Left undone, simple maintenance tasks around your home can pile up and turn your house into a money pit. Take care of your home year-round, performing small preventative fixes a few at a time. CNN offers this handy list of tasks you can do each month of the year.
Putting mirrors in an entryway or hallway can give the illusion of more space and open it up without having to do any demolition. Just don’t mirror both sides of a hallway, unless you’re into the funhouse effect.
A network of crooked real estate appraisers have been using a combination of identity theft and false appraisals to secure fraudulent mortgages across the country, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune. Criminals have been taking advantage of loose licensing requirements to become home appraisers, or have stolen the identity of legitimate appraisers so they can overstate home values and secure large mortgages. This practice has not only contributed to inflated prices in some areas, but has ruined the reputation and careers of honest appraisers.
A new 28-story condo building is planned for the corner of Lake Shore Drive and Waveland Avenue. The lot will also feature 16 low-rise townhouses. The project signals the end of a three-year zoning fight between the developer, American Invsco, the city, and local aldermen.
Applications for government help in paying heating bills this winter are up by over 41 percent this year. A total of 236,131 Illinois residents have applied for Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program grants, 128,190 of those coming from Cook County alone. The state has been more aggessive this year in getting the word out about the grants.
Most condominium owners are pleased with their relationship with the association board and its management of their building, according to a new national survey by the Community Associations Institute. Of 800 people polled, more than 70 percent reported their living experience as good or very good, and that while living by condo rules can be restrictive, 80 percent said the rules protect their property values.
Make sure you know where the kill switches and cutoff valves for your electricity, water, heating, and cooling systems are located. They’re difficult to find and operate, not just for making repairs, but in an emergency when you’ll need it the most.
Home buyers who can stand the cold may find better deals and an easier, less stressful shopping experience in the winter. That’s because many people simply stay home during the cold weather or put off their decision until the new year, meaning no crowds at sales centers and less competition on homes for sale. Buyers can also find deals on new homes before the new year because the cost of construction materials often increases on January 1.
A residential development revivial on the South Side–and not just in the South Loop–is attacting buyers away from the North Side and the suburbs. Years of undr-investment in the area has left dozens of high-quality buildings and vacant lots ripe for development. Neighborhoods like South Shore, Woodlawn, and Bronzeville offer more bang for the buck, with prices down to $100 per square foot and assessments in the $200 a month range.
The Sun-Times offers these tips for keeping your home safe during the holiday season. Some of them fall under the “Well duh” category, like blowing out candles before you go to bed, but it’s full of good reminders for taking care of your tree and holiday decorations.
The Historic Pullman Foundation is hosting its annual Candlelight Housewalk from 4:30 to 8 PM Saturday in the Pullman Historic District on the South Side. The housewalk will tour five 1880s row houses deckded out for the holidays. The Pullman District is a landmark neighborhood located near 111th and Cottage Grove, and features almost 1000 homes designed by architect Solon Berman in the late 1800s. The area was originally built by railroad magnate George Pullman as a planned community for workers at his luxury railroad car company. The tour starts at the Pullman Visitor Center at 11141 S. Cottage Grove, and tickets are $25.
The Wall Street Journal reports that fewer people are buying real estate as an investment. As the property market slows, speculators–mostly people planning to flip properties and profit from appreciation–are being scared away. This may hasten the market cooldown, but that only makes sense since rampant speculation hastened the market’s heatup.
For buyers, this is good news because homes values will stay at more affordable levels. For owners and potential sellers, while the news means that their home may not appreciate in value as quickly, they can be assured that the market value of their home is more stable and not subject to dramatic decreases at the whims of speculators.
Using solar panels to heat your home may seem like a bizarre concept in Chicago when it’s zero degrees outside, but as long as there is enough sun to make a shadow, you can collect solar heat. Solar panels installed on the roof of a bungalow, townhouse, or two-flat can cut water heating costs by 70 percent, and home heating costs by 40 percent. A solar system for heating your water and home can cost $8,000-16,000, but the government also offers rebates and tax credits for installing solar panels. Plus, over time, that investment generates savings as energy costs inevitably rise.
More Americans are moving to escape high housing costs. People decide that any attachment to a particular city isn’t worth what it costs to live there, and they are moving to smaller, more affordable areas. The usual suspects like Boston, Honolulu, LA, and suburban New York lead the list of places residents are fleeing. Chicago falls somewhere in between, but you don’t have to move far to make a dramatic difference. Take a look at the affordability calculator down the page on the CNN article: cities like Des Moines, Indianapolis, and St. Louis all cost up to 43% less than Chicago.
Most appliances today suck power even when they’re turned off. As long as they’re plugged in, the On/Off switch might as well be called “Idling.”
