In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, our Share the LOVE Sweepstakes is back! We’ve partnered with Flowers for Dreams and CS Magazine to offer you the perfect date night-in package.

Keep reading to learn how to enter for a chance to win essentials for a great date night at home; Vogses chocolates, Garrett’s Popcorn, and gift cards for a Flowers for Dreams bouquet and dinner from Gene Georgetti.

In honor of Black History Month, @properties is excited to spotlight a variety of Black-owned businesses throughout Chicago. Following is a roundup of just some of the great businesses you can support year-round. And we’ll be making a stop at two of them over the next few weeks as part of our @ Loves Local Series. Keep an eye on our blog and our Facebook and Instagram accounts for details, and we hope to see you there!

Whether you’re in the process of buying or selling a home, or just keep up with real estate news, you’ve probably heard about the lack of inventory in housing markets throughout the country.

While fewer properties on the market means increased competition for buyers, there are still ways for home shoppers to navigate inventory challenges and have an edge in the marketplace. Here are a few tips :

Located on the shore of Lake Michigan, Hyde Park is a beautiful neighborhood with a lot to offer. Between enriching art exhibits and museums, a world-renowned university, and well-kept community green spaces, there are a lot of reasons people have fallen in love with Hyde Park. Here are ours:

2020 was a surprisingly strong year for luxury home sales. We saw a number of multi-million-dollar sales in both the city and suburbs of Chicago, with a number of transactions topping the $5 million mark. Winnetka’s luxury market was particularly hot, with the town accounting for four of the top 10 sales across Chicagoland.

It’s a new year, which means that it’s officially time to start using Pantone’s annual Color of the Year around the house! Pantone has been designating a color of the year for over 20 years, and for 2021 the company chose not just one, but TWO colors. Allow us to introduce Ultimate Gray and Illuminating, a color combination that, according to Pantone, conveys strength and positivity following a year unlike any other.

Here’s how you can use these two colors at home:

Say hello to 2021 in style! Enter our Entering 2021 Sweepstakes for a chance to win a Google Nest Hello Video Doorbell. Read on to learn how:

Philanthropy is a year-round endeavor at @properties. This holiday season, we wanted to show our gratitude in a way that would impact local families at a time when they need it most.

As part of our December of Giving campaign, @properties donated 5,000 winter coats and over 2,500 toy scooters that found their way into local communities with the help of five Chicago-area non-profit organizations: The Jesse White Foundation, Paving the Way Project, Kids Off The Block, Purpose Over Pain, and New Life.

The new year is right around the corner, bringing with it the hope of more face-to-face interactions and in-person engagements. However, in true 2020 fashion, New Year’s Eve is getting a little shake-up this year, and won’t involve the same big crowds and parties of years past. Fortunately, there are plenty of fun ways to safely ring in the New Year with the ones you love.

Here’s how to celebrate the start of 2021:

Bronzeville has a rich cultural and architectural history that can still be felt today. It is a thriving neighborhood with locally owned restaurants and cafes, a strong arts community, and monuments that pay tribute to its history and those residents who made a lasting impact.

Here are our favorite things about Bronzeville: