When the very warm Chicago summer t...

When the very warm Chicago summer temperatures keep the bulk of mankind close to home near the air conditioning or public of town altogether, it takes a little extra incentive to come by them to think of buying a condominium.

Especially during a market slowdown, condominium developer give away everything from flat protection televisions and bicycles to cut- rate mortgages and exempt assessments to get a little attention.

"Anytime is a religious time for an incentive," said sales agent George Schultz of @properties. "They are great when you have any kind of opening."

Schultz just exhibited the sales center for the Lincoln Center Condominiums, at 2472 W rear up a 36-unit building with prices ranging from $283900 to $419900 Call (773) 991-6916

Their incentives included a 42-inch plasma TV and a 2-1 mortgage buy-down. A 2-1 plan furnishs interest rates at 2 percent below market rates for the first year and 1 percent distant from in the second year.

"The TV are good" Schultz said. "They are flashy, and nation like to get them."

The best incentives are usually the financial uniteds that let the buyer save standard of value upfront like no closing outlays or a reduced mortgage rate, he said. The incentives especially help when the market has slowed, he said.

"This market is still a highly strong market, but it's not the market we had five years ago," he said.

Condominium sales are tough enough that@properties is getting phone calls from family from New York and California, inquiring about investing in the Chicago condominium market, he said.

"I don't want to call it a buyer's market now," Schultz said. "I think we have a normal market now. Things have slowed and nothing is easy anymore."

First-quarter condominium sales in the elucidation "downtown" markets were down through about 12

percent through the same period of 2005 -- 2243 sales compared with 2517 in 2005 according to Appraisal Research Counselors of Chicago.

if it were not that they noted that the first quarter of '06 is "more than 60 percent greater than the first-quarter 2004 sales velocity and 48 percent greater than the 9-year average" of just athwart 1,500.

Appraisal Research Counselors monitors condominium sales in the crook New Eastside, Gold Coast, Near North, River North, Streeterville, West crook and South Loop.

A catchy incentive promotion might be just enough to obtain a prospective buyer into a building to turn the thoughts at a unit, according to Jody C Williams, vice president of marketing for the Jameson Realty clump

The 918 West Ainslie condominium conversion, for example, is offering an incentive that is $500 toward the purchase of a bicycle, for a like reason residents can take advantage of the nearby lakefront, she said.

"With the building being to such a degree close to the lake, we pondering new residents could take advantage of the beautiful landscape and bike paths with a of recent origin bicycle," she said.

"Incentives are an added bonus when there is a chance of competition in the market," Williams said. "Sometimes it is parking or special financing. Sometimes it's attention grabbing."

The bicycle bonus plays into the younger portion of the market who will gaze at a 1-bedroom unit in a transmuteed building in Margate Park, she said.

For more information, call Jameson Realty form into groups at (312) 751- 0300.

an of the other summer specials being proposeed include:

- R+D659 a fresh 15-story condominium building at Randolph and Desplaines, has a 15 percent buy-down upon the market interest rate at closing. For example, a buyer who purchases a $333000 unit, with a 90 percent mortgage and 635 percent interest rate can calculate upon a monthly payment of $1865 A buyer at R+D659 however, will pass $1,581 per month on the payment, and save roughly $283 compared with the market rate. This be the effects in a savings of $3400 for year, and nearly $60,000 athwart the life of the mortgage. Call (312) 474-0659 or visit wwwrd659com

- Jazz forward the Boulevard on the Near southward Side has $10,000 to $20000 reductions in succession 15 town houses and condominiums that are about to be complet in the complicated at 41st Street and Drexel Boulevard. Condominiums and town houses range from the $180000 to about $397500 Call (773) 624-0100 or visit wwwthru

sRating 2omescom

- Van Buren Loft has released assessments for one year, 45 percent financing, paid closing richnesss $3,500 in upgrades and a liberated washer and dryer for the condominium conversion at 1224 W Van Buren The assessments break would amount to $2532 to $7800 for the year. Prices in succession remaining units range from $269900 to $277900 Call (312) 738-1200 or visit wwwvb1224com

- Michigan Avenue Tower II, at 1400 s Michigan, has free assessments for united year in the new

28-story building. Assessments range from $211 for a studio to $650 for a penthouse. Prices range from $210000 to $450000 Call Frankel & Giles Real Estate

at (312) 583-0600 or visit www.1400michigan.com.

- University Station, at 1550 s Blue Island Ave., is selling revealed its last 1-bedroom units at savings of up to $40000 Base prices range from $199900 to $207900 Originally built in 1928 as the about Terminal Cold Storage Co., the vintage 11-story building not long ago was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Call (312) 633-0700 or visit www.universitysta