Mayor Lightfoot’s proposed ordinance looks to manage where and when dispensaries can begin selling recreational marijuana in Chicago, complete with a list of “cannabis zones” and one area where sales will not be permitted.

Learn why the National League of Cities put Chicago in this category, rather than a “high-opportunity” or “wealth-pocket city,” and what researchers think can be done to turn things around.

Agents specializing in Chicago may be attracted to some parts of the suburbs as they become more desirable and livable for the newest generation of homebuyers — and vice versa. But it can be difficult to make the leap.

In her first State of the City address, Mayor Lightfoot says she’s willing to sacrifice her political career to solve Chicago’s budget crisis.

It’s no secret that monthly mortgage costs tend to be less than rent on average. But the differential is also having a dramatic effect on the other side of the spectrum: housing affordability.

The homebuilder community has regularly offered a succinct answer to the reason for its industry’s sluggishness, generally calling out labor, lumber, laws and land as pain points. But some researchers are poking holes in their assertions of late. 

Which areas of Chicagoland are seeing the highest increases and decreases in median sale prices?

Statewide home sales were up 0.3 percent from last year and sales in Chicagoland were up 0.2 percent from July 2018. But looking solely at the city of Chicago, Illinois Realtors recorded a 5.3 percent year-over-year decrease in existing-home sales.

Now that Governor J.B. Pritzker has signed an update of the real estate license act into law, many changes are technically effective now. While some provisions will need to be complied with immediately, other portions of the law will require rules committees to hack out the details in the coming months. Learn what you need to know to stay on the right side of license law.

Many real estate agents strive to connect people, and many of those connections prosper in unpredictable ways. Learn how Janice Corley connected her daughter with Chance the Rapper at a RE/MAX party when the two were just kids.

When Fritz Kaegi took office as Cook County Tax Assessor in December, homeowners and real estate agents had a lot of questions. But Kaegi opened his presentation at a Southside Builders luncheon in the South Loop Wednesday with a question for the audience.

At the start of the year, price growth was at 2 to 3 percent year-over-year. Now, it’s between 0.5 and 1.5 percent, depending on the city. But according to Thad Wong, co-founder of @properties, that might not be a bad thing. 

In national rankings — which include user input, extracurricular activities, the availability of special needs programs and diversity, among other factors — several Chicagoland schools were called out for their excellence. Learn which institutions rank in the top ten for the region.

A Chicago RE/MAX shop acquires suburban office, Baird & Warner seeks to strengthen the agent-lender relationship and improve customer experience with a new hire, and Wintrust continues its acquisition spree.

Find out what top real estate executives here in Chicago think about the buyer’s rep lawsuits against NAR and other major real estate companies. Do they think the charges have merit and how might the industry change if the litigants prevail? 

A three-person team is stepping up to lead Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff as CEO Nancy Nagy moves away from day-to-day operations, a new hire at Guaranteed Rate and more in our latest installment of Making Moves.