Do You Hate Duplex Downs? Check Out This 3-Bedroom Townhouse: 1816 N. Dayton in Lincoln Park
This 3-bedroom corner unit townhouse at 1816 N. Dayton in Lincoln Park came on the market in November 2012.
The listing says it has had over $100,000 in upgrades including all new windows.
The kitchen has custom features including Kraftmaid cabinets and Juperna Persia granite counter tops along with stainless steel appliances.
The bathrooms have been updated with marble/limestone counter tops.
The townhouse has custom Bon Soir fabric window coverings.
It also has the preferred layout of all 3 bedrooms on the same level.
The townhouse has 2 full baths and 2 half baths and a 1-car attached garage.
At 2200 square feet, this townhouse is similarly sized to many duplex downs only there is no neighbor living above or below you.
Is this a deal?
Brendan Murphy at Dream Town has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #A: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 half baths, 2200 square feet, 1 car garage
- Sold in September 1989 for $537,000 (typo??? maybe should be $337,000)
- Sold in August 2002 for $446,000
- Originally listed in November 2012 for $725,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $699,000
- Assessments of $591 a month (includes cable)
- Taxes of $8033
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 13×14 (third floor)
- Bedroom #2: 11×13 (third floor)
- Bedroom #3: 10×12 (third floor)
- Family room: 15×16 (main floor)
I’m not a fan of the North-Armitage/Clyborn/Halsted area the traffic there makes my blood boil. And its kind of far from the Park for it to be “Lincoln Park”
Although the property does look nice, rooms look large at least with no furniture in them. Not sure why the island in the kitchen has different surface than the counters does.
I think it will go quickly. Nicely finished and many more people are beginning to prefer West Lincoln Park due to proximity to Whole Foods, British School (not just the school but the Saturday music programs open to all), Bubbles, Science Labs and all stuff you need for kids.
I do love the juxtaposition of a strip club directly across the street from the Whole Foods near here…
Makes me chuckle every time I see it
“Nicely finished and many more people are beginning to prefer West Lincoln Park…”
Have you conducted a survey? If so, I’d be curious to see how the questions were worded.
We make weekly car trips out west to the Whole Foods (as Sonies notes, the one located directly across from a strip club, something every family aspires to leave near), Bubbles/MyGym/Pump-it-Up/etc., and (what seems like) semi-weekly trips to Carters/Gap/REI/etc. Those are all indoor destinations that all have *easy, free parking* onsite (o.k., so with REI and parties and P-it-U, we often park on Halstead). And, while we do frequent those areas, it’s usually no more than a few times a week. We walk to the park/zoo/playgrounds (Cummings, Oz, Sunshine)/lakefront/Nature Museum/etc. pretty much every day (often times two or three outings a day). Except for the Nature Museum, Conservatory and indoor zoo areas (regular haunts on cold/rainy days), those are all outdoor destinations for which parking tends be *not free, let alone particularly easy or convenient*. I think you can infer how I might answer the questions on your East vs. West LP survey.
As for British, sure, living around the Cly-Cor/West LP area would be more convenient. And it’s certainly more realistic to acquire a nice SFH in that area than, say, ELP or the NE GC (and, as evidenced by the subject property, there are also some really solid TH developments in West LP, whereas the THs options in ELP tend to be not so great). But I can’t see many people buying one of these 3 bed THs due to proximity to British. That wouldn’t be much different than people buying in Sanburg Village due to proximity to Latin or in one of the affordable TH developments along Larrabee (near Oz) due to proximity to Parker.
That said, I agree, this looks like a nice place. I could see it going for around $600k. Given that they’ve already moved out, and have already carried it for the whole winter (listing in Nov was unfortunate), I would think that they’d be happy with that (provided that they didn’t ATM the place in order to make the improvements and/or fund the purchase of their new home).
“Have you conducted a survey? If so, I’d be curious to see how the questions were worded.”
