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Susannah Ribstein

@susannahribs.bsky.social
657 followers 77 following 190 posts

Realtor at Compass. Specializing in the communities of the South Side. South Shore resident. Real estate, architecture, preservation, parks advocacy 🔗 www.susannahribsteinrealty.com

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Reposted by Susannah Ribstein
Star:Line Chicago @starlinechicago.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Converting the Metra MED South Chicago Branch from hourly commuter rail to thru-running regional rail with direct trips to the North and Northwest Sides would be transformative for the entire south lakefront, and that’s just one more reason why we need to #BuildTheTunnel. BuildTheTunnelChicago.org
CrossTowner regional rail service diagram CrossTowner regional rail project map
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
This was not an elective outcome from an unselfish appreciator of the arts. Preservation advocates & SAIC faculty alums who spoke up last fall orchestrated this result by making it clear to the School that selling this house without landmarking would compound their reputational damage. (con't)
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
A fantastic plan with so many civic benefits, fully articulated by people who know what they're doing. From @presfutures.bsky.social mouths to City Hall's ears, please!
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Reposted by Susannah Ribstein
Protect Bridgeport Bicyclists @stevevance.net · 20/05/2026
The Chicago zoning map is so bad that it has to be modified 500 times a year
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
FYI if you or anyone you know is using Zillow or Trulia to look for a house in Chicagoland, it's frozen in time as of last night. (There is a lot to say about this three-way slap-fight between MRED, Zillow, & Compass. Too much for Bluesky! But if anyone is interested in my perspective....lmk)
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Good values still very much exist in Chicago real estate: 3 large beds & 2 full baths, uninterrupted southeast views of the Lake, Promontory Point, & Harold Washington Park. $1697/mo covers property taxes & all utilities. $179,000. Spread the word! www.compass.com/app/listing/...
A view across a park with a blue sky, a body of water in the distance, and apartment buildings to the side.An empty room with laminate flooring with a row of three windows showing a view of Lake Michigan under a blue sky.
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Everyone's always dunking on bad south side greystone rehabs, here's one of the good ones for once. Bought in 2021 for $325k, being sold now for $635k. www.compass.com/app/listing/...
compass.com
4451 S Ellis Ave, Chicago, IL 60653 | MLS #12642027 | Compass
4451 S Ellis Ave, Chicago, IL 60653 is a single family home listed for sale at $635,000. This is a 4-bed, 2-bath, 2,200 sqft property.
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Any excuse to remind everyone that the type of "nice sit-down restaurant" demanded by every single South Shore community planning survey for at least the last ~15 years is still illegal here, & our alders could change that if they wanted to.
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
This has been my personal experience & professional observation. Extremely climate-safe Chicago indeed seems to be subsidizing much higher-risk areas where insurance premiums are suppressed. Kinda stinks! www.wsj.com/finance/natu...
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
As a South Shore (but not 7th ward) resident, "substantial societal issue" is precisely how I would describe it.
Screen grab from the re-posted article reading: "Ald. Greg Mitchell (7th), in whose ward the stretch resides, didn’t respond to a request for comment."
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Reposted by Susannah Ribstein
Violet Miller @vimiller.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
How much did Cook County homeowners' frustration about rising property taxes show in Tuesday’s race for Cook County assessor? Who is to blame for skyrocketing property taxes? Will Hynes suffer the same fate? Let's dig into the answers (though I fear the headline gives away the first one) 🧵/12
chicago.suntimes.com
Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi lost big where property taxes in city, suburbs soared
Last year, Chicago's median residential tax bill in the city rose 16.7%, to $4,457, the largest percentage increase in at least 30 years. In the 24th Ward, where bills skyrocketed the most — the media...
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Indeed, I practically sprained my thumbs sending this to every Hyde Park & real estate nerd group text I'm in the second it popped up in my search results yesterday. The backstory is Really Something therealdeal.com/chicago/2022...
therealdeal.com
Chicago real estate scammer, former lawyer allege ‘foreclosure theft’ against big banks
Facing foreclosure, a convicted Chicago real estate scammer’s former lawyer wants to hold onto properties he got from the client as payment.
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
Exciting stuff 🤞Some of this could be transformational in the quantity & quality of old home renovation/rehab, which is a critical form of home building/creation along with new construction. Time to put the "affordable" and "natural" back in Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing.
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
This is a fantastic piece about one of the coolest properties (and people!) I've worked with. Listen to the audio for more of Amber's wisdom on low-waste building reuse as both art practice & environmental proving ground. 🧠🤌 www.wbez.org/architecture...
wbez.org
What’s That Building? Narrow Bridge Arts Club
Built as a synagogue and later housing a series of Christian congregations, this structure now serves as part single-family home, part makerspace and artists club.
