r/ChicagoRealEstate

I own a 4 unit in Chicago and the coach house sits directly next to the backyard of the neighbor.

Their main building has a piece of fascia or soffit that could fly off in a bad storm and hit someone and their gutters hang off their property. When we have heavy rain or snow, my main building gets pummeled by water and I have major icing on the walkway on my side in the winter.

Because the coach house sits directly next to their property, we think that there is a real risk for foundation issues related to water. They’ve built up their backyard area with concrete by about 6 inches and there is no drainage. They have a garage with no gutters.

I had a conversation with one of the owners about a month ago regarding their roof issues. Nothing. At this point, I keep spending money to fix the issues their property causes.

At this point, I want to report them to 311, but anything else? Should I hire someone? They likely don’t have the funds to make all the fixes… well, that’s an assumption.

What’s the hardest part of buying a home in Chicago/subrubs right now?

As background, I live in a townhouse that we renovated in 2024. I absolutely love my place, but it has become more and more impractical as my elderly father navigates the stairs. This was never supposed to be long term as I have dogs and the goal was always to move to a house with a yard. I moved here for work and my timeframe was tight so I settled down a townhouse and made it my own at the time. I have been working with a realtor and have looked at various places over the past few months. I was briefly under contract on a place with a seller on the private market, but that fell through after the inspection revealed the major issues with the foundation. My realtor of course wants me to get my house under contract first as I’m not going to be competitive enough in this white hot suburban Chicago market unless it is. I definitely see his point, but I am very wary about all the pressure that will result from having to find a place quickly as I have only seen a few viable options in the time I’ve been looking. I’m just nervous about taking the plunge, but at the same time don’t want to wait until there’s a major health issue with my dad. I guess I’m just looking for some reassurance that this is the right thing to do. I don’t have a lot of help with anything and no one in my family has owned their own home besides me so they just really don’t get it.

Hi! I am a real estate agent in Central Florida and have successfully grown my business through social media marketing here. I visited Chicago for the first time last year and loved it. My fiance and I are considering a move to Chicago in the future - one thing I've considered is to carry both licenses since I just found out IL has mutual recognition with FL, and begin growing my real estate social media in CHI going back and forth between each place before making the full move.

Has anyone transitioned to IL real estate from another state? How has it been for you? If anyone has moved from Central Florida to Chicago, what major differences do you like/dislike? How are the businesses different? I'd love to hear your perspectives. Thank you!

I have two West Loop condos that I’m getting ready to sell. I bought both of them, along with several other properties, without using an agent, but I’ve never sold a property before.

I’m not totally new to transactions generally, I have experience with large corporate deals but I realize residential real estate has its own process, norms, and landmines.

My current plan is:

- Use a flat-fee MLS listing service

- Hire a professional photographer

- Price based on recent building comps, which seem pretty straightforward

- I have a good real estate attorney

- I have condo docs / disclosures organized

- Im available and responsive for showings and buyer questions

- Im open to buyer-agent compensation or credits if the overall offer makes sense

- The building has had multiple recent sales, the market seems strong, and I have a lot of free time right now to manage the process.

So my question is: what is actually stopping me from doing this myself?

I’m not trying to be cheap for the sake of being cheap, and I’m open to paying for value where it exists. I’m just trying to understand what a listing agent would realistically do here that I can’t replicate or outsource.

Has anyone done it and regretted it? What am I missing. Any advice is appreciated.

Moving from out of state, empty nesters and want to “explore Uptown and Logan Square” rental over long weekend. Does it make sense to meet with realtor as we explore neighborhoods? We will be renting before buying and have 2 dogs. We are familiar with Chicago and lived in Lincoln Park and Wrigleyville a long time ago. Likely rental starts in October.

Visit is to narrow down preferences then start rental hunt as house sells.

I know things and markets and neighborhoods have changed.

Thanks!

Just saw a house sold for nearly $400k over asking.

So me and my gf have a condo in a building that was built in 1970 in Hyde park. I've been contemplating what sort of things bring more value to the unit. We only plan to be here maybe 5-6 years. We are on year 1. It's our first place so I'm not trying to get everything perfect.

I tend to focus on more pragmatic fixes like our aging AC units (they are in wall and span multiple rooms). Each one is about 3k after parts, shipping and install (islandaire units).

But we have other things:

getting screens in the windows

getting the wood sanded and shined,

facing the kitchen cabinets

adding a coffee nook,

replacing the kitchen and walkway tile.

We're saving about 1k a month.

Any idea what we should prioritize?

I just moved to Chicago and already had a terrible experience trying to rent a room. I responded to a listing for a place in Lincoln Park for $950 a month, but the actual apartment looked nothing like the photos. The room was barely large enough to fit a twin bed, and the radiator made a loud clanking noise all night that made it impossible to sleep. On top of that, the utilities were supposed to be included, but the guy running the place demanded an extra $150 cash for heating on my first weekend. I refused to pay it and left the next morning because the whole situation felt incredibly sketchy. I am trying to find a regular apartment share now through apps like Roomster or Craigslist where I can actually see verified profiles. Do you guys have any tips for navigating the rental market here without running into hidden fees?

