From having interviewed a number of the buyers I can tell you that their “selling points” differ. Architecture, the overall aesthetic and the views attracted some people. For most, the price point and low assessments due to low amenities counted heavily.

Proximity to the El, Union Station and the Expressway were important to other buyers. So, yes, there are residents at 235 whose commute isn’t pedestrian.

The water taxi is a great way to get to Michigan Ave, Navy Pier and Chinatown for shopping, dining and events rather than just for a work-related commute. It’s fun and it’s a cheap and predictable ride.

It can also be noted, those “24 hour sale stats” are probably dependent on when the data is entered into MLS etc… That is, a house may hit the market and have many offers within 24 hours. However, the seller may wait days to accept an offer. It’s common a house is effectively sold in hours, but officially the status would not be changed to “under contract” for days or even a week while details are worked out and Realtors get around to changing the status.

About 1/3 of area suburbs are dumps, you can’t give away homes there.

Check out our Lincoln Park apartment list also – the major management companies should have a lot of offerings in your price range.

First off, I appreciate the sheer amount of work that’s gone into this site—invaluable for someone planning to move here, as I’m planning to. I’ve been following this site for a while now, (while I wait for my house sale, and other assorted domestics here in the UK, to go through); watching rentals come and go, and trying hard to sort out the ‘good guys’ from the ‘bad guys’ for when I am free to take the plunge myself.

I got pretty demoralized the first time I went through Yelp reviews for the Management companies list…! I know not all reviews are bad, but you end up suspicious of the good ones too. So, I’ve been mainly following the listings via Coldwell Banker, Koenig & Strey and Prudential Rubloff: looking for something ‘decent’ (read ‘quiet’, as I work from home) in Lincoln Park for around the $1500 mark, but even a Koenig listing can link to property listed by Apartment Guys LLC — an outfit who feature there on your Do Not Call list. Which gets those apprehension levels rising one again.

It’s hard, and there’s a lot to take in. I so want to get this first rental right, and not get completely fleeced in the first few days.

Cheers,
Thanks again,
DB

One has to believe that was considered – but a luxury condo / hotel tower and rental apartments have very different requirements.

After interviewing at a few traditional brokerages and not having a “sphere of influence” to speak of I decided to check out a few apartment finders, maybe get my feet wet for a couple years and build up a clientele. The Exchange was the first apartment finder to call me back and offer a job.

I had not yet taken the state licensing test, but I could start with a 120 day temporary leasing license. I filled out the paperwork for the the temporary license, but I later found out it was never filed with the state.

With my zero experience in Real Estate the office, although very casual seemed legit enough to me at first. At the time The Chicago Reader print version and website was the main way people found apartments in Chicago, The Exchange had plenty of ads there. At the time the major management companies were probably not on to The Exchange and co-oped on rentals with them.

I quickly became the top agent in the office and did what I thought was a professional job of leasing apartments. I became suspicious when I had a legitimate beef with an agent at a major traditional brokerage and instead of backing me up the owner of The Exchange advised I not push the issue.

I became more suspicious when I spoke to the owner about getting my sales license sponsored through The Exchange when my 120 days were coming to an end on the temporary license. I was told to just stick with the leasing and when I mentioned my 120 days was soon up I was told the IDFPR doesn’t care about his business and they just allow him to do his thing. I must have made sure they paid my last check before I hit the bricks and brought my business elsewhere.

After I left The Exchange there were some crazy stories about growing marijuana in a room that was always locked and even stories about prostitution being run out of the place. All hearsay, but nothing that seemed unbelievable given the character of the owner.

The craziest thing about that place is 75% of what they did there involving leasing apartments was legit. There didn’t seem to be any good reason to not do things by the book to remain in business.

The owner seems like a Rod Blagojevic type of character- big talker, know-it-all, blow-hard, un-touchable, arrogant, with an amazing amount of audacity. It doesn’t make any sense, he could have easily run a legit business if he put forth the effort.

I feel sorry for the agents that are just looking for a job and make this bozo money before they realize the place is a sham. Any of the agents that have been there more than a year are just as guilty as the owner, or dumb as a brick if they don’t realize something is seriously wrong.

Of course the brokers need to be in compliance with fair housing and advertising rules etc. I don’t have a study to back it up but I’m sure there is just as high a percentage of broker violations and improprieties for MLS listed properties as “off MLS” properties.

I can understand the heightened “perception” there would be some sort of funny business involved with a “pocket listing” but that does not make off MLS listing wrong. To use a phrase… “Don’t hate the game (off MLS properties for sale by broker), hate the player”.

One more point: The seller has no obligation to let a hundred showings into their house just because a potential buyer/ broker thinks that’s “fair”. If a seller gets an offer and wants to accept it prior to many extremely intrusive showings that is also their prerogative (regardless of on or off MLS) .

Unless there is a law that all properties for sale and represented by an agent/broker/ Realtor must be listed on the MLS or it’s equivalent I think there has to be some preservation of the property owner’s rights and privacy when selling.

I just looked at a number of old floor plans that simply numbered the bedrooms: Chamber no. 1, Chamber no. 2, etc.

Others simply labeled all the bedrooms – except for “Maid’s room” – just “Bedroom” or “Chamber” or “Chambre a coucher.”

The long-since demolished 936 N Lake Shore Dr had four bedrooms labeled “Master’s” and three labeled “Maid’s Rm.”

1550 N State Pkwy, like a number of very high-end buildings, had: Chambre de Madame, Chambre de Monsieur, Chambre #3 etc, Chambre de Domestique. There were four servants’ bedrooms on the plan.

I scanned scores of floor plans for pre-war buildings in Chicago Apartments and didn’t see a single use of the phrase “Master bedroom.”

But if these blowhards really have such a problem with it, why not just call it “Main Bedroom”, along with “2nd Bedroom”, “3rd Bedroom”, etc? That seems pretty clear and simple.

Their suggestions are asinine, created from a bunch of bored administrators sitting around a desk thinking of things they can change.

The word “Owner” can also connote slavery right, since you can “own” slaves? You can’t win!

Master bedroom works for me. If for no other reason than it’s a red flag for “more problems ahead” with anyone who finds it objectionable.