Marshall Creative / online branding + strategy + design + short film + content creation » real estate

How much can I afford? The Merchandise Mart!

Sandy Marshall — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 15:04:35 +0000

One of the nice things about being a former loan officer in the mortgage business is that I still remember basic mortgage calculations and in this day and age of the fax machines and air phones, sure, we can figure out mortgage payments through online calculators. But where’s the fun in that? Today, we focus on estimated mortgage payments for the Merchandise Mart. First off, let’s take some assumptions: say the Merchandise Mart is on sale for $1,000,000,000. That’d mean that the potential loan amount would be listed as a non-conforming “jumbo” loan, since the mortgage payment would be more than $417,000. Anyway, if you’re looking to buy the Merchandise Mart, you will want to budget for 20% down, or $200,000,000 — bringing your loan amount to $800,000,000. If you’re able to garner a 30-year fixed mortgage at 5.5% (using today’s estimated market rates for jumbo financing), your basic principal and interest payment would be $4,542,312 per month. Taking real estate taxes into account (estimating an average 1.5% of the purchase price), let’s assume $1,250,000 per month for the real estate tax bill. And what about assessments, you might ask? Well, turns out the Merchandise Mart isn’t a condo association — it’s a Merchandise Mart — so you’ll most likely MAKE some money from some commercial retailers such as your Post Offices and your Jamba Juices. Long story short — the grand total for your estimated monthly payment would be $5,792,312. So, there’s that.

I wonder if real estate awards shows have live orchestras that play after the winning speeches

Sandy Marshall — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 12:50:03 +0000

Congratulations to our friends at The Straub Group for being nominated for Best Individual Real Estate Website in the City by Chicago Agent Magazine. We’re proud to have delivered the site, and we can confirm a few things about Akos and the Straub Group: 1.) They are a ton of fun to hang out with, 2.) Akos still uses PhoneTag.com, which usually lists my name as “Andy,” and 3.) They are always looking for ways to generate business to their partners and associates. Congrats Straub Group and go get ‘em tonight!

Danderson / Vlamis, Part 6

Sandy Marshall — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:28:37 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

Last week we shot yet another Dean video, this time centering around the fact that Dean hired a consultant (played by MC friend Niki Lindgren). We shoot these in PERL Mortgage’s main office on Belmont, but now we’re thinking of doing a few in other locations and the big debate is finding ways to start and end them at PERL, because, well, they have to. Big ups to Dean for finding the fire engine. As always, directed by Delahoyde and co-starring Holly Laurent.

Now Online / StraubHomes.com!

Sandy Marshall — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:36:36 +0000

A couple of months ago, Akos Straub, a real estate agent at Jameson Real Estate, gave us a call about a rebranding for his new company The Straub Group, LLC. The site’s officially launched and we wish Akos and Ilona and the rest of our friends at The Straub Group the best success to his new company. If you’re in the market for a home and if you’re wondering who you should work with, you might want to give Akos a call. He’s an incredibly positive person has a wealth of information about the city and it’s neighborhoods — especially the South Loop. I like the South Loop — when my wife and I were looking at places a few years ago, we saw a lot of very cool places in the “1400ishhhhh S. Michigan” area. Check it out. And tell ‘em we sent ya.

Do the Vikings have the safest safety?

Sandy Marshall — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:38:00 +0000

We’re always glad to read the Forbes annual list of safest cities, especially at a time (as the local evening news would say) “…when crime is reaching the front doors of our very own homes.” And even though Minneapolis / St. Paul gets top billing (not surprisingly: being a former Minnesotan myself, I’d probably rather ski than fight), isn’t it nice to know that Chicago is the 15th safest city in America? Now, these are metropolitan areas and they’re including national disasters in their metrics and it’s not likely that we’ll be hit by a typhoon anytime soon — and let’s be glad that Forbes didn’t take the Lakefront bike path into account — if they did, we’d barely crack the top 100. Maybe it’s the Bean. After all, when I visit the Bean, I just kinda chill for a few minutes. Because that’s what the Bean doessss, mannn. It makes you chilllllll.

PERL Podcast 42 / Deducing the Deduction

Sandy Marshall — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:29:35 +0000

Marc Heller is a partner at Warady & Davis, LLP and he’s become the resident tax expert for the PERL Mortgage Podcast, my regular series of interviews with professionals in the Chicago real estate community. On this episode, Marc explains different types of tax deductions one can make once one owns one’s own home. That’ a lot of oh’s. Most people know that they can write-off mortgage interest. But can you write-off a new paint job right before you rent-out your home? Check it out. To hear more episodes, go to the PERL archives.PERL Podcast 42 / Deducing the Deduction