Abraham Lincoln, one of Illinois' most famous favorite sons, was born on February, 12, 1809, making this year the 200th anniversary of his birth. Although Abe was born in Kentucky and grew up in Indiana, he spent most of his adult life in Illinois. He was especially fond of Springfield, of which he said. "To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe every thing. Here I have lived for a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old man."  Both because of his personal contributions to the nation and the continual relevance of the battles he waged for race and civil rights, Lincoln's bicentennial has been observed all around the country. Right here on the North Shore, gala celebrations of his life have been underway all summer.  To join in the Lincoln celebrations ... 08/18/2009

Adding a rental unit or in-law suite to your home used to be something you did in the dead of night, hoping the neighbours wouldn't notice and turn you in to the local bylaw enforcement officers. But in recent years, municipalities have been much more accepting of secondary suites in single-family homes. From a housing policy point of view, secondary suites are a good thing because they offer generally affordable housing in areas that already have municipal services, and no government assistance is required. Since little rental housing is being built these days, it helps renters find accommodation. It doesn't contribute to urban sprawl and it makes good use of existing homes, helping to keep them well-maintained. From a homeowner's point of view, having a secondary suite provides income... 08/18/2009

The House and Senate may have left Capitol Hill for their August break, but housing lobbyists are busy at work gearing up a major campaign to extend the $8,000 home buyer tax credit.The credit for first-time purchasers is scheduled to expire November 30.The National Association of Home Builders and the National Association of Realtors want to persuade Congress to nail down an extension of the credit, and maybe even broaden its coverage, as soon as possible.The home builders are mounting an aggressive campaign during the congressional recess. The association is sending out local teams of members to meet with congressmen and senators in their home districts, urging not only a one year extension of the credit, but an expansion of the concept to cover all home buyers next year, not just fir... 08/17/2009

Recent figures show that home values fell 12.1 percent from last year in the second quarter of 2009.Zillow has reported that 18 of 142 declining markets, have seen at least three consecutive quarters of smaller year over year home value declines."While we are encouraged by the increasing sales in many markets and the overall improvement in the rate of decline of the Zillow Home Value Index, I hesitate to be overly optimistic for the near future," said Dr. Stan Humphries, Zillow chief economist. "There are still many hurdles to true market recovery. Foreclosure re-sales are buoying overall sales numbers, but their low prices are keeping home values down. Reports of increasing mortgage defaults signal that foreclosures are likely to increase again and peak in mid-2010. With increasing une... 08/14/2009

When it comes to real estate, buying more may be a better long-term plan than settling for what lenders insist your current income dictates. If your income is not high enough to finance the purchase of the single-family house you'd prefer, consider buying a revenue-generating property to boost your buying power and enhance your long-term financial prospects. * Instead of a first-time purchase that's a shoe-box-sized condominium unit, a handyman's special or something at the end of a long commute, consider a move to an apartment where you're the landlord and the real tenants pay rent that becomes your cash flow. * When the final child moves out for the final time, rather than life-by-committee in a condominium or taking on almost as much maintenance in a scaled-down bungalow, why not loo... 08/13/2009

Wilmette's School District 39 has come to the conclusion that the Wilmette Junior High School located at 620 Locust Road in Wilmette, is in need of some renovations. A recent study determined that the Junior High School's science labs, described as "classrooms with sinks", are totally inadequate to allow students to study today's hot topics such as pollution.  Not wanting to use more taxpayer dollars, the school district is hoping to be able to raise money from private donations and government sources for the multi-million dollar project. Applications have already been made for state funds which have been set up for school construction projects. District 39 may also be able to qualify for certain energy grants and stimulus money.  Currently, the School Board is thinking of removing a bu... 08/13/2009

Fall is the time when most homeowner associations go through the ritual of counting last year’s cost and crunching next year’s numbers hoping to squeeze blood out of the community turnip. While the well is often dry, or close to it, crunch you must. Here are some of the ways to make the cash flow more freely. Adjust by Inflation: This is a no brainer. Check the area Consumer Price Index - CPI (governmentese for “tax increase”) and raise all budget items by at least that amount. An exception is utilities which enjoy a larger and incomprehensible rate increase based on the utilities the utility companies expect not to sell added to the cost of maintaining antiquated power generation plants plus a fudge factor they hope to slip by the utility rate commission (just a little budget humor ☺).... 08/12/2009

