Canine Clout Tribune Article

Here is an article printed in the Chicago Tribune Sunday Real Estate Section written by Chuck Green quoting none other than...

CANINE CLOUT

Would-be buyers may love a house, but when it comes to a decision, dogs rule

By Chuck Green

Special to the Tribune

Published February 4, 2007

Kelly and Matt Elvin with Sammy (from left), Mandy and Boomer. The Elvins relocated to Oak Park partly so their golden retriever would have a yard. They have since added two Labradors. Now they have a farm in Michigan, where the dogs can really romp.When Kelly and Matt Elvin shop for a couch, the question isn't whether it blends with the rest of their furniture or floor plan. Foremost in their minds is whether it's right for their dogs. "We're the kind of people who literally pick out a couch based on whether there's enough room for people and dogs," Kelly Elvin said.So it's only natural that while they loved living in the city, the Elvins moved to Oak Park several years ago, partly so their golden retriever would have a yard. "We wanted him to be able to play and exercise, in addition to his daily walk," said Kelly. In fact, the Elvins, both formerly lawyers, have since added two Labradors. "That would have been a tight fit in our apartment."When it comes to relocating and altering lifestyles to accommodate one or more dogs, the Elvins have plenty of company. According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association 2005-06 National Pet Owners Survey, 43.5 million U.S. households own a dog, and nearly 73 million dogs are owned in the country.

"Dogs are a part of the family almost as much as any other member. They're part of the home buying decision-making process," said Jim Gramata, a broker associate with Keller Williams Lincoln Park Realty. "Whether I'm listing a property and presenting it to prospective buyers, or out with clients, I understand the importance of the family pet and how homes can be passed on due to their requirements."In fact, he said, a woman who recently attended one of his open houses had to pass on a unit she liked because it wouldn't be right for her pet, who was with her."I told her to bring him in if she wanted because he should come check it out too. The only unit available was on the top floor, which she loved but couldn't even consider because her dog was getting old and would have had trouble handling the stairs because of bad hips," Gramata said. "She said that had happened to her several times already in her search and that she was really limited in her choices due to her dog's age, but was determined to `find them both a good home.'"

That determination resonates with Jamie Damato, who said when she searches for a place to live, her dogs have "about a 98 percent vote. Name a choice, they have a say." Even if their choices don't necessarily coincide with hers, noted Damato, who has lived in a single-family house in Logan Square since 2005."The neighborhood became less my choice but the choice of my budget. Unfortunately, you don't get a nice house with a yard and good-size, dog-friendly home for a reasonable price in Lincoln Park or Lakeview."My ideal neighborhood would be anywhere along the lake--preferably a loft space with big windows and a deck," noted Damato, who along with Kelly Elvin is affiliated with Damato's Animal Sense Canine Training and Behavior Inc. in Chicago. However, that arrangement would be less than ideal for her dogs, a beagle mix, Doberman mix and toy poodle mix. "They need to be happy and have their needs met."Her home, more than 2,500 square feet, includes a fenced-in back yard, "with lots of space in the house for playing."Damato said she's moved more than 10 times since she got her first dog more than 14 years ago. "It's been a non-stop search for the perfect dog-friendly space. And since I'm such a huge dog fanatic, I always have at least two or three at any given time, whether they are mine [or whether she's pet-sitting or caring for a foster dog]. Landlords aren't so groovy about that sort of thing."Before purchasing her home, Damato lived in Uptown. "It was a decent dog set-up, situated on a park, but still didn't have a yard or a true dog-loving landlord. So I had to become my own dog-loving landlord. It was just getting old having other people make the rules for my pets."Ideally, she said, "I wouldn't own at this point in my life, but moving as often as I did was not ideal, either. Besides, I hated that my living situation impacted my choices about fostering animals or just having a bunch of dog friends over to hang out."When the Elvins took trips to her in-law's farm in Pennsylvania, they noticed how much their dogs liked romping freely about. So about a year and a half ago, they bought a farm in Grand Junction, in southwestern Michigan between South Haven and Kalamazoo. "We started looking for a place where we could go on weekends and have more property so our dogs could do what they do, and safely," said Kelly Elvin of the nearly 10-acre property."They'd always go with us to the farm in Pennsylvania and loved running off-leash, going into the woods and sniffing for rabbits. Seeing how much they liked it, we wanted them to have that experience more than once a year," Kelly said. "It's wonderful because the dogs can play off-leash. In Oak Park, you don't really have access to the kind of yard dogs can run in. There's only so much excitement you can find in a yard."Unfortunately for Lisa and Alex Collins, when it came to their dog, a Rotweiler, and their neighbors in a Lakeview building, they had excitement they could do without, which prompted their move last May to a home with a yard on the Northwest Side."A couple of people had a problem having the dog in the building, which made things difficult for us." Otherwise, they would have remained longer. "It was a one-bedroom, and the first place I ever owned. It was small, but we didn't need much more space. The neighbors were a huge deterrent, so we didn't like living there any longer."At that point, the couple found a four-unit condominium--"a decent place, but it had other issues," said Lisa. "But we had a child, and with a dog we wanted to get into a single-family home and have a yard and move a little farther out."She remembers one place they liked in particular that had spiral staircases they felt would have been tough for their dog to negotiate. "It's difficult for a dog to get down, and two, I didn't want to be carrying a dog up and down a spiral staircase once he got older and had arthritic issues or anything, so there were places prior to this that were excluded because of an issue like that."Damato said her dogs have no issues with her current living arrangement. "Now that I have this house, I can have a zillion dogs in and out and come and go and the only one who has veto power is my poodle."

