There is lots of fiction and myth surrounding the greatest deals on lofts and the difficulty in obtaining mortgage financing.   When it comes to Chicago loft financing, the truly good deals are very simple to finance.

Let’s start first with wherever the myths are coming from.  You will find a few listings at costs which are too good to be true that cannot be financed.   The seemingly logical conclusion is that it is hard to obtain a house loan approval in today’s marketplace.  Nothing could be less true.

The reality of it is that the “best deals” in the condo and loft marketplace right now are simply not very good deals.  They’re just low prices and they are unnecessarily risky purchases.  If I was purchasing a loft in Chicago currently, I’d have five questions that I’d use to determine if the  property can be a safe buy.  Here would be my large five:

   1. Is this building predominantly owner-occupied or does it contain a lot of rental units?
   2. Is there a large single-investor holding a great deal more than 10% of the units?
   3. What percentage of the unit owners are past-due on their assessments?
   4. Are there pending special assessments or legal actions against the association?
   5. Does the homeowners association have adequate reserves to cover general maintenance?

If you look solely at today’s home prices versus the costs from a couple of years ago, you will discover some properties that seem like extraordinary values.  For many of them, they’ll fail one of those big five tests.    Failing any, let alone much more than a single one, can mean that costs in that building are likely to fall even further.  In a current market where house prices are stabilized and now rising, there’s no reason to take an unnecessary risk.

Buying a loft in Chicago can be a great investment if you buy in the right building.  Chicago mortgage loans are still easily obtained for safer properties.

Use our Chicago loft search tool.