“Would you rather pay $600k for [this] in ‘WLP’, or $950k for [that] in ‘nonny-ville’? What’s that you say? You can’t afford $950k, and are unwilling to do without [housing amenity x/y/z] to live in what you can afford in nonny-ville? Well, I’ll mark that down as ‘Prefer ‘WLP”.”
I wish I had as much free time anonny. I have to admit I’m a bit jealous. Maybe I should drop out of this rat race.
Sometimes I feel jealous of the homeless on nice days when they get to just sit outside and enjoy the outdoors.
cutting to the bone today…
“Sometimes I feel jealous of the homeless on nice days when they get to just sit outside and enjoy the outdoors.”
They also don’t have to worry about putting away dishes after eating! Or if there are enough toilets if (when) everyone at teh dinner party gets food poisoning!! The joys of homelessness; celebrate it!
“You can’t afford $950k, and are unwilling to do without [housing amenity x/y/z] to live in what you can afford in nonny-ville?”
While housing amenities x/y/z (gator deck?/basement t.v. room with a bar decked out with college ball posters?/higher end kitchen?) are important, what about housing amenities a/b? This being real estate, might a be location, and b be schools?
In any event, there are few, if any, THs/RHs like the subject property in ELP for $950k (the Pointe is probably the closest comp, but that place is a whole other story). And you’re right: even if there were a place like this in our hood for $950k, we couldn’t afford it. But that doesn’t mean we’ll be packing up to move into the subject property, just so the little nonnies can have their own bedrooms. If we did, after our first big semi-monthly visit to the park/zoo/lakefront, once they see how stressed dad gets looking for parking and realize that those outings can no longer be 45 minute spontaneous adventures, they might come to miss our former smaller/low-amenity digs.
“I wish I had as much free time anonny. I have to admit I’m a bit jealous. Maybe I should drop out of this rat race.”
Jenny, I would hope that your fine Lab School-educated mind would grasp that, because I have privileged being in a far eastern LP location over having a larger/nicer home, I am able to enjoy some of the city’s best outdoor amenities more regularly. If I’ve got 45 minutes before and/or after work, there’s little reason not to do so when accessing those amenities takes a few minutes. If I had to get in my car, drive across LP, and park, it’s unlikely that I’d be spending many of those 45 minute weekday periods enjoying those amenities. My kids might – might – be able to enjoy them once a day, but it would almost always entail a car ride, and on days that they’re cared for by a non-parent, it’s unlikely they’d go, as we’re really not to the nanny/sitter-driving-the-kids stage yet. And on the weekends, we’d only make one trip a day, but given kiddie birthday parties and other events that come up, there’d likely be lots of weekends that we wouldn’t be able to pack them up (“Do you want to walk, bike, or scoot when we get there? It can only be one.”), drive across LP, find parking, and join the crowds.
nonny:
It ain’t all about you. I wouldn’t deign to imply that *you* would surrender your lakefront principles for something so petty as a separate bedroom for each kid, an attached garage, private outdoor space, proximity to an el stop (two in this case), a nicely reno’d kitchen (I *hate* it, but its still ‘nice’), a home on a very nice block, ALL with an ‘affordable’ monthly nut.
Just saying that “many more people are beginning to prefer” actually makes sense (*way* beyond merely plausible), when one looks at the comparison w/o nonny-colored blinders. And, if you parse that as I know you are capable of, all that a local may have been hypothesizing was that instead of 4 people prefering it, it’s now like 4 dozen–that’s many more, but still not *necessarily* many.
“(“Do you want to walk, bike, or scoot when we get there? It can only be one.”)”
How does bringing the kids’ legs/feet along preclude also bringing a scooter? If you can’t have space for their legs *and* a scooter, how do they scoot without their legs/feet?
Totally agree with annony… I was just talking to a friend this am who lives in LP, in a 5K sq. ft. mansion just west of Ashland. We live in a condo as far East as you can go (further N though, in LV not LP). She was saying that they are more likely to go to Brookfield zoo than they are LP zoo because by the time they pack up the car with all the kids stuff, drive East (on the weekend, on Fullerton, no thank you) to the zoo, pay $25 to park…it can take them 30-45 minutes to even get there! We can hop on our bikes and be there in 10 minutes. We are at the pond, nature museum, the playground, etc a few times a week. But we don’t live in a mansion. Priorities.
