4100 Sq. Ft. Lakeview SFH Is Reduced to Just $850,000: 1253 W. Wellington
We last chattered about this 4-bedroom single family home at 1253 W. Wellington in Lakeview a year ago.
See our April 2011 chatter here.
Back then, many of you thought it was overpriced given its layout and lack of much of a backyard.
Since then, it has been reduced another $145,000 to just $850,000.
If you recall, 3 of the bedrooms are on the second floor with one in the lower level.
The master suite has a sun room and cathedral ceilings.
The house has 10 foot ceilings on the main floor.
The kitchen has stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops.
There is also a unique double sided fireplace in the kitchen and family room.
There is also a lower level recreation room.
Built on a 23×123 lot, the house has a small patio and a 2-car garage.
Given that this house is 4100 square feet, is this now a screaming deal for the square footage and location?
Joanne Nemerovski at Prudential Rubloff still has the listing. See more pictures here.
1253 W. Wellington: 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 4100 square feet, 2 car garage
- Sold in August 1989 for $395,000
- Originally listed in October 2009 for $1,249,900
- Reduced several times
- Was listed in April 2011 at $995,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $850,000
- Taxes now $19002 (were $18,040)
- Central Air
- Double sided fireplace
- Bedroom #1: 18×16 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 18×13 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 15×10 (second floor)
- Bedroom #4: 17×14 (lower level)
- Recreation Room: 25×18 (lower level)
This house is just ugly but at 200 psf someone may bite
Can’t stand those columns in the kitchen
what is with those columns in the kitchen? Is it the picture or are they really that big and obnoxious? Obviously they are not load bearing so why not get rid of them?
What the heck is up with that exterior facade? Was the builder a Dungeons & Dragons fanatic or what?
The listing says tons of storage but with no attic and a finished basement I’m curious if that is possible and where?
It never ceases to amaze me the bad design choices that people make that end up causing them to throw away tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. Get help from a designer for God’s sake!
joking: It’s not a tumor.
Bob: “Was the builder a Dungeons & Dragons fanatic or what?”
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comment: 4100 sq. ft is a lot of space to maintain and I think about it and then I looked at the listed taxes – omph!
Mostly this place needs pretty cosmetic stuff. $10k and painting, $20k of cabinet refinishing and $10k of floor refinishing, this place could look really nice. The red oak with that orangish appearance is really popular, but I hate it. This place is almost to the right price. The slightly narrow lot is kind of weird, wonder how that happened.
Getting the taxes reduced is more or less a slam dunk if you hire the right person, if you have a lower sale price and are able to demonstrate it’s a market price. Should end up right around 1.5% of value, which would be nearly a 40% reduction for this property. There are a ton of places like this in Lakeview that have absurd taxes because they assume like 10% appreciation every year and before long you’re getting taxed on an very unrealistic market value. It scares people and makes getting approved for a mortgage harder, but it can actually be a benefit to the savvy buyer, because it drives the price down, there is less interest from people because they’re scared of the taxes and the uncertainty of the appeal process and if the timing is right with the proration and the payment for future taxes in arrears, you can actually come out ahead once the appeal is done.
Lots of people try to DIY, though, and they generally mess things up and leave money on the table. Definitely the right thing to do is to pay one of the firms that only does tax assessment appeals for 25-50% of the savings, it’s worth it.
this gets the groove stamp of approval, well except the north barrington style kitchen.
JJJ: “Lots of people try to DIY, though, and they generally mess things up and leave money on the table. Definitely the right thing to do is to pay one of the firms that only does tax assessment appeals for 25-50% of the savings, it’s worth it.”
I was actually planning on derailing a thread with this discussion today. Our appraisal was roughly 10% below the assessor’s value and our sale price was roughly 15% of assessor’s value, so I’d imagine I can save a ton through an appeal. So thanks for bringing it up!
I was considering a DIY appeal, but your comment gives me pause. How easy is it to screw up and how much of a difference are we talking? Also, when hiring a professional, is the fee usually something like 50% of the tax savings for the first year?
Finally, is your 1.5% tax figure broadly applicable for properties in the city? Would that be a realistic rate on condos or townhomes, for instance?
I’m wondering the same thing about tax appeals. I submitted a bunch of data for my mother-in-law that pretty clearly showed that her place was worth less than the assessed market value. They simply said they thought it was at market value. End of story.
Now with my recently purchased place I have a HUD that is going to show what I paid for it, which is a lot less than the assessed market value. Shouldn’t that be a slam dunk?
The attorneys I contacted to help me appeal my taxes, told me I should appeal myself since they don’t take individuals (just associations). Does anyone know of an attorney who does this on an individual basis? I missed next year’s deadline to appeal.
As someone who has protested tax assessments year after year, it isn’t a “slam dunk” to successfully appeal, You buy a big house in a upper-income neighborhood, and you’re going to eventually pay a high real estate tax amount. Look at all those $22,000+ tax bills in DePaul.
Having just done our income taxes, I was also unpleasantly reminded that our RE tax payment doesn’t translate into a sizable tax break because Alternative Minimum Tax kicks in every year to negate the deduction value. Wage-earners don’t get the same tax breaks as Romney.
If you contribute money to the Joe Berrios election fund — like most property attorneys do, especially the commercial property attorney — then you are almost guaranteed to get a reduction in the assessed value. That’s how Chicago works.
“Wage-earners don’t get the same tax breaks as Romney.”
Property tax appeals are not slamdunks like everyone thinks they are, because everyone tends to think that their taxes are too high. No one ever complains their RE taxes are too low.
