Chicago Sunset Strip

Due west on Old Irving Park at the end of a Chicago real estate day.


Geno Petro



iPhone image by geno petro

Toxic Schlock

It boggles the bean. It seems like only months ago that the home loan lender we knew with collateralized affection as WaMu (along with the likes of its gentle, soft money giant and rival, Countrywide) was leasing commercial space like mad men in Chicago real estate land. Only ubiquitous Team Starbuck's seemed to finish in quicker triple net time when it came to securing a North Side Chicago storefront and setting up shop overnight. But on these thin and crispy days, the home loan parking lots are empty (Employee, Customer, and Handicap alike) while even Starbuck's street cred has been diluted in its attempts to hustle 'Tea' and 'Instant' to whichever mom is left with some aggregate scratch in her purse after the mortgage is paid. And so, this concludes my accompanying comment for the above photo. It's all about visible evidence these days, anyway. Think about it...why waste an extra thousand opinionated words in this housing market? It could be better spent not ordering a double shot doppio derivative based half caf skinny foamed soy venti latte...negatively amortized and served up cold as revenge.


Geno Petro

A Chicago Eviction in the West Walker 'hood

They basically just toss your cookies on the sidewalk when the Sheriff comes a knockin' these days. Look closely though, and you'll notice this poor soul managed to preserve her husband's golf clubs. (Hey, gotta keep up the airs at whatever country club you belong to.) Hopefully, things will be getting better in the coming months for everybody in Chicago's West Walker.

The last time I checked there were 27 Foreclosures or Short Sales Listed on the Chicago MLS in this far northwest pocket of the city. As you can gather from the photo, its housing stock is solid, if not working class. The area on the side streets along either side of Elston Avenue (north of Irving Park) is a haven for Chicago City workers, contractors, and the local Union rank and file.

And its just MHO, but I can't imagine anyone in this traditionally blue collar neighborhood giving back their bonuses this year. I guess it all depends on where you draw the line...And how deep into the asphalt you go. And how teed off everyone gets. Fore!


Geno Petro

North Side Chicago Storefront For Rent (real estate crystal ball included)

You have to think the good Madame should have seen this coming before she signed a triple-net lease on Lincoln Avenue. It just goes to show, the current Chicago real estate market (in hot and trendy West Lakeview, no less) has even the pundits puzzled. My advice: listen to your favorite Realtor, not your Psychic (nor your office mates, drunken uncles, or check-out clerks at Jewel), before entering into a binding real estate transaction; purchase, lease or otherwise. It's just a premonition I've been having ever since I passed the leasing agent exam a decade ago. Oh, and always remember...'Walk-ins Welcome.' Now that's cosmic marketing.

Geno Petro

A Chicago St Paddy's Day Slog

Personally, green is not my best color (unless of course, I'm feeling envious). I'm Italian and, until they come out with a darker color, look best in black. Still, St Patrick's Day in Chicago is an urban day trip to behold regardless of nationality or couture.

First, they dye the Chicago River green. Then, they get all the college kids who just turned 21 drunk. Then, all the drunk girls get their drunk boyfriends into fights with each other. Then, they all get on the Forest Glen Metra train for the sloppy ride home. And finally, they all sit next to me.

I love Chicago; especially when someone isn't trying to bite me as I'm walking down Wabash. Yes, it's true. As I was leaving Trump Tower with my wife, a girl painted green from hair to toenails (again, not my fave) stumbled out of a bar across the street and tried to bite me. "IT'S SAINT PATRICKS DAY!" she screamed at me, teeth showing like a vampire and fingers curled, ready to grab. I stepped to the left as she flew by, mouth open, as if to sink into a corned beef sandwich. She smelled a little boozey too, but then again, club soda is my social beverage of choice on such occasions.

'Somebody's poor daughter,' I thought to myself as she fell face first into the guy behind me who at first, didn't seem to mind. She was kind of cute in a pitiful sort of way. A half block later he let out a blood curdling scream of his own. She bit him, I'm sure, like a corned beef sammy. Either that, or she dumped his beer.

'What a waste of tuition,' was all I could conclude. And that shamrock green doesn't really look good on anyone---Irish, envious or otherwise.

Geno Petro



once again, iPhone photojournalism on the fly in Chi

Wuthering Eff-ing Heights

My good friend Chris Hahn sent me this Blackberry snapshot from his new hometown across the pond---the big Pond, as in London...as in England. (please note the ironic, digital, photojournalistic humor: sign, motorbikes, disobedience,etc...we taught the young lad well.)

