Get your dollars worth!

So you've decided to take the plunge and redo the kitchen, or put on a sprawling new deck, or add that central air conditioning you so desperately wanted last summer. The plans are drawn, the contractor is ready to go, and you suddenly have a concern you hadn't thought of before:

Is this a good investment?

How well a remodeling project pays back on its initial cost is dependant on a number of factors, and you need to weigh at least some of them before you make the decision to move ahead. For example, the payback on remodeling in general is better in a hot real estate market where homes are moving quickly, as opposed to an area where the market is slow. This is especially worth considering if you plan to sell your home soon after the remodeling is complete.

You also want to consider the type of project you're undertaking, and how it relates to the homes in your area. If the market around you is particularly good for homes with two bathrooms, and you want to add a second bathroom to your current one-bath home, the return on investment will be better then if you had spent the same amount of money to add a third bathroom to your existing two. Another example of this is the danger of overbuilding. If you construct a room addition and make your house 2,600 square feet in a neighborhood of 1,700-square-foot homes, chances are that the percentage of payback versus investment will be pretty low.

If you are planning on doing all or most of the remodeling work yourself, you can typically reap some rewards by keeping the investment for the project lower than if you had hired a contractor to do it. But remember – that reward assumes that you can do a quality job. If you construct a room addition that doesn't blend with the existing house, or do a quick and shoddy kitchen remodel with bargain-basement materials, you may actually end up lowering the value of your home.

With all that said, here is the typical percentage of payback per dollar spent for a number of popular remodeling projects. Remember – these are only averages compiled from a number of different survey sources, and may vary considerably for your particular home:

Minor kitchen remodeling: approximately 94 percent to 104 percent.

Install central heating system*: approximately 100 percent to 102 percent.

Major kitchen remodeling: approximately 90 percent to 94 percent.

Bath addition: approximately 92 percent.

Bath remodeling: approximately 77 percent to 85 percent.

Central air conditioning*: approximately 75 percent.

Family room addition: approximately 85 percent to 87 percent.

Decks: approximately 73 percent to 83 percent.

Replace windows*: approximately 68 percent to 74 percent.

Add a home office: approximately 55 percent to 65 percent.

Add a swimming pool*: approximately 44 percent.

Add landscaping: approximately 30 percent to 50 percent.

Remodel a basement: approximately 15 percent.

*These items can pay back considerably more or less depending on the region of the country, and the climatic conditions. For example, adding a swimming pool in Oregon will probably not pay back as well as adding one in Arizona.

Chicago Entertainment Guide – Blues, Jazz and Foreign Cinema

If you’re looking for a city with an exciting nightlife, filled with endless variety in movies, music and dancing, look no further; Chicago fits the bill. From big-time musical venues, to back-alley supper clubs this city practically has its own rhythm, and it’s called the Blues.

Chicago’s Blues Scene
Chicago is home to the Blues; just stop at any of the prominent Blues clubs scattered across the city and see for yourself (I counted 12, but there’s probably more). There’s B.L.U.E.S. on the north side, a small, but popular club that features well-known Blues performers every night of the year. Tuesday night at B.L.U.E.S. is “good neighbor night,” where Chicago residents with 60614, 60657 or 60610 zip codes get in for free. You can also find Blues artists, as well as performers from every other musical genre, at House of Blues Chicago, a national chain concert hall located on Dearborn Street. Other notable Chicago Blue’s clubs include Buddy Guy’s Legends, Blue Chicago, Blue Chicago on Clark, Rosa’s, Kingston Mines, and the Checkerboard Lounge. And don’t miss the annual Chicago Blues Festival. It’s fashionable, it’s fun, and it’s free. Held each June in Grant Park on Lake Michigan, the Chicago Blues Festival dates back more then twenty years and is the largest free admission Blues festival in the world. More than one million people attend yearly to hear a variety of Blues styles from local and nationally-known performers.

