A Real Estate contract is generally not enforceable in the great state of Illinois unless it is a) Written, b) 'Signed-off ' on by competent parties (Acceptance), and c) Some form of Consideration ($$$) is placed in an escrow account to show 'Good Faith' on the Buyer's part. Think of it as the Ho
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09/07/2007
When I walked through the big oak doors of the Archdiocese of Chicago's Holy Relic Bookstore a few weeks ago, I knew for sure that I'd be lying to a clergyman within minutes. Like many post-WWII children who hail from the eastern seaboard, I attended Catholic school for the first six years of my
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08/14/2007
Earlier in the year I wrote about the mystique of the American Express Centurion (blacker than black) Card and how once, a few years back I met a Commodities Trader who boasted of having one. For those of you not in the know, Centurion cardholders number in the mere thousands world-wide--10,000 o
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07/19/2007
True Story. I sat next to a one-armed girl in typing class back in the 8th grade who blew everyone away on a WPM basis. I forget the girl's name now although our surnames must have been similar (alphabetical seating, and all), but I do recall that she was the fastest typist in the school. That fa
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07/17/2007
When I attended my very first Closing of my very first deal with my very first client I sat at the Title Company table feeling a little like a cat trying to wrap his mind around calculus. Honestly, I never paid much attention to what I was signing for the six or seven properties I bought and sold
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07/09/2007
While standing in the Starbucks line with one of my younger clients the other morning I noticed Paul McCartney's latest attempt to puncture the demograhically unforgiving shield of the twenty-something buyer we all seem to be expanding toward with near Einsteinian adequation. Word on the web and
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06/15/2007
My wife and I just made an offer on a house and I think I've lost all voice of reason. Of course I, in my unbiased Real Estate opinion, think the place is undervalued while she, with her eye for detail and blessed with superior negotiational instincts, considers it overpriced. I like it the way i
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06/14/2007
Real Estate negotiations have been relentless, if not downright brutal these past several months in my fair city of Chicago. Grown men have been spotted sobbing at Title Company closing tables and the legal mouthpieces are certainly earning their shekels as the bartering continues deep into the f
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06/01/2007
I was recently referred to as an 'anecdotal' writer by a Commentor on another blog to which I occasionally post. Actually, she didn't even refer to me as a 'writer,'...just 'anecdotal.' And she didn't mean it in a nice way, either I don't think. I was informed that bloggers in general are not 'j
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05/15/2007
For the first seven years of my life I was an only child. Both parents had careers and my mom continued working (as she had for the 10 years of marriage before I was born) until then. When my first sister popped onto the scene in 1963 the Petro family dynamic would change forever in our new, sing
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05/11/2007
