Carpe Diem Chicago Real Estate Blog

2012-01-27T05:10:00.001-08:00

Pleasure in the job puts..Perfection in the work..

2012-01-26T11:01:00.001-08:00

Business Process Improvement for 2012:Cost Effective Rapid Lean,Kaizen Blitz,Stage Gate-New Product Introductions,S&OP..Check out our new service offerings and ride the "silver wave"
Business Process Improvement Service Offerings

-Cost Effective Rapid Lean.. http://ping.fm/CahZh

-Practically Lean Kaizen Blitz.. http://ping.fm/msEJv

-Stage Gate. New Product Commercialization.http://ping.fm/wwQQV

-S &OP.. http://ping.fm/WgVbj

2012-01-24T14:44:00.001-08:00

Putting our Soldiers back to Work..http://ping.fm/grNNi

2012-01-17T15:16:00.001-08:00

Congrats to my Prudential Rubloff office for award this week for 2011 Gold Coast/Lincoln Park highest volume. Thanks to my colleagues/friends/clients for an inspiring year in real estate and the start to a successful 2012.

...highest affordability index@ an all time high while interest rates@an all time low.."the perfect storm"

Carpe Diem.. Great time to buy from motivated sellers and uplifting and realistic time to sell to educated buyers
http://ping.fm/cTVFR

2012-01-17T15:14:00.000-08:00

Congrats to my Prudential Rubloff office for award this week for 2011 Gold Coast/Lincoln Park highest volume. Thanks to my colleagues/friends/clients for an inspiring year in real estate and the start to a successful 2012.
...highest affordability index@ an all time high while interest rates@an all time low.."the perfect storm"
Carpe Diem.. Great time to buy from motivated sellers and uplifting and realistic time to sell to educated buyers

chicagoluxuryrealty.com

2012-01-06T07:58:00.001-08:00

Love to share great news! Happy Friday
http://ping.fm/sMH7D

Turn Key Investment..Just collect rents…Carpe Diem. Perfect for 1031 Exchange or New Years gift!

2012-01-05T11:32:00.000-08:00

2011 was a difficult year for countless retail investors, moneymanagers, hedge funds and just about everyone trading in the global markets.The S&P 500 Index returned a paltry 2.1% (counting dividends) and marketvolatility and economic uncertainty drove investors into U.S. Treasuriesdespite record low yields. And yet, this charming package of 3 bldgs and 27units yields a Total Return of over 8%

Turn Key Investment..Justcollect rents…Carpe Diem. Perfect for 1031 Exchange or NewYears gift!

FULLY LEASED Tenant Heated... 3 bldgs(27 units) in Bridgeport.
3225 S. May($1197775.10 unit) 3157 S. Racine($925775.12 units + penthouse) and3247 S. May. ($469,700.5 unit can be deconverted back to 6)

All within a block of each other(12 units/5 units/10 units). Most of the unitshave been upgraded in the last 5 years. In addition, new windows/roofs andw/d….Asking price is $2.5m but also sold individually.. Cap rate based onactual numbers@ ask price is 8%.+.(Cant do that in the stock mkt!).

Email rgoldstein@rubloff.comfor more info and attached is financial package

Ron Goldstein, MBA
Transnational Referral Certified(TRC)
Quality Service Certified(QSC)
Broker Associate
Prudential RUBLOFF Real Estate
office(312)264-5846
rgoldstein@rubloff.com
Carpe Diem(Seize the Day!) Today is your day!...
Certified Eco-Broker
www.chicagoluxuryrealty.com
Check out my blog@
http://www.carpediemrealestate.blogspot.com

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS FOR YOUR HOME

2012-01-03T15:03:00.000-08:00

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS FOR YOUR HOME

5… 4… 3… 2… 1: Happy New Year! January is the perfect time for a fresh start. But with beginnings also comes reflection on the year that just passed. For homeowners, it's a fitting occasion to take stock of the improvements on or repairs to your home or condo you made last year, and the things that were on your to-do list that never got done.
Here are a list of resolutions for homeowners to keep their place running smoothly and their home value up in the New Year:
I resolve to keep my paperwork organizedOf course you got a new roof two years ago last fall… or maybe it was three? Without having a central system to keep track of what was done, by whom, and when, it can be downright impossible to make sure all the yearly maintenance and big-ticket improvements that need to be done on the house actually get accomplished. Your organization method doesn't need to be fancy. You could create a folder on your desktop computer or buy file folders to keep track of your receipts for improvements or repairs throughout the year. It's not only for your peace of mind to know your go to guy for bathroom repairs, or when the last time was you got the furnace repaired. You'll need to know the value of home improvements over your entire ownership when the time eventually comes to sell.

