Breathtaking panoramic lake views…minutes away from the beach…a veritable buffet of restaurants and retail choices just steps away from your front door-you can’t beat calling a Chicago waterfront condo home.

Chicago is known as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, due to its daring and historical architecture. Here are a few of its most popular buildings:

Trump is a name synonymous with success, luxury and class, and the family’s eponymous condos will generate that same type of exclusive status for you if you choose-or are so fortunate-to call the Trump Tower Chicago home. You can choose to live in either hotel or residential condominiums, which have their own private entrance to the hotel but still have full access to the hotel’s amenities.

Chicagoans display a peerless love of and pride in their city—how else do you explain the legion of fans for a baseball team that hasn’t won the World Series in 102 years? So whether they came to the city as young singletons or have called our fair town home all their life, when they’re ready to settle down with a family, it doesn’t mean these citizens will decamp to the neighboring suburbs.

Whether you’re looking to put your house on the market in 2011 or just want to make some positive changes for your family, here are some great home improvement ideas that will deliver the most bang for your buck that you can spend a winter weekend or two or three on implementing.

Chicago is a bustling cultural hub of restaurants, museums and literary and film innovations, but perhaps no hallmark of the crown jewel of the Midwest is as visually celebrated as the city’s architecture.

One of the most essential elements for a new home owner to address is the interior design of their new home. Whether they pay a professional to do a little consulting and help them shop for a few hours or they employ a designer to overhaul their entire dwelling, the designer’s expertise will help them take their home from nondescript to perfect.

As with all of our Dream Home articles the scenarios are based off of Illinois law. There will often be small variations from state to state. In “Step Three: Making an Offer” we discussed how to make an offer on your Dream Home. Now that your offer has been accepted and the contract and all riders and addenda have been signed by both parties you have what is now commonly referred to as an Executed Contract.

Looking for simple DIY projects to give your Chicago home a mini facelift? Here are 5 easy home improvement jobs you can do on your own to refresh your house or condo

Having successfully navigated the Step One, the Interview Process and found the best agent to meet your needs and your personality you are now ready to move forward. In this step I will be writing a bit about some best practices when working with your agent. The first advice I can give is, keep an open line of communication with your agent. From your interview process you have made it clear that you are looking for an agent who will take your calls and be prompt about returning messages. This is a two way street. There is no measure I can give to articulate how much of a difference it makes for a Realtor to know what his buyer is thinking.