How the Neighborhoods got their Names!

This is a fantastic article that was really well written by "Chicago Quirk".

Some neighborhood names were given to them for obvious reasons, i.e. Lakeview, South Loop, River North, but if you've ever wondered why other neighborhoods were given their particular names read on to find out!

Pilsen
This one always confused me. What exactly is Pilsen? In the late 1800s, this neighborhood was actually inhabited by Czech immigrants who named it after a large city back home, called Plzeň.

Wicker Park
Land developers Charles and Joel Wicker bought tons of land in the 1870s with plans to build a neighborhood, and kindly donated four acres to the city to build a public park. That park was named Wicker Park, and the name stuck for the entire neighborhood.

Bucktown
You've probably heard that Chicago has the largest Polish population outside of Warsaw, and it has been that way for over 100 years. During the early 20th century, this area was known as the Polish downtown and many Poles resided here. The Poles had a tendancy to keep goats in their homes, and since a male goat is called a "buck," the area became known as Bucktown.

Logan Square
Not surprising, Logan Square is named as such for the square in the middle of the neighborhood. The actual Logan Square was named after Civil War hero and former Congressman General John A. Logan.

Andersonville
Before it was the eco-friendly neighborhood it is today, Andersonville was just a distant suburb of Chicago. Swedish immigrants began arriving after the Great Chicago Fire and by the 1900s the area was dominated by Swedes. The name Andersonville comes from the popular Swedish surname, Anderson.

Bronzeville
This area was known as the "Black Metropolis" in the early 1900s, its development credited to such famous African Americans as Louis Armstrong, Marla Gibbs, Lou Rawls and Ida B. Wells. In the 1930s the local newspaper was the first to call the neighborhood Bronzeville for the color of the residents' skin.

Theo Epstein plants roots in the Windy City

Looks like the Chicago Cubs new president of baseball operations has officially made Chicago his home city. Epstein has reportedly purchased an 8,000 sq. foot, 5 bed/6 bath home in the city for $3.25 million. We hear one of our favorite Blackhawks, Patrick Sharp, had his eye on the mansion a while back but decided not to seal the deal and went elsewhere.

The only red flag here is that Epstein paid $250,000 over asking price. The home was listed for $3 million. Let's hope his uncanny ability to overpay doesn't follow him into Wrigley the way it did in Boston. But who knows, maybe he just really, really liked his new mansion! I must admit, it is pretty awesome that if he runs out of sugar he can just jog on down to Ryan Dempster's place to borrow some. So, now that he's finally getting settled in I have just one request: Can you PLEASE help us get to the world series, Theo??

10 Home Improvement Projects for Winter

With the first official day of Winter only a few short weeks away, it's time to prepare your home for short days, long nights and some serious chill. I read this MSN article last Winter, and I thought it was so great that I wanted to bring it back this year! Plus, it will give you something to do besides curling up next to the fire and hibernating!

1. Change your furnace filter.
Ideally, you should have completed this task, along with a few other winter prep essentials, before the chilly weather arrived. Filters last about three months when you're using your furnace regularly, so you may need to do this more than once if it's an especially long and brutal winter.

2. Wash your windows.
Even if you're stuck indoors, that doesn't mean you can't improve your view of the winter wonderland outside. Winter's a great time to wash the inside of your home's windows and let some more light in. You can tackle the other side of the glass when it's bearable to step outdoors.

3. Insulate your water pipes.

Adding insulation will save you money by reducing heat loss in the pipes that carry hot water. You also won't wait as long for hot water when you turn on your faucet.

4. Dye-test your toilet.

 Put five drops of food coloring in your toilet’s tank, wait 10 minutes and see if the color comes into the bowl. If it does, you know you have a leak. The most common cause for a leak is a defective flapper, the rubber mechanism that allows water to exit the tank when you flush. That 10 minutes of your time could end up saving you a lot of money on your water bill.

5. Regrout your bathroom tile.

This project is a little more labor intensive, but definitely doable, Lupberger says. You may want to regrout the tile because it's old and dirty, or because you've decided to go with a different color of grout. Either way, you'll first want to clean out the old grout.

7. Install flooring.

Pergo and laminate flooring is designed to go on top of an existing floor and is a great project for do-it-yourselfers, says Arthur Walters, a flooring contractor in Orange County, Calif.

8. Install new lighting.

Justin Merritt, owner of JM Electric Inc. in the Denver area, says homeowners can do basic electrical work themselves, but that "caution must be taken to do things correctly and not cut corners."

9. Replace a faucet.

A professional at your local hardware store can help you determine which faucet fixture will be the correct fit for your sink and be sure you have the right tools for the job. Videos online, including one from Home Depot, can walk you through each step of the process.

10. Replace a toilet.

While a homeowner could complete this task himself, we warn that it requires a strong body to lift a toilet, and a handy mind to complete an installation.

If you are committed to do it, do your research. Watch a video online, read a how-to book or take a class. Again, remember to turn off the water to the fixture. You'll also need to drain the tank by flushing the toilet to remove excess water.

For more detailed guides, check out the full article: 10 Great Winter Home Projects

Chasing the Market

I want to address the phrase "chasing the market". It's something that is SO important for sellers to understand, though I find that they seldom do.

Sometimes, clients get upset when their agent tells them what the market is indicating their home is worth today or when they suggest price reductions.

If you have a good agent (and I truly hope you do!) then they are most likely trying to protect you from losing even more money by positioning your house correctly from the start.

Otherwise, you might end up "chasing the market".

Let me explain: If your home is in the best condition at the best price, it stands to reason that it would be the first to sell. Once it sells, other similar properties may have to lower their prices to compete. Then, out of that group the one in the best condition at the best price will sell for just a tiny bit less than the one before, and so on.

Pricing Illustration

XXXXXX  XXXX

    X

Top Row ----> Properties on the market similar to yours, they're all priced the same.

          Bottom Row ----> Your property. It's priced just below the similar ones. If you were the buyer, which would you see first?

If you are constantly priced above the best property at the best price, you will most likely always be chasing it! You want to BE the best property at the best price!

Now in this scenario, because you've continuously allowed someone else to slide right under you in terms of price, the home that you originally put on the market for $350,000 (but in this market was really worth $335,000) may finally sell for $300,000 after you were forced to continuously reduce the price in $5,000-$10,000 increments for 8 months or whatever the time because you didn't beat those similar properties to the punch!

If you had listed your home at $335,000 originally, you could have saved $35,000 on top of all the expenses you were paying while your house was on the market. 

Suddenly that $335k doesn't sound so bad, right? 

Feeling Chilly? Winter might be sending Chicagoans packing!

If you are a true Chicagoan, a little -20 degree weather is nothing to you, right? Well apparently it's scaring some of our more light-hearted residents towards greener, I mean, warmer pastures. After coming back to Chicago from Arizona, I have to admit this will be my first real winter in FOUR YEARS! The truth is, I don't even have a jacket yet! Still, just because I hear in the news, "2011-2012 Winter will be Worst in the Country...maybe Ever" hasn't tempted me to turn and run just yet. But maybe these people know better than I:

Planning a move to Arizona, Martha DeVita originally thought she'd list her Cliffside Park, N.J., home in the spring, when the real estate market traditionally heats up.

But faced with this winter's harsh weather, she put up the "for sale" sign in January. Within a week, she accepted an offer. "I have no complaint, I'll tell you," said DeVita, 78. "People are still looking. … I don't see any reason why people would wait till spring."

To read the entire article, visit:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-02-25/classified/sc-cons-0224-winter-home-sales-20110225_1_market-sellers-buyers