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Set along Lake Michigan about 10 miles due south of downtown Chicago, South Shore is one of the city’s hidden gems. The neighborhood, home to more than 40,000 residents, is known for its rich history, including a vibrant arts and music scene and a role as a long-time hub for Chicago’s Black community. In South Shore, you’ll find history, art, restaurants, beaches and more—all with a unique charm. Here are 10 reasons why we love South Shore:

Chicago-based real estate and technology company @properties held its annual EXPO on November 4th, welcoming agents from around the country to the Marriott Marquis Chicago to learn, network and hear from some of the country’s foremost industry leaders and motivational speakers.

Energy efficiency isn’t the most exciting topic for a homeowner but it is important on several fronts. Creating a more energy-efficient home is not only a smart financial decision; it’s also relatively easy to incorporate some difference-making ideas while also reducing your carbon footprint. With fluctuating temperatures and varying energy demands throughout the year in the Chicagoland area, optimizing your home’s energy efficiency is a year-round activity. Here are some ways to address your energy usage and make your home more comfortable and affordable.

Lake View East is one of Chicago’s most vibrant neighborhoods, offering a mix of urban energy and lakeside tranquility. It’s a community where Chicagoans and visitors alike come to work (and work out), party, dine and relax with equal gusto. Bordered by Lake Michigan to the east, Halsted Street to the west, Diversey to the south and Irving Park Road to the north, this pocket of Lake View has it all: diversity, walkability and the best of city amenities and stunning natural beauty.

Here are 10 things we love about living in Lake View East:

When it comes to popular design trends, the words on everyone’s lips these days seem to be “mid-century modern.”

The look is experiencing a huge resurgence, and it’s easy to see why. Its clean lines and fusion of natural and manmade materials help make mid-century modern architecture, furniture and décor an intriguing combination of accessible and chic, and retro and futuristic.

Originating in the 1950s and 1960s, the mid-century modern movement emphasizes simplicity, functionality and a strong connection between indoor and outdoor spaces. Think iconic furniture pieces like the Eames lounge chair and the Tulip table and chair collection by Eero Saarinen, or the California architecture of John Lautner and Richard Neutra.

Fortunately, it’s easy to incorporate mid-century modern design into just about any home. Here is a step-by-step guide.

Pent up demand and lower interest rates expected to propel Chicago’s real estate market into a strong 2025

It’s been a challenging few years for home buyers in the Second City. Echoing activity in many markets around the U.S., high interest rates, a lack of inventory and rising home prices have left many would-be Chicago-area home buyers on the sidelines. The problem has only been exacerbated by potential sellers who have been reluctant to walk away from their low-interest-rate mortgages.

But in recent months, Chicago’s real estate market has seen an uptick in activity. Home prices have been steadily climbing in the city and suburbs, but lower mortgage rates have helped affordability. The volume of transactions is on the rise from recent historic lows, and in the upper end of the market, the region has seen a raft of new multi-million-dollar home sales and ultra-luxe listings.

Read on for a deep dive into the latest headlines and trends in the Chicago real estate market with several of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate’s managing brokers.

If you’ve been thinking about jumping into the Chicago condominium market for a while, now might be the perfect time to start looking. Mortgage interest rates have fallen significantly over the past year, and while city condos are selling quickly – with an average market time of about one month for sold units, year to date – there’s solid inventory in many Chicago neighborhoods. This offers a promising environment for savvy buyers.

Of course, condo buyers are a heterogenous lot. Fortunately, so are Chicago condominiums. If you’re dreaming of condo living but aren’t sure which direction to go, here are five Chicago condo personas and available options to meet the needs of each.

It’s officially fall, so you can be forgiven for thinking your landscaping work is all over but for the leaf-blowing. However, the truth of the matter is that it’s time to take a deeper look at your lawn and garden – underground, in fact.

“Plants aren’t getting larger right now,” says Jennifer Brennan, a horticulturist with Chalet, a nursery and garden center in Wilmette that has been serving the North Shore for more than 100 years. In the fall, all the energy expended by plants “goes into the root development. It’s a metabolic process.”

As the days get shorter and the nights longer, plants begin preparing for winter, Brennan said. The temperate or warm daytime temperatures combined with the cooler night air makes September and October the ideal times to do your planting and landscaping work.

So, what should be on your fall to-do list? We asked Chicago-area landscaping experts, and here are their top 10 recommendations.

It’s not winter yet, but the early fall days are already getting shorter, and sometimes it feels like the summer sunshine is passing by faster than our last vacation. And the cold is not far behind. In fact, the average first date the thermometer hits freezing near Lake Michigan in fall is Oct. 14!

So, when it comes to keeping up cheerful sunny spirits well into Halloween and beyond, and warming both our spirits and our homes, it’s all about maximizing natural light. Here are some simple but effective interior decorating hacks to make the most of the daylight this fall.

With rates dropping and prices holding steady, the vacation-home market is opening up for buyers.

