But just as important, mortgage interest rates recently fell to yet another historic low point.

Bloomberg recently reported on this new milestone. According to the story, the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loan fell to 3.83 percent during the week ended May 10. This is the lowest this figure has been since Freddie Mac began tracking the number in 1971.

Borrowers hoping for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage received good news, too. The average interest rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage loan fell to 3.05 percent last week. That’s down from 3.07 percent the week earlier.

This means that it’s cheaper to finance a home. If you took out a $200,000 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loan with an interest rate of 6 percent, you’d face a monthly mortgage payment of $1,199.10.

But if you dropped that interest rate to 3.83 percent for the same loan, you’d have a monthly mortgage payment of just $935.33.

That’s a difference of $263.77 a month, or a little more than $3,165 a year.

So if you’re thinking about buying a home, now might be the time to act. It’s impossible to predict what mortgage interest rates will do in the coming weeks. But the rates today are outstanding ones, historically so.

May 20 and 21 will be an exciting time for Chicago. It’s the first time that a U.S. city other than Washington has hosted a NATO summit. And the event will certainly receive its fair share of attention. According to the official Web site of the summit, about 2,000 journalists from across the world are expected to gather in Chicago to report on this historic event.

This is why I love living in Chicago. And it’s why so many homeowners do, too. Things happen in Chicago. It’s an important city not only in the United States but on the world stage. As a result, real estate here remains valuable, even during the tough economic times the city and country are now experiencing.

Of course, not everyone is happy about the upcoming NATO summit. Residents are worried about possible terrorism attacks. Others are worried about increased traffic, while others fret about road closings and increased difficulty in getting around the city.

I understand the concerns. People still have to work and move around Chicago as the summit meetings are taking place. But we have to remember: This is an historic event. It’s a great honor for the city to have been chosen to host these meetings.

Maybe veteran news reporter Walter Jacobson sums it up best: In a recent column on the website of CBS 2 News Jacobson says that it’s time for Chicago residents to stop complaining about the inconvenience caused by the NATO summit. As Jacobson rightly says, it’s OK for residents to wonder if this is a good use of taxpayer dollars or if protests surrounding the summit will turn ugly. But to worry about blocked streets and crowded roads seems a bit childish. After all, we’ll only be inconvenienced for three days.

But history? History will remember this event long after all those world leaders leave our city.

Home values, of course, continue to fall. Foreclosures are rising. Homeowners are struggling to sell their single-family homes and condominiums.

Still, many renters aspire to the traditional American dream of homeownership. If that holds true today, in what might be the worst housing market most of us have ever seen, it speaks well to the true power of what owning a home means in this country.

According to a recent story by the Wall Street Journal, a survey from PulteGroup, a large national home builder, found that among those renters who plan to purchase a home in the future 60 percent have “increased their intent” to do so from a year ago.

This means that a growing number of surveyed apartment dwellers are considering jumping into the housing market.

This is good news for owners planning to put their condominiums or single-family homes on the market. The more renters who enter the housing market, the greater the demand will be for for-sale residences. And when demand rises, so, finally, will housing prices.

Of course, the results of this study don’t change the fact that the housing market, even in such solid markets as Chicago, is still in a slump. It will take a long time for demand to rise enough to push up sluggish home values.

The PulteGroup survey even points out some of the current woes of the housing market. The survey, for instance, found that more than half of renters aren’t buying homes because they don’t have enough money to come up with a down payment. The survey found, too, that nearly 30 percent of renters believe that it is cheaper to rent than it is to buy, a fact that is preventing this group of renters from jumping into the housing market.

Finally, the survey found that more than 20 percent of renters were too worried about their employment status to consider investing in a home.

The good news, then, is that many renters do aspire to become homeowners. The bad news? It might take them a while to reach this dream.

Forbes Magazine thinks that most of us Chicago residents fall into the latter category, waking up on the wrong side of the bed most days.

The magazine, which loves its lists, earlier this year ranked Chicago residents as the sixth most miserable in the country.

The reason for our grumpiness? According to Forbes, it’s the often brutal winters, the high property taxes and its terrible traffic. Forbes editors might have added that Chicagoans are struggling with a housing market in which home values continue to fall, but that hardly makes our city unique today.

Let’s look at the complaints listed by Forbes. Yes, our winters are usually harsh. But not last winter. In fact, last winter felt positively tropical. So we can scratch that one off the list, at least this season. The property taxes and the traffic, though, I’ll give Forbes. Traffic is especially a concern. Unless you’re taking the CTA or Metra, getting around town can be a true chore on busy weekdays.