He's without wheels so he's walking everywhere and eating Indian food like crazy, or at least, like a Brit. His pre-arranged, semi-furnished 'Flat' fell through so he and Nicole are holed up in temp housing for the time being. She's working 2 million hours a week at her new job. He's watching a lot of soccer. The man needs a cheeseburger.

His depression hasn't hit Bronte sister level yet but just between us Chicago real estate folks, I get the feeling our flyboy and former favorite Mortgage Guru is a little homesick. He had a soul patch, recent Mexican tan, and a two day beard growth when I last left him at the bar on Lasalle last month so.... hopefully he can remain cool. To avoid profiling at Airport Security, I advised him to remove all Brooks Brothers neckwear, wing tip shoes, and button down collars from his carry on baggage. Suspected Bankers are fleeing the country in droves these days, I warned him.

Anyway, Chip, chip, cheerio...time to go.

ps...remember Mr Hahn, a Yankee is one who visits. A damn Yankee is one who visits and stays.

Geno Petro


photo courtesy of chris hahn walking around London with nothing to do.

Willin'

Click here to read my latest Post and Archives over at Bloodhound Blog.

(A quick break from Chicago Real Estate)

Geno Petro

image by alice...dallas alice

$100,000 Loss in Value?

I'm sorry, but I refuse to believe my primary residence (pictured) in the Forest Glen/Sauganash area of Northwest Chicago has dropped $100,000 in value since the purchase in September of 2007. Say it ain't so, Joe.

Cut me some slack, Jack. I sold it to myself. I did the comps. I know my market. Hell, I even talked my wife into it. So, wassup with the Bank Appraisal?

Just so you know, my Lender is a little reticent about allowing us to refinance right now. Something about reduced LTV (Loan to Value), a Declining Market, Back End ratios and other sundry real estate talkspeak. Oh yeah, and the fact that I'm a Realtor. Ironic huh? I'm having my best year since 2006 but hey, The Ministry has spoken. Okay, fine. I'll play along for... another 12 months.

But I'm going on record now to my current Mortgage Holder---and you may or may not know who you are: When this whole credit crunch blows over.....it's HASTA LA VISTA, BABY. (and I won't be back.) No way, Jose...


ps...enjoy the extra $50,000,000,000 you just received from our favorite uncle Sammy. All I received was a letter from you saying....ah, forgetaboutit!

Geno Petro



pictured: 'our house, is a very very very fine house...'

iLife

This is my iLife in a screenshot---From Left to Right & Top to Bottom:

No Service=I'm so screwed.

6:33 PM=Haven't eaten and the day is still not over.

Battery Low=I'm so screwed.

Touch to return to call=Sure, (if only that function actually worked).

14:54=Elapsed time of important conversation just a nano-second before I dropped my iPhone into the gutter at 6:33 on Thursday, the 24th, starving to death.

Calendar=The Here and Now of it all at my fingertips.

Stocks=I'm so screwed.

Notes=My deepest random thoughts.

Photos=What I thought I saw.

You Tube=My comic relief and mindless willing suspension of disbelief.

Maps=How I get to where I'm going from Chicago.

MSNBC=What I deny 24/7/365. Oh, the spin.

Facebook=How I mingle with people I've either never met or haven't seen in 35 years.

Flashlight=How I roll in the dark.

CHE.com=My Mothership website where I sink 30% of my after tax income.

ConnectMLS=Chicago real estate world in my pocket.

Twitter=How I say it in 140 characters or less.

Real Estate=How I feed the bulldog, shelter the wife, get my fix and send my clients GPS Chicago Real Estate links via Smarter Agent .

Phone='Leave a message, maybe I'll call.'

Email=My electronic voice.

Google=My continuing education.

Text=? U C is ? U get

Camera=What I think I see.

...And that's just the main screen of my iPhone. I have two more just like it on the tarmac jammed full of apps.

post script: "What was iLife like before Apple?" Eve seductively asks Adam on the 8th Day or thereabouts.

Geno Petro

photo: an image that mysteriously appeared on my screen at 6:33PM on Thursday the 24th, when I accidently dropped the phone into the gutter outside my garage and instantly broke my Lent promise of no profanity and only pure thoughts for 40 days and 40 nights. (I'm such a recovering Catholic. I'm so screwed...)

It's 'Match Day' For The Medical Profession

Calling all Medical Residents planning their housing futures: Doctor's Loans, Doctor's Loans

Sunday, March 1st is 'MATCH DAY' (reprint)

I was working with an out-of-state client last summer who had just completed the last stage of his Medical Residency and was planning a move to Chicago. He was hoping to purchase a condominium along Lake Michigan that was walking distance to his new hospital and priced around $300,000. The two big, lingering questions on his mind were:

1) 'How would his accrued Medical School debts affect his ability to purchase a first home?'

and

2) 'How much down payment and closing cost money would be needed for such a purchase?
I immediately shot off an email to Edwin Hahn at Bank of America, the only professional source in Chicago I know of who specializes in such a program.

