Michael Hobbs's (michaelhobbs) Blog

The Second City is second to none in the real estate residential buying market.  This is not the news homeowners want to hear, but I would hope doesn’t come as a complete shock.  Zillow ranked the Chicago area as the leading buyer’s market out of the 30 largest metropolitan markets twice this yea...

Big happenins in commercial real estate out in Aurora, IL!  A New York investor, Abacus Capital Group, LLC is looking to plant their flag in our Western suburbs of Chicago with the purchase of a 464 unit apartment property. The Abacus Group has agreed to buy the Amli at Oakhurst North from the lo...

Banks seem to be loosening their hold on not allowing foreign investors to mortgage real estate investments here in the States.  Til now, the challenges were that foreign buyers had no social security number, sufficient credit history, nor the extensive financial profile required by many American...

According to the Midwest Real Estate Data, MRED, the amount of homes available for sale has dropped between December of 2010 and December 2012.  It is true that there are areas in the city where most of the properties have been sold, which creates less options, multiple offers per properties, and...

Last Tuesday the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported a 9% increase in mortgage originations for both commercial property and multi-family rental buildings. Jamie Woodwell, VP of commercial real estate research for the Mortgage Bankers Association said, "The overall number masks larger inc...

Spring has always been perceived as the start of the housing season, but this March in some neighborhoods in the city and some suburbs possessed a whole new kind of March-madness.   Homes sales all around were up from a year ago in nearly all areas of the city but they could likely have gone high...

There’s lots buzz running around our fair city; City of Chicago’s Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, has proposed a bill that would require real estate investors that purchase multi-unit buildings from a foreclosure auction to pay renters to move. According to the Chicago Tribune, He is proposing that in order...

One of the things we all loved about the Super Bowl, number 1, football.  The other thing we love are the commercials.  Those at the party I attended were betting on how many commercials would have animals in them, including the last beer commercial, the first sitcom advertised in the first half,...

Hispanics are lighting up the housing market, creating a housing boom of their own.  Hispanics have been the largest home buying group for the last 2 years, purchasing over 1 million homes. The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) not only reported this number, but ...

Cash is still king, at least in California.  With it being difficult to even qualify for a mortgage right now, the market has definitely gone in favor of cash investors.  California saw almost 146,000 homes bought with cash transactions in 2012.  According to DataQuick, a San Diego based real est...