I resolve to do regular maintenanceTo keep your home in working order, every year you should you have your furnace cleaned and serviced, have the chimney cleaned, have the roofs cleaned, check decks, porches or balconies to ensure they are not rotting and check the crawl space underneath your home to make sure there are no major pest infestations or water. If you live in a condo, it's important to ask at condo association meetings the schedule for common area building maintenance issues, such as cleaning the roofs and chimney. To drive the pricing on some of these services down, try to organize the entire association to have these yearly maintenance services done at the same time. Every few months homeowners should clean the gutter and inspect weather stripping around doors and windows to determine if air is getting in and you need to re-caulk those areas. Every month you should change your furnace filters to prevent fire hazards.

I resolve to restore harmony to my homeYes, no one can see the inside of your drawers, but you know the frustration you feel when you're hunting for your favorite shirt in the morning, and it's seemingly nowhere to be found. So clean out your drawers and closets to bring order to your bedroom. Organize your pantry and your refrigerator so that food is both within reach and no one in your family tempts fate by eating an item that has passed its expiration date.

I resolve to be safeMake sure smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors are in working condition. An easy way to remember to change the batteries is to do it twice a year, during the spring forward and fall back time changes. Check electrical systems for worn or exposed wires, and check heating systems and appliances for gas leaks and adequate ventilation. You can't put a price on your family's safety.

I resolve to keep minor repairs just thatDespite the time and money involved, roof repairs, functioning doors and windows, safe plumbing and safe electrical fixtures are all non-negotiable home repairs. Ignoring the problem or putting it off until later might not only be costly, but also dangerous.

I resolve to beautify my homeIn the chaos of daily life, keeping up with keeping your home clean may seem both impossible and a drag, but remember the feeling you get when you survey a sparkling room and feel fortunate to live there. Dirty windows, for example, can make the entire place look filthy. It may not be an ideal way to spend a Saturday, but the end result of your cleaning will make you feel great when you see how much brighter and larger the entire room looks. And by maintaining the cleanliness of your home on a regular basis, straightening up will feel like a much more manageable task than if you don't clean at all for a few weeks, and have to spend hours and days picking up and putting things away.

CARPE DIEM Real estate Update... January 2012

2012-01-03T14:59:00.000-08:00

Diem.CAR..Real Estate Update

CARPE DIEM Real estate Update... January 2012

MAKING SENSE OF HOME VALUE NUMBERS

From various media reports, you may be confused by stories that say home prices are up, home prices are down and home prices are stable.

All of those things may be true, depending on which data you're citing. Different groups collect different statistics, one reason why they get different results.
Bankers: Home prices won't recover before 2020
If median sale price is measured, for example, it could rise in a month when a lot of expensive homes were sold and fall in a month where there were mostly sales of lower-priced homes, yet still not mean home prices in general are falling.
Plus, home prices vary widely from neighborhood to neighborhood, and statistics may look at entire cities or metropolitan areas. One great example is South Florida, where homes on average have fallen in value 50% since the market peak in 2006.
Yet the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area is home to the city where homes have risen in value the most since President Barack Obama took office in 2009 and the city where homes have fallen the most in value.
In Weston, a high-end suburb of 65,000 people west of Fort Lauderdale, home values increased 15.1% from February 2009 to August 2011, the best appreciation in the nation, according to data gathered by Zillow for Bloomberg/Businesswe?ek. That same data show that in Homestead, a working-class city 50 miles away, home values have dropped 48.8%, the biggest drop nationwide.
Of course, statistics are most meaningful when looked at over time. A month-to-month price change is less significant than a year-to-year price change. The statistics also are more useful for measuring trends than for determining the value of a particular house.
SmartMoney recently took a look at the three major home-price indexes and pointed out how you can use them. The San Diego Union-Tribune did the same last year, looking at four indexes.
In brief, here are their conclusions:
The Federal Housing Finance Agency statistics are more meaningful if you are in a lower-priced area without too many distress sales to cash buyers. The FHFA measures sales to buyers who got mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, now about two-thirds of people who get mortgages. But those data don't include cash sales or jumbo mortgages.
The National Association of Realtors statistics may be most helpful in drilling down into your local market, especially if your local organization makes data available for smaller geographic areas. The NAR numbers includes sales through the multiple listing service but don't include sales that didn't involve real-estate agents. The NAR also provides data on more cities.
The Standard & Poor/Case-Shiller statistics are useful when measuring the value of higher-priced houses in larger cities. The data include only 20 cities, but they look at different price points.
The Union-Tribune also mentions MDA DataQuick, which pulls data from a variety of public records and offers prices per square foot, and Zillow, which uses a computer model to estimate the value of all homes, not just those that have sold. The Zestimates provided by Zillow have gotten more accurate over the years. They are most on target in areas with lots of data to draw from.
Survey: 42% of buyers expect 7% annual return on their home

2011-12-31T06:58:00.001-08:00

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it
right.