This is what I found:


While some loans are available with No Money Down, a nominal amount of capital (3-5%) is generally required. Still, this is far less than many conventional conforming loans on the market today.

PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) is usually NOT required.

Student Loans are NOT counted in the Debt Ratios.

Flexible Loan Programs (such as ARMS and Interest Only) are available.

This program is available to Medical Residents, Medical Doctors, Licensed Dental Surgeons specializing in oral and maxillofacial surgery and full-time Medical Instructors who are Licensed Doctors.

Feel free to comment below or simply email Edwin Hahn at:

edwin.c.hahn@bankofamerica.com

Bank of America

10000 Skokie Blvd,

2nd Floor Skokie, IL 60077

Equal Housing Lender

or call him direct at:

847.676.5414

Geno Petro

Spykers, Models, and Egg Foo Young

I was strolling through the Chicago Auto Show at McCormick Place this morning, flanked on either side by office mates Joe Pinto and Petey Basili (my friend Janis Lee calls them my 'bookends'), when I came across this strange, hand crafted beast on display (pictured above); a Spyker. (Notice the sick, sick air dam on the roof.) My guess is it's fairly quick not to mention...ahem... pricey. There was no sticker in the window but hey, if you have to ask...

Anyway, I tried to grab Petey to have him take a gander but he had wandered off and was fixated on the supermodel hawking the new Ford Taurus SHO one section over. Joe was on his cell phone the entire time and was concerned with neither cars nor girls but rather, you guessed it, a New Construction Condo deal. An hour later we were all in Chinatown eating dim sum like fat Americans. Halfway through, I gave up and asked for a fork.

So now you know what Fridays are like for me in the Chicago Real Estate market these days. Oh yeah...it's snowing again. And an FHA loan just got declined after 75 days in Underwriting. And the Loss Mitigation Department at Countrywide won't return my calls. And every Listing Agent I ran into this week wants 'feedback.' And it's a Buyer's market, baby...


Geno Petro


photo by geno petro

Fulton Market Nighthawk

I've always enjoyed the dark and sullied gangways of Chicago's West Loop neighborhood...from a comfortable distance, to be sure. The angle of the downtown skyline from this iron bound perspective is both fresh and gritty at the same time. The Meat Packing District, with its alleys of bumper to bumper empty and open delivery trucks parked in formation under sodium-sulphate street lights, is at its silent brooding best between the dusk and dawn hours.

I came upon the corner pictured above just after sundown last Saturday night. The Fulton Market landscape struck me immediately as an Edward Hopper scene study, particularly the way the back light was pooling on the sidewalk as I rolled up to the dead end stop sign on west May Street. I put the vehicle in PARK, jumped out, and quickly snapped the above image with my iPhone before I lost the frame in my mind forever.

I spent the next twenty minutes looking for parking and a decent place to eat.


Geno Petro


photo by geno petro

VOTE FOR MARIA PINTO

2009 Oscars Dress Designer Finalist

YO CHICAGO, VOTE MARIA PINTO!

Subject: VOTE! Maria Pinto Oscars

CHECK OUT THE FOLLOWING PRESS RELEASE:

I would appreciate your help on an exciting development. And, in these challenging times, it is nice to have the opportunity to focus on more positive matters.

I am forwarding to you an exciting announcement concerning my good friend, Maria Pinto. She has been chosen to participate in the Oscars Designer Challenge. As explained in the following message from her public relations office, she is one of seven designers competing (the original field consisted of over 200 nominees).

We, the public, have a chance to vote and participate in the Academy's decision on the best designer. The winning designer will have her dress/model as the 'trophy girl' during the most watched award show of the year! In a nutshell, here's how you can participate:

The public can vote once a day for Maria's design starting NOW through 5 p.m. on February 17 at:

<http://www.oscar.com/>

Click on Oscars Designer Challenge in the lower left corner of the page.
Please vote (each day for the next seven days!). Also, we would appreciate if you would forward this on to your contact group and ask them to cast votes for Maria Pinto. Please help us send her on to the next leg--THE OSCAR RED CARPET!

Thank you all,

Friends and Family of Maria Pinto


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Mark Davidovich MarkD@Studio-PR.com Maria Pinto In Emerging Designer Competition Consumers can vote at

http://www.oscar.com/

(FEBRUARY 10, 2009) Los Angeles, CA -The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences selected Maria Pinto to be one of seven emerging designers to showcase an originally designed gown at its annual Oscars® Fashion Preview. Pinto and others are competing for the chance to have their gown worn on the 81st Academy Awards® telecast. The public can vote once a day for Maria's design beginning at 3 p.m. PT on February 10th through 5 p.m. on February 17 at


<http://www.oscar.com/.