“I wish I had as much free time anonny. I have to admit I’m a bit jealous. Maybe I should drop out of this rat race.Sometimes I feel jealous of the homeless on nice days when they get to just sit outside and enjoy the outdoors.”
When you are working the 13-15 hour days on the partner/exec track, free time does go by the wayside. It’s a sacrifice that in the past was made very willingly because it promised significant financial rewards. Now the rewards are being split by lots of boomers who aren’t retiring, and fewer overall are at the $225K+ mark individually. This is causing many in the 24-34 age bracket to not have the same motivations, because the rewards for working long hours for 20 years just aren’t what they were used to be.
As for being homeless, there are lots of worries, like when they will eat next, and not where. If I were homeless, I’d try to go somewhere warm at least and not have to worry about the cold.
For the subject property, if looks ok for the area and should sell for $630 to $640K. Doubtful that many British School parents would live in this subject property though. They will be looking at the $950K place in ELP.
Fair points, anon.
T.S. That’s interesting re: living far west and going to Brookfield. I was just saying the other day that the first time our kids will see elephants will probably be in San Diego.
“they are more likely to go to Brookfield zoo than they are LP zoo because by the time they pack up the car with all the kids stuff, drive East … to the zoo, pay $25 to park…it can take them 30-45 minutes to even get there!”
1. If you drive to LP Zoo even twice a year, you’re foolish to not get a membership that gives at least discounted parking.
2. When they go to Brookfield, everything magically packs itself? Or is stuff so cheap in the burbs they just buy it when they get there and then leave it behind?
3. Yes, I can understand why ~10 minutes of traffic on Fullerton is much worse than 30 minutes (assuming, HA!, no traffic) on the Kennedy + Ike or Kennedy + Stevenson. Makes perfect sense.
Seriously, the issues there are (1) packing for safari, and (2) not paying for the zoologist (or whatever they call it right now) membership that includes parking. You avoid two of them by biking there, but the frequency is more about philosophy than about time–If they supported the zoo and didn’t feel the need to set up base camp, they’d be there in 10 (maybe 15) minutes, too.
“pay $25 to park”
Everyone knows that if you buy one of the higher level zoo memberships, you can park for free right? It pays for itself quickly and oh yeah there’s that whole supporting the free zoo philanthropy thing.
What’s it cost to valet at Mon Ami or R.J. Grunts? Must be less than $25. Also, beyond the virtuous option of buying a zoo membership, I think the lot immediately north of the Conservatory is less expensive (not sure how often spaces are available).
“When you are working the 13-15 hour days on the partner/exec track, free time does go by the wayside. It’s a sacrifice that in the past was made very willingly because it promised significant financial rewards.”
I work long hours because I my job requires it, but I hold no assumptions that I will move up the ladder. If the pay off was a higher salary eventually, I wouldn’t hate it as much. My pay is paltry for the hours worked. I wish 9-5:00 still existed. I would be perfectly happy making my $50k a year in that case. I can’t remember the last time I took a lunch break, left work before rush hour ended, or took more than one vacation day in a row.
“They also don’t have to worry about putting away dishes after eating! Or if there are enough toilets if (when) everyone at teh dinner party gets food poisoning!! The joys of homelessness; celebrate it!”
“I feel jealous of the homeless on nice days when they get to just sit outside and enjoy the outdoors.””
It’s a good life!!!
“My pay is paltry for the hours worked. I wish 9-5:00 still existed. I would be perfectly happy making my $50k a year in that case. I can’t remember the last time I took a lunch break, left work before rush hour ended, or took more than one vacation day in a row.”
so much for a Lab School-education
The ELP-or-bust debate is just a subset of the far-out-city-neighborhood-or-suburbs debate.
