If you have visitors from out of town, what are your favorite places to take them? Besides the "Bean," that is?

Here's hoping you can think of several, because having great public spaces is a key to great neighborhoods. Sometimes they are famous; other times they are just places you and your neighbors know about, like that Italian ice stand where you can sit under a tree with your treat and people watch.

Good public spaces have a number of things in common, according to PlacemakingChicago.com and should be more than a sum of their parts. Excellent public spaces are easy to get to, comfortable, clean and safe, have a variety of things going on and make it easy to interact with strangers and friends.

For instance, a neighborhood park becomes a good place when it has things like a fountain, a playground, a place for parents to sit and chat, and perhaps a concession stand or some events that take place there. (It is a not-so-great place when it is a vast empty expanse of grass, or is littered with trash, and you have to cross a busy street or pass a cluster of gangbangers to get there. Why would you bother?)

Millennium Park and the Bean all work together because there are endless things to do. The space is clean and safe, you find yourself talking to strangers whose children are dancing in the Crown Fountain, and you might say it's centrally located.

Your favorite spots may not only be winners with your friends, they could also win you a prize. The Metropolitan Planning Council is running a contest called "What Makes Your Place Great?"

To enter your favorite place, you need to send in either photos or a video, along with a 250-word description. You could win tickets to things like Chicago Architecture Foundation tours, the Art Institute or the Boulevard Lakefront Bike Tour, as well as restaurant gift certificates.

Find contest rules and criteria for great public spaces at www.PlacemakingChicago.com. Deadline for entries is July 27. (Note to summer school teachers: this could be a cool assignment or class project.)

I have bought and sold homes with the help of a Realtor, and I have bought and sold by owner. If I were in the market today, I'd use a Realtor. It's just too confusing right now to really know the market both for a house you are selling and one you are buying.

On average, home prices in Chicago have dropped a lot since the economic downturn began, but the truth is, that percentage varies a great deal from neighborhood to neighborhood and from property to property. (And a few communities actually gained value during the recession.)

If you base your selling and bidding decisions only on regional averages, chances are you'll fail to get the best deal at either end. An experienced Realtor, and I can't stress the word "experienced" enough without using headline type, can keep you from making a big mistake, or two or three.

For example, some buyers, aware of price drops around the nation, will assume that whatever price the sellers are asking needs to drop by another 20 or 30 percent. They might assume this even if the sellers have already taken all market factors into account and priced accordingly.

A very low offer usually does not result in a sale, says Ruth Karel, a Realtor with Baird & Warner who sells in Streeterville, Lincoln Park and the Gold Coast.

"Many buyers think that sellers are desperate," Karel said. "More often than not, this is not the case. If the offer is ridiculously low, the most common response is no response."

She recently had a seller with a three-bedroom unit priced at $500,000. A suburban buyer, working with a suburban Realtor, offered $350,000. "If [the other Realtor] had just drawn up the comps, she could have seen the offer was way off base," Karel said.

Karel's client just laughed, and they agreed to ignore the offer. The buyer went away and the property later sold for $495,000.

Another time you won't be able to bargain much is when the property is bank-owned. A foreclosed property, listed by a bank, is likely to be already very competitively priced.

"Many people think they can low bid on a bank-owned property," Karel said, "but they aren't going to get it. It's already pretty well priced. Banks don't want the inventory."