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Dear Piggy: Does a Chicago Landlord always have to pay for water?
Is it wise (or even legal) to make your tenants pay for water in Chicago? I received the following question from a reader: Dear Piggy, I am a Chicago landlord. The new tenants in one of my two-flats...
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Tenant Hacks: How to background check your landlord
Time to turn the tables. Chicago Renters, I have to confess something – landlords these days hire as much for my skill in background checking as they do for my ability to market their apartments....
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I’ll Title This Article Before it Runs (and other Deadline Disasters)
Can an agent who ignores his own deadlines still adequately honor yours? Real estate is a very time-sensitive business. From setting up the showings to closing the contract an agent needs to be able to...
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10 Common First-Time Renter Mistakes
After I did first-time buyer mistakes for Monday it occurred to me that there’s other real estate virgins out there who might need a few warnings. Tenants, for example, are often the newest of all to...
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“Affordable.”
I guess we all get a little nervous when new people move to town. So this is a practical shelter blog, which means that I’ll be talking about affordable housing quite a bit going forward. People tend...
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Square footage, room counts and other lies my agent told me
Back in 2007 I received an interesting email from a local landlord in response to one of my Craigslist ads for an apartment: Just a word of advice, if you say it’s 930 square feet no one is going to...
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Dear Piggy: I lost my apartment! What do I do?
An apartment is never yours until the day you move in! I recently received emails from a couple of beleaguered old friends who know that I work in the rental market. Names of the senders have been...
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Breaking a Lease in Chicago
When You’ve Gotta Go… Lease breaks happen. Landlords hate them and often get really grumpy when their tenants don’t honor the full term of their lease agreements. They’re totally justified in being...
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10 Steps to Secure Your Home or Apartment for Showings
So your landlord or an agent has called to say that she needs to show your home. For owners this should come as no surprise. If your house is on the market, showings will happen and your agent will...
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Celebrity Tenants
Between my current career as a Realtor and my prior career as a stage manager, I’ve been lucky enough to deal with several celebrities during my time in Chicago. Like anyone else, they have to live...
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Celebrity Tenants
Between my current career as a Realtor and my prior career as a stage manager, I’ve been lucky enough to deal with several celebrities during my time in Chicago. Like anyone else, they have to live...
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