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Single home buyers do it for the money -- and the independence

There was a time when people waited until they were married to buy a home. That’s been an old-fashioned notion for a while now. A recent survey by Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, though, confirms that single buyers are accounting for an ever-increasing percentage of today’s home buyers. Coldwell Banker last year conducted a national survey... Read more »
By DanRafter,
April 16, 2011 at 1:48 pm
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Even in today's dismal residential market, owning a home might be the smart financial move

It’s easy to forget that there actually are some nice things about owning a house. Ron Phipps This came up while I was interviewing Ron Phipps, the current president of the National Association of REALTORS. We spoke a lot about falling home values — the median sales price of a home, $156,100, fell to its... Read more »
By DanRafter,
April 11, 2011 at 11:03 am
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Chicagoans and their credit scores: We're middling

Credit scores are king today. Mortgage lenders and banks rely on them to determine to whom they pass out loans and at what interest rates. How are Chicagoans doing when it comes to credit scores? Not great, but OK, as it turns out. National credit bureau Experian — the scummy folks behind all those advertisements... Read more »
By DanRafter,
October 5, 2010 at 1:50 pm
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Chicagoans can't keep still, apparently

There are a lot of us in Chicago who don’t like where we live. Not the city, of course. We like that. We just want to live somewhere else in it. At least that’s what the latest numbers from Movers.com, an online provider of moving information, seem to suggest. Movers.com released its latest round of... Read more »
By DanRafter,
October 1, 2010 at 11:58 am
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It doesn't pay to be a small business today

Small businesses are struggling. Just ask John Robinson. He’s executive vice president with the Indianapolis office of Jones Lang LaSalle, a commercial real estate company. When he looks at the commercial real estate market across Indianapolis and its suburbs, he notices one thing: Those tenants that want to lease space in the 10,000- to 30,000-square-foot... Read more »
By DanRafter,
September 29, 2010 at 8:53 pm
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Do we really want Realtors to market to us?

As a freelance writer, I sometimes write things that I don’t really believe. It comes with the job. I think about this every time I get a new e-mail from a local Realtor in my inbox. The problem is, I never asked for this Realtor to send me any of his obviously automated messages. I... Read more »
By DanRafter,
September 28, 2010 at 9:34 pm
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Looking for a quick real estate turnaround? How about waiting until 2015?

Albert Berriz Are things getting better yet in the real estate world? No one knows the answer to that. But those people working in the business say that anyone who expects a quick real estate turnaround, on both the residential and commercial sides of the business, is bound to be disappointed. Yesterday, for example, I... Read more »
By DanRafter,
September 22, 2010 at 3:25 pm
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Want a home that's more attractive to buyers? Live by the Metra

Living close to a Metra station is a good financial move. When my family and I were looking for a new home four years ago, we searched until we found one within walking distance — or bike-riding distance if we’re in a rush — of a Metra station. Turns out, that was a wise financial... Read more »
By DanRafter,
September 18, 2010 at 2:43 pm
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Even the ritzy Chicago suburbs have sluggish housing markets

When I was a kid, we considered a trip to the Plush Horse ice cream parlor in Palos Park to be a real treat. And why not? The ice cream was great. It still is. The housing market in Palos Park, though, isn’t so terrific these days. In fact, it’s a lot like it is... Read more »
By DanRafter,
September 15, 2010 at 9:24 pm
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Why so stressed out Chicago?

Trying to get to work each morning in the Chicago area is no easy task. Housing values here are falling. The unemployment rate in Chicago stood at 10.5 percent in July, higher than the national average. And a new report from the Federal Reserve said that the economy in Chicago is actually slowing. It’s all... Read more »
By DanRafter,
September 13, 2010 at 2:31 pm
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