They have a Brookfield membership. I did tell her to just get a LP zoo membership and parking there would be no problem, and they can use it anytime they want to go to the lakefront. She hadn’t even thought of that. And she told me it takes “forever” to get there. Her words, not mine.
bus goes to zoo too. my kids seem to luv the bus. they stop fighting and get excited about what they see out the window. I would buy a sixer and ride around on the bus all day with them if it had bathrooms.
for some trips it beats driving by a longshot
I wonder why kids like buses so much. My friends took their 2-year-old to her first concert and all she could talk about afterwards was the shuttle bus ride that took them from the parking lot to the stadium. She’s 4 now and she still talks about how much she loved that bus ride.
Nice enough place, but i hate the garage in the front look.
LP zoo always has too many damn humans! You have to go off-peak or it’s obnoxious, and you spend your time winding around other humans just to try and find a few animals that are viewable. I bet the human to animal viewing ratio is probably 40-1 at LP zoo, with the animals in the latter category.
Brookfield zoo, the last time I attended (first time in 20+ years), was so overrun with concessions, stupid “hands-on” exhibits for kids, various colorful signage, and other “educational” crap that nobody wants to read, etc. that it was to the point of obnoxiousness. It’s as if the “Boards” of these places, can’t just leave well enough alone and let the animals take center-stage. They have to put their fingerprints and “input” into all this other stuff….plus the need to create “revenue” with all this superfluous crap. Don’t forget all the gift shops too. Ugh.
Comp under contract. Subject property should sell…
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1820-N-Dayton-St-60614/unit-B/home/13350298
Lol so true helmet, soooooooo true
“Lol so true helmet, soooooooo true”
How about the LP Nature museum? Another colossal joke. Nobody wants to go visit the Cook County forest preserves and see real actual nature, because they’re worried they’ll run into a serial killer or two homos with their underwear off. So they take the kiddies to this stupid museum with all it’s “hands on” exhibits, pictures of nature, lame exhibits where you have to read about nature, and about as much actual nature as you can see at an average Petsmart. They go inside to to see butterflies and bugs? Meanwhile the Forest Preserves go unused, except as per the above or going to see Mexican immigrants BBQ’ing and filling up the garbage cans over the brim, does that count for being in nature?
LOL also soooo true. I was at the field museum recently for a charity event and was embarrassed at how frickin stupid and utterly ‘uneducational’ these exhibits were. I also went to a forest preserve last summer to take a hike with my dogs and was completely shocked as to how empty it was, sans a few mexican families BBQing lol
“I also went to a forest preserve last summer to take a hike with my dogs and was completely shocked as to how empty it was”
It’s actually gotten to the point where GZ people will perhaps think you’re a weirdo or perv or homo, for just saying that you went to a FP. Think the Notebearts have ever even been to a Cook County FP? They probably only get to nature when it’s in Aspen or wherever, when they have to burn tons of jet fuel and 4×4 gasoline to get there.
see here, nature as God intended, LOL: http://www.naturemuseum.org/the-museum/exhibits
classic: “Get up close to the birds you see in your backyard … Choose which ones you want to hear by touching the screen on the interactive kiosk.”
“bus goes to zoo too. my kids seem to luv the bus.”
Mine too. But he will insist on touching every surface.
Have to say, I will agree w nonny that if you want to prioritize the zoo/park/lakefront, it’s desirable (bordering on required) to be really close that you can use it during the week. But I also think my kid is happier having some kids to play w on the block or at the playground.
My wife does use the zoo etc. a lot in the summertime, though almost never on a weekend. Have one of the free parking memberships but they also walk or bus a lot too.
“she told me it takes “forever” to get there. Her words, not mine.”
Sorry if I implied a lack of comprehension; that was understood. I was just railing on the goofiness of the concept–the reality is they could be to LPZ in the same amount of time you are, but driving instead of biking, but they prefer Brookfield for whatever reason (they *do* have a *huge* advantage in moldarama machines, but there’re only so many you can have in the house), and strangely feel teh need to justify the preference with silliness.
