Chitownproperty

Is it worth it to redo kitchen? — chicagotribune.com
One of the most common questions sellers ask us is whether or not they should remodel their home before putting it on the market. The kitchen is an obvious target because it has the most features that are susceptible to changes in style and taste. [...]

Remodel on the cheap - CNNMoney.com
You don’t have to spend a fortune to remodel a kitchen or bathroom, if you’re willing to buy used. Second-hand appliances and kitchen fixtures, floor models, and antiques can fit your style and budget. Check out the Building Materials Reuse Association and Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore directories for [...]

Talk about useful: the Tribune has posted a checklist of home maintenance tasks broken down month by month for the entire year.

The Historic Chicago Bungalow Association’s annual Green Home Expo returns to the Merchandise Mart this Saturday, October 27, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The event will feature 150 vendors and 15 seminars about green building and restoration technology, including how to finance a green restoration and navigating Chicago’s building permit process.

The 2007 Historic Chicago Bungalow and Green Home Expo is coming to the Merchandise Mart on October 27. That somewhat cumbersome name refers to an expo where homeowners can visit 150 vendors and attend 15 seminars focued on historic renovation and green technology. The show isn’t just limited to historic bungalow owners though, [...]

Making your home greener isn’t just the right thing to do for the environment, it can save you money too. This recent article in the Sun-Times includes a number of steps for updating your heating and cooling systems and modifying your water usage to make them more environmentally friendly, like installing a programmable thermostat, [...]

Despite valiant attempts by the Illinois House of Representatives to reinstate the freeze on electricity rates from ComEd, Chicagoans should be bracing for at least a 25 percent hike in their bills this month. The House passed a measure to freeze ComEd’s rates another three years, after the utility company held an auction late [...]

Buyers commonly request home warranties in today’s market, as a way of squeezing one more concession out of eager sellers. But not every warranty is the same, so you need to read the fine print before assuming that your expenses will be covered for the first year in your new home.
Warranties on existing homes [...]

CNN is reporting this year’s list of most profitable home renovation projects. The top two, outdoor siding replacements, may not have much relevance for Chicago buyers in the condo market, but it’s a good option for those with single-family homes. Siding replacements recouped an average of 87-88% of their cost. Window replacements [...]

Negotiating a purchase price is hard enough these days, but many real estate deals break down during the second round of negotiations over inspection issues. Both buyers and sellers have to be willing to compromise, and perhaps forfeit a little money or pride in the name of closing the deal. This article from [...]

Not every home upgrade pays off when you try to sell your home. In fact, a few can actually hurt your resale value. Don’t get mad at your boss for cheaping out on the holiday bonus this year, you might not have wanted that pool anyway. The top four downers:

Swimming pools
Poorly-designed additions
Trendy [...]

Remodeling your kitchen probably has the biggest impact on your home’s value of any project. But it requires careful consideration. How much should you spend? How long are you planning to stay in the house? And what is the standard kitchen in the neighborhood like? You don’t want to spend [...]

With much of the leverage in the real estate market swinging to buyers, they have become more demanding in their lists of must-haves for potential homes. High-end upgrades like walk-in closets and stone countertops are essential in new homes, but different groups of buyers focus on different things. Many younger buyers are looking [...]

Obviously a remodeling project can make a big mess in your house, but it’s probably worth your money to hire one more contractor to do the cleaning, and do it before you move back into the new rooms. Properly cleaning the dust, adhesives, and scraps left behind isn’t just hard work, it takes special [...]

From the New York Times this week, Americans poured a record amount of money into home remodeling projects, but even experts can’t predict how much value that money spent adds to a home. Kermit Baker, a senior research fellow at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard, said that said researchers at the [...]