18 Months Later and Still Trying to Sell the Lakeview 2/2: 3126 N. Clifton
This vintage 2/2 at 3126 N. Clifton in Lakeview has been on the market since September 2009.
It has been reduced $65,000 in that time.
It is now listed $70,000 under the 2006 purchase price (if parking is included.)
The top floor unit has some of its vintage features intact, including maple floors and wood work.
It has a separate dining room open to the living room with a balcony.
The kitchen has stainless steel appliances and newer cabinets.
The unit has the modern conveniences of central air, in-unit washer/dryer and deeded parking.
What will it take to sell this property?
Robin Miner at @Properties has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #3: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed
- Sold in April 2004 for $350,000
- Sold in May 2006 for $394,000
- Originally listed in September 2009 for $389,000
- Reduced
- Was listed in September 2010 for $329,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $299,000 (parking is $25,000 extra)
- Assessments of $253 a month
- Taxes of $5119
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 14×10
- Bedroom #2: 11×10
Wow — I actually really like it and it seems priced well. What am I missing?
“Penthouse” reference for a 3-story building is an overreach. Realtor trying to distract from long climb to unit’s front door? Could promote: “no need for health club”.
““Penthouse” reference for a 3-story building is an overreach. Realtor trying to distract from long climb to unit’s front door? Could promote: “no need for health club”.”
I’m always amazed by the stairs comments on here. This place is 2 flights of stairs off of the street. I certainly wouldn’t go cancelling your gym membership. We live on the 4/5 floors of a building and only use the elevator when we have the dogs with us or groceries. Complaining a couple of flights of stairs seems kind of silly to me when balanced with the benefit that you have nobody above you.
This looks like a nice place to me and priced to sell.
Looks like a great deal, though I’m not crazy about that part of Lakeview.
Agreed. I live on the 4th floor of a walkup (top floor) and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The stairs don’t bother me, even when I’m lifting propane tanks and other heavy items up to the roof deck (5 flights). I agree the market might be smaller for non-elevator buildings, but I think it’s a bit exagerated here.
“I’m always amazed by the stairs comments on here. ”
Most here are hobbits, gnomes, or a shorter variety of troll and have short enough legs that 2 stairs at a time is an impossibility unless jumping, which is a risky proposition. Also goes to the “half a mile walk taking 30 minutes” issue (recognizing, of course, that the rest can walk–at an easy pace–a mile and a half in under 15 minutes).
299K including parking should about do it: rather mundane
I don’t mind the stairs. But, to be fair, most worrying about multiple flights of stairs are thinking about lugging lots of crap (esp kids crap) back and forth, not the simple act of going up and down. And it can be a real issue for older people, any physical disabilities, etc.
We live in a multi-floor TH, so I’m used to the stairs. (And, I would think people would want to be off the ground. Less petty crime.)
What does deeded parking mean?
“The stairs don’t bother me, even when I’m lifting propane tanks and other heavy items up to the roof deck (5 flights).”
yeah, it’s interesting when encountering stairs with a heavy object/load to imagine if the extra 20-50 lbs. one is carrying was weight around the waist in the form of fat. Then you can see where American people who are 50 lbs. overweight might complain about stairs.
“What does deeded parking mean?”
That the specific parking spot you are entitled to is deeded to you, just like the unit itself.
Deeded parking means you own that individual parking space separate from the unit. In theory, you could actually sell the space separately from the unit. The space has it’s own PIN# for tax purposes too.
Some condos have parking which is basically a common element where the space is assigned to the unit, but it technically isn’t a separate piece of property so you couldn’t sell it on it’s own.
Deeded spaces are more common in high rises where parking is limited. Most walk ups tend to have parking as a common element unless parking in he hood is severely limited.
1000 sq ft vintage 2/2. bleh. these should be selling for no more than $199,999, they’re selling for far far less than this outside of the green zone.
the stairs argument is a valid one. Running out to the car three times, after ascending 3 flights of stairs, in the cold winter to get groceries, cat litter, case of beer, car seat, stroller, etc, gets annoying, and, hurts the hell out of your hands/wrists. It’s not the stairs themselves that are the problem it’s having ascend/descend multiple times to complete a trip to jewel and target. Heavy items aka cases of soda/beer, cat liter, baby in car seat, strollers, 15 plastic bags of groceries at once, is most assuredly a PITA.
Thanks. I didn’t get that the space had its own PIN.
forgot to mention the other clear point:
condos are getting crushed.
that is all.
The place at least has curb appeal.
