Each year, Chicago is a great place to celebrate the holiday season and this year is no exception!  The season kicks off in full gear this Thanksgiving weekend with numerous events bound to provide hours of fun for you and your family.

Chicago Christmas Tree Lighting
The 100th anniversary of Chicago’s Christmas tree-lighting ceremony will take place on Tuesday, November 26th at 6pm.  Mayor Rahm Emanuel will be joined by The Moore family of South Holland who donated this year's tree along with other guests including special performer Darlene Love.  This century-old celebration continues in Daley Plaza.

McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade
Santa Claus, Ronald McDonald and a cast of thousands bring you the 79th Anniversary of the McDonald’s Thanksgiving Parade, marching down State Street on Thanksgiving Day. Whether you’re moving your feet to the carols of marching bands, gazing up at the gigantic inflatable helium balloons making their way down the street, or waving at floats, there is fun to be had by all at the biggest holiday parade in Chicago. The Thanksgiving Parade is the only parade in the city of Chicago to feature inflatable balloons every year.  Grab the kids and head over to State Street for some free parade entertainment. Over 400,000 people lines the parade route on State Street each year.

ZooLights
Lincoln Park Zoo is home to ZooLights sponsored by ComEd and Charter One.  Enjoy the brilliance of this annual fun, free and family-oriented holiday celebration featuring luminous displays throughout the zoo grounds.  The switch gets flipped on November 29th and ZooLights will shine Friday-Sunday through December 13th and nightly thorough December 23rd and then again from December 26th through January 5th.
This year's festive activities include a new route with even more lights, photos with Santa through 12/23, free holiday crafts, holiday gift shopping, live ice carving, carousel and train rides, musical lights show and more!
These events are just a few of the many Thanksgiving week holiday activities that make Chicago a great place to live.  If you'd like to find out more about living in Chicago, click here to contact Menard Johnson & Associates Real Estate.  They've been in the Chicago real estate business for over 30 years and can help you find your next home.

Just south of Wrigleyville, in what is technically Lakeview, is the small neighborhood of Southport Corridor. A neighborhood on the rise, Southport Corridor is a center for the hip and trendy. The area is becoming well known for its population of 25-30 year olds and young families, for this reason the neighborhood gives off a very youthful and fun atmosphere. Southport Corridor is gets its name mostly from the fact that it surrounds the Southport Avenue’s retail strip. The area has been attracting many of the major retailers making a great shopping neighborhood. The area has many upsides, one being its accessibility to public transit, as the Brown has stops in the area and taxi service is relatively easy to find as the neighborhood is not far from Wrigley Field. The area is also home to Blaine Elementary, an upper ranked grammar school. The neighborhood has been praised for its consistency in retail value, which has not been in case in some of the neighborhoods around it. The Southport Corridor has been described as a Lincoln Park with more of a neighborhood feel and less congestions than Wrigelyville. Everything seems to point to the Southport Corridor as being the “it” place to live.

Today is expected to have the first snow fall of 2013, I want to take a moment to remember the beautiful nights sailing on Lake Michigan this past summer and share with all of you~

Enjoy!

Charese

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Photo courtesy of Barry Butler.

Chicago is magical in the Fall.

Today, we take a moment to honor all of the men and women who have served in the Armed Forces.  Menard Johnson would like to thank all of the Veterans who have selflessly devoted their lives to protecting our nation and our freedom. Without our Veterans, we would not be able to enjoy the success and freedoms we have today and that should never be taken for granted.

Thank You!

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Hi All-

As we immerse ourselves in Fall 2013 and get cozy in our home anticipating Thanksgiving, I thought it interesting to share the latest Housing Stats. This report is provided by Morgan Stanley, First Trust and The National Association of Realtors. It’s a good read.

Housing Report for the third Quarter

• Existing home sales declined 1.9% in September to a 5.29 million annual rate, coming in very close to the consensus expected 5.30 million rate. Sales are up 10.7% versus a year ago.
• Sales in September were down in the Northeast, Midwest, and South, but up in the West. The decline in sales was due to both single family homes and condos/coops.
• The median price of an existing home declined to $199,200 in September (not seasonally adjusted) but is up 11.7% versus a year ago. Average prices are up 9.2% versus last year.
• The months’ supply of existing homes (how long it would take to sell the entire inventory at the current sales rate) ticked up to 5.0 months in September. The increase in the months’ supply was all due to the slower selling pace; overall inventories were unchanged.

