Alex Starace and his wife own a condo in Chicago. Alex enjoys basketball, biking and jazz. His writing also appears regularly in My First Apartment, South Florida Opulence and TriQuarterly.
May 10, 2018
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By Alex StaraceAuthorMy First Apartment
To hear the real estate portals tell it, you should track your home's value on a weekly basis. Is it really necessary to look at your Zestimate that often?
November 12, 2017
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By Alex StaraceAuthorMy First Apartment
When you buy a condo, you seldom expect to stay forever. When should you upgrade? It depends. Getting a bigger place could be a great idea, or it could take more time and money than you’d bargained for. Your Situation Your Place Was Always Too Small You thought your first condo was a little tight,…
September 4, 2017
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By Alex StaraceAuthorMy First Apartment
It’s trendy, it’s sleek, it uses wifi and it could be yours. It’s a Nest Thermostat. Should you get one? MyFirstCondo received a complimentary third generation version to review, so we thought we’d put it to the test. If you’ve recently bought a condo, you’ve likely seen the Nest Thermostat touted in home listings. Its…
March 15, 2014
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By Alex StaraceAuthorMy First Apartment
If you’ve been searching for a condo a while, you’ve probably come across listings of places that are still under construction. Maybe you can see developer’s plans, or you can visit a model at the developer’s office, or you can walk around the construction site. But the place you’re buying is not yet built and you cannot see…
March 7, 2014
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By Alex StaraceAuthorMy First Apartment
Before you go out condo hunting, you need to decide in which neighborhood(s) you’re going to look. Since you’re buying for the long term (ideally, five years or more), you want to be confident you’ll still love where you live down the road – and that when you go to sell, the property (and neighborhood)…
February 28, 2014
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By Alex StaraceAuthorMy First Apartment
As much as you love your new condo, you sure are paying a lot of interest on your mortgage. You’ve heard that it’s possible to pay extra principal each month – and that there are benefits to doing so, including reducing your overall interest payments. Is this true? How does it work? Assuming you have…
February 21, 2014
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By Alex StaraceAuthorMy First Apartment
You have a broker, you’ve made a list of your must-haves for your first place and you know what neighborhood you want to live in. The key now is actually finding good prospects – places you’re excited to go out and see. Here are some tips I found useful in my search. First, let your…