Chicago First-Time Buyers: Great Condo, Stunning Views

Annette and her husband Ben just closed on a condo in Chicago’s Fulton-River district with Redfin. We were delighted to see that they left us a five star review on Yelp, and wanted to learn a little more about their experience buying a home for the first time.

Annette and Ben in their new home

Annette and Ben’s Story

After seeing Redfin featured on 60 minutes a couple of years ago, we were excited to see the expansion into Chicago last year. We spent hours searching for homes on Redfin, racked up a huge favorites list and got updates from listing alerts. We first attended around five open houses on our own before touring about 10 condos with Redfin field agent Dario Medina. We loved his neutral, no BS approach and always had enough time to look at each home. Once we were ready to make an offer, Redfin lead agent Mark Reitman stepped in and helped us every step of the way.

Research FHA Financing and Condos

When it was time to get a loan, we decided to go the FHA route. This limited our options a bit in terms of which condos we were eligible to buy in the Chicago area; but with the current economic situation, that seems to be changing and more condo buildings are trying to get FHA-approved. Many Homeowner’s Associations that govern condo buildings aren’t approved to accept buyers with FHA financing. Luckily, our favorite condo was FHA-approved.

Redfin agent Mark Reitman explains that “some homeowners associations have a “right of first refusal” in their bylaws that grants them the right to deny a prospective buyer and purchase the unit themselves. This law violates the Fair Housing Act established by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the government agency overseeing the Federal Housing Administration that insures FHA loans.”

Shop Around For Loans

We used Bankrate to monitor rate changes and got pre-approved early in our search. In hindsight, we probably should’ve shopped around a bit more for lower rates. We just went with the lender that pre-approved us. But if rates continue to drop, our lender has given us the option to re-finance no sooner than 30 days after closing at minimal cost to us. This may be something to ask your lender about if rates drop after you close and if you are also using an FHA loan.

Annette, Ben and the Chicago skyline

We got to move in the day we closed and the Redfin refund was icing on the cake. We love our first home and are enjoying our fantastic new view of the Chicago skyline and the Chicago river. We’re grateful for Redfin’s help, and plan on using them again in the future.