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ELITE STREET | Bob Goldsborough | Interested in renting a luxury Gold Coast condominium unit from Billy Corgan?
Corgan, the Smashing Pumpkins lead singer and chief songwriter, is continuing to ask $3.55 million for his vintage 3,700-square-foot condo on the Gold Coast, but he has added a new twist: he also is offering the renovated full-floor unit for rent for $10,000 a month. Get the full story »
Government-controlled mortgage buyer Freddie Mac on Wednesday posted a narrower loss of $4.1 billon in the third quarter as it asked for an additional $100 million in federal aid — substantially less than the $1.8 billion it sought in the second quarter.
(AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
The nation’s homeownership rate is at the lowest level in more than a decade, hampered by a rise in foreclosures and weak demand for housing.
The percentage of households that owned their homes was unchanged at 66.9 percent in the July-September quarter, the Census Bureau said Tuesday. That’s the same as the April-June quarter.
The last time the rate was lower was in 1999, when the rate was 66.7 percent. Get the full story »
ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | New Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau has leased a three-bedroom row home just west of downtown Highland Park for $4,900 a month.
In June, Thibodeau, 52, inked a three-year, $6.5 million deal with the Bulls. On July 23, Thibodeau signed another contract to rent the eight-room home, which was built in 2007. It has three full baths, two half baths, one fireplace, a gourmet kitchen, a study, an elevator and a finished lower level. Get the full story »
By Bob Goldsborough | JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Jamie Dimon on Wednesday closed on the sale of his 18-room Gold Coast mansion for $6.8 million.
The buyer’s identity was not immediately available. Get the full story »
Sales of new U.S. homes improved last month after the worst summer in nearly five decades, but not enough to lift the economy.
The Commerce Department says new home sales in September grew 6.6 percent from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 307,000. Even with the increase, the past five months have been the worst for new home sales on records dating back to 1963. Get the full story »
Home prices in the Chicago area eked out a sixth consecutive month of ever-so-small improvement in August, putting them on par with the market’s health in early 2003, according to the widely watched Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, released Tuesday. Get the full story »
The number of Chicago-area homeowners in trial mortgage modifications continued to fall in September, while the number of people who have received permanently lower payment terms rose 4 percent in the month, the Treasury Department said Monday.
The government’s September accounting of its Home Affordable Modification Program also showed that borrowers in permanent modifications are having trouble keeping their loans current, even after the payments are reduced. Get the full story »
Sales of existing homes in the Chicago area dropped again in September, falling more than 20 percent in the Chicago area from a year ago and more than 25 percent within the city of Chicago, the Illinois Association of Realtors said Monday. Get the full story »
The cost for the huge government bailouts of housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will grow — and possibly more than double to $363 billion — over the next three years.
But the taxpayer loss depends mainly on the health of the economy and the real estate market, a federal regulator said Thursday. Get the full story »
Rates on 30-year fixed mortgages rose slightly from their lowest level in decades, inching up to a national average of 4.21 percent. Get the full story »
New home construction surged to a five-month high in September, but permits for future building fell to their lowest level in more than a year, the government said Tuesday. Get the full story »
Kyle Korver holds the ball away from Milwaukee Bucks point guard Keyon Dooling. (Jeff Hanisch/USA Presswire)
ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | Chicago Bulls guard and forward Kyle Korver has paid $1.38 million for a 16-room mansion in Glencoe that once was listed for $2.95 million.
Korver, 29, signed a three-year, $15 million contract during the summer to join the Bulls from the Utah Jazz. Now, he has become the rare Bull to buy in Glencoe. Most Chicago-area homeowning Bulls over the years have bought downtown or in other northern suburbs like Northbrook, Highland Park and Lake Forest. Get the full story »
ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | Sally Blount, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management’s new dean, has paid $885,000 for a six-bedroom brick Georgian-style house in Evanston. Blount joined Kellogg in July after serving as a dean at New York University. Get the full story »
ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | A 19-room, 17,000-square-foot mansion in Hinsdale that is owned by the founder of the Addison-based Pampered Chef kitchenware company has just come on the market for $6.8 million.
Doris Christopher founded the Pampered Chef and then sold it in 2002 to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway company. Now, Christopher and her husband on Oct. 9 placed their mansion, which sits on a 1.9-acre hilltop in east Hinsdale, on the market. Get the full story »
