The “Euro-Style” Irving Park 5-Bedroom Rehab: 3828 N. Albany

This 5-bedroom single family home at 3828 N. Albany in Irving Park has been on the market since July 2012.

This is a rehab of a bank owned home.

The listing says it is “euro-style.”

Built in 1902, the 2800 square foot home is on a standard 25×125 lot. There’s also a 2.5 car garage.

The kitchen has coffered ceilings, granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances and a marble backsplash.

There is custom stone work in the showers.

Two bedrooms are on the second floor, two are on the main floor and one is in the lower level, which also has a finished basement.

It also has central air.

Originally listed at $469,000, it has been reduced to $399,900.

Is this the going price for a rehabbed home in this neighborhood?

Anthony Reyes at CG Realty Group has the listing. See the pictures here.

3828 N. Albany: 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2800 square feet, 2.5 car garage

  • Sold in April 1997 for $85,000
  • Lis pendens foreclosure filed in July 2010
  • Sold in October 2011 for $85,000
  • Originally listed in July 2012 for $469,000
  • Reduced
  • Currently listed at $399,900
  • Taxes of $4714
  • Central Air
  • Bedroom #1: 14×16 (second floor)
  • Bedroom #2: 12×14 (second floor)
  • Bedroom #3: 12×14 (main floor)
  • Bedroom #4: 12×12 (main floor)
  • Bedroom #5: 10×12 (lower level)

 

45 Responses to “The “Euro-Style” Irving Park 5-Bedroom Rehab: 3828 N. Albany”

  1. “euro-style.”

    I was expecting a washing machine in the kitchen or, at least, one of the bathrooms, and a half-sized refrigerator. Also, where are the radiators?

    Not excited by proxmity of school “modular”. Which school is that?

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  2. I am not digging the QR code shower… yuck

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  3. Ugly. Not more that 125.00 psf if that

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  4. For $400k, I would not want to be that close to a school.

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  5. There is nothing “euro” about this home.

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  6. We went to the Open House this summer. There was no one there. We just happened to get there when another agent was showing his clients that place and a few others around the neighborhood so he had the lockbox code and let us take a look.

    With Open House scheduling/Organization skills like that, is it any wonder the place hasn’t sold yet?

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  7. This home is in the area of gentrification I’ve been talking about for a while.

    http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/3925-N-Albany-Ave-60618/home/13453951

    The gentrification is spilling west from Lakeview and north and northwest from bucktown, logan, etc as people realize they can get a single family home on a real lot for less than half a million dollars. Schools are an issue, yes, and so is petty crime, but like old irving, it’s a reasonable alternative to moving to the suburbs. I’ve watched this area change for a while now. It used to be OK but it’s rapidly changing which is a good thing. I mean, single family homes south of montrose and east of the river are twice the price of this newly renovated home. It sounds like there’s soemthing weird about this house or it’s overprice or something bc it should have sold

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  8. Yech. A dull pedestrian old house with zilch curb appeal and no architecture.

    The only good-looking rooms in the house are the kitchen and baths. Most people don’t spend their whole lives in those rooms. Strange that only the kitchen has attractive architectural details like the beamed ceiling, while the living room is utterly featureless.

    Fail.

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  9. Areas like this and Avondale need a train line to gentrify to the point of LakeView or even Lincoln Square.

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  10. “Areas like this and Avondale need a train line to gentrify to the point of LakeView or even Lincoln Square.”

    No they don’t. They’re already gentrifying without a train line. It’s a short bus ride in the morning to either the blue or the brown line.

    It’s a place where a working couple can buy a SFH with a yard in a relatively safe area in the city close to the ‘action’ for less than half a mil. Not everybody wants to live in a condo in lakeview when a reasonable alternative is near. Look at the closings in the last six months – and you’ll see that price points (after taking out the crapshacks that sell to rehabbers) – and this becoming an expensive place to buy a rehabbed or new SFH but far cheaper than east of the river.

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  11. They’re going to have to lower the price a lot more. Who the heck would want to live in the middle of a school yard?

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  12. I agree with HD about Avondale. I know people who are buying there for the reasons he lists.

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  13. Serious question – not trolling. What is the reason people want to live in Avondale vs. moving to a suburb? You don’t really get the “city” experience of Lakeview or LP of being able to walk to the park or nice restaurants – you still need to get in the car to enjoy those things. And as previously mentioned you have higher crime and worse schools. It seems like people who buy here are trying to cling to the idea of city living without having any real benefits of city living. And jumping on the bus to catch the train means you won’t have that much of an advantage commute wise vs. the suburbs.

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  14. “What is the reason people want to live in Avondale vs. moving to a suburb?”

