September 2006

I remember two or three years ago working with some buyers that were making full price offers on properties and still losing out. I lost some of these frustrated buyers who decided to wait until the market slowed down.

That time is now here. Home sales are down from last year. In some areas there is double the inventory available. Although it doesn't seem to have affected prices yet, I am seeing a price reduction trend from current listings that have not sold, some having been listed for months.

This is bad news for sellers but if you're thinking of buying this might be the time to do it. Not only are we seeing a general downturn from the record years we had witnessed, but we are also seeing our normal seasonal slowdown. For sellers that need to

Last night my husband and I met with 4 other friends for dinner at Pegasus Restaurant in Chicago's Greektown area.  For the week we had the plans made I thought we were meeting at the Parthenon and kept questioning my husband when we were the first to arrive.  I wasn't sure until I got inside that I had eaten lunch here about 7 years ago.

It is not the largest restaurant in the Greektown area but it is very comfortable and cute.  There is a large menu and it was difficult to make one choice.  I ordered the baked Grecian chicken and chose it over the roasted because it was getting late and I didn't want to wait an extra 15 minutes for the cooking time.  I was very happy with my choice.

I only tried one of the appetizers that was ordered which was

On Labor Day my family and I visited the Field Museum to see the King Tut exhibit.  We started out going to see Da Vinci's inventions at the Museum of Science and Industry but it was sold out. 

I had seen the King Tut exhibit in the early 90's and it was pretty impressive.  It was a real tour with tomb-like walls.  In fact, I got a little claustrophobic on the spiral staircase built to get to the upper level.

I was disappointed with this exhibit.  It was mainly smaller artifacts in glass cases.  In fact, some of the display prior to entering the actual exhibit (the free stuff), was just as interesting, if not more.  Without paying for the tour (I believe general admission is $12.00 and with the tour it was $26.00), you could still see mummies and a

Today's implementation of the Cook County Predatory Lending Database Pilot Program will cause an interesting real estate climate in the areas affected.  It is also known as House Bill 4050 and was passed by Illinois General Assembly and signed into law by the Governor in 2005.  The zip codes affected are 60620, 60621, 60623, 60628, 60629, 60632, 60636, 60638, 60643 and 60652.

The basis for this program is to ensure that predatory lending no longer exists by forcing extra steps in the mortgage process.  Basically, information about mortgage borrowers purchasing in the above zip codes has to now go through the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (“DFPR” or “Department”).  Based on certain established criteria, the Department will