And All That Jazz
Cousin of the Blues, Jazz is also a popular music form in Chicago. Along with numerous jazz clubs around the downtown area, there is also an annual Jazz Festival, which offers a full week of free jazz concerts. Also held in Grant Park, this festival was started in 1979 by the Jazz Institute of Chicago and the Mayor’s Office of Special Events. The festival was originally meant to showcase local jazz musicians and performers. Today, it has grown into a pop culture event features jazz legends from around the world. For more information on the Blues and Jazz festivals, visit www.chicagotraveler.com.

Dinner and Dancing
If you’ve got a craving, Chicago will fill it. The city of Chicago is filled with restaurants that offer cuisine types for every letter of the alphabet including Afghan, African, American, Argentinean, Asian, Brazilian, Cajun, Creole, Chilean, Chinese, Columbian, Cuban, Dim Sum, Ethiopian, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Indian, Indonesian, Irish, Jamaican, Japanese, Korean, Lebanese, Mediterranean, Mexican, Middle Eastern, Moroccan, Puerto Rican, Russian, Scandinavian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Vegetarian, Venezuelan and Vietnamese.

To work off those dinner calories, there are over 75 different dance clubs and studios in the Chicago area. So whether you’re into Latin, Ballroom, Swing and Country Western, Chicago has a place for you. Club 720 is a Latin dance club that offers free Salsa lessons every Tuesday and Friday nights with a live band. It is also where the Chicago Tango Club meets Tuesday nights on the third floor.

Chicago International REEL Shorts Festival
Marketing themselves as, “this ain’t no Sundance,” the Chicago International REEL Shorts Festival offers a unique entertainment experience at an inexpensive price. The festival is part of Project Chicago, an organization founded in 2003 by a group of filmmakers devoted to providing an accessible forum for filmmakers all over the world to display their work. The 3-day festival plays at 3 Penny Cinema in Chicago’s Lincoln Park. Tickets are $6 and $3 for parking. $25 gets you an all-access pass to see all 75 film shorts. Go to www.projectchicago.com for festival dates.

By Stacy Hinojosa
www.grabrealestate.com

The Buying Process

YOUR HOME-BUYING TEAM WILL CONSIST OF:
• YOUR REALTOR
• YOUR MORTGAGE BROKER
• YOUR INSPECTOR
• YOUR ATTORNEY.

All members on your team work on your behalf to help you reach your goal.

Following are the basics involved in buying a home

1. Decide to buy. You’re sick of lining someone else’s pocket with your rental dollars and would like to start building your own equity and securing your own future – IT’S TIME TO BUY.
2. Explore the Market. Since you’re reading this, this is probably the stage you’re at now. We will guide you through what type of property you want and where you want to live. Enroll in our FREE property search system to view listings from the MLS Realtors use and get notified when new properties that match your criteria come to market. Contact us to discuss you ideal home and neighborhood. We will help direct you to the most appropriate areas for your needs.
3. Get Prequalified. How much home can you afford? Find out with our easy mortgage calculator. Get prequalified with a mortgage broker for an “official” amount. All it takes is a 15 minute phone call!
4. Research and Tours. The GreatChicagoRealEstate.com team of experts has many ways of providing you with information. We can send listings to you via e-mail, direct mail, fax or we can even set up a custom web-page for you to which are posted listings that fit only your criteria, price range and area. This service is your own direct access to the Multiple Listing Service that is only accessible to Realtors. When you determine the properties you would like to view, we will schedule your custom property tour.
5. Make an Offer. You found the perfect place! We will write–up your offer to purchase, advise you on a reasonable offer price and negotiate the offer to acceptance on your behalf. Once accepted, we will track all necessary deadlines for you through your closing and after.
6. Choose your Attorney and Property Inspector. We will advise you on who to use, what they do for you and associated costs. We will accompany you on your inspection and negotiate any potential inspection issues. We will also manage all aspects of attorney review to approval.
7. Close and move in! Along with your attorney we will accompany you to your closing to make sure everything goes smoothly and to provide any necessary documentation.