“they *do* have a *huge* advantage in moldarama machines”
Are we agreed that the moldaramas seem like such a great deal and the penny machines such a bad one? Why?
I actually agree with helmet on the forest preserve thing…. I literally can’t count the numbers of times I was flashed at the park/forest preserve as a child. Now, I worry about the serial killers lurking in the woods. The last time I went to a forest preserve, I kept looking around nervously whenever I heard a noise, thinking it was a murderer. The guy I was with kept nervously looking around because he was afraid of the deer.
I feel like jenny:
1. Is just recycling material at this point and not giving her best effort.
2. Needs to find better dates (not you HD). Is the deer-fearful guy the same as the car-less guy?
“Needs to find better dates (not you HD)”
What about Bob?
(hatedhatedhated that movie)
My kids love the nature museum! It’s so convenient too, and half the fun is walking around throwing stuff into the pond. My son must have throws a tree’s worth of sticks into that pond last time we were there, ha. And if we hop on the 151 to get there… woah, MIND BLOWN.
yeah bob and jenny
milkster and hh
cc the new match.com
“The guy I was with kept nervously looking around because he was afraid of the deer.”
What??? ha! ha!
Yeah- I’m with DZ. Is this the guy who came over for your date riding his bike?
Jenny, if forest preserve serial killers terrify you, I recommend against homelessness. Not a good fit.
Yeah Jenny you can pretty much do what you are talking about on welfare…
come on, time to crap out a few illegitimate kids and get on the dole!
Or stripping, maybe?
I heard you can make a lot of money for very little effort jiggling your bressesez and backing it up and bouncing it.
Of course, having a perky personality might help too…
” I literally can’t count the numbers of times I was flashed at the park/forest preserve as a child.”
and yet you kept going back again and again.
“yeah bob and jenny
milkster and hh
cc the new match.com”
Let Ze clean that up a bit for ya…
More probable …Bob and HH
More desirable … Milkster and Jenny..
Deer guy was different than carless guy. Deer guy grew up in a bad neighborhood and was used to human crime, but was afraid of deer. Go figure. I was rather amused that he was afraid of deer and I’m guessing he thought it was ridiculous that I was worried about murderers in the woods.
“. I was rather amused that he was afraid of deer”
When I lived in D.C.. big deer problem driving at night… 70mph down a side road and all of a sudden a deer runs in front of you.. not a good feeling…
Then again.. wrong side road in NE D.C. not a good feeling either…
Worrying about hitting a deer in a car makes sense. I’m afraid of that too when I’m in rural areas…but worrying about deer while walking through a forest preserve? I’m not afraid of ax murderers while driving.
” I’m not afraid of ax murderers while driving.”
Way too hard to swing an ax in a car–the guys who hide under a blanket in the backseat mostly use a garrote or a stiletto.
gringozecarioca (April 18, 2013, 8:53 am)
“yeah bob and jenny
milkster and hh
cc the new match.com”
Let Ze clean that up a bit for ya…
More probable …Bob and HH
More desirable … Milkster and Jenny..
Ze thats more of a eharmony outcome..
This is a great location. I live nearby and often walk. There are so many wonderful neighborhoods in Chicago and it’s hard to argue which is a better part of LP. Each to his own.
” So they take the kiddies to this stupid museum with all it’s “hands on” exhibits, pictures of nature, lame exhibits where you have to read about nature, and about as much actual nature as you can see at an average Petsmart. ”
So my secret is out! I’ve been taking my kid to Petsmart for years. It’s a great way to kill about an hour – he loves it(btw we have several pets ) to top things off, we go to OT to visit The Fudge Pot then on to Old Town Aquarium. As a matter of fact, I took my Son and two of his friends to all 3 of those places last Sunday! Wasn’t free by a long shot-by the time I bought vending machine junk food at PS, OT parking, chocolate, decor for our fishbowl(still sitting on the bottom of my purse)and a 5$ glass fish for each kid, I dropped a bit if $$$. Killed 3 hours tho! : )