This is Maria Pinto's first time participating in the Fashion Preview held at the Academy's headquarters in Beverly Hills, CA. The designer who receives the most votes will have his or her design worn onstage by one Awards Escort during the Oscar® telecast, which airs live on ABC Sunday, February 22, from the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood and Highland Center®.

Even though Pinto's luxurious women's accessories collection debuted at Bergdorf Goodman in 1991, she debuted her first ready to wear and evening collection in 2004. However most consumers didn't know her name until Michelle Obama started wearing her dresses on the campaign trail in 2007.

For more information about Maria Pinto, log on to http://www.mariapinto.com/ <http://www.mariapinto.com/> or contact Studio PR, 212-696-1321.

Geno Petro

Dear Assh...uh...I mean neighbor,

This is just one small example of the residual fallout that can occur after a condo owner pays upwards of $50,000 for a deeded parking space in Chicago (See the picture). And no, this was not directed at me---I found it laying on the icy sidewalk before a showing---although, I did once receive a similar love note from a married couple upstairs demanding me to stop smoking cigarettes in my duplex.

I believe the husband's exact words to me began with, "Just so you know, I am an attorney" to which I promptly replied, "What a coincidence, I have an attorney..." and on it went for several months. They ended up selling their condo and moving away and I shortly thereafter, kicked the habit for good. I also brought the buyer for their unit. So there, I won on all counts. It's one of my favorite real estate agent/condo living/unfriendly neighbor stories.

Now I don't know Javier & Laura personally but I do know the River North building they live in and yes, 50K buys you an 8 by 17 foot patch of individually taxed and assessed concrete in the bowels of their garage. It's sick when you start doing the $$ math per square foot for unlivable space. Unbelievable, really.

...And thus, it really pisses an already heavily mortgaged condo owner off when someone else in the building parks his Hummer over the surveyed yellow line and onto their assigned (and also mortgaged) parking space. It makes for unfriendly condo association cookouts on Sunday afternoons in the summer. It makes for dead silence and lack of eye contact during the long elevator rides up to the Eighth Floor. It calls for nasty notes like the one above to make a point. It can even culminate in...yes, fist-a-cuffs.

I've noticed on the news that more than a few people have been clobbered over parking space incidents in this white city since I arrived a dozen years ago. The truth is, guys like Javier can only take so much inconsiderate neighbor-related angst before they snap. It can turn poor girls like Laura into instant median strip mud wrestlers with one honk of the horn too many in rush hour traffic. I've seen it and it ain't pretty. It makes city dwellers in oversized SUVs (which I love by the way---the vehicles, not the people) vessels for bad condo karma, dude.

It makes relying on the CTA for urban transport sound like a good idea. All you have to worry about then is how to spend the extra 50K you pocketed...and of course, all the lunatics on the bus.


Geno Petro

Gold Coast Trash

I pulled up behind this experiment in socio-economic human squalor (pictured) the other morning near the intersection of Goethe and LaSalle in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago. I couldn't tell if an actual person was buried beneath all the trash inside or if the vehicle was just being used as an alternative composte bin by an eccentric limestone entried resident. But then again, I didn't get that close.

I looked up and down the sidewalk to see if I could match a house or condominium with the vehicle. Nothing meshed. Little if anything in this particular area sells for less than a million dollars even in the worst of real estate markets. Rents hover above $3,000 per month as well. Heck, even garbage pick-up (referred to as 'scavenger service' here in Chicago, can run a couple bills per week for a medium sized condo association). Still, that's no reason to live in it, I thought to myself....

Then I recalled a time in my own life, in a world far far away and long long ago, when my car was too, my castle for a brief period of time. I was in between room mates in college at the time or more accurately, between NDSL student loan distributions. My only credit card was Sears--good for plaid shirts, beef jerky from the Camping Department, and tires, but not much else. Oh, I did have an ATM card too, with a balance of $7.00, but I'll be damned if they ever let me withdraw it whenever I tried to use the machine bolted to the outside Bank wall.

I smugly referred to my roving address during this stint as 1972 Riviera, Slippery Rock, PA. Zip Code...depends. But unlike my slovenly subject pictured above, I made it a point to at least park behind the coin-operated car wash on the edge of town at night so I was always close to a trash bin, slightly running water, and the occasional discarded 'New Car Smell' thingy jiggy you hang from the rear view mirror. After all, Cleanliness is next to Godliness, even in a declining housing market.


Geno Petro