Comments on: Yes, You Can Find Vintage in River North: 55 W. Erie

By: Chicago Realtor

Chicago Realtor — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 17:36:18 +0000

Hi Sonies, I was not, sorry about my English, but actually I thought I was posting on the list of 340 Randolph, that’s why I posted that comment.

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 13:52:07 +0000

Not only is this property located very near a couple of 4 AM closing nightclubs (Joynt and Excalibur) but is also one building away from the Dearborn/Erie intersection.
This intersection is on the main Northbound route for the fire station that is located a few blocks south. For some reason, the fire engines really likes to lean on their horns at this intersection.
So, late night clubs (with lines) and lots of Northside fire calls will give the new owner a real “city feel”.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:08:58 +0000

Why? His/her English is not much worse than that of many other Americans…

By: Sonies

Sonies — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:40:52 +0000

Chicago Realtor, i sincerely hope you are not native to the United States.

By: Chicago Realtor

Chicago Realtor — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:05:07 +0000

This is a nice building, but I still do not know how can people pay so much for rent and purchase, see news today about one woman wants to jump out of the building, let’s all hope that she is not going to do it.

By: Russ

Russ — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 01:30:44 +0000

You need 25% down on condos to avoid risk based price adjustments that Fannie/Freddie charge. The fee is .75% of the loan which typically translates into about .25% in the final rate. In other words, if you have a $400k loan on a condo and didn’t put 25% down, Fannie/Freddie charge banks $3,000.

You can either pay that as an origination fee (points) to the bank or if they just roll it into the interest rate, it typically means your rate is about .25-.375% higher than the rate you would have been quoted had you bought a townhome or a single family home.

By: mac

mac — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 01:05:02 +0000

^knew=new (hoping i dont get roasted for my type, tough crowd around these parts!)

By: mac

mac — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 01:04:06 +0000

you actually need 25% downpayment for condo’s in chicago now to avoid fees/pmi due to knew freddie/fannie rules, right??…or maybe i misunderstood my lender.

By: Russ

Russ — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:36:55 +0000

Sabrina:

They are pretty much gone. A few banks were going to 85 CLTV a few months ago, but most have curtailed them. I will have to check if B&T is still doing them. A few will do it on single family homes, but not condos.

Usually the buyers in the $700+ range can swing the down payments required to get decent jumbo rates, so that market is moving unless the buyers also need to sell.

Unless financing loosens up a little bit, I don’t think there are going to be many 2/2 above $450k except in a handful of true luxury buildings. The days of the late 20s/early 30s Chads & Trixie’s buying the 2/2’s in Lincoln Park for $500k are done.

By: Sabrina

Sabrina — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:16:27 +0000

Thanks for the good mortgage info Russ. Very interesting.

I’m also seeing the $550k to $650k market being pretty dead.

But I AM seeing some movement in the over $700k properties ($700k to $850k or so.)

According to G- that Fremont purchaser used two loans and only 15% down- so possibly lenders are being a little more lenient on the higher end???