I have clients looking for:

1st client looking for:
30-50 units in the 1.8 - 4.0 Million Range
Cash Flow or 8+ Cap Rate
Anywhere in the Mid West!
Quick Close...

2nd client looking for:
Townhome in the Lincoln Park or Lakeview area
3-4 bedroom, 3+ bath, 2 car parking
Updated and needs to be quiet unit
550-700K price range

3rd client looking for:
Warehouse space 5000-10,000 square feet
Needs to be in the West Loop area(or very close)
Price range up to 800K
Quick Close!

Ron Knoll @ 773 330-2353 cell
Saffron Realty Group
www.GreatChicagoRealEstate.com

0 Days on the Market! Old Town Penthouse...

2 BED/2 BATH PLUS DEN IN OLD TOWN! WITH 2 GARAGE SPOTS. STUNNING LAKE, CITY, AND LINCOLN PARK VIEWS, A 'WOW' FACTOR. PENTHHOUSE LIVING WITH EVERY BELL & WHISTLE. AMAZING KITCHEN & BATHS, ALSO F/P,W/D IN UNIT,ALL HARDWOOD FLOORS, BALCONY. WALK TO THE LAKE, RESTAURANTS, THEATER, OR SHOP ON WELLS. QUICK CLOSE POSSIBLE! TRULY A AMAZING CONDO IN CHICAGO!!!!!!

Saffron Realty Group
Ron Knoll @ 773 330-2353 cell
www.GreatChicagoRealEstate.com

Chicago Investment Property NOT on the MLS! 30 Units...

30 Unit Building
3- 2 bedroom, 5 room
6- Studio
9- 2 bedroom, 4 room
12- 1 bedroom, 3 room

Income: $16,583 mo. $199,000 yr
Expense: $5,517 mo. $66,200 yr
Gas $25,000
Taxes $20,000
Insurance $8,000
Garbage $5,000
Electric $1,200
Water $6,000

Notes:

Leases- All month to month. Scattered rents due to some long term tenants

Updates- Newer windows, hot water system (2 yrs), Boiler burners (1 yr), new gutters

General- Exterior well maintained.
Porches/stairways in good condition.
All tubs are old style claw tubs
½ kitchens have cast iron sinks, others “newer”

Ron Knoll @ 773 330-2353 cell
Saffron Realty Group
www.GreatChicagoRealEstate.com

2021 N.Kedzie

http://www.circlepix.com/home/WJHENS

Just Listed! Take a look at the Virtual Tour:
Ron Knoll @ 773 330-2353 cell
Saffron Realty Group

www.GreatChicagoRealEstate.com

Logan Square Condo!

Take a tour of my new listing:

http://www.circlepix.com/home/WJHENS

Ron Knoll @ 773 330-2353 cell
Saffron Realty Group
www.GreatChicagoRealEstate.com

Chicago Investment Property NOT on the MLS! 30 Units...

30 Unit Building
3- 2 bedroom, 5 room
6- Studio
9- 2 bedroom, 4 room
12- 1 bedroom, 3 room

Income: $16,583 mo. $199,000 yr
Expense: $5,517 mo. $66,200 yr
Gas $25,000
Taxes $20,000
Insurance $8,000
Garbage $5,000
Electric $1,200
Water $6,000

Notes:

Leases- All month to month. Scattered rents due to some long term tenants

Updates- Newer windows, hot water system (2 yrs), Boiler burners (1 yr), new gutters

General- Exterior well maintained.
Porches/stairways in good condition.
All tubs are old style claw tubs
½ kitchens have cast iron sinks, others “newer”

Call Saffron Realty Group for more info:
Ron Knoll
773 330-2353 cell
http://www.GreatChicagoRealEstate.com

This Year, An Apartment In The Ukrainian Village; Next Year, A Condo In Logan Square

Well, I'll be moving to my new apartment in two weeks. Along with all of the other moving-related thoughts that could send one spiraling into a panic at 11:45 PM on a work night I also have this one: This is probably the last apartment I will ever rent. The finality of it is a little unnerving, as endings can be (except when we're talking about root canals and the like), but it's also very exciting. I'm going to spend the next year doing everything I can to make my credit squeaky clean. Some days I fear that this task might take more than a year, but in any case, this IS probably the last apartment I will ever rent. So, for the next year, it's nesting and saving and paying down debt for me. Should be very exciting.