2011-12-30T09:00:00.001-08:00

Inspiring new year wishes! Employment 2.0 public service talk radio..Check us out and "ride the silver wave" into 2012.Have a listen
http://ping.fm/s7nAy

Chicago-area home sales jump 21% in November

2011-12-28T10:47:00.001-08:00

Chicago-area home sales jump 21% in November

By: Staff December 21, 2011

(Crain's) — Chicago-area home sales jumped nearly 21% in November compared with the same period last year, according to a report.
In the nine-county Chicago area, 5,453 single-family homes and condos sold last month, up 20.7% from 4,518 in November 2010, according to the Illinois Assn. of Realtors.
“Little by little, there is some accumulating evidence that there may be some measure of recovery in the housing market,” Geoffrey J. D. Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory (REAL) at the University of Illinois, said in a statement the Realtors issued Wednesday.
Sales in the city of Chicago rose 20.4%, to 1,377, compared with 1,144 in November 2010, the Realtors said.
Statewide sales rose 14.1% in November, to 7,954 compared with 6,966 in November 2010.
The Illinois sales figures include new and existing homes. The nine-county Chicago area consists of Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will counties.

2011-12-26T11:55:00.001-08:00

Hiring boom forecast in health care, accounting, information technology and sales
http://ping.fm/lqcDC
http://ping.fm/bEjQs

2011-12-23T14:33:00.001-08:00

A Holiday Wish....
Believe in yourself and your vision of the future. Surround yourself with those who believe in you and will help you achieve your goals. Keep your dream alive despite the struggles along the way. Keep Positive, keep communication flowing and know that there are always friends and family around to share your joys and help you through life's challenges.

Seasons Greetings...Be charitable. and selfless..Inspire.Create.Carpe Diem!

2011-12-20T08:49:00.001-08:00



		May your walls know joy, may every room hold laughter, and every window open to great possibility! Have a wonderful and joyous Holiday season and a successful, insightful and happy 2012 Ron Goldstein, MBA Principal Silver Professionals, LLC. Carpe Diem(Seize the Day!) Today is your day!... Certified Eco-Broker@Prudential Rubloff..chicagoluxuryrealty.com Check out my blogs@http://silverprofessionals.blogspot.com/ ron@silverprofessionals.com 312-771-7190 Offices in Chicago and St. Petersburg

	Ride the "silver wave"

Picture the New Year in your new home..Lincoln PK TH under 700K..Carpe Diem. Our kind of ..Priced right!

2011-12-14T14:25:00.000-08:00

Picture the New Year in your new home. Nestled in the enclave of Hartland Park, this newer Lincoln Park develpmnt features:Private gated pk, dog run & brick paved streets. The spacious 3BR/5BA TH boasts a chef's kitchen w/glass backsplash, SS, balcony w/natural gas grill. High end finishes, private balcony w/skyline views, dual HVAC & 2 car attd gar! Carpe Diem..live your extraordinary life in this extraordinary home.. Priced RIGHT@$674,900..

2664 N. Hermitage.

Ron Goldstein, MBA
Transnational Referral Certified(TRC)
Quality Service Certified(QSC)
Broker Associate
Prudential RUBLOFF Real Estate
cell (312)771-7190
office(312)264-5846
rdgrdg@gmail.com
rgoldstein@rubloff.com
Carpe Diem.Today is your day!...
Certified Eco-Broker
www.chicagoluxuryrealty.com
Check out my blog@
http://www.carpediemrealestate.blogspot.com

Carpe Diem...Real Estate Update.. Indoor Planting for Winter. The 411

2011-12-06T13:31:00.000-08:00

Carpe Diem...Real Estate Update

Indoor Planting for Winter

Fall brings shorter days, lower temperatures and -- especially in colder climates -- a dearth of pretty green foliage. If bare tree limbs and umpteen shades of brown are disheartening, try your hand at gardening indoors. Nursery managers and plant experts say just about any common plant may be started inside quite easily. Some houseplants are nearly foolproof.

Plants need water but overwatering is often worse.