But I think Forbes is still being too harsh on our city. Yes, Chicago can prove frustrating. But it can also be a fascinating place. We have great restaurants and live theater. We have tremendous green spaces and busy shopping districts. The night life is unrivaled here, and we have an abundance of professional sports teams from which to choose. We have as diverse an array of neighborhoods as any city across the globe.

In fact, it’s Chicago’s attractiveness that I think will eventually prove the savior our local housing market. People still want to live in Chicago. It is undoubtedly the top city in the Midwest. That bodes well for the future of the city’s housing market.

So, yes, Chicago isn’t perfect, as Forbes points out. But where would you rather live?

That’s good news for home sellers. And the REALTORS® association trumpets the numbers in a press release that maintains that the housing market across the country is firmly in recovery mode.

But there’s a reason that this housing recovery – and sales are increasing in Chicago, too – feels so hollow. While the number of condominiums and single-family homes selling is on the rise, the prices of these sales are not.

In fact, the latest numbers from the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller housing price index indicate that housing prices across the country are beginning to fall. The news is especially gloomy for Chicago, where in February, according to the Case-Shiller numbers, housing prices in the area fell to a 12-year low.

So that’s why it’s so hard for home sellers to get excited over the good news coming from the REALTOR® association’s Pending Home Sales Index. Yes, homes are selling in greater numbers. But owners who purchased their residences during the housing boom years – say, 2004 through 2006 – are taking big losses when they sell homes now. According to Case-Shiller, Chicago-area housing prices have fallen by more than 37 percent since September of 2006.

There are plenty of reasons why housing prices continue to fall. First, and most importantly, they simply rose too high too fast during the days of the housing boom. That kind of price growth was unsustainable. Prices simply couldn’t have kept rising at that rate. Today, the housing market is in a period of correction. Housing values are falling to a more reasonable level, something that feels particularly painful to homeowners who spent so much for their condos and single-family homes just six years ago.

Then there are the foreclosures glutting the housing market today, both in Chicago and across the country. These distressed properties, which generally saw at prices below market level, drag down the values of homes around them. This results in a steady decrease in home prices in entire neighborhoods.

The difficult truth is that Chicago and the rest of the nation have a long way to go before the fallout from the housing crisis clears. And even as home sales across the country rise, there’s no denying that this housing recovery hasn’t been an enjoyable one for many homeowners.

That’s right: Housing values in the city in February fell to where they last stood in May of 2000, according to the Case-Shiller numbers.

The Case-Shiller report found that Chicago-area single-family home prices fell 2.5 percent in February when compared to January. Prices were down a high 6.9 percent this February compared to the same month one year earlier.

This news is especially grim if you purchased your Chicago-area single-family home or condominium in late 2006. According to Case-Shiller, Chicago-area housing prices have fallen 37.5 percent from where they stood in September of 2006, the peak of housing values in the city and suburbs.

The Crain’s story quotes Tom Feltner, vice president at Chicago’s Woodstock Institute, who says that this probably isn’t the bottom for the Chicago housing market, either. According to Feltner, we should expect to see prices for Chicago-area condos and single-family homes to continue to fall as an influx of foreclosure homes hits the market.

If you have to sell today, and you originally bought your residence in 2004, 2005 or 2006, the reality is that you’ll probably take a loss in the sale. Remember, buyers today don’t care what you paid for your residence six years ago. They only care about what your property’s market value is today.

If you absolutely must sell, then, it’s important to work with a skilled REALTOR® who knows your community. This agent can help you set the right price for your property, one that will generate the highest number of quality offers. It’s important, too, to listen to the advice of your REALTOR® when it comes to listing price. You can be stubborn and demand to list your residence for a higher price. The odds are good, though, that buyers will simply ignore your property and move on to those residences that are priced properly according to today’s market.

But buyers might face at least one hurdle in their efforts to land a new home: The number of condominiums and single-family homes on the market in Chicago and other large metropolitan areas has fallen significantly.

According to a story by Chicago Agent Magazine, the number of homes available for sale in major metropolitan areas was down 20.4 percent in early April when compared to the same period one year earlier.

The company HousingTracker, working with the National Association of REALTORS®, analyzed listing data from 54 metropolitan areas to come to its conclusion.

What does this mean for home shoppers? Basically, they have fewer condos and single-family homes from which to choose. It might not be quite as easy, then, for buyers to skip over one dream house and expect to find another one just as perfect for them and their family.

Sellers, though, shouldn’t get too excited over these numbers. This still remains, in Chicago and across the country, a definite buyers’ market. Even if inventory has fallen — and there are some doubts about the complete accuracy of the National Association of REALTORS®/HousingTracker numbers — it certainly hasn’t dropped by enough to give sellers any significant edge in today’s residential real estate market.

