Community Information and Statistics

• Statistics: membership makeup, research on buyers in NSBAR jurisdiction, Demographic Snapshot, Geographies of NSBAR territories
• The professional service parking permit is now available for purchase for the following current and active professional licensed and/or certified in the State of Illinois:
  1.  Real estate broker
  2.  Real estate salesperson
  3.  Real estate leasing agent
  4.  Home health care provider (skilled nursing, social worker, physician, therapist)
  This permit entitles the vehicle to be parked in any zone in the city without penalty daily from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.  The cost for this permit is $300 and is valid from March 1, 2007 until the last day of February of the subsequent calendar year.  You can download the application here, but must apply in person.
  
• Chicago Residential Tenant Landlord Ordinance Summary
• Evanston Residential Tenant Landlord Ordinance Summary
• Evanston Security Deposit Rates - Effective October 1, 2002, a landlord who receives security or prepaid rent from a tenant shall pay interest to the tenant at the rate equal to the interest rate paid on such security deposits in the city of Chicago. Interest on security deposits on leases commencing prior to October 1, 2002, shall be paid at a rate of four percent (4%) per year through December 31, 1975, and five percent (5%) per year from January 1, 1976, through September 30, 2002. A landlord shall pay to the tenant interest on all deposits within thirty (30) days after the end of each twelve (12) month rental period, by cash or credit to be applied to the rent due, except when the tenant is in default under the terms of the rental agreement. Interest on that portion of a security deposit or prepaid rent exceeding one month's rent, if paid in installments, shall not be computed until all installments are paid to the landlord. (Ord. 81-0-02)
  The city of Chicago interest rates from 2002 on are as follows:
  

  Effective Dates	City Rate	State Rate
  January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2006	1.71%	0.55%
  January 1, 2005 through December 31, 2005	1.01%	0.40%
  January 1, 2004 through December 31, 2004	0.42%	0.30%
  January 1, 2003 through December 31, 2003	0.52%	0.40%
  January 1, 2002 through December 31, 2002	0.83%	0.45%

  
  
• 11-30-06 Evanston has an ordinance specific to smoke detectors that requires installations on the ceiling:
  907.3.2: Single And Multiple Station Smoke Alarms: The detectors required in this section shall be installed on the ceiling and at least six inches (6") from any wall, or a wall located between four (4") and six (6") inches from the ceiling.
  They do not have an ordinace specific to CO2 detectors. Therefore, if it is a combined detector (smoke and CO2) they will need to follow the ordinance as it relates to smoke detectors. If it is a stand alone CO2 detector, they only need to follow the Illinois law which does not mandate between ceiling or wall. Here is the state ordinance:
  http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=094-0741&GA=094
  
• Evanston first time home buyer. If you are looking to buy your first house, the 2005 First-Time Homebuyer Program offers qualifying applicants one of the best deals in Evanston. This year’s program is better than ever, enabling clients to buy more house with lower payments and a fixed rate. Purchase your first home in Evanston for as little as 3 percent down or 1.5 percent with a gift. The Evanston Housing Corporation (EHC) is a joint program between participating financial institutions and the City of Evanston. The Corporation was established to provide low-cost, affordable mortgage financing to Evanston moderate income, first-time homebuyers. Pre-approvals are now available; please call (847) 866-2929 for details.
• From the City of Evanston email newsletter 02/01/06:
  Renters to get 1.71 percent on their security deposits ***
  In 2006, Evanston landlords are required to pay 1.71 percent interest on the security deposits they receive from their tenants and any deposits they hold. The Evanston City Council approved amendments to the Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance (RLTO) that dictate that Evanston's rate mirror the rate of the City of Chicago. The interest rate from 2005 is 1.01 percent; 2004, .42 percent; 2003, .52 percent; and from October through December 31, 2002, was .83 percent. From January 1, 1976, through September 20, 2002, landlords were required to pay five percent, and from June 1 through December 31,
  1975, 4 percent. Information and a brochure are available on the City's web site, www.cityofevanston.org. All security deposits must be held in a federally-insured, interest-bearing account in a bank, savings and loan, or other financial institution located in the State of Illinois. Evanston landlords are obligated to pay tenants any interest by cash or credit (applied to rent due) within 30 days after the end of each 12-month period. For further information on the RLTO, contact the Human Relations
  Commission, (847) 866-2920.
• July-August 2003 Illinois Tax Facts
• Homeowners Insurance: order a report that may indicate a potential problem in obtaining insurance on the property
• If publishing statistics from MLS you must have the following:

  "This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied by various Participants in the Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois, Inc. for the period (date) through (date). The Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois, Inc. does not guarantee nor is it in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by the Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois, Inc. may not reflect all real estate activity in the market."

  Click here to read cases related to this subject.

• Affordable Housing
• If you work in a community with older housing stock, and especially if you're looking to develop a historic-homes niche, it's a good idea to become knowledgeable about historic preservation and the issues unique to older homes. The National Trust for Historic Preservation's Web site is the perfect vehicle to help you reach that goal. Read this week's Web review at REALTOR® Magazine Online for direct links to the Web site's most useful features for real estate practitioners. Read more...
• Cities/Villages in the NSBAR Jurisdiction
• Zoning info for NSBAR communities
• The Regional MapOffice is a stable, easy-to-use mapping application that utilizes the .NET framework version 1.1 and ArcIMS 9.0 to serve data from the GIS Consortium and neighboring communities. The application was developed to make spatial and non-spatial information readily available to residents, businesses and municipal staff of GIS Consortium communities. Regional MapOffice provides users with the ability to:
  Customize and save maps.
  Print tabloid and letter sized maps.
  Find and zoom to features like addresses, intersections and entire communities.
  Email the map as an attachment. Identify and retrieve information on map features such as zoning districts, school districts, parcel identification numbers, garbage pick up days and many more.
• Ft Sheridan and their rules
• Barrington Chamber of Commerce
• How to use the Government Census page to pull by zip code
• Find Illinois school web pages K-12
• Wheeling floodplain information and application
• www.sacredheart-winnetka.org
• Village of Lincolnshire transfer tax

  Buy transfer stamps from:
  Ancel, Glink, Diamond, Bush, DiCianni & Rolek, P.C.
  140 S Dearborn Street
  Marquette Building, Sixth Floor
  Chicago, IL 60603 or call 883-8600

• List of Home Rule communities in Illinois
• Transfer Taxes
• Condo and Coop comparison sheet
• Information on Special Service Areas (SSA)
• Carbon Monoxide Detectors and Chicago
• Emergency Preparedness Guide
• Letter from the Counsel of the Village of Wilmette
• Chicago Real Property Tax
• Chicago Transaction Tax
• Barrington Corporate Limits
• Sign Ordinances
• Square Footage The following is from the Census bureau of the Federal Government:
  "Square foot area" includes all completely finished living space in a house, including the basement and attic with finished walls, floors, and ceilings. Excluded are garages, carports, porches, unfinished utility rooms, and other unfinished areas of basements and attics. In concept, measurement is based on exterior dimensions. Where the floor area is reported based on interior dimensions, the figure is converted to exterior dimensions by multiplying by a factor of 1.08. A factor of 1.04 is used to convert figures to exterior dimensions where it was not known whether the reported area is based on exterior or interior dimensions.
• How to open a home office
• Move In/Out Policy
• Village of Barrington
• Skokie population, housing, social, and economic statistics
• Notary handbook
• Schools and their rankings
• Saddlebrook Homeowners Water Leakage Survey
• Say Hello to "Real Estate Insights"
  Real Estate Insights, the new web site and online publication from NAR Research, is here! Get the very latest information on market conditions, forecasts, and more! There's even a downloadable monthly newsletter, for those who like to "print and go." See commentaries by NAR Chief Economist David Lereah. Link to NAR's storehouse of real estate market information. Get the latest on how Hurricane Katrina could impact local and national markets. Read about the fierce competition in the real estate industry as documented by a new independent study. Bookmark it and Check it out!