Chicago’s Real Estate Market

With a bachelor’s in exercise science from North Central College and a master's from Northwestern University where he was a strength and conditioning coach, Derek Sulo stays connected to sports through exercise training and coaching football. In addition, Derek Sulo is a principal with Sulo Development, a real estate company focused on premier developments in Chicago. 

Recently, housing prices and property taxes have gone up in the Chicago area, with median sales prices for homes in the city at around $227,000 for 2016, representing a one percent rise over 2015. Rent, on the other hand, was at a median price of $1,550, representing a three percent bump.

In this climate, relatively few millennials are able to afford to own a home. It's increasingly common for people of this generation to leave Illinois, a state with some of the highest property taxes in the country, in the hope of being able to purchase a home. Those that can afford to purchase a home tend to be professionals often looking at high-end condos in choice areas. In Chicago the neighborhoods of River North, South Loop, and West Town are currently some of the most expensive in the city for housing.

What Makes Whiskey a Bourbon?

Before becoming the principal at Peerless Real Estate Investments in Chicago, Derek Sulo graduated from North Central College in Naperville, Illinois, with a bachelor’s in exercise science. In his spare time, Derek Sulo enjoys tasting new bourbons.

Declared by the United States Congress in 1964 to be “America’s Native Spirit,” bourbon has a long and rich tradition in the nation’s history. For a whiskey to be called bourbon, it must meet a number of specifications laid out in the Federal Standards of Identity:

- The mash (mixture of grains) to be distilled must be at least 51 percent corn (the remainder usually consists of malted barley and wheat or rye)

- The mash shall be distilled at no higher than 160 proof.

- The distilled mash shall be less than 125 proof when put into the barrel for aging.

- The distilled mash shall contain no additives.

- The distillate shall be aged in new charred oak barrels (any oak will do, but most barrels are made of white oak).

For a bourbon to earn the title of straight bourbon, it must age for at least two years. Furthermore, if the bourbon is less than four years old, the label must state its age.