There may be an inventory crunch in the Chicagoland, Northwest Indiana, Southwest Michigan and Southeast Wisconsin real estate markets, but selling a home for the highest possible price in the shortest amount of time still requires preparation and planning.

And while the number of homes for sale definitely favors sellers favor today, the fact that we have significant pent-up supply (i.e. sellers wanting to move but reluctant to let go of cheap mortgages) means the market balance could shift soon. In addition, social media has accustomed so many buyers to professional looking interior design that today’s sellers aren’t just competing with the home down the street; they’re competing with homes all over the world.

Back-to-school is an exciting time for families with school-aged children, but it’s not without some anxiety. Parents hustle to adapt routines, fill out paperwork and buy a seemingly endless list of school supplies, and kids nervously anticipate how they’ll fit in with new teachers, friends and classes. The transition can present additional challenges when families have recently moved into the neighborhood.

But fear not: When it comes to major metropolitan areas, Chicago and its surrounding suburbs offer a particularly welcoming embrace to newcomers.

With that in mind, here are some practical steps you can take to integrate yourself into your new community and more quickly feel at home as your kids start school.

On August 17, 2024, some industry-wide changes will take effect that impact the way people work with real estate agents and buy and sell homes. This includes the requirement of Buyer Broker Agreements and the removal of buyer-broker compensation offers in the MLS (more on that below). As a company that has always embraced change, @properties Christie’s International Real Estate is ready to help our clients navigate this new environment with confidence and ease. Here’s a quick rundown of what to expect:

Under the terms of the recent National Association of REALTORS Settlement, some changes are coming to the way real estate brokers engage with their clients, and one of those changes is the requirement of a buyer-broker agreement. Buyer-broker agreements are nothing new in residential real estate, but their utilization has varied from market to market. Now, they will become universal.

Chicagoland now has more than six months of luxury home sales in the books for 2024, and the relatively robust performance in the upper reaches of the market has been a surprise to some. While the market is not on pace to top the record-setting years of 2021 and 2022, sales above $4 million are tracking ahead of last year as well as the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

Here are ten of our favorite things about living and working on Chicago’s North Shore.

In the year since we closed on our home, we’ve enjoyed so many great moments, but we’ve also faced many challenges – some of which we didn’t anticipate. Here’s are a few things I learned in my first year as a homeowner and landlord.

Chicago is the #1 U.S. city for dogs—and it shows. From dog beaches to pet-friendly bars and restaurants to countless off-leash parks, doggy daycares, and more, there’s so much for pets and their owners to do around the city. If you’re planning a move in Chicagoland and have a furry friend (or several), be sure to check out the following communities:

Maybe it’s our long winters or all-too-short springs, but summertime in the Windy City is one of the best seasons anywhere on the planet. And as one of the country’s premier hotspots for citywide and neighborhood festivals, Chicago knows how to throw a party. From one...

When it comes to buying a home, today’s Gen Z shoppers have very different expectations than their Gen X and Boomer parents. According to the most recent Christie’s International Real Estate Luxury Forecast, this next-gen homebuyer is all about smart, sustainable, and...

There’s no doubt about it: The cicadas are here. If you haven’t heard any yourself, you’ve probably at least heard of them. You might even already know a little bit about the critters or their historic emergence. But if you’re wondering whether to worry about the...

Chicagoland has always played a prominent role in the Pride movement and queer history, and the Windy City comes alive in June to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community, hosting some of the biggest Pride events in the Midwest. Read on for a round-up of the Pride Month...

Casting a line into the glassy pre-dawn water, carving graceful turns behind a ski boat, or cracking a cold one and floating all day on a pontoon…however you enjoy it, lake living can’t be beat. And here in the Midwest, we pretty much wrote the book on the lifestyle....

Living in or near a big city comes with countless perks – a quick commute, endless arts and culture, incredible restaurants, and a buzz that’s impossible to replicate. But one of the trade-offs often is outdoor space. So if your yard or patio or deck is less than...

While sustainable design may have once been considered a fleeting fad, it’s become clear in recent years that this decorating ethos is here to stay. This practice has gained momentum as more homeowners seek to reduce their carbon footprint and lower their energy...

Whether you’re making a move and preparing to decorate a new space or refreshing your current space, Chicagoland’s vibrant art and antique markets offer endless inspiration – and the chance to uncover some truly amazing finds. “Art and antiques are a great way to add...

Picture this: You’re settled into a cozy, sun-drenched spot, with fresh jasmine filling the air and a bowl of fresh berries ready to dig into. It’s the perfect midday escape — and it’s courtesy of your greenhouse. Having greenery in or around your home adds warmth, a...

To find the hottest interior trends, design devotees used to turn to the pages of countless shelter mags. Then it was the cable shows on Bravo and HGTV. But today, the latest design looks – thousands upon thousands of them – are a swipe away on TikTok. From new takes...

Without a doubt, Frank Lloyd Wright is one of the greatest American architects of all time. From conceptualizing the Prairie style at the turn of the 20th century to designing the low-cost, well-built Usonian homes, his distinct styles continue to shape residential...