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
I have collected many stories in my day about the hazards of dealing with FSBO listings, and now I have a new one!
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Second Wednesday Home Buddies at Narrow Bridge Arts Club in Woodlawn is this week! Come by 5-7, drink tea, eat cookies, ask real estate/home care questions of your opinionated hostesses (me n @brigidmania.bsky.social) Or mark your calendar for next month! www.narrowbridgeartsclub.net/calendar
narrowbridgeartsclub.net
Calendar — Narrow Bridge Arts Club
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
Wednesday! 2nd monthly Home Buddies meet-up at Narrow Bridge w/ me n @brigidmania.bsky.social. A hard to define event I came up with because I wanted to. Real estate questions? Need home reno advice? Stuck picking paint colors? Come over, we have snacks & advice! www.eventbrite.com/e/monthly-ho...
Narrow Bridge Arts Club. Two arched stained glass windows in a synagogue with piles of floor boards and construction debris in front of them.
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Even if my industry (real estate) tries to avoid irrelevant (/s) issues like human rights, the violent abduction of the literal backbone of the home services industry is something they're gonna need to reckon with.
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
Bleak but excellent. I hope we'll continue to get more investigative reporting like this on the financial conditions that have crippled South Shore as a whole, & which lead to the 7500 S. Shore raid. (couple more thoughts in the thread) prospect.org/2025/10/21/l...
prospect.org
The Lost Dream of Obam-a-Lago - The American Prospect
Long before the September 30 ICE raid, Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood had been ravaged by a series of sprawling apartment building pump-and-dump schemes, aided and abetted by industrial-scale mort...
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
Amidst all the bad news: The letter I co-wrote w/ @blaservations.bsky.social about 1926 now has ~500 signatures, inc. 100s of comments about how one little building helped people become artists & find community. Link at the bottom to read them & perhaps feel affirmed: forms.gle/zEHarFNqgYCZ...
forms.gle
Preserve, Don't Demolish, The Roger Brown Home and Studio
To whom it may concern, We, alumni, faculty, students, and members of the broader community of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, are writing regarding the School's sale of the Roger Brown's...
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
SAIC's decision to sell the Roger Brown Home & Studio building at 1926 N. Halsted St. is extremely at the intersection of my work in real estate, preservation, & Chicago art history. Some thoughts & info, for those interested.🧵 www.chicagobusiness.com/residential-...
chicagobusiness.com
Artist Roger Brown's longtime home and studio for sale by School of the Art Institute
Roger Brown owned the building from the early 1970s into the mid-1990s, and donated it with all its contents to the school in 1996.
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Hear me out: you want to own a home, learning about how to do it is a vote of confidence in the future of your city & world. This event next week is free & will be in this beautiful space, a model of carbon-negative adaptive re-use & shared resources. RSVP & share! www.eventbrite.com/e/how-to-buy...
Photograph of a large sunny room in a former church sanctuary with multi-story arched windows, unusual chairs, bookshelves, and a table full of potted plants.
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
It's back to school season! ✍️ If you or anyone you know is homeownership curious, join me or share! Ben & I are nice and these are always a good time. Plus you get to see inside Woodlawn's beautiful Narrow Bridge Arts Club. 🙂 www.eventbrite.com/e/how-to-buy...
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
I'm a couple days late but @dennisrodkin.bsky.social has a well-researched story about the recent history of South Suburban real estate, inspired by the Pope's childhood home: www.chicagobusiness.com/residential-...
chicagobusiness.com
Pope’s old Dolton house tells a familiar south suburban story
Like Pope Leo XIV, who turns out to be a regular South Sider who follows the White Sox, the Dolton house where he grew up is emblematic of its time and place.
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
As much coverage has noted, the new Pope's house is for sale. The listing was canceled yesterday. I'll be interested to see what Pope Price Bump they come up with!
Screen grab of a cancelled real estate listing for a small brick house at 212 E. 141st Pl., Dolton, IL at $199,900. It's been on the market for 119 days and the property taxes are $7,325 per year.
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
The bombshells in this article are 2-fold. Beyond the ***thrilling*** headline is the fact that someone somehow managed to take a photo inside Build that doesn't have me in it. It's my defacto office space and I'm 70% sweet potato torta sandwiches at this point.. blockclubchicago.org/2025/05/05/e...
blockclubchicago.org
Eve L. Ewing And Friends Unite To Buy South Side Cafe Build Coffee
Author and scholar Eve L. Ewing, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist trina reynolds-tyler and media-based organizer Andrea Faye Hart will take over the shop in June. It is being rebranded to Build Coffe...
