From $30K to $320K for this Renovated 4-Bedroom Rowhouse: 640 E. Oakwood in Grand Boulevard
This 4-bedroom rowhouse at 640 E. Oakwood in the Grand Boulevard neighborhood on the South Side recently came on the market.
Built in 1882 on a 17×125 lot, the rowhouse has been renovated.
Unfortunately, none of the interior vintage features remain but that’s not the fault of the current renovator.
This rowhouse was bank owned in 2010 and sold for $30,000.
But you can see why it sold for so little from these interior photos. The old listing said it was a “great opportunity to start from the beginning.”
See the prior listing pictures here.
The kitchen now has espressor shaker cabinets, granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances.
The baths are mosaic, stone and porcelain tile. There is also a master suite with a spa bath.
The lower level has been finished. One of the four bedrooms is in the lower level along with a family room.
The house has central air, a 1-car garage and a parking pad.
Given that it’s “new”, is over $300,000 the going rate for a rehab in this neighborhood?
Michelle Browne at Prudential Rubloff has the listing. See the pictures here.
640 E. Oakwood Boulevard: 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 1 car garage, no square footage listed
- Sold in April 2007 for $300,000
- Lis pendens foreclosure filed in March 2009
- Bank owned in July 2010
- Sold in October 2010 for $30,000
- Recently re-listed for $320,000
- Taxes of $2871
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 12×15 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 12×14 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 13×14 (second floor)
- Bedroom #4: 14×13 (lower level)
- Family room: 12×16 (lower level)
Wow cool property. I don’t know the area so I can’t comment on pricing but I love rehabs like this.
Whoever made the decision to install sliding glass doors and add wrought iron to the facade deserves to be savagely beaten.
That bein said, this seems to be a decent rehab, albeit it suffers from the same poor layout choices and tacky finishes that plague many south side rehabs.
note the burglar bars
nice looking crack den as your next door neighbor
They can invite the neighbors over to drink india pale ales, since these hipster beers have higher alcohol % content than Malt Liquor does.
Very nice place… the bars are very telling though. It’s good to see people putting effort into fixing up houses outside of the trendy areas. The flipper should by the property next door too. I wouldn’t feel comfortable living next to a boarded up house.
“note the burglar bars”
Chicago is relatively unique in its lack of window bars, go to NYC and even the nicest areas of Manhattan and Brooklyn almost every single house has bars on the windows. I would say that in this location the bars were more oriented towards helping prospective buyers feel like the home is secure to make up for subjective shortcomings in the neighborhood.
“drink india pale ales”
[apologies] So, the sub-continent is the one part of the non-white world you are ok with [/apologies]
“hipster beers”
Bass is not a hipster beer.
And, to be appropriately derisive, you should call them “hopsters”.
Let’s see. Only 8 comments and we’ve got references to crack dens and malt liquor. You can tell the posters here are white, and haven’t spent much time on the south side.
is the place next door for sale? if you could buy that for 30k and knock it down, you’d have a nice house with a great sized side yard
The house next door is bank owned, I don’t think it has ever come on the market.
Considering a house across the street sold last month for $318,900 that wasn’t as nice, this seems like a good deal.
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/635-E-Oakwood-Blvd-60653/home/13960535
Also, notice the bars on the windows are decorative railings not burglar bars and as someone who lives down the block, if I bought this place the bars over the door would be gone in an instant. That is something the rehabber left from when he bought it and I think he should have taken them down.
B9, if you bought this place, those bars would likely stay up. This house looks like a good deal only to a Green Zone refugee. Oakwood enclave has architectural character and is somewhat isolated from the Section 8 and public housing-related issues nearby, but not far enough, and it’s very underserved re: retail, restaurants, and such neighborhood amenities. Houses with their original interior intact are still present here, and of greater interest to me. This area was a much better speculative investment before Chicago lost the Olympics bid and 2009 real estate collapse. Lake Meadows to west is aging too. Gentrification of “The Gap”, the area between Lake Meadows and IIT, fizzled and it lost most (but not all) of its beautiful rowhouse housing stock. IIT has never been able to stabilize its immediate neighborhood, unlike far wealthier University of Chicago in Hyde Park. I’ve spent enough time in the area to know it well enough to comment.
I’ll agree that retail, restaurants and amenities are lacking here, but the South Loop and Hyde Park are both ten minutes away and have most of what one needs.
I’ll agree the area had better prospects pre-2009, but that is the case for most everywhere.
Certianly the nieghborhood isn’t for everyone, but if you work in Oak Brook/Downers Grove/Lisle and want to live in a reasonable priced neighborhood in the city this is far better than commuting from Rogers Park for instance.
“if you could buy that for 30k and knock it down, you’d have a nice house with a great sized side yard”
Seems like a great way to piss away $30K and further marginalize the neighborhood.