I like this place and it seems to be priced well. However, I would not feel comfortable living in this small of a building. My friends live in a 3-unit condo. One of the “owners” purchased the unit fradulently and then went back to his homeland. Now, the unit has so many liens and other debt associated with it, that it ever selling is hopeless. In the meantime, the assessments for the unit go unpaid.
SW Lakeview pricing looks like it is finally hitting reality
Eh.
285K with parking.
I would have the same concerns, Jenny. I have a friend living in an eerily similar situation.
The happy owner bought it in 2006. Why are they so eager to move so soon? I guess their, and the common, assumption that if you stay in a place for five years you’re going to be okay, turned out not to be true at all for this owner.
I really like the curb appeal on this. If it’s only 1K sq. ft. I’m sure thats why it’s not selling. That is really small for a 2/2. Otherwise, looks ok to me.
Perhaps it would would make a nice SFH conversion. . .
Off topic but thought some would want to see more on the 6-flat converted to single family in St. Ben’s.
http://www.chicagomag.com/Radar/Deal-Estate/March-2011/Big-Ben/
“Perhaps it would would make a nice SFH conversion. . .”
Yeah buying all three units for ~300k each then investing the $ for conversion would certainly result in a SFH with a low cost basis…not.
Bob, what would a 3,000+ ft place, with a 3 car garage, cost in this location? And THIS place, which may well be the most valuable unit in the building, is $300ish. The others might go for less.
House Prices to continue to go down:
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/housing-dead-bubble-still-bursting-abroad-says-harry-20110331-092812-715.html?sec=topStories&pos=4&asset=&ccode=
Anonny not sure. There have been properties featured on here that fit that criteria that have sold iirc. Why don’t you snoop around.
“the stairs argument is a valid one. Running out to the car three times, after ascending 3 flights of stairs, in the cold winter to get groceries, cat litter, case of beer, car seat, stroller, etc, gets annoying, and, hurts the hell out of your hands/wrists.”
That’s not the way to bring items from a car into a low-rise building, and the process doesn’t have to be done alone. I mostly used a shopping cart and after wheeling it from the car I lifted it onto my back at the stair landing, then up the stairs. With no cart, I’d get family members to bring everything to the stair landing if needed, then we’d bring everything up the stairs together. In either case it usually involved only one full stair climb.
Tell the seller to paint that pink bathroom. This place is a pure bachelorette pad. Give it some unisex staging and it will sell.
Nobody has raised what seems to be the key point: Where is the deeded garage? The building appears to be landlocked, and the adjacent building to the north wraps around behind the subject property.
The resulting lack of privacy and the off site parking are the reasons this is not selling at this price, I believe.
I’m a Realtor and have shown this unit several times (it’s not my listing though). The garage is just a few steps outside of the building. The adjacent building is part of the same HOA and the garage attaches to that building. One thing this post doesn’t mention is that the unit has roof rights, meaning the next owner could potentially build out a private rooftop deck for themselves, which could end up being a selling point. Plus with the heated garage, it’s really a good price for that area.
Eileen,
Thanks for the knowledge. Why do you think the unit hasn’t sold, if it isn’t the garage? Seems like a low price for the area.
Well, one reason could be that the living space isn’t great. The buyers nowadays with their 50 inch flat screen TVs want huge living rooms and this one is kind of broken up by the fireplace which separates the living room from the “dining room”. But really, I couldn’t tell you… there are some listings that I think should sell in a second but in this market they don’t. There are a lot of these vintage style 2 bedrooms available, so the buyers looking for that type of thing have a LOT to look at and that’s part of the problem too.
In my situation, I showed it to a buyer (twice) who was shortly thereafter clued into potential trouble at her workplace. So she called off her home search entirely before they ended up laying off a bunch of people. I showed it to another buyer at one point to start to give her a feel for the neighborhood, but she can’t buy until fall so we’re not really starting the “bulk” of her home search until summer.
Thanks for the insight Eileen. It’s always great to hear from agents who are out there on the front lines. It’s always interesting to hear reasons why something is, or is not, selling.
I second the fact that there are a lot of vintage 2-bedrooms out there. And lots of buyers don’t like the smaller layouts.
Why hasn’t it sold?:
1000 sq feet of anything gets old after a couple of years. People want/need to move on.
This make no sense in a bear market, unless you like losing money: currently falling home values, transfer taxes, transactional costs, broker commissions, potential association liabilities, etc.).
I’m all for buying right now if one can stay put for 10 or more years. But places like this, cute as it is, don’t appeal with the economics as they currently are.