Michael Hobbs's (michaelhobbs) Blog

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Real Estate Appraiser - PahRoo Appraisal & Consultancy
RECENT BLOG POSTS
Photo courtesy of Concierge Auctions Chicago legend, Michael Jordan puts his home up for auction.  His Highland Park home of nearly 20 years is 56,000 square feet and was originally put on the market back in February 2012 for $29 million.  After failing to sell, MJ decided to put it up for aucti...
10/21/2013
The hotel at the corner of Kinzie and State Street which was once the 10 west hotel, and recently known as the Amafli Hotel, will undergo another name change as new ownership takes possession. Developer, Peter Dumon plans on changing the name to The Kinzie Hotel.  Dumon, and his company, the Har...
10/18/2013
Why move to Ohio? According to Trulia, Ohio currently has the most affordable market for middle class home buyers when the median household income is compared to the price of homes listed of each major city in the US.   Six of the top eleven most affordable cities to live in were in Ohio; Akron, ...
10/17/2013
In a survey taken by Redfin, they found some shocking results regarding how much it costs to buy a home near the best schools.  The information gathered concentrated on elementary schools specifically. School districts and the schools themselves are two large considerations when home buyers have ...
10/11/2013
In an effort to reduce redundancy in the mortgage modification process, the ‘Big Five’ servicers agree to make the response time longer before starting the foreclosure process. The big five, commonly referred to, are Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo, Ally Bank, and JP Morgan/Chase.  One of ...
10/11/2013
For homeowners that have gone through the emotional and financial devastation of a foreclosure, there may be a way to buy again, and soon. Under a new federal rule, FHA is cutting the waiting period to reapply for a loan for persons who lost their job which then resulted in defaulting on their mo...
09/20/2013
For the last few years, the Chicago area has shown some frightening foreclosure activity, but the last few months have been a different story.  According to RealtyTrac.com, the Chicago area has dropped nearly 60% from August 2012 to August 2013. RealtyTrac defines the Chicagoland area as, the Sou...
09/20/2013
July delivered some high numbers all around in new construction for Chicago. McGraw –Hill says new apartment construction was up 53% in July 2013. Coupled with rents rising steadily over the last few years, one could ask, “Is Chicago new apartment construction getting ahead of itself?”  According...
09/12/2013
Among Chicago’s grand Magnificent Mile, people have come to appreciate many fine hotels from the historic Drake Hotel, to The Four Seasons, and the Millennium Knickerbocker.  As you walk up to the entrance, and as you walk through the lobby, you get a feeling that you’ve just entered an opera hou...
09/12/2013
Buying a home is often times an exciting time for new home buyers; however the mortgage payment is a different story.  The thirty year mortgage although the most common, can also be thought of as a retirement account.   Paying your mortgage off early is not a new idea and not the strategy for eve...
09/09/2013
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Michael Hobbs

SRA, LEED GA, RAA
local_phone(773) 388-0003
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