Real estate a top investment choice, says poll

Real estate is the top place to put your money, according to a quarterly survey of about 1,100 investors conducted for the National Association of Investors Corp.

About 22 percent of respondents selected real estate as the best industry to invest in now, 39 percent selected real estate as one of the top three best investment opportunities, and 54 percent said the industry's past performance is an indication of future promise.

Pharmaceuticals and technology also ranked high in this latest Voice of the American Shareholder poll.

The pharmaceutical industry ranked second with 16 percent of shareholders choosing it as a good investment in the current environment, and 42 percent of respondents selected pharmaceuticals as one of their top three investment choices, while 14 percent of respondents said technology was a good choice.

"Growth potential" was cited by 64 percent of the respondents as the reason for selecting an industry as a good investment. Also, 43 percent of shareholders said they evaluate an industry's past performance to anticipate future promise.

American shareholders, cautious following the recent financial troubles plaguing the airline industry, pegged travel as the worst industry for investment. Thirty-eight percent put the travel industry among the top three worst investments. Government was selected by 27 percent and health care by 23 percent as among the top three worst investments. Investors cited out-of- control costs as the primary reason why travel, government and health care are viewed so dimly.

Forty-five percent of investors feel government is not prepared to deal with the current terrorism threat, further eroding confidence in that sector.

NAIC, a non-profit organization focused on investor education, introduced the poll in 2003. The poll is designed to track investing behavior and provide insight into shareholders' attitudes and views on current topics that could affect their investment decisions. Participants were owners of individual stocks or stock mutual funds, 18 or older.

This poll was conducted online by Harris Interactive from Nov. 3-10, immediately following the 2004 presidential election.

"With this survey, we are able to gain insight into what's on investors' minds and how they plan to approach the coming year," said Ken Janke, NAIC chairman. "The Voice of the American Shareholder Poll truly takes the pulse of individual investors and helps us understand their perspectives."

A summary of the best and worst investments selected by survey participants is available at http://www.better-investingnewsroom.org/voice/voas1204-charts01.html.

The overall view shareholders have about the economy and stock market could be best characterized as cautious:

The decline in confidence in the direction of the economy has continued for the third straight quarter and is at its lowest level since September 2003, when this was first measured by the VOAS poll.

The proportion of shareholders who think it is a good time to move into safer investments continues to increase and fewer think stocks are a better bargain than they were one year ago.

There has been a drop in the NAIC Shareholder Confidence Index (SCI) to 9.3 from 10.9 in May 2004.

Many anticipate that interest rates, inflation and the national unemployment rate will increase in 2005.

After rising between September 2003 and January 2004, confidence in the direction of the economy has declined to its lowest levels in this series of research, and the percentage of shareholders who have no confidence at all has doubled.

The SCI is based on a scale from -100 to +100 where zero equals a neutral attitude towards the stock market. An Index of 9.3, down from 10.9, shows traces of optimism tempered by concern about the economy's direction, rising energy prices and anticipation of rising interest rates.

Half of respondents to the VOAS poll agreed that now is a good time for new investors to get involved in the stock market, which is almost unchanged from the May 2004 findings (51 percent). But an increasing number of investors (40 percent) consider it a good time to move into less risky investments. This percentage has steadily increased from 34 percent in January 2004 to 37 percent May 2004 and is now at 40 percent.

Coloring their outlook for 2005, 87 percent of American shareholders said they believe that the health care costs they pay will increase while 80 percent believe interest rates will rise. Sixty-seven percent of respondents expect home values in their area to increase while 66 percent expect a rise in inflation. About 56 percent said they anticipate a rise in the stock market in coming year.

NAIC currently serves 243,934 members, including 21,312 investment clubs. On average, each NAIC member invests $84 per month in an investment club portfolio. The average NAIC club invests in excess of $927 each month. The combined investment portfolios of NAIC members exceed $117 billion.

www.GreatChicagoRealEstate.com