Back in November we wrote a post helping you to understand your property tax bills and why they're increasing in a recession. First installment property tax bills are due to go out soon, if they haven't already. Which means you that are homeowners are going to pop the same blood vessels you popped three months ago. more ›

If you're a homeowner in Cook County and saw a sharp increase in your property taxes with your second installment, you're probably wondering how the hell that happened in a depressed housing market. In the city of Chicago, 54 percent of residential property tax bills went up. Before you start tending to your wounds, let's note that the suburbs got hit worse; more than 80 percent of suburban homeowners saw an increase in their second installments. Chances are that if your taxes haven't gone up significantly, you're the exception and not the rule. So why, are you asking, are your property taxes going up now when the value of your home is less than it was three years ago, when the housing market was at the peak of its most recent boom? more ›

The foreclosure crisis is far from over, according to a new report released from National People’s Action, a grassroots research and organizing group in Chicago. The study shows that a home in Chicago was foreclosed on every 22 minutes throughout 2009, a total of 23,200 homes. This is a 16% increase since last year. The report also highlights foreclosure “hotspots,” pointing out the areas that have more than two new foreclosures per city block. more ›

After a dismal past six months for the housing market, real estate agents say they are finally starting to see marked increased activity. more ›

Mayor Daley sure is busy. Or at least chatty. more ›

In case there were any lingering skeptics, this recession thingy is for real. more ›

$15 million buys a nice apartment, especially in the future. Shelbourne Development has officially open a sales office for the 1,194 residences in the Spire, the upcoming architectural marvel and source of an absolutely endless number of wiener jokes. Units—zing!—are priced at around $1,400 per square foot; according to the Trib, most luxury condos in Chicago cost between $750 and $1,100 per square foot. And...our eyeballs just turned to dollar signs. more ›

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Chicagoist. more ›

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Chicagoist. more ›

During last week’s sleet storm we ducked into the South Loop Wine Cellar on the walk home from the Museum Campus. Half-frozen, soaked and more concerned with warming up than with finding a new shopping destination, we were pleasantly surprised by what we found inside. Warm, welcoming and filled with wine bins, exposed bricks and a beautiful Christmas tree, the store was the perfect place for us to stop. With all of the hype surrounding the opening of the South Loop location of Sam’s Wine and Spirits, some may have missed this much smaller, but much cozier, destination. more ›

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Chicagoist. Dewars Repeal Day, because you shouldn't take the right to have a drink for granted. The Backroom, playing tonight at The Note. Homes for Working Families, because who hasn't been squeezed out of the housing market? Sony Card, because you'll get a free MP3 player if you apply. Choice Hotels, because you can win a part to be in their next... more ›

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Chicagoist. The Backroom, playing at The Note on 11/23. Homes for Working Families, because who hasn't been squeezed out of the housing market? Sony Card, because you'll get a free MP3 player if you apply. Choice Hotels, because you can win a part to be in their next commercial! Busted Tees, where you get free shipping with the purchase of three shirts.... more ›

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Chicagoist. AMEX Urban Adventures, because big cities are full of little adventures. The Backroom, playing at The Note on 11/23. Homes for Working Families, because who hasn't been squeezed out of the housing market? Choice Hotels, because you can win a part to be in their next commercial! Busted Tees, where they've thrown their weight behind Hillary in '08. That's Hillary Duff.... more ›

In a report published Monday, the Chicago Reporter found that Chicago is the the nation's capital for "high-cost" home loans. The study, looking at three years' worth of federal home-loan data, showed that in 2006, "the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet metropolitan statistical area, which includes Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, McHenry and Will counties" led the nation, with 88,315 “high-cost” mortgages. "High-cost" mortgages are defined as first-lien home loans that are at least three percentage points above... more ›

Now that we've gone 21 days since legislators approved a budget, Governor Blagojevich is starting to talk like he really will veto parts of the bill. You may remember his promise to cut $500 million in pork and special projects from the bill, and to move money around to cover his universal health plan. According to the Associated Press, there's no shortage of ludicrous and silly spending in this budget, including hosting a sister city... more ›

Have you dropped by Grant Park this summer for the city's Movies in the Park? Even if you haven't, there are a whole bunch of great movies playing in a park near you. Why are we bring this up in a post on politics? Because it's one of the many things that we love about Chicago: it connects us more with who we are as a city of neighborhoods. We were thinking about this earlier... more ›

The White Sox signed infielder Eduardo Perez to a minor-league contract on Monday. Awesome because all he does is strike out or hit home runs. Who's puncturing the tires of a couple dozen school buses in the suburbs? Although the police maintain that officers acted appropriately in the shooting death of Cornelius Ware, a 20-year-old paraplegic, the city has agreed to pay his family $5.2 million. John H. Bryan and Richard Gray, who helped... more ›

While wiping the sweat off their brows and pouring themselves a nice scotch, the National Association of Realtors projected a much brighter outlook for the ailing housing market for 2007. With an annual incline of 6.29 million in the first quarter of next year, all the parts of the economy that seem like they have nothing to do with houses being bought or sold will start to perk up, too, which is good since sales... more ›

We’ve experienced renters' guilt by throwing away our hard-earned cash each month instead of pouring it into a home we can call our very own. What with the staggering jumps in home values over the past few years, homeowners who bought a home before the peak of home costs seem to have it made. Higher home values! Tons of cash! Personal piggy bank right there on your lawn! Unfortunately for homeowners, along with the higher... more ›

Despondent over not being able to afford your mortgage? Flummoxed at how your rent always seems to be going up? Outraged at how condos are changing the make-up of our neighborhoods? Then you're probably not going to want to hear about the latest trend in the housing market: ginormous mansions formulated for the stinkin' rich. Today's Tribune Magazine gives a rundown of some spectacular houses under construction in Lincoln Park. Sara Crown Star's new house... more ›

In what may be another effect of the softening housing market we discussed yesterday, the Falor Corporation, an aggressive condo conversion company, pulled the plug on Nicky Hilton’s much-discussed condo-hotel project at 500 S. Dearborn St. Paris’ little sis was to help Falor convert the Printers Row’s Hotel Blake into a “calmer version” of her South Beach prototype. Condo-hotels, in which investors buy individual hotel rooms to use as a residential condo, and then allow... more ›

Despite its red-hot housing market the Bridgeport neighborhood so far is free of the retail chains that epitomize the march of gentrification, if not modern urban living altogether. Chicagoist understands that many of its readers enjoy a piping hot cup of Starbucks- we can’t get through a morning without a mocha or a caramel macchiato ourselves. Between Intelligentsia’s downtown location and the handful of independent coffee shops we’ve long championed- like Kopi in Andersonville,... more ›