"Field of Dreams"

I loved the Movie “Field of Dreams” and have read the “Catcher in the Rye” as well so I’ve been a baseball fan for a long time. I am happy to see this old 190+ acre farm in Dyersville, IA has been purchased and the “Field of Dreams” ballpark and movie set will be saved. The Des Moines Register just ran a story about a Chicago couple that has purchased this old baseball diamond, and the 190 acre farm along with the old movie set. 

As a fan of baseball, this movie, the voice of Darth Vader and CNN (can you find the common link?) I am happy to see this field and tourist site will be saved. However I just can’t imagine that the buyer’s dream of turning this farm into a 12 – stadium baseball / sports complex will be possible. Dyersville, IA is about 45 miles due west of Galena, IL on US-30. A bustling town of 4,216. I sure hope I am wrong. After all it was the advise of the “voice” that Ray Kinsella (Kevin Coster) followed in the movie the proved to be true then; “If you build it, they will come.”

I would have suspected with the decline in the auto industry, increase in unemployment and REO / foreclosures that this percentage would have decreased. Maybe it has, as this article does not give a starting point, or a reference as to “where were they.” It would have been nice to see a graph / chart with the top 5 states with the largest swing in Homeownership %.

The states with the lowest homeownership make complete sense to me: NY, CA, HI, NV, and RI. I was a bit surprised not to see Illinois in this group to be honest. However I cannot argue with these 5 – though Rhode Island does seem to be a bit of an outlier on this list.

It would be interesting to see this stats in metro areas as well. I would suspect there you would see an inverse relationship to the size of the city (NYC, LA, Chicago) to the percent of homeownership. Land is too expensive and these cities are transient. A good indicator of this I spoke about yesterday – apartment buildings are on a huge upswing for investors at this time.

If you are interested in the full article – here it is: States with the highest (and lowest) homeownership.

Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about Chicago’s real estate market. I can be reached at mattpauli@atproperties.com or my website at MattPauli.com.

Cheers,

Matt

The Chicago real estate market is seeing a slow (as most of the US) in housing sales, however unlike most of the country, there is still a need for housing in the 3rd largest city in the United States. Apartments throughout Chicago (from the South Loop, River North, Streeterville, Gold Coast, Old Town, Lincoln Park, Lakeview and Wrigleyville) are climbing in rents and are often seeing “bidding wars” for tenants as they fill very quickly once on the market.

I recently had a client looking for an investment property, one that would out gain the stock market and crush their savings account. We found a gem in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. This three-flat property will give my client upwards of an 8% cash on cash return!

There are plenty more out there for you as well. I can help find you a great investment property in Chicago. View properties from my website (http://MattPauli.com) or email at mattpauli@atproperties.com.

Here is Crain’s article on the most recent apartment building sale: River North apartment high-rise sells for over $90 million | News | Crain’s Chicago Business.

For the full article – click here –> Ernst & Young to add 500 Chicago jobs | Greg Hinz | Blogs | Crain’s Chicago Business.

via A Window of Opportunity for House Sellers.

Maui’s Wailea Ekahi Village Beach Condos | Maui Condo Owner Luxury Vacation Rentals | Pauli Family South Maui Accommodations | 3300 Wailea Alanui, Wailea, HI 96753.

We have recently updated our Maui Vacation Rental website. Not only do we now have a new look we have added a ton more functionality to the site. You can now see all 4 of our condo’s availability calendars in one space – plus each condo’s own calendar for up to 18 months! Additionally, we have a new activities and Maui Favorites page. Finally, we have also added the ability to “like” our website and to follow us on Facebook too. So, check our our new site, “Like” us and then head over to our facebook fan page and do the same (links to the FB page are on our main website.)

Hope you enjoy!

Mahalo!

Matt

via Financial News Icons Say Now Is the Time to BUY!.

via YouTube – 421 Longview.

I am working on adding video to my marketing collateral and particularly my virtual and social marketing and media. Here is an example of one of my first walk-through videos. This home had been on the market for several months before I visited my friends in Iowa. This was not my listing, but I did this video to help test the power of video. Less than a week after posting this video on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube their home is now UNDER CONTRACT! I will not take all of the credit, but I do believe this is good enough evidence to point to the power of video.

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Of course ,if you are looking for a great place to stay, I cannot recommend a better site to find vacation rental condos than www.mauiownercondos.com! It has it all – over 300 condos in beautiful South Maui!