My wife and I bought a house in Northbrook and during our inspection, we had a sewer scope done, but the inspector wasn’t able to get the camera through one part of the pipe because it was clogged, so he told us to have a plumber go clean it out and get a video of it before attorney review period was done. We asked the sellers if we could come back one more time with a plumber and they refused to let us come back because it’s an inconvenience for the them to leave the house. They said they just got the pipes cleaned last year and everything was fine, but they’d give us an $800 credit so we could do rodding after the house closed. We pushed back, but they made it clear they would go to the next best offer that they had, and we didn’t want to lose the house.

We just moved into the house on Monday, so we had the plumber come out, and he found a few major issues that are going to be big ticket items. There’s a huge 2” gap with an offset on a pipe underneath the sidewalk, so we were quoted $7k to repair the pipes and rip apart the sidewalk, then another $7k to put liners in the pipe. I asked if the pipes look like they’ve been maintained and he said that there’s no chance that these have been cleaned in years due to the grease buildup and branches in the pipes.

Do I have any ground to stand on with getting any of this paid for by the previous buyers? I’m assuming I would have to figure out if they knew that this was an issue because they said they were unaware of any water or sewage issues in their disclosures. I’m thinking we’ll need to see their invoice from a year ago when they got their pipes cleaned and “everything was fine.”

It was a great welcome to home ownership!

Hello, my relatives are looking at buying a house if possible in downtown Chicago to be closer to work, and they are interested in the South Loop area. I was told that there are townhouses in the South Loop near the museum? I looked online and it seems like there are a lot of condominium buildings but just a smattering of townhouses. Does anyone know if these townhouses are nice and in high demand, and how much do they usually sell for? Thank you.

Ever since I was younger, I have always pictured myself living in Hinsdale. I’m now in a position where it could actually be possible, but I’m torn.

The homes that are more realistic for my budget are mostly older, and I’m worried about hidden costs, things like repairs, updates, maintenance, or issues that don’t show up right away. I’m also wondering if buying an older home could hurt resale value compared to newer or more updated homes in the area.

For anyone who has bought in Hinsdale or a similar suburb, was buying an older home worth it? What should I be looking out for before making that kind of decision?

Any advice would be really appreciated. Thanks guys.

When we bought our place a few years ago in Ravenswood we got it for $10K above asking - now I’m seeing things for for $75K above asking….is this the new norm?? Lordy.

Me and my husband qualify for and have applied for the Homegrown grant. We applied the day it went live with everything ready except for the first time homebuyer counseling, which we were in the process of completing at Northside Community Development Corporation.

We applied through The Resurrection Project three weeks ago. We got an email later that week asking us to send documentation which we did. No response from them until last week when we got another email asking us to upload the documents we already sent to a portal. No following acknowledging that they've received our materials. I've sent emails asking for a status update. I've called and left messages. No response from anyone.

We're running into the same issues with completing our first time homebuyer class with Northside. We took a six hour live class two weekends ago. We were led to believe that we would be able to schedule a follow-up one on one meeting the following week to receive the certificate. It isn't working out that way. We've sent emails every other day and no one is getting back to us. Their phone number doesn't even connect. No one seems willing or able to respond. I'm getting paranoid that they are ignoring us out of spite because we've been pestering them too much.

Is anyone else going through this process? Our scheduled closing date is June 30 and we have no idea if it's worthwhile to delay because we have no insight at all on how feasible it is that we'll get the grant.

I am interested in finding a total gut rehab or tear down or open lot and building a SFH. My instinct is that many of these sales happen privately and, in the more expensive and/or desirable neighborhoods, they are purchased by developers who are building all these huge SFH that we see. My agent wasn't able to give me much information other than saying it's all about who you know. Does anyone have insight on how to find these opportunities and/or can recommend an agent who focuses on these sales? Thanks!

posted elsewhere and got some replies from companies that do it all and flip your space and then take payments after. this sounds great in theory. and firta hand knowledge? thanks!

I am looking for a female or queer realtor who is familiar with West Town, Logan Square, Avondale, Bucktown etc.

I'm buying my first home as a single woman. I don't need anyone to tell me that gender of the realtor doesn't matter. I don't care. I've had multiple encounters with sleazy male brokers who I don't feel comfortable with or who don't seem to understand that this is a highly personal decision that requires careful consideration. Plus, I like supporting women and my queer community!

Does $420,000 sound right for a 1bed/1bath loft in Bucktown? About 10 mins from the Damen blue line stop. Parking garage is included. HOA is 365.

What do folks think about the price point of this condo in Ravenswood? https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4504-N-Clark-St-404-Chicago-IL-60640/463086758\_zpid/?utm\_campaign=iosappmessage&utm\_medium=referral&utm\_source=txtshare