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January 23-24, 2016 • $1.50
WEEKEND SERVING DEKALB COUNTY SINCE 1879
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County home sales, prices make gains
Market keeps improving in December; 2015 numbers were highest in 9 years By DAILY CHRONICLE
news@daily-chronicle.com DeKALB – DeKalb County’s real estate market improved last month to cap off 2015 with more homes selling and median sales prices climbing following national trends that show total sales in 2015 were the most in nine years. This year, the county’s residential real estate market could continue to make progress, local real estate brokers said.
“I think we’re going to see the momentum build,” said Kelly Miller, a broker with Coldwell Banker Honig-Bell in Sycamore. “The market is much healthier right now than it was a year ago.” Home sales increased 6.9 percent in December in the county while prices saw double-digit gains and the number of homes on the market plummeted, according to data released Friday by the Illinois Association of Realtors. Sales of existing homes in the county increased 6.9 per-
cent in December to 93, up from 87 in December 2014. For the year, county home sales were up 13.8 percent to 1,187, up from 1,043 in 2014. Median sales prices also got a boost in December. In the county, the median sales price jumped 16.1 percent to $130,000 last month, up from $112,000 in December 2014. That helped push the median sales price in the county to $142,500 for 2015, a 4.8 percent gain over $136,000 in 2014. Miller, who credits her team for the best year of her
career, said prices are climbing, although perhaps not as quickly as some might like. “We’re growing slowly in value – slow and intelligently is the way I would describe it,” she said. Some other real estate markets – such as Chicago – have seen significantly more recovery than DeKalb County, said Chuck Lindhart, broker and owner of McCabe Realtors in DeKalb. “In DeKalb County, the market modestly improved in 2015,” he said. “I would antic-
ipate we will see modest improvement in 2016.” However, he warned that continued uncertainty in global financial and commodity markets could eventually be reflected in the local real estate market. In December, the median sales price for single-family homes in the county increased 7 percent to $134,000 while the median sales price for condos was up 4.6 percent to $114,000. DeKalb County’s inventory of homes on the market fell 20.1 percent to 357 in Decem-
ber, compared with 447 in December 2014. In popular locations, inventory could remain tight, although Miller said she expects to see more homes come on the market this spring following traditional real estate cycles. Without as many properties to choose from – and the potential for interest rates and property taxes to go up – “if you are looking to buy, now is the time to get serious,” Miller said.
See MARKET, page A5
$1.7B for Iran is raising questions
DeKALB CITY COUNCIL
By BRADLEY KLAPPER The Associated Press
passing, being loud and disturbing the peace or crossing police lines. The ordinances also dictate how authorities must react to a rowdy protest – by providing people notice that they’re in violation and giving them a clear path to leave. Mark Cordes, interim dean and professor of law with Northern Illinois University, said that freedom of speech issues must be carefully considered when officials draft these kinds of laws. Freedom to assemble is one of the “five freedoms” of the First Amendment. “Any ordinance would have to be very carefully drawn,” Cordes said.
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration’s $1.7 billion payment to Iran to settle an arcane, decades-old financial dispute is prompting questions among Republican lawmakers trying to piece together the full scope of last weekend’s dramatic U.S.-Iranian prisoner swap and the lifting of many American sanctions on Tehran. The announcement’s timing, just after confirmation that three Americans left Iranian airspace, is leading to calls for investigations and shedding light on a little-known fund that the president can dip into when he wants to resolve international financial disputes. Legislative efforts are already afoot to curtail that ability. U.S. officials deny claims that the payment was a bribe to ensure the release of a total of five Americans traded for the freedom of seven people in legal trouble in the U.S. over business deals with Iran. Sunday’s financial settlement between Washington and Tehran was largely lost amid U.S. elation over the release of the Americans and global interest in the latest benchmark in Iran’s nuclear transformation. With the United Nations’ confirmation that Iran satisfied the terms of last summer’s nuclear agreement, it immediately recouped tens of billions in frozen assets and earned the chance to gain significantly more from suspended oil, trade and financial sanctions. The much smaller U.S.-Iranian agreement concerned more than $400 million in Iranian money, dating back to before the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the end of diplomatic ties, which the U.S.-backed shah’s government used to buy American military equipment. The Iranians got that money back last weekend and about $1.3 billion in interest. The administration said the settlement was decided on its merits, with officials arguing that Iran demand-
See ORDINANCE, page A5
See DEAL, page A5
Shaw Media file photos
Northern Illinois University law student Jason Montemayor (from left) and College of Engineering employees Mia Hannon and Cheryl Lubber participate in rally against the state budget impasse Oct. 29 outside the Holmes Student Center on NIU’s campus.
City will consider ordinances concerning unlawful assembly
2 measures in the city’s municipal code dealing with large gatherings Voice your opinion
By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN
bkeeperman@shawmedia.com
DeKALB – DeKalb’s City Council will consider two ordinances on unlawful assemblies, which officials said are needed to give police officers ways to diffuse a potentially dangerous situation. “There have been examples in this community where large gatherings have evolved toward being unlawful, or where arrests were made,” DeKalb Police Chief Gene Lowery said. “It’s important to understand these measures that we are taking are from a proactive perspective.” Lowery said an example of a situation that could have gotten out of hand was during protests that took place in DeKalb
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Do you think DeKalb’s unlawful assembly ordinance goes too far? Vote online at Daily-Chronicle.com.
Dillon Domke, Speaker of the Student Assembly Senate, concludes a rally protesting the state budget impasse Oct. 29 on the MLK Commons outside the Holmes Student Center. Representatives from local non-profits and area colleges gathered in anticipation of an appearance by Gov. Bruce Rauner. after police shootings in Ferguson, Missouri. Protesters also demonstrated when Gov. Bruce Rauner came to speak at
Northern Illinois University, and a march took place during Martin Luther King Jr. week. Lowery said.
“We’ve had some demonstrations go from a handful to a hundred,” he said. Council members are set to discuss the two ordinances at their meeting at 6 p.m. Monday at the DeKalb Municipal Building, 200 S. Fourth St. The ordinances define unlawful assembly – at least 10 people must be gathered, for example. Illegal conduct at an assembly would include fighting, vandalism, using drugs, tres-
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