortgages rose slightly this week, following increases in Treasury yields. Freddie Mac says the average rate rose to 4.74 percent this week from 4.71 percent the previous week. It hit a 40-year low of 4.17 percent in November. Get the full story »