If you’re selling, you’re still going to have to price your home aggressively if you hope to receive any solid offers. And you’re going to have to do everything in your power to make sure that your home shows well, something that includes removing extra furniture, taking down most of your family photos and memorabilia, boarding your pets during showings and anything else that gives your home an advantage.

Life hasn’t been nearly as rosy for sellers as it has been for buyers recently. The dropping inventory is a sliver of good news for struggling sellers. But home sellers shouldn’t expect the pendulum to swing from a buyers’ market to a sellers’ market any time soon.

According to a recent story by Crain’s Chicago Business, mega-wealthy investor Buffett recently debuted a program to finance low-income housing in the Chicago area.

The Crain’s story says that the new venture will first provide funding for a nearly $29 million center in the Chicago suburb of Lansing designed to serve senior citizens who rely on Medicaid.

The St. Anthony Supportive Living Facility would operate as a supportive living facility, meaning that it would provide meals, housekeeping and help with medications for the low-income senior citizens residing there.

I enjoy reading stories like this. It gives me yet more evidence that savvy investors recognize that housing in Chicago and its suburbs is a smart place to put their dollars. It’s true that Chicago housing values have dropped during the Great Recession and its slow recovery period. That’s true, though, of the vast majority of major metropolitan areas across the country.

What matters, though, is the long-term value of Chicago real estate. During the housing boom too many people became deluded; they thought they could purchase condominiums or single-family homes in neighborhoods like Lincoln Square, Lincoln Park and Lakeview, hold onto them for less than a year and then sell them for big profits.

This worked briefly. But it isn’t happening today. That’s because real estate was never meant to be a get-rich-quick scheme. Real estate is a different kind of investment. First, it provides buyers with tangible benefits: It’s a roof over their heads, shelter from the outside world, a place for families to grow. Secondly, real estate has historically increased in value over the long term. This means that homeowners who held onto their properties for 10 years or longer have historically made a profit when they sold.

I believe that Chicago real estate is still a wise long-term investment. I can’t guarantee that home values here will again rise. No one can. But just look at the move made by Buffett. If he believes in Chicago housing, who are we to argue?

According to the numbers, foreclosures across Illinois rose 17 percent during the first quarter of 2012 when compared to the fourth quarter of last year. Foreclosures in the state also jumped 14 percent when compared to the first quarter of 2011.

In fact, Illinois had the dubious distinction of having the third most foreclosures filings in the country during the first quarter, with its 37,600 properties with foreclosure filings trailing only California and Florida.

RealtyTrac’s March numbers for Illinois weren’t any better. According to the site, one in every 383 Illinois housing units received a foreclosure filing in March. Cook County alone during the month saw 6,950 foreclosure filings.

Foreclosures are bad for everyone. Families going through them suffer great financial loss and even greater emotional turmoil. Banks certainly aren’t thrilled to be stuck with so many homes that they usually have to sell below market value. And then there are other homeowners. When foreclosures dot their neighborhoods, they drag down the values of all nearby homes.

Just look at the average price of a foreclosure property in Illinois, according to RealtyTrac: $121,387. Considering that in March Illinois had 102,068 foreclosure homes, according to the site, that’s a lot of low-cost inventory for buyers to work through.

If you want to sell your home, this isn’t the best news. My advice? If you don’t absolutely have to sell, hold off. If you have no choice, talk with a REALTOR® who knows your neighborhood and can help you set the best possible price for your residence.

According to a story by the Reuters news agency, average monthly apartment rents across the country saw their biggest increase in four years.

This sheds new light on the age-old rent vs. buy question.

Some have said that it makes more financial sense to rent as housing values continue to fall across the country. But does that still hold if apartment rents continue to rise? As rents climb, it no longer seems quite as affordable to rent.

According to the Reuters story, asking rents across the country have risen to $1,070 a month on average. That’s an increase of 0.5percent from the last quarter of 2011. Effective rents, which take away perks offered by landlords such as free months of rent, jumped 0.9 percent during the first quarter of this year to $1,018 a month. That’s the largest increase in effective rents since the first quarter of 2008.

There’s a simple reason why rents are rising so quickly: supply and demand.

The Reuters story reported that apartment vacancy rates in the first quarter of this year fell to their lowest levels in more than a decade, to a stunningly low 4.9 percent. As demand for apartment living increases – thanks in part to housing foreclosures – the supply of available units has been shrinking. That allows landlords to increase the amount of rent they charge each month.

Will this formula change any time soon? It doesn’t look like it. Foreclosures continue to rise, and people who’ve lost their homes need to live somewhere. Many of them are entering the rental market, further reducing the amount of available rental units.

So if you’ve long thought that renting was a cheaper option than is taking on a mortgage loan, the latest numbers suggest that you may have to change that line of thinking.