House hunters find value at 450 W Briar in East Lakeview

The converted condo building at 450 W Briar, Chicago IL 60657 is located in bustling East Lakeview near the lakefront and Belmont Harbor. Photo Bob DePalma and Eric Rojas, Brokers, Kale Realty

Recently featured on HGTV House Hunters an updated 450 sq/ft junior one bedroom unit at 450 W Briar sells for $135K. In the last 12 months another three full one beds (larger units) sold for between $205-215K. Right now, there are two junior one beds under contract (one a short sale), three full one beds under contract and one active unit available with deeded parking.

The building features an underground garage (deeded parking spots sold separately and not necessarily offered with a unit), roof deck and fitness area.

450 W Briar is near the lakefront (Google Maps)

 We've sold several properties on the 400 block of West Briar in East Lakeview. We love the location and the properties on the street!

Eric Rojas, Chicago House Hunters videos!

We've entered the 21st Century here at The Chicago Real Estate Local and will be using more video to display our listings and their surrounding neighborhoods. Check out one of my HGTV House Hunters videos above. I will be uploading the entire episode to our YouTube channel at

www.youtube.com/ericrojas123

Chicago Tribune interviews me on House Hunter's appearance

Staged or the real deal?
I appeared in the Chicago Tribune today in an article about HGTV's House Hunters. I came off a little negative in the story... however, the point was accurate: This particular show is fun for looking at real estate and not a documentary on home buying.

My House Hunter's show is set to air this Thursday, December 10th at 8PM Central Time on cable's HGTV.I had a good time filming and my clients Kurt and Kelly were really good sports. It's a lot of work... I acted as producer on the ground... coordinating showings, paperwork, and filming dates. Not to mention while all this was going on, we were looking for, and negotiating, a condo purchase. The buyers had to dedicate time to filming on 5 different days.

I love watching House Hunters and House Hunters International. Sometimes with family members in town we all crash on the couch and watch a couple hours of episodes. It's been fun being on the "inside". Hope people enjoy our episode!

HGTV House Hunters on a Friday night

Awesome Friday night here for The Chicago Real Estate Local (T-CREL for you rookies). With an eight-month-old baby and a wife out at an extended happy hour (She's FREE!), HGTV and an Old Style is as good as it gets for a Chicago Realtor. It's my window to the world.

House Hunters is a pretty good show in that it clues you in for "what you get for the money" in different areas across the country. However, the client/real estate agent relationship is always so flat and ridiculous. The show also suggests it "takes you behind the scenes" as folks decide to buy a place or not. That's a stretch. You basically see them walk in a place and the agent points and says... "carpet on the floors".

They should make that part a little more realistic... trying to find a longer and more typical client/agent relationship while actually showing the decisions that have to be made. I know my relationships can be business like, friendly, or even really intense. But they are always more warm and involved than on House Hunters.

Secondly, I wish they would give a little more context concerning the area and market surrounding the homes. It would be a great boost to the areas I think.

I'm writing this because; 1. I'm lame, and 2. I just saw this episode about a couple who buys a modest second home in Italy. It was actually pretty interesting and inspiring.

I don't know if any of you saw the Chicago episode... now that was lame.