HGTV's 'House Hunters' Comes to Hinsdale

A Chicago couple looking for their suburban dream home in Hinsdale will be featured on the May 21 episode of 'House Hunters' on HGTV.

Hinsdale residents who watch HGTV will likely see some familiar sites on the cable channel next week. The May 21 episode of House Hunters will feature couple Amanda and Carl Ivanelli looking at and choosing from three Hinsdale homes, according to the show's website. "Our episode on House Hunters will show off lots of Hinsdale's beautiful sights as well as feature some restaurants," Amanda Ivanelli wrote in an email to Patch. "We decide between three homes in Hinsdale and talk a lot about the community!" Amanda said the filming took place over five days last November. According to HGTV's episode description, the couple previously lived in a downtown Chicago high-rise, but recently had their second child and wanted a more spacious suburban …

• Photos (2)

How Many Hinsdale Homeowners Have Paid Off Their House?

Crain's Chicago Business reports 32.5 percent of Hinsdale homeowners are mortgage-free and own their homes outright.

Communities with a large segment of senior citizens or high median incomes tend to have the highest percentage mortgage-free homes, according to Crain’s Chicago Business.  According to the Crain's analysis, of 4,486 Hinsdale homeowners, 32.5 percent are mortgage-free. In Clarendon Hills, 26.6 percent of the 2,459 owner-occupied homes are without a mortgage. Both communities' numbers are higher than the Chicagoland average, which is nearly 26 percent. 

•  1 Comment
• Photos (1)

Former Blackhawk Martin Lapointe Lists Hinsdale House at $3.5 Million

The retired NHL enforcer is now the director of player development with the Montreal Canadiens, according to Curbed Chicago.

Former Chicago Blackhawks player Martin Lapointe has listed his Hinsdale home at nearly $3.5 million, according to Curbed Chicago. The home, according to Curbed, is at 119 E. Ninth St., on the south side of town.  An Estately listing on that home can be found here. The home has 18 rooms, including seven bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms, and was built in 2008.  Curbed reports Lapointe purchased the home in 2011. "A respected enforcer in his three seasons with the Hawks, Lapointe came back as a pro scout in 2009 and signed on with the Montreal Canadiens as Director of Player Development in 2012," the Curbed article reads. See the full Curbed story here. Lapointe won two Stanley Cup titles with the Detroit Red Wings. According to HockeyDB, Lapointe…

• Photos (1)

Hinsdale Housing Market: February Sales, Median Price Up From 2012

The number of homes sold in Hinsdale last month was 60 percent higher than it was one year before, according to the Mainstreet Organization of Realtors.

The 16 detached, single-family homes sold in Hinsdale during February 2013 represented a 60 percent increase over February 2012, when 10 homes were sold, according to the Mainstreet Organization of Realtors (MORe). The number was also up from January 2013, when 12 homes were sold. The median price of homes sold was also up in Hinsdale. The median price rose 152.9 percent year over year, from $448,750 in February 2012 to $1,135,000 in February 2013. The market for detached, single-family homes in suburbs throughout DuPage County saw growth in January, MORe reported. MORe gets its statistics from Midwest Real Estate Data. Wheaton saw the second largest percent increase in DuPage County. Burr Ridge had the largest percent increase, with 11 …

• Photos (1)

Get Your Hinsdale Home Ready to Sell

Tips for getting your home market-ready for prospective buyers.

By Melissa Steele and Charlotte Eriksen So you’ve made the decision to sell your home. Now what? It takes a lot of mental preparation to let go of a space you’ve grown to love, and the process of selling your home can be particularly strange if you are still living in it. Mike LaFido, of Hinsdale's ERA Team Feinstein, LLC, and author of "Cracking the Real Estate Code" said homeowners should take the following steps when getting ready to list their home: Stage the home: "Decorating is for living and staging is for selling," LaFido said. The more neutral the decor, the more potential buyers the home will attract, he said. "If you keep it the way you had it, you might be looking for a needle-in-a-haystack buyer—they (buyers) want turnkey …

• Photos (7)

$6 Million Hinsdale Home Among New Listings: House Hunt

Patch has a look at the pricier listings new to the Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills market, according to AOL Real Estate.

Here are this week's three pricey new listings in Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills on AOL Real Estate. Get a better look at these homes' exteriors and interiors by peeking at the pictures to the right. 323 Hillcrest Ave., Hinsdale: $6,000,000 740 S. Oak St, Hinsdale: $2,999,000 14 Hiawatha Dr., Clarendon Hills: $689,993 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  There are plenty of ways to keep up on Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills news:   Check out past House Hunts:

•  1 Comment
• Photos (23)

Realtor on Teardown Trend: Classic Homes 'Keep Hinsdale Unique'

Members of the Hinsdale Historic Preservation Commission spoke about the value of the village's old homes and why it's important residents be informed about how they can be preserved.

John Bohnen says Hinsdale is all about history and its classic houses are a big reason why. “It gives the town a sense of being as opposed to Plainfield, Illinois, [which] grows out of a cornfield,” said Bohnen, a historic preservation commissioner. “There’s a history to this town. A lot of what this town is, and what people like about it, is an outgrowth of history.” Bohnen owns County Line Properties and, as Patch reported last summer, has lived in a neo-classic Georgian on 1st Street for the last 38 years. He opined about the teardown trend after village trustees earlier this month discussed the likely demolition of the 122-year-old home at 206 N. Washington St.  The 206 N. Washington home was sold through Teardowns.com, a Clarendon …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (1)

Hinsdale Housing Market: January Sales, Median Price Down From 2012

Home sales in Hinsdale fell by 29.4 percent year-over-year from January 2012 to January 2013, according to numbers supplied by the Mainstreet Organization of Realtors.

The 12 detached, single-family homes sold in Hinsdale during January represented a 29.4 percent decrease from January 2012, when 17 homes were sold, according to the Mainstreet Organization of Realtors (MORe). Sales in January were also down from December 2012, when 22 homes sold in Hinsdale. The median price of homes sold in January ($837,500) was slightly lower than the median price of homes sold in January 2012 ($850,000).  Despite a slow month in Hinsdale, the market for detached, single-family homes in suburbs throughout DuPage County saw growth in January, MORe reported. MORe gets its statistics from Midwest Real Estate Data. Glen Ellyn saw the largest percent increase, with 312.5 percent more homes sold year over year in January. …

• Photos (1)

Locally Owned

Teardowns.com 'A Disruptor' in Real Estate Industry, Owner Says

Hinsdale resident Brian Hickey started Teardown.com in 2001 to directly connect sellers of property with redevelopment potential with interested buyers.

Brian Hickey pointed to an old black-and-white photograph of downtown Chicago above his desk in Clarendon Hills. “You take a look at that skyline, it doesn’t look like it looks now,” Hickey said, referring to buildings in the picture that no longer stand. “They were replaced by something.” Though controversial in towns like Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills, redevelopment is natural and the product of a “constantly evolving” market, the longtime Hinsdale resident and founder of Teardowns.com says. Hickey’s bluntly named business aims to serve that market by connecting sellers who own property with redevelopment potential with interested buyers. “It’s not balloons and open houses,” Hickey said of his company’s real estate niche. “This is a …

•  4 Comments
• Photos (1)

brian hickey

9:26 am on Saturday, February 23, 2013

Gigi, As you suspected, the business started after I tried to sell my Hinsdale home/property directly to builders (wanted to bypass the commission) - what I learned and we have proven over time is that the easiest way to undersell property is to sell without any competition and exposure to all the targeted buyers (builders, investors and individuals - builders are not always the best buyers) that…   more ›