    Also not trolling: which suburbs do you suggest that would be similarly priced (including taxes) and offer the possibility of getting to the train without a car?

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  15. “: which suburbs do you suggest that would be similarly priced (including taxes) and offer the possibility of getting to the train without a car?”

    Park ridge, evanston, oak park – the being a red suburbs, the latter w being a blue suburb.

    People live in the city for the train, the density, the proximity to the ‘action’ and restaurants. It’s more urban. I live close to the city and there are street lights only every few hundred feet. It’s dark out at night and it’s quiet as all hell. The city has a lot more action, good and bad. I most assuredly understand the appeal of city living, but it’s not for everyone at every stage of their life.

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  16. My post was more asking about why live in Avondale when you don’t have most of the benefits of true “city” living and not about he need for a car. Although I would think most people in Avondale would need a car as they would in the burbs. But to answer your question – Evanston? I’m not from Chicago originally so I don’t know much about specific suburbs. Any thoughts about the question I posed?

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  17. Yoss, is your question specifically “why people want to live in Avondale” as opposed to the featured property which is really in Irving Park, the poor down-on-his-luck step brother of Old Irving Park? [Avondale is more like the poor illegitimate son of Logan Square and OIP that no one talks about.]

    “You don’t really get the “city” experience of Lakeview or LP of being able to walk to the park or nice restaurants”

    Lakeview and LP are not the only places in the city with restaurants and parks. There are many near today’s featured properties and you can find easier street parking.

    ” – you still need to get in the car to enjoy those things. And as previously mentioned you have higher crime and worse schools. It seems like people who buy here are trying to cling to the idea of city living without having any real benefits of city living. And jumping on the bus to catch the train means you won’t have that much of an advantage commute wise vs. the suburbs.”

    Here’s one advantage. Last summer, my wife and I were able to attend many street fests, Millenium Park picnics at pritzker pavilion and other events without our car and were able to get home afterwards with a quick cab or El ride instead of cabbing to Union Station and trying to time an hourly train back to HD’s home in Carpentersville.

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  18. Icarus – fair enough. But should you have children that trek on public transportation will be more challenging. There are neighborhood parks and then there is “the park”. I’m sure the restaurants in Avondale are nice – but I’m not sure they are much of an improvement over the burbs – if you want the trendy “city” places you will still be going to RN / Bucktown / LP. Chicago is a large and sprawling city. At some point the gentrifying areas get moved so far away from the city center you’re basically in the suburbs already – so why not just embrace it and move the burbs where the schools are better and the area is safer?

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  19. OK – strike my previous statement about restaurants – there are some very cool places that I didn’t realize were in Avondale. You won’t find anything like that in the suburbs.

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  20. Yusho is in Avondale. At this point, Avondale is a no brainer as the economy gets better.

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  21. “if you want the trendy “city” places you will still be going to RN / Bucktown / LP. Chicago is a large and sprawling city.”

    Actually trendy is Logan Square, Uk Village and Pilsen. Lincoln Park and RN are hardly trendy, popular yes.

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  22. “Although I would think most people in Avondale would need a car as they would in the burbs.”

    Sure, but do they need it to commute? If you are proposing “why not move to the burbs, the commute is the same” you have to have a burb with access by bus or foot to a train. Otherwise, possibly two cars v one.

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  23. “My post was more asking about why live in Avondale when you don’t have most of the benefits of true “city” living and not about he need for a car.”

    I sometimes ask this question of the far nw hoods (norwood park,etc), to which the main answer seems to me to be city residency requirements, but groove says snootiness factor too. I don’t think the question applies as much to avondale. Parts of it are practically n logan sq. People in logan defn think of yusho as a logan sq place (yeah, yeah, I know, the “map”).

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  24. I get lots of grief for the premium I place on proximity to the park/lakefront, i.e., I’m a snobby tool for living in a condo instead of getting a place with a finished basement and gator deck. Even worse, I very rarely venture out to the cool zones like Logan/BT/WP. Would it help if I said that Yusho is a (close) friend of my (old/long lost) friend’s place?

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  25. “I get lots of grief for the premium I place on proximity to the park/lakefront, i.e., I’m a snobby tool.”

    Fixed that for ya!

    (all in good fun)

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  26. Different strokes for different folks. I rarely make it to LP or LV and I think it was at least 2 years ago I actually set foot in Wicker Park. I’ve been to Logan on more than a few occasions. I’m in the Loop every day. Avondale still has a ways to go as it gentrifies. But it’s made the change.