 Implications: Existing home sales slipped 1.9% in September, coming in almost exactly as the consensus expected. Some analysts are saying the decline signals a slowdown in the housing recovery, but these fears are way overblown. Sales in September were at the third highest level for any month since the homebuyer tax credit was about to expire in late 2009. It just so happens that the two months that beat September were July and August; so after two very strong months, sales slipped a little. As the top chart to the right shows, this kind of statistical noise is no different than what we’ve been experiencing since the recovery in home sales started in earnest 2010/11. Nor do we expect higher mortgage rates to undermine the recovery. Higher rates reflect expectations of faster economic growth and rising home prices will make buyers more willing to buy than back when mortgage rates were lower but buyers thought home prices might fall further.

The months’ supply of existing homes (how long it would take to sell the entire inventory at the current selling rate) ticked up to 5.0 in September but this is still lower than a year ago (5.4) and much lower than two years ago (8.0). In other recent economic news, new claims for unemployment insurance fell 15,000 to 358,000. Continuing claims declined 43,000 to 2.86 million. We expect the employment report for September (released tomorrow morning) to show a gain of 197,000 in nonfarm payrolls. However, given the government shutdown, October payroll gains will be more modest before returning to a trend of roughly 175,000 per month in November and beyond. On the manufacturing front, the Philly Fed index, a measure of activity in that region, slipped to a still robust +19.8 in October. The Empire State index, which covers New York, slipped to +1.5. Overall, these reports are consistent with continued plow horse economic growth.

Lincoln Square in Chicago is perhaps best known for its German heritage and the Old Town School of Folk Music but also contains the sub-neighborhoods of Bowmanville, Budlong Woods, Ravenswood and Ravenswood Gardens.  Lincoln Square is marked by boundaries Montrose Avenue, Peterson Avenue, east of Western Avenue and Bryn Mawr Avenue west of Western.  It ranges west from Ravenswood Avenue to the Chicago River.

Lincoln Square is filled with both busy streets and quiet, tree-lined streets with parks, town square and more that present the dichotomy of being in a small town within a city.  It’s a diverse neighborhood like much of Chicago and everything about it makes Lincoln Square a great place to live, shop, eat, visit or work.

The history of Lincoln Square dates back to the mid-1800s when farmers settled what was then farmland and prairie.  The installation of electric streetcars in the early 1900s and the opening of the elevated train line in 1907 allowed the area to experience major growth.  The population in the area grew so quickly that the city of Chicago annexed the neighborhood in the 1920s.  Throughout the years, immigrants from Germany, Eastern Europe, Greece and Mexico have settled in the Lincoln Square area providing it with the multicultural neighborhood it is today.

Today, Lincoln Square is a somewhat trendy area and most of the real estate in the area is small apartment buildings and private residences.  You’ll see architectural styles from the Victorian era to more modern designs.  There are about 45,000 people who live in the neighborhood along with over a thousand small to mid-size businesses.

The commercial hub of Lincoln Square is at the intersection of Lincoln, Western and Lawrence Avenues where you’ll find a mix of nationally known stores and independent businesses where you can find practically anything you need.  You can also enjoy one of the many area restaurants, café’s, delis and specialty restaurants.  The neighborhood is still home to a large number of German businesses including the Lutz Café & Bakery, Chicago Brauhaus, Merz Apothecary but you’ll also see shops that cater to Thai or Middle Eastern cultures.

Lincoln Square is also home to some great annual events including the German-American Fest which draws thousands from all over the Midwest as well as the Chicago Folk & Roots music festival and the Summer Concert Series.  The music scene is quite active since the Old Town School of Folk Music moved to Lincoln Square in 1988 which has helped make the area a hot spot for pre- and post-concert dining and nightlife.

Menard Johnson & Associates Real Estate is proud to sell Lincoln Square real estate.  If you’re looking to buy or sell a home in Lincoln Square, click here to visit their website. (embedded link - http://menardjohnson.com/)

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