Tag Archives: Giuseppe Zerillo

So you’re single and ready to make the homeownership commitment. Well you’re not alone. According to the National Association of Realtors, 36 percent of recent home buyers were unmarried. With home prices and interest rates as low as they are, right now is a perfect time to buy instead of renting an apartment and paying someone else’s mortgage. And when it comes to buying your first home, the first rule is something that I learned over the years, and that is that mamma is always right! Although the opinion of your friends and co-workers can help, many of them probably …

  The Person of the Year Gala is easily the most important fundraiser of the year for Casa Italia, and this year’s honoree came through with flying colors. Tens of thousands of dollars were raised for the Casa on the strength of Louis C. Cairo’s charisma, love of family, passion for his heritage, and expansive network of devoted friends and associates. Among them was his extended family at Goldman Weisman and Cairo (GWC), which has emerged as Illinois’ largest injury law firm under the stewardship of Lou and his partner, Michael B. Goldberg. Scores of well-wishers from the many labor …

With recent changes to the real estate market, a seller never want a transaction to fall through once their property has gone under contract. Don’t make a mistake or a hard-headed decision that diverts you from the path you’re on, which is to make it past the closing table to the sale of your house. The biggest mistake I see a seller make is agreeing to make a repair brought up by a buyer only to not complete it. If you agree to make a repair, make sure it is completed in a timely manner. The buyer WILL come back …

The rental market these days is hot, hot, hot! A recent study showed that renters will spend up to 45 percent of their monthly income on housing. With the real estate market still in recovery mode and younger people leaving the nest earlier than in recent decades, rental properties can be lucrative. So what will set your rental property apart from the rest? When someone is looking to rent, they will look at numerous properties. What will make them choose yours after they slim the list down? Location is not always the key, with a potential tenant choosing amenities over …

  Summer has begun for sure and once again, we’re all about making use of the season for which we’ve waited many months. When people describe Chicagoans, one adjective that always comes to mind is “resilient.” We always bounce back from the reality given to us to create a new reality for ourselves. That translates into us Roselandites and Pullmanites looking forward to the opportunity to get together at reunion opportunities that come our way. This year, with Pullman having been given the honor of being designated as the Pullman National Monument of the National Park Services, everyone has a …

  So you’re sitting on the sofa watching one of those home improvement show and thinking to yourself, “This is easy! I can do that”! But what you don’t see are all the mistakes and outtakes, and the enormous amount of time and effort that ends up on the cutting room floor. Don’t let a 30-minute television show convince you that it’s easy to whip a fixer-upper into line. Before you ask your realtor to begin the search for a “project property” as we call it in the profession, you need to ask yourself a couple of important questions. No. …

With everything that has gone on with the real estate market over the past few years, the rental market has become more appealing than ever. According to some national studies, rental prices have risen about 14 percent over last year. As a result, it can be tough to locate the right property at the right price. Many areas have a low supply of available rentals, driving up the price for potential tenants. With the average rental property staying on the market for only a couple of hours, you have to be competitive. Don’t wait until the weekend to look at …

You’re single and looking to purchase your first property. There are many factors to explore beyond the obvious considerations of cost. You will, of course, able to afford the maintenance of a single-family home? Will the association fee of a condominium or town home cover exterior maintenance? But wait, there’s more. First off, you need to decide what type of property will meet your current and future needs. Do you need a single family home or will a condominium or town home do? How many extra rooms are you looking for? Will you need a home office or maybe a …

Have you ever wondered how to pull a couple hundred extra dollars a month from your rental properties, or even a couple thousand? Achieving top dollar for your rental isn’t as hard as it may seem. First off, never skimp when remodeling a rental property. Many times, folks will install a brand new kitchen, but will not want to spend the couple of dollars extra to replace the flooring. Along those lines, if you do plan on leaving the old carpet, have it professionally cleaned. Painting can also go a long way. Remember to keep the colors neutral but not …

For many of us, our cellular phone never leaves our sight. Why not use it to help with your next real estate purchase? Years ago, a Sunday consisted of driving around wasting gas in an area in which you were looking for a home in. You would look for the “Open House” signs and tour the property. Many were not what you were looking for, though, and many Sundays were wasted. Nowadays, all you need is a smart phone! There are many applications for real estate that feature basic settings like alerts when a property becomes available, whether that property …