The Future of Home Designs

What sort of lessons can a so-called "concept" house teach us?

At the International Builders Show, the country's largest trade event for the housing industry, it's hard to tell -- at least when it comes to the two major concept houses debuting at the Orlando, Fla., event.

Co-sponsored by Builder magazine and the National Council of the Housing Industry/Supplier 100, a building products manufacturing group, the two houses sit side-by-side in downtown Orlando and showcase what's trendy in both new and remodeled homes. The sponsors and the local builders who produced them say that the houses are meant to be showcases of new products and building techniques. Visiting builders are encouraged to try building these homes in their own markets.

Both of these houses are so fantastical, and their stories so idiosyncratic, that it's hard to know what lessons can be taken away. In fact, after touring them, I was left with more questions than answers.

Take, for instance, their price tags. The Renewed American Home -- a remodel of a 1909 bungalow -- is currently on the market for $2.9 million, while the New American Home is for sale at $3.15

The remodel of the 1909 bungalow -- on the market for $2.9 million.million. Both houses were constructed with hundreds of thousands of dollars of donated materials, fixtures and appliances, so their prices don't reflect their true market value. How is a builder supposed to figure out how to reproduce a look if he doesn't know what it costs?
Then there's the question of questionable design. The New American Home, a blend of Craftsman and urban-chic styling, is glitzy, with metallic glass tiles, walls that slide on tracks, and steel-cable stair railings. But the floor plan is puzzling: The living room and dining room are on the third floor, the master suite is on the second, and the two secondary bedrooms, office, home theater, wet bar and laundry are on the first (thank goodness there's an elevator). Why is this inverted plan better than a more traditional one? Would anyone want to drag groceries up three floors to the kitchen or have an office next to a theater? And who really wants to take a shower in a glass-walled room overlooking an open balcony, directly facing the windows of the building across the street?

And finally, there's the question of originality -- or lack thereof. The 1909 bungalow was moved to a lot two doors down from its original spot to make room for the New American Home. The bungalow's space was expanded from 2,460 to 5,439 square feet, and its interior was gutted to make room for a wider staircase, wheelchair-accessible bath, new staircase and other features. Older materials were replaced with new: engineered wood for the floors, solid surfacing for the countertops, laminate for the cabinetry. Can such a thoroughly revised house really be called "renewed?" And if it was in such bad shape to begin with, and not worth preserving for its historical or architectural significance, why not just tear it down and start afresh?
Questions, questions: And I always thought the point of show houses was to provide answers.

-- June Fletcher is a staff reporter at The Wall Street Journal and the author of "House Poor" (Harper Collins, 2005).

Rates Up a Bit Last Night

30-year fixed rate at 5.8%; 10-year Treasury yield at 4.78%

Monday, February 12, 2007 Inman News

Long-term mortgage interest rates moved higher Friday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield climbed to 4.78 percent.
The 30-year fixed-rate average rose to 5.8 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate inched up to 5.58 percent. The 1-year adjustable held at 5.38 percent.
The 30-year Treasury bond yield increased to 4.86 percent.
Rates are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states. Points on these mortgages range from zero to 3.5.
In other economic news, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 56.8 points, or 0.45 percent, finishing at 12,580.83. The Nasdaq was down 28.85 points, or 1.16 percent, closing at 2,459.82.
Stock and bond figures are current as of 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Consumer Economic Confidence in Chicagoland Improves Significantly

Chicagoland Chamber Survey Reports Economic Confidence Higher in Chicagoland Than Nation

The economic confidence of consumers in Chicagoland rose significantly during the fourth quarter of 2006, according to the Rasmussen Consumer Index for the region released today by the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. The quarterly reading stood at 121.2 at the end of December, a more than 12-point gain from 109.1 reported at the end of September. And, for the first time, Chicagoland residents were more optimistic about the economy than consumers nationally. The national Rasmussen Consumer Index for the same period is 117.7

Here is the full story

Chicago HOMEBUZZ Market Report

Hello Everyone and Happy New Year!

Here is our market report for the 4th quarter of 2006 for single family, condos, townhomes and multi-unit residential properties in our mailing list sorted by zip code. This market report podcast (click on title to listen or go here: http://www.rememberjim.com/chb/4Q06podcast.mp4) will show the huge increase in sales volume compared to 3rd quarter, 2006. With a few exceptions the zip code neighborhoods were up and in some case up BIG. The overall increase from the 3rd to 4th quarter was over 35.5% in total sales going from $2,118,059,477 in the third quarter to $3,284,127,045 in the fourth quarter of 2006.

Almost all of the neighborhoods in our report showed an increase in sales volume with a few exceptions including the Lakeview 60657 multi-unit sales which dropped 68.54% in the fourth quarter down from over $32 million in sales to just over $19 million in the fourth quarter. The Loops 60605 zip code area saw a HUGE 73.72% increase from $42 million to almost $163 million for attached dwellings with 535 units sold with an average market time of only 29 days and a median sales price of $241,000.

This is the kind of information you will find in the report and in our audio podcast. This podcast is available at our website at www.REMEMBERJIM.com or at www.CHICAGOHOMEBUZZ.com. It can also be found at iTunes where you can subscribe and automatically have it downloaded to your computer or ipod or you can subscribe to our RSS feed also available on these sites.

Thanks for your interest and have a great new year!