320k in Grand Boulevard? LMFAO.
“The median sales price for homes in Grand Boulevard for Sep 11 to Nov 11 was $68,000. This represents a decline of 41.4%, or $48,000, compared to the prior quarter and a decrease of 53.1% compared to the prior year. Sales prices have depreciated 74.1% over the last 5 years in Grand Boulevard, Chicago. The median sales price of $68,000 for Grand Boulevard is 64.21% lower than the median sales price for Chicago IL. Average listing price for homes on Trulia in Grand Boulevard was $152,607 for the week ending Dec 07, which represents a decline of 0.6%, or $854 compared to the prior week and a decline of 0.4%, or $568, compared to the week ending Nov 16. Average price per square foot for homes in Grand Boulevard was $64 in the most recent quarter, which is 54.61% lower than the average price per square foot for homes in Chicago.”
http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Grand_Boulevard-Chicago/2912/market-trends/
Now that we’re five years from the peak I really love Trulia’s 5-year look back at peak valuations. For instance on this neighborhood:
Neighborhood Sep – Nov ’11 y-o-y 3 months prior 1 year prior 5 years prior
Grand Boulevard $68,000 -53.1% $116,000 $145,000 $262,500
Chicago $190,000 -9.1% $217,500 $209,000 $282,500
The fraud of the banksters and policy makers is now plain for all to see. Did anyone _really think_ there were six figure earners in the Grand Boulevard neighborhood buying those median properties at 282k in 2006? Nope it was a giant fraud they allowed to happen.
Just keep removing more and more obstacles to obtaining a mortgage, like documented income, or..ability to repay..and sit back and let the specuvestors bid them up with OPM.
“320k in Grand Boulevard? LMFAO”
Then why did 635 E. Oakwood sell for $318,900 on 11/9/11 and 626 E. Oakwood sell for $375,000 on 8/31/11? Obviously tow people are willing to pay this much if not more ON THIS BLOCK.
“really love Trulia’s”
Trulia is reputable now? I think it is slightly above Zillow…..
Hmmm…not so ridiculous afterall. Yeah trulia is on par with them…its good sometimes but its crap others.
Thanks!
“Only 8 comments and we’ve got references to crack dens and malt liquor. You can tell the posters here are white, and haven’t spent much time on the south side.”
Actually, I am white and highly educated, and highly street smart too. I am also an expat from South Africa, so I don’t need a sermon from the likes of a midwestern fool like you.
I know about diversity. Where I used to live in Sandton we had an internal gate sometimes called “anti-rape cage”, it goes in the corridor that goes to the bedroom. The idea here is that it protects the family from the home invaders that want more than to just steal a few things (that explains the name) or at the very least, it buys you some time.
In a well designed home, this gate provides an important barrier, especially if the home invaders aren’t aware of it until they go in. Of course, it achieves nothing if you don’t keep in mind to lock it every night.
Lol so you are from SA, Dan! How did years of racism work for you? Last I was there people did not dare to go to down down and their homes were protected as if living in war zone. Now forget justice and humanity, this is what happens when a group of people treat they fellow human being so bad for so long.
Please keep your model for your home country. No one needs that crap here.
“Where I used to live in Sandton”
and people thought I was moving into a war zone when I first moved down to Rio. What a shithole Johannesburg is. I have some friends down there, only advice they gave me is that when you go to Capetown, and have to make your transfer, do not leave the terminal in JNB.
“Actually, I am white and highly educated…and I don’t need a sermon from the likes of a midwestern fool like you.”
Helmethofer, obviously you’re white…based on your malt liquor comment. Sounds like you do need a sermon from a “midwestern fool” like me.
When people start a conversation around a south side neighborhood they know absolutely nothing about with terms like crack den and malt liquor, it shows a profound lack of understanding. Why not lead the discussion with watermelon and big lips while you’re at it? Perhaps “pants hanging down”?
Perhaps I should expect such disrespectful comments from someone who’s an expat from Sandton… one of the most opulent areas in Johannesburg and South Africa–known for it’s rich white population. When’s the last time you hung out with a family of midwestern fools on the south side? You won’t find malt liquor or crack on most family dining rooms there.
Bejamon: do you live in this area? Because I agree that it is wrong to generalize about populations. But I lived in Hyde Park for 10 years and was the victim of a gun point robbery, two plain robberies, and an attempted car theft. And a girl (U of C student) was picked up from 56th street in the middle of the day, brought to this neighborhood and brutally raped. So, while I am sure that not everyone who lives in this area is a criminal, there is lots of crime in this area, far more than in other areas. (And I’m sure that someone will look it up–please do so; I am not exaggerating. )
Endora, I do live in this very immediate area as I said. Just as there is a difference in home prices in this immediate area (Oakwood Blvd/Drexel Blvd area) the crime in this particular location is greatly different than the overall surrouding community.
