Apartments in Chicago for sale

Many people refer to condos as apartments, because many times, they are similar in size.  But apartments in Chicago for sale and condos in Chicago for sale are very different. 

You can buy an apartment, otherwise known as cooperatives or co-ops. This form of ownership is where you have a percentage of ownership in the entire building rather than in the apartment itself.  This form of ownership is very rare in Chicago but very popular in New York.  Many times, to be able to purchase into a co-op situation, you need to get approved by a panel of owners in the building.  They meet regularly to vote approval or disapproval of a new potential buyer of the building.

You’ve heard of Madonna or Jerry Seinfeld buying an apartment in New York.  This is an example of buying into ownership of the building based on the size of your apartment.  If the apartment was a two bedroom and it had a total of 2,000 square feet and the building’s total square footage was 100,000 square feet, you would be purchasing an ownership interest of 2% in the entire building.

The apartments for sale in Chicago also bring on a meaning of the apartments that have been converted to condominiums. Folks like to use the expression “apartments” but many times they are legally converted from apartments to condominiums to then sell separately to the tenants of the units and to the general public.  This enhances the value of the complex turning it from a rental community with one owner, the landlord, to a community of several condo owners that live in the units. 

Chicago condominium conversions were very popular from 2000-2005 during the real estate boom.  Today there are still several developments that can be purchased from at a substantial discount because of the amount of inventory available.  There are over 35,000 Chicago condos available today with many of these units from developers that started converting an apartment building to condos literally three or more years ago.  The developers are anxious to move on and will be willing to sell for just about any price.

This is one of the best times in history to buy Chicago real estate.  The deals are everywhere in every area of the city.  The average price for a Chicago condo in 2008 was $387,000.  In the Chicago suburbs it was $202,000.  As we enter 2009, no one knows exactly what will happen, but the deals are substantial.  Short sales, auctions, foreclosures and people in distress that need to sell have taken prices of condos significantly down, bringing upon one of the best buying times in history.