Visit HomeAid Chicago’s Project Playhouse
From now until July 13th, you can tour this year’s Project Playhouse at the John Hancock Center. To go along with the new movie and the popularity of the American Girl corporation, Pardee Homes constructed a playhouse identical to Kit Kittredge’s Home on Abbott Place. The attention to detail that went into constructing this playhouse is truly remarkable, and the playhouse is completely furnished. Project Playhouse is the signature fundraiser for HomeAid Chicago, where Chicago homebuilders donate their time and expertise to construct playhouses that will be raffled off to one lucky winner. Right now you can buy one raffle ticket for $5, 5 for $20, 14 for $50 or 30 for $100. I can say with complete certainty that any young girl would absolutely love to have Kit’s Home on Abbott Place as her regular playhouse. And, if you win the raffle, you win the playhouse with all of the furniture inside of it. So, come to the John Hancock Center and take a tour of the unique playhouse and purchase your raffle ticket, because you definitely cannot win if you don’t even buy a ticket.
HBAGC Appreciation Picnic THIS Friday!
This Friday, June 27 from 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. is the HBAGC Membership Appreciation Picnic. Hosted by the Young Builders Council, this fun, summer event will take place rain or shine, and since it is only a few days away, you need to go ahead and register to attend now. The picnic is BYOB and a prime opportunity to meet other members and do a little social networking. It’s really a great event to attend because this is one of the ways that the home builders associations says “thanks for being a member, we really appreciate it.” You should definitely bring a friend with you that is considering joining the association because they will have no registration or entry fee and will receive $50 off their membership dues. The picnic is going to be held in Elk Grove Village at Busse Forest West and is only $10 for members. Some of the most prominent homebuilders in Chicago Real Estate are members of the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago, so take this opportunity to enjoy a fun summer afternoon with other industry professionals in a laid-back, relaxed atmosphere.
Bigelow Homes Featured in Professional Builder
You definitely need to check out Professional Builder’s recent article “Ugly urban land?” because it features Chicago homebuilder Bigelow Homes. The article focuses on communities that have been developed and built in infill situations, and Legacy Square in Park Forest is one of these unique communities. Only 30 miles south of Chicago, Legacy Square will feature 88 new Chicago homes, which have replaced two shuttered department stores and a parking lot. One of the big challenges about building in infill properties is that the floorplans generally have to be a little more innovative. Which means that you can be assured your new home in Park Forest will maximize the living space available in each home. Ranging from 1,100 to 1,700 square feet the floorplans are more open to help make rooms look bigger. Priced from the mid $150,00s to $180,000, these new homes are an amazing value! Residents at Legacy Square will enjoy the feel of living in a small town. Homes have been constructed to give a more traditional feel with white picket fences, front porches, bay windows and second story balconies. Life at (Continued…)
NEW HBAI Governmental Affairs Update
The political infighting continued earlier this month between Governor Rod Blagojevich, Senate President Emil Jones, & House Speaker Michael Madigan. The three politicos continue to lock horns over the specific language in the Energy Conservation Code.
The bills in question are SB526 & HB1842. After the House Bill passed the Senate, Michael Madigan halted it because it still didn’t contain specific language regarding Legislative approval of Development Board authority regarding the Code. So, HBAI and the other stakeholders added the required language and the bill passed in the House only to have Emil Jones refuse to advance it specifically because it contained the language Madigan had demanded.
So, ultimately both Bills failed, and Illinois has still failed to adopt statewide energy efficiency standards for residential construction.
mRelevance Takes Real Estate Marketing to a New Level
It’s not going to come to a surprise to anyone that home shoppers look online for homes before ever setting foot in a community. With the evolution of the real estate industry making such a drastic shift from traditional media, builders, real estate agents and developers must all learn how to effectively make a presence online. To help real estate professionals with the new demands of the industry, mRELEVANCE, LLC, a joint venture of Flammer Relations, Inc. and MLC New Home Marketing, has been created to offer public relations, internet marketing and social media.
Founded by three MIRMs, Managing Partners Carol Flammer and Mitch Levinson and Senior Consultant Bo Gilbert, this new web 2.0 centered marketing firm offers relevant solutions for building relationships in today’s changing world. Only launched last week at the Southern Building Show in Atlanta, mRELEVANCE is creating a lot of buzz in both the Atlanta and Chicago markets, as the company has offices in both cities. By combining the talents of public relations and social media agency (Continued…)
Web 2.0 is here- Are you ready?
Is your website updated on a regular basis? Are you constantly adding new content about your products & services, company news, etc.? How about search engine optimization? And blogging?
These are the questions you’ll need to be asking yourself if you want to stay relevant as Web 2.0 and social media continue to become more prevalent, and traditional marketing strategies take a back seat.
Continue reading the attachments to hear what others are saying about blogging and other real estate topics and trends…
“If You’re Thinking About Blogging about Real Estate”
Real Central Virginia.com
“Write like a Blogger”
Seth Godin’s blog
“The New World of Web 2.0”
Realty Times.com
Northern Illinois HBA & Learn-Build to Host Design/Build Course Tuesday, June 17
Learn-Build & the Northern Illinois HBA are proud to announce the upcoming University of Housing course, Design/Build. Class is to be held at the NIHBA (Continued…)
Great Attendance At Last Week’s “Business Management” Course
Last week Learn-Build & the HBA of Greater Chicago hosted “Business Management For Building Professionals,” and the turnout was terrific! The roomful of 20 students benefited greatly from Instructor, Doug Sutton’s, presentation on management skills, best business practices, etc.
You too can benefit the way these students recently did. Don’t miss out the next time there’s a course in your area. Whether you’re going for a specific Builder or Remodeler Designation, or simply trying to get educated for your own knowledge, you can’t go wrong with the NAHB’s University of Housing courses being offered through Learn-Build and your local HBA.
For more information on future courses please visit our website. Learn-Build.Com
See you at the next class…