Also, when was this that you lived in HP? Even my immediate area has improved in the 5 years I have lived here. Once again, I’ll state that everything south of Cermak is NOT Englewood nor even close. Also, may I remind people that people DO get robbed, their cars stolen and raped on the northside. There is crime in the city.
Personally, I feel safer here than I do in Uptown, especially in our immediate area.
THanks, Benjamon. I made my comment in the hopes of honest dialogue. Because while I hate the racial invective that can spew on this website, I also dislike it when people assume that crime is not a problem. I lived in Hyde Park in the late 1990’s. And I also suspect–and am curious as to what you think–that living in Hyde Park may subject you to more crime than living in this neighborhood, where there may be a sense of community among the neighbors and where people look out for one another.
This is a beautiful townhome. I think once again that it illustrates that people have to balance out what is important to them. Personally, I’d rather have a less nice home in an area that has higher overall property values. But I understand that some people would rather have a beautiful home and can deal with everything else.
Completely agree also with your comment about the safety of this neighborhood versus Edgewater. Again, that is why I would never live there but many on this site love it.
Why does Hyde Park have to come up in every southside thread? (s of stevenson)
I wish my house had an anti-rape cage or a panic room. I just have a toothless dog and an alarm system that isn’t connected to a company.
Endora, I don’t think crime isn’t a problem, but this neighborhood is far from full of rapes and horrors. As an anecdote, I’ve lived here five years and the only crime that I have had occur against me is having my window broken on my car and I’ve not been aware of any rapes. However, while a friend lived in Lakeview, several people in her building had their cars broken into and for awhile there were several rapes occurring around her house. That doesn’t mean there is more crime in Lakeview…just that it is everywhere.
I think it is more likely there is more crime here than Hyde Park since HP is more developed, etc. but we do definitely have a good sense of community here among neighbors. I hear about most crimes through a neighborhood e-mail list, I know our alderman well and she responds immediately to concerns whehter they are crime related or otherwise.
On a side note, I did reference Uptown not Edgewater. I am not so much a fan of Uptown but did move here from Edgewater and I would definitely say Edgewater was safer, but as you suggested I couldn’t afford the house I have here in Edgewater. As it has worked out, this location is definitely better overall.
My vote is if you feel you need an anti-rape cage, panic room, or similar device in Chicago, move to Nebraska. Yes, there is crime here, but it is far from what many people have to experience.
“Last I was there people did not dare to go to down down and their homes were protected as if living in war zone.”
That’s the reality, somebody needs to let Bono know he’s not welcome. This property has burglar bars too. I’m not from Sandton, but the liberals that are still sticking it out there, eating crow, have massive amounts of security in their liberal/marxist enclave. Sandton is like LP, lots of hypocritical liberals.
Also, endora much has changed in this immediate area since the late 90’s. When I moved here in 06, madden/wells still had row homes along and north of Pershing. As recent as 2003 I believe this row home had a CHA high rise behind it on the North side of Pershing. This location is day and night compared to the late 1990’s and since the last of the CHA row homes came down in maybe 07 or 08 there has been a lot of progress. Unlike what Bob thinks there were six figure households moving in here in 2006 and more since then although I think that is only one small part of the overall change that has occurred.
“I am white and highly educated…and I don’t need a sermon from the likes of a midwestern fool like you.”
BTW, can you define highly educated for us? These days college degrees are dime a dozen. I assume you have something more to claim “highly”.
“These days college degrees are dime a dozen. ”
advanced degrees, a quarter a dozen?
@ ze, exactly but at least it meets the definition of highly educated. It is hilarious that old boy has admitted being from SA as the racist Mecca of the world and yet he wants to export his brilliant ideas that worked so well in as you put it “shithole” to rest of the world. He has chosen a German moniker too, I guess he wishes he was born a century ago in Germany so he could have taken part in all the fun.
“I guess he wishes he was born a century ago in Germany so he could have taken part in all the fun.”
I wouldn’t take the other side of that bet.
wow congrats you got your MBA from depaul you are sooooo smart
” I feel safer here than I do in Uptown,”
well no shit, uptown is the worst hood on the north side! (and even now its not that bad with the exception of a few blocks)
Bless you Sonies, I think that’s the first nice thing about Uptown I’ve seen anyone say on CC!
MooMoo I, too, have commented on giving people (progressives) certain kind of showers given the opportunity. Then anon says holohoax jokes aren’t funny. But I never aspired to be a comedian with these comments.
“But I never aspired to be a comedian with these comments.”
What I think is funny is your lack of ability to process and interpret basic statistics, but yet associate your lack of Horatio Algier successes to other peoples faults.
Truth is ya just ain’t capable at the higher levels.
Still not funny, Bob.
