February 28, 2010 - The latest information out from the Illinois Association of Realtors is that January 2010 followed the previos trend of an increase in sales of Chicago condos and single-family homes. January was the seventh month in a row that sales have posted gains, although prices have continued to fall, due to foreclosure sales, auctions and short sales, according to a recent Crain’s article.

There were 3,922 condos and single-family homes sold in the nine counties of the Chicago region in January 2010, which is a 29.2% increase over January 2009. For in-town Chicago, sales of condos and single-family homes totaled 1,202 units in January 2010, which was a 31.1% jump from January 2009 when 917 units were sold.

Mike Onorato, president and owner of Onorato Real Estate was quoted in the article as saying that, “We are seeing an accelerated spring market despite the snow and cold in Illinois with the homebuyer tax credit the driving factor for rising home sales.”

The median home price for the nine county Chicago area didn’t fare as well as sales though, and showed another drop. The average price for January 2010 was $175,000 which was 5.4% lower than the median area price the same time a year ago. For in-town Chicago, the median home price for January 2010 was $195,000 which was down 4.9% from January of 2009.

Interestingly though, the median statewide price of condos and homes in all of Illinois climbed a bit to $145,300 in January 2010. The median statewide price had been $145,000 in January 2009.

An explaination for this trend in Chicago real estate was given by Dr. Geoffrey J.D. Hewings of the U of I. He told Crain’s that, “Foreclosed properties continue to exert downward pressure on median prices in Chicago but much less so in Illinois. There is evidence that median price increases will moderate in the state over the next three months (February, March and April), remaining about the same as those a year earlier; for Chicago, the median prices will be about six percent below comparable prices.”

This year may be full of ups and downs, both in pricing and inventory. But if any buyers are still looking for a deal, there are quite a few Chicago short sales and foreclosures with significantly reduced prices.

Technorati Tags: Chicago Short Sales, Chicago Condos, Chicago Real Estate

February 26, 2010 - The latest Chicago Spire news is unfortunately about another lawsuit filed against Shelbourne Development. According to a recent article in Crain’s, Bank of America has filed a suit against the Spire developer for $110,076 they claim is owed on credit cards. B of A states that the Visa credit cards were issued back in ‘06 and ‘07 and that they cancelled them in August ‘09 because payments weren’t being made and requested that the account balances be paid back in full by the end of September ‘09.

The article states that B of A was a lender to the Spire project and that they had notified Shelbourne Development sometime prior to June of last year that the cards were being cancelled. According to the lawsuit filed by B of A and reported in the article, Shelbourne intended to use the credit cards to pay for an estimated yearly travel and entertainment expense of $750,000 and other additional purchases totaling $1.2 million.

This credit card lawsuit is in addition to another lawsuit filed by Bank of America last August over a $4.9 million debt owed by Shelbourne. The money from those two loans was used to cover early expenses for the Spire project.

With so many leins and lawsuits against the Spire, it’s looking less and less like we’ll see this mega Chicago condo project get off the ground. While we have had some good news this week about some projects securing financing, it will still probably be some time before large scale Chicago real estate developments like the Spire can find willing lenders and buyers.

Technorati Tags: Chicago Spire, Chicago Condos, Chicago Real Estate

February 25, 2010 - Anymore there seems to be at least one fairly well-known Chicago real estate project in financial trouble every month, if not more often. The most recent this week is the Lofts At Lakeview Collection. This development from Centrum properties has been hit with a foreclosure suit filed by Wachovia Bank N.A., according to a Crain’s report.

The lender is seeking reimbursement for the $18.2 million it is owed from a 2005 loan to Centrum with the company used to buy the building site. Centrum had obtained at least a couple of extensions on the loan, which they defaulted on in April ‘09 and then failed to pay back in full when it came due in January ‘10.

Centrum’s Sol Barket told Crain’s that they are trying to work something out with the lender or else find another source of funding. Wachovia is now part of Wells Fargo, the article stated, and no spokesperson was available to comment on the lawsuit or efforts to restructure the loan.

The Lofts At Lakeview Collection started out as being a 130 Chicago condo project with an estimated construction price tag of about $100 million. It was then changed to an apartment development plan before the foreclosure suit was filed. If Centrum can find a way out of this foreclosure, they intend to drop the residential portion completely and just focus on the development being a retail one with around 100,000 square feet of commercial space.

Mr. Barket stated that, “We think it’s much more financeable,” to make it a retail only project.

The article reports that a lease has already been signed by CVS for about 13,000 square feet of space and Bank of America has signed on for 7,500 square feet as well.

Remember that there are still plenty of Chicago lofts for sale even without the Lofts at Lakeview Collection.

Technorati Tags: The Lofts At Lakeview Collection, Chicago Lofts, Chicago Real Estate