My wife and I were looking for a home that would be a live/work space that also had rental units for additional income. We were interested in a number of neighborhoods around Chicago and a wide variety of configurations (conventional and unconventional) as far as the Continue Reading
I'm sharing some information about a new ordinance, adopted February 19, 2025, designed to streamline the conversion of ground floor commercial spaces into residential units. This initiative aims to revitalize vacant commercial properties and expand the availability of Continue Reading
My first Artists Salon of 2024 went great, more to come in December. I did get a lot of questions about home office/work in Chicago. I am tackling that topic in this blog post but only for the City of Chicago. Here is what the City/Zoning code says: Continue Reading
ArtHouse Chicago is going to start hosting an Artist Salon Series this fall. The first one will be 10/23 on the topic of “How to Buy a Live Work/Studio Space”. I will be hosting with Lender Jason Finn of Key Mortgage. We will go over the various types Continue Reading
It is possible to buy a former warehouse, or anything that has been down-zoned from commercial to residential, and turn it into your home or live-work space, but it won’t be easy and you will need a renovation loan or cash to do this. Here is an example of a small Continue Reading
The answer is: probably. First you will need some cash. You will need a downpayment on the purchase, but it can be as little as 3.5% down. So on a $200,000 home you would need about $7000 for the downpayment. There will be some closing costs Continue Reading