Bucktown Condo, WOW!

Take a look at this amazing Bucktown condo! Priced to sell...

http://www.circlepix.com/home/WJ4TPD

Illinois property

Ron Knoll @ 773 330-2353 cell
Saffron Realty Group
www.GreatChicagoRealEstate.com

Chicago Lofts

Saffron Realty Group
2538 W. Chicago Ave.
Chicago Il 60622

contact Ron Knoll @ 773 330-2353 cell
Ron@SaffronRealtyGroup.com
www.GreatChicagoRealEstate.com

Could Chicago tower pop the real estate market?

Tuesday, July 26, 2005
By Alex Frangos, The Wall Street Journal

There will be plenty of oohs and aahs tomorrow when Chicago developer Fordham Co. unveils plans to erect the tallest building in the U.S., a 115-story, torquing condominium-and-hotel tower designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.

But there also are likely to be questions from people who study the residential real estate market: Will this pointed tower on the shores of Lake Michigan be the pin that prick's Chicago's condo bubble?

Chicago, along with the rest of the country, has been condo crazy the past few years. The Windy City will add 7,499 newly built units this year, down 33 percent from 2004 but still among the top three nationwide, according to Property & Portfolio Research Inc. and Reed Construction Data. Only Miami and San Diego are building more. Donald Trump, for one, has a big condo project under way on the banks of the Chicago River. Meanwhile, nationally, median condo prices hit a high in June at $223,500, up 15 percent from the year before, according to the National Association of Realtors.

With for-sale signs plastered on new condo buildings everywhere, Chicago real estate experts say the high end of the market may be cracking. "I would be quite hesitant to put up more residential units in Chicago," says Louis G. Conforti, head of Chicago-based real estate investment company Greenwood Group LLC. "We've had a shipload of project come online in the last three years," he says. "The market is slowing."

Christopher T. Carley, the tower's developer, is undeterred. He predicts his chances of success with the $400 million-plus structure as "better than any building I've ever built." Still, he says he wants to sell half the units before construction. If the demand doesn't materialize, neither will the tower.

Chicagoans have consistently gobbled up high-end pads in the towers that have gone up in recent years, he adds. The demographic group he covets are baby boomers moving to the city after "the last kid goes to college and the dog dies," along with 30-something professionals with money and no kids.

He's attracting them in part with the flair of Mr. Calatrava, who also is a sculptor and is well known for his bird-like extension to the Milwaukee Art Museum, 90 minutes north of Chicago. Mr. Calatrava likens the trim skyscraper he has designed to the knotty curves of a tree trunk or a person twisting. The building resembles a metal drill bit in its tapered, twisting form, something the Iberian brushes off. "It has more to do with a natural sense of growth and verticality than in any metallic tool-like object," he says by phone from his Valencia, Spain, studio.

Dubbed the Fordham Spire, the tower will reach 2,000 feet at its tip, higher than the symbolic 1,776 feet of the planned Freedom Tower at the site of the World Trade Center in New York and well above the nearby Sears Tower, which at 1,353 feet is currently the tallest in the U.S. Tallest in the world is Taipei 101, standing 1,671 feet in Taiwan's capital city. A new global height champion is under construction in Dubai that will top 2,300 feet when finished in 2008.

If built, the Fordham Spire will probably remain the nation's tallest building: The Federal Aviation Administration doesn't allow structures above 2,000 feet. "The height is not a statement," Mr. Calatrava says. "It doesn't need to be the tallest. It's just the right proportion." Mr. Carley concurs: "I just want a beautiful landmark building for Chicago."

The skyscraper will have around 250 units, plus a 200-room luxury hotel. Fordham is looking for a hotel partner. Ringing the base will be townhouses, restaurants and retail stores.

