Monday, December 15, 2008

Chicago Vacant Lot Auction ABSOLUTE AUCTION NO RESERVE

SURPLUS REAL ESTATE PROPERTY
Bidding ends October 16th, 2008 at 9PM.

6733 S Green, Chicago, Illinois

Must Be Sold By Within 1 Week, Originally Acquired Through Tax Deed

NO RESERVE - No minimum bid

Description: Vacant Lot in the City of Chicago

Address: 6733 S Green Street, Chicago, Illinois 60621

Legal Description: Lot 33 in Block 1 in Benedict's Subdivision of the Northeast 1/4 of the Southeast 1/4 of Section 20, Township 38 North, Range 14 East of the Third Principal Meridian, in Cook County, Illinois

Property Index Number: 20-20-407-012-0000

Zoning: RS-3 (can build Detached housing in addition to Two-flat, Minimum Lot Area 2,500 sf)

Lot Size: 25' X 125' (3,125 sf - larger than the minimum for RS-3 Zoning)

2007 Real Estate Taxes (current): $273.66

Neighborhood: Englewood

Will Rogers once said: "Buy land. They ain't making any more of the stuff"

The following is a link to google maps of other vacant properties that I have to sell immediately, but not at auction:


View Larger Map

Friday, December 5, 2008

What The Bear Market Has In Store - Part 1

What The Bear Market Has In Store Part 2

What the Bear Market Has In Store - Part 3

Conquer the Crash - Recommended reading

Buy and Hold?

Today is Not Like 1929! No, It's Worse

Chicago Tax Smart Program

TaxSmart Mortgage Credit Certificate


TaxSmart is a Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC) program that provides a federal income tax credit to qualified homebuyers. A tax credit is a direct reduction of taxes due. Under the program, a home buyer would receive an MCC to reduce income taxes by an amount equal to 20% of the interest paid on a mortgage. The tax credit may be claimed each year the home buyer continues to live in a home financed under this program.

Charts Showing Market Trends in Cook County 2005 to 11/2008

Click on each chart to show a larger, easier to read view



This chart shows the change (in percent) in sales from the same period in the previous year, starting, on the left, 2005 to 2006. As you can see, it keeps staying negative. Seems like we had a "pop" in sales in Sept/October this year. People probably thought they are getting a great deal and they started buying again. However, the trend continued soft in November.




This chart represents the change in the number of sales from the same period in the previous year. As you can see from the chart, each month of each year the change in the number of sales has been negative, except for one month where the sales increased 2%. You will not see any increase in pricing until you have successive months of positive numbers.



This chart was just updated to include November 2008 Sales. You can see that it keeps getting worse. Each line represents a month. Each point on the line represents a year. So, taking the top line, it is June, showing the number of sales each year for 2005 through 2008. Each line is continuing to go down.


OK, last chart