Chicago at Year End - Our Latest Newsletter

Quarterly newsletter including a Market Update, Nextdoor.com, Halloween Games, and Spaghetti Squash Pancakes.

View this email in your browser

Dear <<First Name>>,

Can you believe the holiday season will be starting soon? This year has just gone by so fast! Real estate is moving a little more slowly as the hot season dies down but it is not stopping! If you are thinking of selling keep in mind that this is the time when the serious buyers are out. There is less inventory, which translates to less competition for you!

In this issue we take a look at a unique social media site that allows exclusive access to people from the same neighborhood, as well as little known facts about Halloween. For the recipe try healthy and seasonally appropriate spaghetti squash pancakes.

We hope you had a lovely summer and that the end of this year is full of fun and great memories.

As always, please let me know if you or your friends have any questions about real estate.

ChicagoCityHomesForSale.com

RE/MAX Premier Properties

What's Your House Worth?

Market Watch

Below is market data for the Loop and South Loop showing units sold in the past month and current activity. As the spring/summer season draws to a close we can see the seasonality of the real estate market. Moving into the fall months sales are slowing down and inventory is shrinking. The low inventory we see in winter months is good for sellers because the buyers who are out are serious and don't have as much to choose from.

Pricing is the biggest component that affects every kind of market. Click here to sign up for regular market reports about your home or neighborhood of interest so you can keep on top of the market trends that matter the most to you.

If you are ready to find your next home click here to let us start your search.

South Loop

(Area 8033: Includes Dearborn Park, Museum Park, and the South Loop)
Search for condos (including townhomes) and houses in the Near South Side.

Attached


221	62	65

Detached


1	1	0

Loop

(Area 8032: Including Printer's Row)
Search for condos in the Loop


327	58	66

NextDoor.com
By: Molly Heyen

Did you know your neighborhood has its own private social networking community board? To sign up you have to verify your address and you will be able to chat with neighbors about local topics, find neighbors with similar interests, and take the conversation off-line to meet them at events nearby.

Nextdoor.com has its own boundaries for neighborhoods, they are much smaller than the neighborhoods defined by most Chicago maps. You can elect to receive communications from bordering neighborhoods too. For example, I live along Grant Park, but I was able to request to receive information from neighbors in Printer's Row, since we are affected by the same events.

Conversations I have been in have ranged in topics from the Bash on Wabash, to bathroom remodeling, and composting. Check it out and connect with your neighborhood!

Halloween, It's More Like Valentine's Day Than You Thought!

Did you know original games found at Halloween parties were fortune telling games designed to advise young women on their love lives for the next year? One game, with multiple variations, used the way in which nuts burned in a fire to determine whether a woman would soon wed and what kind of relationship she would find. Reading tea leaves and bobbing for apples were other popular fortune telling, games of love! Learn more about Victorian party games in Mary E Blain’s 1912 book Games for Hallow-e'en.

Spaghetti Squash Pancakes

Have them for breakfast with eggs or ham, as a snack, or a side dish at dinner. These are super healthy and easy to make. We found the recipe and image at cavemanketo.com

Ingredients

4 slices of thick cut bacon
2 Eggs
1 Spaghetti Squash
1 tsp Garlic Powder (try fresh minced garlic)
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Onion Powder (try fresh minced onion)
1 oz Parmesan Cheese

Instructions

Pre-cook the squash by slicing in half, clean, and lay halves cut-side down in about 1/2" of water. Heat in 375° oven for 45 minutes. The meat of the squash will easily scrape out with a fork.
Cook the bacon in a skillet until crisp. Do not dicard the grease.
Mix the eggs, squash, spices and cheese in a bowl.
Crumble the bacon and add to the mixture.
Reheat the bacon grease until simmering.
Scoop the mixture into four piles and flatten each pancake with a spatula.
When bottoms are brown flip, cook both sides.
Serve with sour cream.

*We heated some Canadian turkey bacon and sandwiched it between pancakes, then topped it with a dollop of creme fraiche.