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  27. The interior of this place is hideous… way too many different styles and components going on. I want to say that it will sell due to the “buyers love new” phrase… but with such little curb appeal, being ontop of a school and those interiors I just dont see it for that price. Just too many better options for $400K~

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  28. I agree with Yoss re. Avondale, but maybe I don’t need to even say it. I’ve made the same point many times. However, I don’t think the only good city experiences are in LP and LV. There are a lot of great city neighborhoods away from the lake and even not on the North Side that offer wonderful urban experiences. Avondale, however, doesn’t come to mind.

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  29. “At this point, Avondale is a no brainer as the economy gets better.”

    Really? No way in hell with those schools. No way.

    For less than these houses I can be in Oak Park with excellent grade schools and easy access to downtown (plus better architecture and, frankly, restaurants.)

    Besides, as I’ve said before, once the two kids are in soccer all day long- the restaurants aren’t going to matter anyway. There’s no time to go to any except Potbelly’s (which is found in every neighborhood and suburb anyway.)

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  30. “At this point, Avondale is a no brainer as the economy gets better.”
    “Really? No way in hell with those schools. No way.”

    Would you say that about Logan? Or bucktown or wicker (at comparable times) for that matter?

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  31. What happens first? Good school or gentrification?

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  32. @Sabrina – you’re also likely paying around 6k more a year in property taxes, and adjacent some of the worst neighborhoods of Chicago, which make you far more disconnected from the hip N/NW city hoods than you are in Irving Park or Avondale.

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  33. “you’re also likely paying around 6k more a year in property taxes, and adjacent some of the worst neighborhoods of Chicago.”

    All of Oak Park is adjacent to the worst neighborhoods of Chicago? You mean Galewood?

    Sure- you pay more in property taxes. But you’ll pay way more putting your kids in private school anyway. There’s also less gang activity in most of Oak Park than there is in some of these “up and coming” neighborhoods. And you have a decent high school. I can’t even fathom what you do when you have a 14 year old living in that area.

    I’m only talking if you have kids. If you are childless, then I can understand why you might choose Avondale- even though it’s more expensive than large swaths of Oak Park.

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  34. “What happens first? Good school or gentrification?”

    What’s the grade school like in Andersonville? That’s been one of the hottest neighborhoods for 10 years and is completely gentrified and I’ve never heard of people clamouring to get their kids into any schools up there. Same with Lincoln Square. What’s the great school in Bucktown or Wicker Park? Why isn’t the grade school in Ukranian Village east of Damen where all the 20 somethings are stuck in their 2/2 condos making the list of the “top” schools? (and I’m not talking the magnet schools- I’m talking neighborhood.) Those should be stellar- right? Ukranian Village has been gentrified for 10 years. Wicker Park for 15 years. There should be 10 year old kids galore all over that neighborhood. Why don’t the real estate listings tout the great neighborhood schools there?

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  35. “Would you say that about Logan? Or bucktown or wicker (at comparable times) for that matter?”

    Yes. If I have a 7 year old and a 5 year old and I look at those schools and I’m paying $500,000 for my house there’s no way I’m living there versus the suburbs. No way. Those schools don’t even come close to what I can get for my $500,000 in the suburbs. And if my child has any kind of learning issues- even more so.

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  36. . Yes, I was clearly talking about Galewood.

    Sure, if you already have school age kids, OP taxes may be worth it. But many first time homebuyers are likely 5-6 years away from having school aged children. I would bet those are more likely to be the buyers targeting IP/Avondale over your example. I also didn’t realize we were discussing a 500k house, seems the one above has a 399 ask.

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  37. A lot of buyers absent mindedly don’t think about schools when they’re purchasing. That’s pretty much all I thought about. I’m not one of those types of guys who says that my children must have ‘the best’ and base my entire lifestyle around that; but, as long as the schools are in the top 10% in the state, and there’s guaranteed attendance, that’s good enough for me. And the local elementary school is in the top 8.8% exactly according to the sun-times rankings. In today’s day and age, with the middle class disappearing, it’s all the more important to make sure your kids at least have a fighting chance to stay in the middle class.

    Compare this school (not my elementary school however) http://fh.suntimes.com/reportcards/results/index/365

    to the Reilly CPS school I linked to for the Drake property.

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  38. http://www.redfin.com/IL/Park-Ridge/433-S-Home-Ave-60068/home/13642788

    For roughly the same price you get everything as the gentrifiying neighborhood – except that the elementary school is in the top 5% in the state.. Drive a short distance to the metra, commuting time is a bout the same as taking the bus to the blue/brown lines. it’s a ‘no brainer’ for anyone with young children. and I tell you, everyone I meet out here (where I live in carpentersville west of route 59, that is) is a city transplant, primarily from the GZ too. I have my own stuff going on obviously, but of the parents I’ve meet around at the parks, library, etc, the English speaking ones (And there are a lot of eastern europeans out here, A LOT), are all GZ transplants with young childrne who say yeah – I got a house in carpentersville for teh price of my condo in lakeview. NO brainer.