And if you aren’t trying to be funny, then much less charitable phrases than “not funny” come to mind.
My ROI has been pretty good so far this year. Sounds like your externalizing your financial failures this year, ze 😉
Oh and my last oil change was $40. Because I am a native & in our first world country it is against business norms for legitimate businesses to try to take advantage of customers just because they suspect they’re wealthy. Yes those alawacks down there could learn a thing or two from successfully developed (aka white) countries.
“successfully developed (aka white) countries”
Is Japan not successfully developed, or are Japanese white? What about Korea/Koreans?
Using alawak in lieu of arawak…well just googled alawak and thats a freudian slip alright!
Anon: both countries are very much fairer complected and follow similar norms as here.
“both countries are very much fairer complected and follow similar norms as here.”
Much fairer complected than what, Bob? How does a country have a complexion?
“Oh and my last oil change was $40. Because I am a native & in our first world country it is against business norms for legitimate businesses to try to take advantage of customers just because they suspect they’re wealthy. ”
You got mugged. Just changed the oil on our Jeep Cherokee in fancy-pants Brooklyn and it was only $26 and they included a free car wash.
I’ll give you a hint: in terms of a country’s complexion sweden confers a different image than sudan. Not really interested in the grammatical nuance debate of how a geopolitical entity cannot itself possess a complexion because it being a political, man-made contrivance it had no pigment because that debate is stupid as those who can read understand my reference to complexion transferred to the median inhabitants. In ze’s case it is the arawak at the LR dealership charging him 6 bills for an oil change because he is a gringo then likely laughing behind his back at how much they rip gringos off.
“I’ll give you a hint: in terms of a country’s complexion sweden confers a different image than sudan. ”
Still not getting it. Can you spell it out a little more clearly.
what idiot takes their car to the stealership to get their oil changed, you deserve to get ripped off!
“wow congrats you got your MBA from depaul you are sooooo smart
I feel safer here than I do in Uptown,”
Alright, I’ll add Rogers Park, Albany Park and some sections of Logan Square to the list. Really my point was to show to the people that think Southside=you’ll get killed and Northside=safe as Iowa that it isn’t that simple. The northside isn’t all roses and the southside isn’t all thorns.
Also, if you knew me, you’d know an MBA would be the furthest degree from what I’d get. 😉 Although I am nearly done with my master’s! 🙂 Phew!
“what idiot takes their car to the stealership to get their oil changed, you deserve to get ripped off!”
He is referring to my ” Brasilian wife” calling up the Rover dealer “in Portuguese”, and getting a US$500-600 quote on an oil change. Eventually I got it done for abuout $120 at the gas station. Gas is about $8 a gallon here, so it ain’t cheap anywhere for anyone. $500 was insane though.
“My ROI has been pretty good so far this year. Sounds like your externalizing your financial failures this year, ze”
ROI? Ze finds those metrics funny.
“Eventually I got it done for abuout $120 at the gas station. Gas is about $8 a gallon here, so it ain’t cheap anywhere for anyone.”
How much does the oil alone cost in Brasil? Isn’t motor oil like $20/liter in Western Europe? And what’s that Rover need, 7? 8? $120 seems pretty okay if the cost of the oil+filter alone would be close to $100, which I’d wager it is.
gringo, you have the disco 2 or lr3 or are you ballin in the range?
Ah, Sonies, it’s like you don’t even know him.
“gringo, you have the disco 2 or lr3 or are you ballin in the range?”
Neither… Wife had the Rover and that was a real pain in the ass. Always broken. WOuldn’t recommentd one to anyone. Have a Defender 110, possibly just the greatest thing ever. Always finds new ways to impress me. Doubt I’ll ever have another car.
“Ah, Sonies, it’s like you don’t even know him.”
Anon, you just spent more time at Sabi Sands, or watching Lara Croft, so you picked it up last time. Sonies was busy working on beer reviews, he can be forgiven.
Nice rehab. Aren’t there a lot of empty new SFH homes nearby?
I don’t know of many empty SFH’s nearby. On the other side of the “crack den” is a newly built SFH, but it is being built by someone in the nieghborhood who will be moving in soon I believe.
Oakwood Shores behind this place definitely has some empty condos, but they sold all of the SFH a long time ago. With the housing bust all of the building since has been apartments, so they aren’t adding any new for sale housing until the market turns around.
“Sonies was busy working on beer reviews, he can be forgiven.”
haha true that, I promise some day I will return to that… I have been busy though. I am a big fan of the LR’s, maybe even so much that I bought one 😉
“I have been busy though. I am a big fan of the LR’s, maybe even so much that I bought one”
Sorry to hear that….Good Luck!
“maybe even so much that I bought one ”
Congrats.. I think you will enjoy it.. but day it gets off warranty.. toss it.