Today's post is the beginning of a series of tips and tricks to get your home ready to go on the market. Our first tip is about remodeling the bathroom - one of the more cost-effective upgrades you can make in terms of getting your money back at resale.  While it will probably cost around $10,500 to replace the tub and the surrounding tile, the toilet, the floor, and the vanity with its sink(s) and fixtures, you may be able to get by without spending quite this much.  If you do wind up adding a new toilet or tub, buy them in white as this allows the new homeowner more decorating leeway in the years ahead. Plus, white fixtures are usually less expensive, always a good thing to consider.  If your tub is full of chips, has lost its color, or simply can't be removed because it's too big, co... 08/11/2009

There were big doings at the White House last week over the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the ailing giants who still finance roughly six out of ten new home mortgages in the U.S. The Obama administration confirmed that it is putting together overhaul plans to restructure Fannie and Freddie, and maybe strip away their money-losing toxic loan portfolios to create a single, new super mortgage source. How the administration's plans develop over the coming weeks could prove crucially important for home buyers, sellers, builders and other realty professionals -- and could expand, or restrict, the types of mortgages available in the marketplace. If, for instance, the replacement for Fannie and Freddie is confined solely to buying the safest, least-likely-to-default types of mortgages,... 08/11/2009

An Oakland, California real estate investment fund is carving out a niche that might work in other areas with roughly similar demographics: Acquiring and turning around lower-cost single family houses in neighborhoods outside San Francisco with strong mass-transit connections to urban employment centers and good job-growth potentials. But rather than flipping the houses it acquires and fixes up, McKinley Partners is renting them out for as long as five years in a two-step strategy - pocketing solid cash flow in the interim, and banking on a stronger sales market down the road. McKinley has raised $6 million for purchases in targeted neighborhoods: It scrupulously avoids subdivision houses, it pays no more than $80,000 to $90,000 cash per unit - prices that are often drastically below wh... 08/07/2009

When selling a home, there are many factors which affect market value and the eventual sale price of a home, such as location, condition, size, amenities, features, improvements and upgrades, local economic conditions, the current real estate market and mortgage interest rates, among others. Some of these factors are within the control of the owner, and others are beyond the control of the owner. The definition of Fair Market Value includes various terms such as: the most probable price which a property should bring in a competitive and open market under all conditions requisite to a fair sale; the buyer and seller each acting prudently and knowledgeably; assuming the price is not affected by undue stimulus; normal marketing time period, informed buyer and seller. In helping owners obta... 08/06/2009

Want to live on the beach but don't want to buy ocean-front property? If you prefer life in the Chicago area, the best beaches you're likely to find are on beautiful Lake Michigan. Due to the poor economy there are more lakefront properties for sale now than is usually the case. Many boast their own private beaches, some have boat launches, and of course, access to the lake itself.  Since lending is tight, a buyer with cash-in-hand can easily pick up a historic landmark or a new home along Chicago's North Shore. There are listings available from $2.3 million up to $15 million and several in between in Glencoe, Highland Park, Winnetka, Lake Bluff, and Lake Forest. Even Wilmette has two beachfront listings; here you can get a four bedroom on an acre of land with a pool and its own beach f... 08/06/2009

When selling a home, there are many factors which affect market value and the eventual sale price of a home, such as location, condition, size, amenities, features, improvements and upgrades, local economic conditions, the current real estate market and mortgage interest rates, among others. Some of these factors are within the control of the owner, and others are beyond the control of the owner. The definition of Fair Market Value includes various terms such as: the most probable price which a property should bring in a competitive and open market under all conditions requisite to a fair sale; the buyer and seller each acting prudently and knowledgeably; assuming the price is not affected by undue stimulus; normal marketing time period, informed buyer and seller. In helping owners obta... 08/05/2009