I agree with Ryan. My RE attorney told me that he couldn’t help me with my property tax appeal because you need to find a city crony attorney. He gave me a name, but that person only does large scale appeals.
I wonder if a regular person could contribute money to his election fund and then get a reduction in assessed value. My property is overvalued by 25%.
So, the general concensus is that when you own a place it is overvalued for tax purposes, but when you go to sell the home buyers undervalue it, right?
Everyone wants the assessor to value their home at lets say, $750k but when they go to sell it, list it at $1M.
I went though the board of review process to do my appeal last year in person myself, with multiple comps in my hood as evidence (though they said it doesn’t really matter as they find their own comps, contrary to their website). I was successful somewhat at the end with a 20% reduction in AV to match the market value, but much less % in actual tax savings with their “formula” tweaking. http://cookcountyboardofreview.com/
price brings you in, despite the fugly outside…then you’re hit with:
awkward front door in the middle of the house
double sided fireplace clogging up space
columns on the kitchen counters that look like they were installed by someone who had to be high
kitchen cabinets that contrast horribly with the rest of the lower level
no backyard with cheap siding and a pathetic excuse for a deck
a bonus room at the top that reminds you of origami shortly before you bump your head
your enthusiasm from 10 minutes prior has vanished. you back out the front door, get slapped with the fugly exterior one last time…and decide you really need a drink.
maybe this price cut will do it (sure seems like it should), but there is a ton of work to be done. what a mess.
Jenny, I know an attorney who will be doing property tax appeals for individuals next year. He did a great job for my house and got a significant reduction (I don’t have the numbers in front of me). Is there a way I can contact you to discuss?
Don’t forget about long-time homeowners exemption (10 yr. min in same place) which is a discount on RE taxes. You have to apply for it, and (shhh!) perhaps lie about having an income below the cap limit.
Architect: “As someone who has protested tax assessments year after year, it isn’t a “slam dunk” to successfully appeal, You buy a big house in a upper-income neighborhood, and you’re going to eventually pay a high real estate tax amount. Look at all those $22,000+ tax bills in DePaul.”
Can you give me a ballpark idea of your situation? Did you buy at a price, get an assessment or have reasonable comps (that a bank or the assessor would view as comps) that are substantially below the assessed value of the property?
I’m asking because just about every number I have in front of me right now is substantially below the assessors value of my property (in the 8-17% range) and I want to get a sense of how similar our cases are. Also, it would appear our rate is much higher than 1.5% of the assessed value (around 1.65% or so) and I’m trying to get an idea of whether that is irregular.
Taxes in Cook County are pretty f’d up.
A decade ago, tax assessment protests worked for us, but as of 2008, tax protests by attorney failed. Here, assessment is close to 10% market-value. Assessor inexplicably jumped our “market price assumption” by $250,000 in 2008 in market valuation, then down-valued property by $200,000 during an area-wide reassessment. We’ve been told by several tax attorneys that tax protests for single-family high-end houses are generally no longer successful (absent “fix” for politically-connected owners).
Our last tax protest, which failed, had a full complement of neighborhood comps (hard to find, because entire area is over-assessed) PLUS independent appraisal which reflected actual market conditions based on recent sales of nearby homes. We were denied.
I was also successful last year in getting a reduced AV through the board of review process. Evidence submitted included comp properties on my block with lower AV and my recent purchase transaction (Dec ’09) at a price that was below the AV. I was disappointed though, when my homeowner’s exemption came through at only ~$200/yr. Neighbors in similar properties have HO exemptions of $1k+/yr. Not sure if the two were related.
Rally: “I was disappointed though, when my homeowner’s exemption came through at only ~$200/yr. Neighbors in similar properties have HO exemptions of $1k+/yr. Not sure if the two were related.”
Is there any rhyme or reason to how they get these numbers? Why in the hell isn’t something like a HO exemption not a fix percent or amount deduction? Makes no sense…
“Getting the taxes reduced is more or less a slam dunk if you hire the right person, if you have a lower sale price and are able to demonstrate it’s a market price.”
Here’s what I said. I don’t know that anyone has refuted that. Sure, if you have been in a place for a long time, it is a lot harder to get them to accept your view of the market price. I also don’t know exactly what it is that these assessment appeal firms do that I wouldn’t know how to do or be able to do, but everyone I know who tried to do an appeal on their own has gotten screwed and many who hired firms have gotten reductions, so I assume that they are doing something right. I’m not saying that it should be that way, but that appears to be the way that it actually is.
back to the subject of the house: it appears from the pictures no one lives here. the staging is relatively well done, but it’s still staging. can any one shed light on ownership? could the drastic price reduction mean it’s bank-owned?
Given the new list price (which may well indicate a willingess to close in the high $700’s), I think this place merits a more favorable rating than many above have given. It could use some decorative/cosmetic enhancements, but I actually like the living/dining/kitchen/rear family room set up (says the guy with a pillar on his own kitchen counter).
The house is still owned by the people who bought it in 1989. They purchased a large condo in the Gold Coast two years ago and moved out of the house, then put it on the market. The couple is rather well-off and can afford to sit on this property for a while. It is not in danger of going into foreclosure.
so how much would one hypothetically contribute to Mr. Berrios to have their appeal considered carefully, I wonder… I’m thinking a $20 bill isn’t gonna cut it.
JJJ: ” I also don’t know exactly what it is that these assessment appeal firms do that I wouldn’t know how to do or be able to do, but everyone I know who tried to do an appeal on their own has gotten screwed and many who hired firms have gotten reductions, so I assume that they are doing something right. ”
It isn’t rocket science. These firms hand over fat envelopes of cash to Joe Berrios. Very few individual homeowners have done the same in order to earn them the same clout.