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  39. “But many first time homebuyers are likely 5-6 years away from having school aged children. I would bet those are more likely to be the buyers targeting IP/Avondale over your example.”

    I disagree with this 100%. Before the bust- sure. After the bust, many more buyers are looking for a home they can stay in long term. (Sure- there are still some clueless buyers who think “I’ll just sell in 5 years when junior is going to grade school”- but most people realize you cannot buy and sell in just a few years without losing significant money.)

    This is why single family homes and townhomes and even condos with 3 bedrooms are the hottest properties out there right now. The 2/2 condos, which are too small for most people to want to raise kids in, and especially the 1/1 condos are the weakest markets right now.

    And this is why buyers look around in the GZ with their $400k to $450k budgets and realize that they won’t get a SFH and barely will get a townhouse (and it will be small) and then they start looking at the close in suburbs. That’s when they realize it’s a no-brainer (as Homedelete’s example has shown.)

    If only Chicago could fix it’s schools- think of the possibilities! Growth in the city would soar.

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  40. “Yes. If I have a 7 year old and a 5 year old and I look at those schools and I’m paying $500,000 for my house there’s no way I’m living there versus the suburbs. No way. Those schools don’t even come close to what I can get for my $500,000 in the suburbs. And if my child has any kind of learning issues- even more so.”

    I actually agree, to some extent, w you in terms of what I would do personally, but bad schools didn’t stop those neighborhoods, or others, from becoming popular. I know plenty of umc+ folks in logan w kids. Some in catholic, some in private, some in selective enrollment schools, some in magnet or lottery schools. For those in a school they are happy w, they are all set. I do know a couple families that ended up at an (in their view) ok but not great cps elem through lottery. I think if it were really bad they could prob move, but they are willing to put up w a just ok school and maybe see if they can test or lottery in somewhere next year. I wouldn’t go that route, but they obviously are.

    V few send their kids to the local elem, goethe, so the lack of a local cps option wasn’t an absolute deterrent.

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  41. In my opinion fixing the schools = fixing the parents which is pretty much impossible for a teacher or the CPS to do.

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  42. “What’s the grade school like in Andersonville? That’s been one of the hottest neighborhoods for 10 years and is completely gentrified and I’ve never heard of people clamouring to get their kids into any schools up there. Same with Lincoln Square. What’s the great school in Bucktown or Wicker Park? Why isn’t the grade school in Ukranian Village east of Damen where all the 20 somethings are stuck in their 2/2 condos making the list of the “top” schools? (and I’m not talking the magnet schools- I’m talking neighborhood.) Those should be stellar- right? Ukranian Village has been gentrified for 10 years. Wicker Park for 15 years. There should be 10 year old kids galore all over that neighborhood. Why don’t the real estate listings tout the great neighborhood schools there?”

    First, whether or not local schools in those areas are or will be good, that didn’t stop the areas from becoming popular, right? I think peirce in aville is at least decent (maybe better than decent). Certainly a lot better than before. A lot of the other schools in those neighborhoods have improved too: waters, pulaski, burr, pritzker, even goethe. Not nec all good, but certainly better.

    Also, the “hot” northside schools weren’t always hot, right?

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  43. [yoss] “In my opinion fixing the schools = fixing the parents which is pretty much impossible for a teacher or the CPS to do.”

    Ding Ding Ding

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  44. “First, whether or not local schools in those areas are or will be good, that didn’t stop the areas from becoming popular, right? I think peirce in aville is at least decent (maybe better than decent). Certainly a lot better than before. A lot of the other schools in those neighborhoods have improved too: waters, pulaski, burr, pritzker, even goethe. Not nec all good, but certainly better.

    Also, the “hot” northside schools weren’t always hot, right?”

    This is absolutely correct. How many grades are in an elementary school? Nine, not including pre-school. It takes a long time for a school to turn around. It takes commited parents, but more than that, commited UMC parents.

    Unfortunately, Helmet is right on this one. Look at the economic demographics and language situation at many of these schools. You can actually slice and dice test scores. In many of the north side schools, white kids test as high as any white kid in suburban schools, it’s just that the school may have only 20% white kids. Something equally interesting hispanic kids, actually do better in CPS than suburbs according to test scores. Same with black kids.

    If all the lemmings just stopped moving to Naperville…..

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  45. Schools do get better sometimes. Nettlehorst was considered a disaster 30 years ago and no one from the neighborhood who could afford to do better would send their kids there.

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