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
This right here. I spend a lot of time talking to homeowners about property taxes and this is #1 thing that people don't & need to understand. It's a zero-sum system & assessed value is only one part of it. (click through to the whole thread for context & the original Sun-Times article)
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
Art is everywhere
A painted mural of castles in landscape behind a leather couch with stuff on it, and a large clock on the wall.A painted mural of a castle courtyard behind a leather chair, piles of stuff, and a bookshelf full of LPs.A painted mural of dragons fighting in the sky over a castle and mountain landscape, behind a bookshelf full of LPs and old copies of Playboy magazine.A painted mural of dragons flying in the sky over a lake, behind tables and shelves full of miscellaneous stuff and a boom box.
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
This is why I: 1. Tell clients when they see a home being sold by a wholesaler or flipper that they should distrust & verify any disclosures 2. Insist that clients or a trusted proxy are present in person & with at least one working nose for the entirety of inspection. 3. Check permits on flips.
chicago.suntimes.com
First-time homebuyers find attic full of cat feces, bones in their Chicago bungalow
First-time homebuyers in Albany Park are suing the seller of a former “hoarder” house, saying that after the purchase closed, they discovered an “environmental hazard” of cat feces, urine and bones.
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
One of my best Powell's finds ever. Kerfoot Avenue was always one of my favorite street names. TIL it is only 1.5 blocks long and named after a "pointy-bearded realtor" who aggressively marketed land to East Coast speculators in the immediate aftermath of the Chicago Fire. 🔥🔥🔥
The cover of a book called STREETWISE CHICAGO: A History of Chicago Street NamesBook entry about Kerfoot Avenue, which is at 700W from 8300 - 8444 S, and is named after  William D. Kerfoot (1837-1919).
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
Spoiler: it's South Shore, for both SFH & condos. This will def be relevant data for housing affordability activists in the area. I'm quoted in the piece, gift link here, more thoughts below...1/5 www.chicagobusiness.com/residential-...
chicagobusiness.com
Here's where home prices rose the most in 2024
South Side neighborhoods dominate the city's portion of this list of the highest-rising house and condo markets in Chicago and the suburbs.
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Are there any publications or orgs working on disseminating the auction/bidding instructions for the Wilson/Dass bankruptcy auction beyond the world of RE investors & tax buyers? cc @blockclubchi.bsky.social @stevevance.net @illinoisanswers.bsky.social 1/5 blockclubchicago.org/2025/01/22/h...
Screen grab of a Google map showing a dense layer of dozens of multi-colored property markers on the southwest side of Chicago, including Englewood. Each marker is a property owned by Bass & M. Inc., which is being forced to auction them off in their bankruptcy proceedings. The map is from the Hilco Real Estate auction website.
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Saw a good old fashioned Bridgeport weirdo today 🏠👌 (explanations in the alt text)
A person descending into a basement via floor hatch with a vintage White Sox pennant on the radiatorWhite paint peeling off a decorative pressed tin ceiling, revealing an interesting rainbow oxidation on the metal surfaceAn electrical pole with transformers and a large amount of high-voltage wiring very near the building's garage roof deck - including this building's main electrical surface line within arm's length.The home's brick exterior wall from a gangway showing that the building extends all the way from from the front of the lot to the back, 150 feet.
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
I finally finished my new website, just in time for the traditional new year's inquiry surge. January is always the ideal time to prep for spring. If buying or selling property is on the 2025 agenda for you or anyone you know (esp. on the South Side), here ya go! --> www.susannahribsteinrealty.com
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
I saw the Capital Brutalism show at the National Building Museum today. Having spent too much time thinking about this subject I find most examinations of it to be boring & full of errors. But I genuinely enjoyed this one. It's up for another month. nbm.org/exhibitions/...
Wall text with a quote from architect Harry Weese about the DC Metro: "We wanted people to be respectful of their surroundings and of each other "Photograph of a mock-up of a DC Metro platform and trainPhotograph of a DC Metro station under construction from inside with only part of the coffered ceiling finishedPhotograph of a DC Metro station under construction from above with one section of coffered ceiling in place, and the Pentagon visible in the background
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
This is awful news. www.saic.edu/news/school-...
saic.edu
School of the Art Institute to Sell Its Roger Brown Study Collection to Kohler Foundation | School of the Art Institute of Chicago
SAIC and the Kohler Foundation announced the college will transfer ownership of the art and archives in its Roger Brown Study Collection to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center Art Preserve.
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Susannah Ribstein @susannahribs.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
Hello BlueSky. I'm still figuring out what real estate content I'm gonna post here. Starting easy with what seems to be Hyde Park's most beloved boiler (the log book is footnoted).
An 80+ year old Kewanee boiler painted silver.A boiler information book with facts dating back to 1945Note reading NEVER OVERPRESSURIZED NEVER on a notepad from Fewer Boiler repair serviceTwo old boiler pump motors with notes written on them about when they were installed, by who, and when they failed
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