Mr. Calatrava is renowned for building soaring, almost skeletal-looking structures. His recent projects include the roof of the Olympic stadium in Athens and an apartment building in Malmo, Sweden, called Turning Torso. He also is designing a $2 billion transit hub at the World Trade Center site.

The new tower would compete with Mr. Trump's 92-story condominium and hotel, now under construction on the site of the old Chicago Sun-Times building about a mile away. But with at least half a dozen other superluxury projects in Chicago, it isn't clear that there are enough rich buyers around to fill a project as ambitious, and as expensive, as Fordham's. Buyers would pay at least $850 a square foot, a level Mr. Conforti says is hard to sustain.

There are other obstacles: Mr. Carley is in contract to buy the plot, but the project is contingent on city approval of a key zoning change. Another question: Do people want to live at such great heights? Businesses have expressed trepidation at taking thin-air space in landmark structures. The Sears Tower is 30 percent vacant, and no one has signed up for space in the Freedom Tower.

Signs of sluggishness dot the Chicago real-estate landscape. A handful of projects have suffered slower-than-expected sales, forcing developers to restructure loans or cede unsold units to banks. This spring, Mr. Carley refinanced a $53 million loan on a 50-story condo tower when the units sold slowly. He says the refinancing took advantage of lower interest rates.

Mr. Carley says lenders are lining up to support the project. But one lender who expressed interest is proceeding cautiously. "Chicago appears to be a market that there's been significant overbuilding," says Todd Johnson, managing director of ASB Capital Management Inc. of Bethesda, Md. But, he adds,"Projects like this are unique. Calatrava is clearly the architect of the moment. For that reason we'll look at it."

Of course, plans for tall buildings get thrown out as often as socks with holes in them. Daniel Burhnam, one of Chicago's great 19th century architects and builder of the 1893 World's Fair, famously said, "Make no little plans."

What's So Great About My New Ukrainian Village Apartment (It's Not What You Think)

If you want to meet everyone--and I mean EVERYONE--in your neighborhood, get a puppy. That's what I did and suddenly everyone in my West Roscoe Village neighborhood wants to talk to me. How old is he? How big will he get? Is he a good dog? A good dog, indeed!

I am absolutely amazed at the number of people I've met in the last three weeks. I've lived in my apartment for almost a year now and haven't met a soul, but since the advent of Ollie (that's his name), I have neighbors. Good neighbors, interesting neighbors, neighbors who invite me over for coffee on Sunday and offer to pick up my mail when I'm on vacation.

I should have done this a long time ago. Last year when I moved into my apartment, after the movers left my son and I spent a quiet evening together wondering who all the nameless people in all the houses on our street were. This time will be different, thanks to Ollie. In September we are moving to the Ukrainian Village, one of Chicago's most dog-friendly neighborhoods. I anticipate that our new neighbors will welcome us to the neighborhood joyfully and with great fervor in an effort to get close to the one and only Ollie. I'll let you know how that goes. And for my fellow dog owners, here are a few links to some groovy pet pampering places:

Sit!
http://sitchicago.com/

Barker and Meowski, A Paw Firm
http://www.barkerandmeowsky.com/

Streeterville Pet Spa and Boutique
http://www.streetervillepet.com/

Enjoy!

Free Music Videos and Chicago Homes For Sale

I'd like to tell you about two new sites that I've developed:

1) CyberAlerts.com - This site overlays CraigsList homes for sale and for rent data on a Google Map. It's a very intuitive way of searching Craigslist for Chicago homes for sale by owner.

2)PcPlanets.com - This site has two target audiences, those who like to view music videos and those who would like to have music videos playing on their website. PcPlanets has over 20,000 videos available to search and play. The code for the video can be easily pasted into your blog or website for your viewers to watch your favorite video!

I'm still working out all the bugs on these sites, but they are still very cool! Check them out and let me know what you think!

Here's an example of how pcplanets.com works. Let's say you like Ashlee Simpson and want to have her video playing on your website. You go to PcPlanets.com, find Ashlee Simpson's video, and then cut and paste the code into your website, like this:

Now for this site, imagine when PcPlanets has real estate news videos from various news organizations, etc. Or podcasts, lots of opportunities to bring more relevant content to our clients and readers!