From the same folks who brought you Center Square Journal, Roscoe View Journal is a new hyperlocal news site focused on the Chicago neighborhoods of Roscoe Village and West Lakeview. Check out both of them for community-level news on events, dining, nightlife, local politics, and more.
With Chicago’s big newspapers slashing newsroom staff and alt-weeklies forced to survive on shoestring budgets, coverage of the city’s various neighborhoods increasingly falls through the cracks. That’s where “hyperlocal” sites like The Center Square Ledger come in. Launched this week, it covers the Lincoln Square, North Center, and Ravenswood Manor neighborhoods exclusively, from local elections to events to feature stories about neighborhood residents and businesses. Those of you who live in one of these great Northside communities or are thinking of moving there should definitely check it out.
If you’re a user of Twitter, the fast-growing social networking and messaging platform, there are lots of Chicago specific feeds to follow. Here are some of our favorites
If you haven’t signed up for Twitter already, it’s easy, and the service is amazingly addictive (in a good way). Enjoy!
Despite the constant emphasis placed on home values in the media, a recent survery by Coldwell Banker found that only 5 percent of Americans view their homes primarily as investments. A vast majority, 67 percent, viewed their homes as just that, a place to live, and all things remaining the same, would not trade up to a new home if given the chance. The survey results seem to reflect a high level of attachment to homes, a contrast to the wheeling, dealing, and home equity raiding attitudes that press coverage of the last few years of the real estate market would have one believe. Read more for the survey’s results on why people choose to move, and what they really want when they do.
This week’s New York Times Magazine is all about real estate. It includes a look at how we view our homes when we take financial risks to buy them, a profile of Harvard real estate expert Edward Glaeser, a critical take on the mortgage interest tax deduction, and the story of a 400-year old house in Amsterdam and what it can tell us about the housing market. Plus, Freakonomics authors Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt continue their jihad against real estate agents, couched in their best, non-assuming, “Aw shucks nothing personal, we’re just crunchin’ numbers” kind of language.
The New York Times has a new real estate blog called The Walk Through. It’s been up and running for about a month now, but looks like it’s getting updated a good 5-6 times a day. It’s worth a read, a good source of more national real estate news.
If you’re downtown today, get out and celebrate the White Sox World Series championship. A ticker-tape parade starts at LaSalle and Jackson at noon, ending in a rally at LaSalle and Wacker at 12:30.
Don’t forget to turn back your clocks this weekend as Daylight Savings Time ends. The time officially changes at 2 AM on Sunday, so turn your clock back one hour before going to bed on Saturday if you’re not still up already.
HGTV’s Buy Me is sure to make some interesting watching, as “determined real estate agents” and “disenchanted homeowners” face a deadline to sell a home. The show premieres tonight at 8 PM CST.
One sure sign that the real estate market has reached a boil is a corresponding boom in books about real estate. Amazon.com now lists 16,177 publications with the words “real estate” in their titles. Unfortunately, this is also a sign that the bandwagon is full, as amateurs and opportunists pile on and try to make a quick buck.
Having Eminem as a nephew is probably a good thing overall. Just don’t cross him over your house payments. From Yahoo Music.
On a lighter note, show your disdain for fears of a housing bubble with one of these nifty t-shirts. The shirt is inspired by the Mr. Bubble bath foam packaging. More info on the shirts and their creators at Yahoo.