Getting Started
Even if you do not have an especially green thumb, indoor gardening is a rather simple process if you follow just a few rules, says horticulturist Nick Snakenberg, curator of tropical collections at Denver Botanic Gardens in Denver. “First, don’t be scared,” Snakenberg said. “You won’t succeed if you don’t try, and don’t be afraid if you’ve got to kill a few (plants) to learn how to grow them.”
The single most important factor when growing plants indoors is the appropriate amount of water. Professional horticulturists say nothing will kill a plant faster than too much water. “The most common error I see is people over-watering,” said Tucker Bantom, general manager of Perino’s Garden Center of Metairie, Louisiana. “They get on a schedule and think they need to water every week, like, ‘I’m going to water every Tuesday.’ Most indoor plants do not -- do not -- need to be watered every week.”
Bantom says people have been granted a first-rate water-testing device that they always have on hand. “Put a finger knuckle-deep in the soil," he said, "and if you feel any moisture, hold off on watering.”

He says “root rot” can occur in as little as 15 minutes and the plant may not show the damage for four or five weeks. Out of fear that plants will die from lack of water, he notes, some people when going on vacation leave their plants sitting in water. “They’ll go out of town and think they need to give a plant extra water because they’ll be gone," he said. "You’re better off under-watering a plant than over-watering, by far,” he said.

If you love a plant that needs plenty of sunlight, consider
rotating to different rooms so you're both happy.

Caring, Careless and Coddling
Another error people make with their indoor plants, Snakenberg says, is the amount of attention they give them: either too much or not enough. “You can’t love it to death, but you can’t neglect it completely,” he said. He recommends putting a plant in a well-lit, highly trafficked area — “one that meets the needs of the plant but not one where you’re going to forget about it.”
If you have a living room that does not receive a lot of natural light, but you want to see the plant when you are in that room, adopt a rotation based on a 50-50 split, Snakenberg recommends. Keep the plant in a well-lit window or room for one week, and on the coffee table or mantel the next week, he says.

“That’s one of the great things about plants," he said. "They can move around.”

Ones to Grow
The forgiving nature of a few plants make them good choices for the novice or the person who does not have as much time as others to devote to indoor plant care.
Sansevieria trifasciata, commonly known as a snake plant or mother-in-law’s tongue, is adaptable to many different levels of light, requires a modest amount of water and rarely needs to be repotted. The houseplant Aglaonema hybrids — or Chinese evergreen — is jokingly named the “closet plant,” says Bantom, because it is “idiot proof.” This adaptable plant, which serves as an air filter, tolerates low light and dry soil and air.
Many of the plants that require the least care produce no flowers. The peace lily (Spathiphyllum wallash), however, produces glossy leaves and white blossoms. It is also very adaptable to light and “is good at telling you when to water,” says Snakenberg, because its leaves wilt or droop when thirsty.
Ming arelia is a personal favorite of Nick Esquivel, a sales associate at Almaden Valley Nursery in San Jose, California. With its weeping, lacy leaves, this undemanding plant resembles a Japanese maple.

Large plants allow for greater latitude of care.

Best Chance of Survival
Large plants allow for greater latitude of care. (photo: Hemera Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images)
For cool-weather planting, Esquivel generally recommends opting for a plant at least 2 months old or 4 to 6 inches in height rather than growing from a seed. “The bigger the plant, the easier the care,” said Esquivel. “The larger the plant, the more established it is, so there is less room for error.”
As the plant grows, monitor the soil and how it absorbs water, which indicates when to move it to a new pot. When the roots become confined in the pot, Esquivel said, the roots will push out the soil and the water will run through the pot quickly. At that point, carefully repot the plant with new soil in a pot just a couple inches larger in diameter. If you jump to a much bigger pot, the soil will be loose, which could lead to over-watering, he cautions.
Eventually, fertilizing will be necessary, though it should be done sparingly, says Snakenberg. He suggests half the strength any label recommends.
“It should be just enough food to make it healthy,” said Snakenberg. If you see yellow leaves, it is time to fertilize.

2011-12-02T13:13:00.001-08:00

Amazing week. Jobs/Homes..Just hired a veteran @RogerGrowden to be my National Acct. Dir. Ride the "silver wave". Have a great weekend sm friends/colleagues..

2011-11-22T10:05:00.001-08:00

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. Have a fantastic celebratory Turkey holiday week!

2011-11-21T19:09:00.001-08:00

@wsdichicago.thx for a fantastic launch of employment 2.0 talk radio. The silver wave of change is here!

2011-11-21T06:36:00.001-08:00

Listen live TODAY 2-4.wsdichicago.com.Employment 2.0 public service talk radio..ride the "silver wave" of change. Call in live@312880wsdi

2011-11-20T09:50:00.001-08:00

Have a listen live tomorrow 2-4.wsdichicago.com.Employment 2.0 talk radio..ride the "silver wave" of change. Call in live@312880wsdi