Blarney Island, An Entertainment Destination On The Chain O' Lakes

Feel like a party?  There always seems to be one at Blarney's. . .

Located in the middle of Grass Lake in Illinois’ famous Chain O' Lakes, Blarney Island is one of the few bars in the country that’s only accessible by boat. (A sister bar, Port of Blarney, is on the “mainland” for those who prefer to stay on solid ground. A shuttle runs from the "port" to the "island".) Once a small operation known best for the women’s underwear hanging from its rafters, Blarney Island has grown into a prime party destination, earning its nickname, “Key West of the Midwest.”

Legend has it that the island itself was wagered in a poker game a century ago, when Jack O’Connor won it from “Shorty” Shobin. At the time the land wasn’t even an island, but the construction of the Stratton Dam flooded the surrounding area in 1939. Since then, ownership has changed a number of times, and the bar that sits atop the island has grown with the popularity of the Chain.

Today, the bar runs a regular shuttle service between the island and Port of Blarney, ferrying revelers to frequent live concerts, bikini contests and themed events. The bar also hosts weekly boat races in the summer, with a “regular season” that culminates in the top four boats racing at the end of August.

Blarney Island, is just a 10-minute boat ride away from Newport Cove's planned community and its 67 homes, 100-slip marina and eight-acre waterfront park.  If boating, water skiing, gardening, barbecuing and fishing doesn't complete your summer fun at Newport Cove, Blarney Island provides plenty of convenient entertainment.

A few photos of recent events:

Time To Own, Not Rent

Does the state of the housing market make it smarter to rent than to buy?

In a word, no. In three words, not at all. In fact, as the financial crisis has played out, the costs of buying have dropped dramatically, while the costs of renting have surged as demand for rental units has exploded. According to the New York Times, if you plan to live in the same place for at least six years, your average savings if you buy instead of rent will be over $10,000. That’s nearly $2,000 per year. In fact, even if you own a home for just four years, you save money:

Don’t want to use a national average? No problem. Trulia, an online hub for real estate information, has gathered plenty of data on the total costs of renting versus owning. And the results for the Chicago metropolitan area put it in the green for choosing to buy a home over renting a residence:

The numbers are clear—if you want the most bang for your buck, it’s time to buy low. And few properties offer the chance to get in on premier waterfront housing like Newport Cove, where owning land on Illinois’ “Chain’o’Lakes” provides some of the best upside potential in the country.

A 2.5% Mortgage? Read On. . .

In a post-bubble world, buying a home may not seem like the easy decision it once was, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t the right one.

After falling for several years, national inflation-adjusted housing prices are now back to where they were in 1999, before the bubble was inflated. And according to the FNC Residential Price Index, homes in the greater Chicago area have just experienced their first consecutive months of roughly 2% gains in value since peaking in June of 2007. Now that the market has corrected, smart buyers are taking advantage of great deals before prices resume the steady growth that was the hallmark of pre-bubble housing, and they’re doing it when the cost of a mortgage has never been lower.

Thanks to government efforts to rejuvenate the economy, interest rates that are hovering near all-time lows. The extraordinary measures that are forcing rates down are creating a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pay less for your mortgage than at any other time in decades:

If rates only return to their post-WWII average, buyers who wait will have missed out on the opportunity to cut their interest payments in half. Over the life of a mortgage, those savings add up to tens of thousands of dollars—dollars that could allow you to afford the home of your dreams if you act now.

There’s no better way to take advantage of today’s circumstances than with Newport Cove’s 10-year hybrid ARM loan. Interest for the first two years is locked in at an incredibly low 2.5%, and for the first ten years, it can never go higher than 4.5%. It may be decades before rates are this low again. Don’t miss out on the chance to take advantage of them for years to come.