The Obama administration put heavy pressure on the country's largest home loan servicers last week to speed up modifications of hundreds of thousands of homeowners' mortgages.But the series of lender meetings with the Treasury department and HUD was the smiley-face side of a double edged strategy: If lenders and loan servicers don't pick up the pace of modifications dramatically, Congress is poised to force them to do so.Here's what's taking shape and what it may mean to home owners behind on their loans:The White House extracted promises from the 25 largest mortgage servicers - including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup - to accelerate the pace of their loan restructurings under the administration's “Home Affordable Modification Program.”The immediate goal is to get at least... 08/04/2009

It's almost time again for the Hair Cuttery Share A Haircut program. Take your kids into any Hair Cuttery and have their hair cut and a disadvantaged child in your community will get a free hair cut from the Hair Cuttery. This is the 10th Annual Share A Haircut event and in the past nine years, the 800 Hair Cuttery shops around the country have given away over 450,000 haircuts to underprivileged kids. This year's program is running from August 1st through August 15th with free haircut coupons being given out via the local Social Services Agencies after August 15th - just in time for everyone to get a haircut for starting back to school. Thanks to you and the Hair Cuttery, now all those back-to-schoolers can have a great new haircut and the confident feeling they'll get from looking good... 08/04/2009

When you put your home on the market, you want buyers strolling in but sometimes, during the hot weather, you find the ants come marching in too and that certainly doesn't help a potential sale. It may not seem like much of a problem but if you've had ants then you know what a headache this can be especially if you have buyers coming into your home daily."First of all you have to understand why the ants go on the march, says Steven Coy, President of Happy Pest Control. He explains that ants view your home as a place of refuge. "Inside it's cooler and the ants associate coolness with a greater probability that there's moisture there. They don't understand how we build houses though; we build them to stay dry. So even when it's air conditioned and freezing it's still dry as a bone unless ... 08/03/2009

There was an important piece of economic news last week that has HUGE significance for real estate and housing, but it got minimal coverage on TV and in print. The Conference Board's Index of Leading Economic Indicators, widely acknowledged as the most accurate predictor of future activity and output in the U.S. economy, rose by almost a point in June. That was the third straight month of positive growth. But more importantly, it was the first time since 2004 that the index has increased for three consecutive months. That's crucial for real estate because housing sales, production and prices are closely tied to movements in the overall economy: jobs, manufacturing, exports, household incomes and the like. There's no way we're going to see a sizable housing recovery until the economy pul... 07/31/2009

Question: I was recently fined $300 for not letting the board know about a tenant moving into the HOA within a timely manner (I did so within a week). Isn’t there a grace period of sorts to allow for communicating this information? Also, $300 seems excessive. Answer: A $300 penalty is not reasonable. This is the kind of fining policy that would probably cause a judge to revoke the entire fine and fine the HOA for having such a policy for such a petty issue. Fines should be reasonable and "fit the crimes". Question: Our HOA recently completed a major reconstruction project and the board would like to celebrate the event with a barbeque. Can the HOA pay for the function or should we have a potluck? Answer: Budgets for most HOAs are barely enough to cover required expenses, much less socia... 07/30/2009

If parents feel the need to help their children buy a future home and have the assets available to do so, one way that will benefit both parents and child is to use a qualified personal residence trust (QPRT). This means that the parents will move their primary residence or perhaps a vacation home from their estate into the trust, while remaining in residence in the home.  The trust is written to allow the parents use of the home for a specified number of years. At the end of the specified number of years, ownership to the house goes to the beneficiaries, which in this case are the children. If the parents are still living when the time expires, the home goes to the children free of further estate or gift taxes.  Often parents will continue to live in the home after the term has expired... 07/30/2009

A plan that first surfaced a couple of years ago, aimed at allowing foreclosed homeowners to remain in their homes as renters, is gaining greater attention today. "The basic point is you're recognizing an unusual situation so you're temporarily changing the rules on foreclosure," says co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Dean Baker, who first proposed the plan. He says foreclosures are rising and nothing else appears to be working. "As it stands now, if I hold the mortgage on a house and the person hasn't met the payments, I go to the judge and say 'Look this person hasn't met the payments.' The homeowner is given a certain number of days and, if payments aren't met by then, the house is mine. I throw [the homeowner] out on the street," says Baker. Baker's plan pr... 07/29/2009