East Lincoln Park Vintage 3-Bedroom Returns to Try Again: 2337 N. Commonwealth
We last chattered about this vintage 3-bedroom at 2337 N. Commonwealth in East Lincoln Park in April 2013.
See our prior chatter here.
If you recall, this is a top floor unit in an elevator building.
It has the original hardwood floors and plaster moldings.
The kitchen has cherry cabinets and stainless steel appliances with a large kitchen island.
In the pictures, there is a smaller, two person, table and chairs in the kitchen but there is also another room which is open to the kitchen with draperies and a baby’s room.
The listing calls this room the third bedroom (or den). See the floorplan.
The unit has an in-unit washer/dryer but there is no central air (it is window units only) and there is no deeded parking. It is leased across the street.
The listing says this unit is in the Lincoln school district.
Listed at $574,900 last spring, it has come back on just about $10,000 cheaper.
With inventory lower than last year, will this unit sell in 2014?
Leigh Marcus at @Properties now has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #5E: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1800 square feet
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- Sold in December 1990 for $190,000
- Sold in June 1996 for $212,000
- Sold in February 2006 for $555,000
- Was listed in April 2013 at $574,900
- Withdrawn
- Currently listed for $565,000
- Assessments now $624 a month (they were $600 a month in 2013) – includes heat and cable
- Taxes now $6433 (they were $6809 in 2013)
- No central air- window units
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Parking available for lease across the street
- Bedroom #1: 16×11
- Bedroom #2: 16×11
- Bedroom #3: 12×9
- Kitchen: 16×9
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For one, they need to stop calling it a 3 BD. A curtained off area, 2 feet from the kitchen island is hardly a bedroom. Is there some type of criteria a space must meet to be called a bedroom? Seems like false advertising to me. Other than that, its a nice unit in a nice area.
“A curtained off area, 2 feet from the kitchen island is hardly a bedroom. ”
Yurt Living at its finest!!
If I was a kid, I’d think that curtained off bedroom was the greatest thing ever.
It would be easy to close it off with a door if you wanted to.
I believe in Chicago a window and a closet is required to qualify as a bedroom.
In NY just a window is necessary.
Looked at a condo development in the South Loop back in the early 00s that had bedrooms with NO windows. I asked how a room with no windows could qualify as a bedroom, and the agent frostily told me that that is not a requirement.
Have since seen 3 new developments with bedrooms sans windows, with a shortened wall to admit light.
No owned parking, no central air and no private outdoor space, Pass.
“I asked how a room with no windows could qualify as a bedroom, and the agent frostily told me that that is not a requirement.”
I’ve often thought I would like a sleeping room with no windows but that is a little different I suppose.
“I’ve often thought I would like a sleeping room with no windows but that is a little different I suppose.”
Me too. Sound and light isolated, with fine-tunable temp controls, and full spectrum lighting tied to your ‘alarm’.
And yes different, but not *that* different (except of course for the ‘illegal’ full wall).
Me’ing
“full spectrum lighting tied to your ‘alarm’.”
Yeah, sound iso is good too. My goal in life is to wake up when I wake up. Was a time when my sis and b-i-l lived in apt before they bought house. They piled all their boxes into the second bdr with just space for an aerobed. I’d sleep there when visting, that was some of the best sleep I’ve ever had.
bleh, think we could get 1/4 of the comment traffic back if this lag thing got fixed.
“think we could get 1/4 of the comment traffic back if this lag thing got fixed.”
Sabrina, how about it? If you don’t, chukdc will keep yelling at you about how you’re trying to shut the site down to avoid facing being wrong about the housing market.
” If you don’t, chukdc will keep yelling at you about how you’re trying to shut the site down to avoid facing being wrong about the housing market.”
Actually, there is nothing wrong with being wrong. But pretending you were right is another story…
“think we could get 1/4 of the comment traffic back if this lag thing got fixed.”
I’m still overseas which makes it difficult to get anything fixed or changed with the time change and other issues. I’ll be back in Chicago in 3 weeks. (Will it be warmer then? Yikes!) I’ll try to get it fixed as soon as I can but there are no guarantees.
Hopefully it’s warmer where you are.
HD: It IS warmer but I’m eager to come back to Chicago where the pace is just slower.
Here’s some of the Crain’s article about inventory picking up:
In all, 9,969 homes in the six-county metropolitan area were newly listed for sale in the first two weeks of March, up 6.1 percent over the same period in 2013, according to Midwest Real Estate Data LLC.
“It’s really been non-stop the past few weeks,” said Karen Ranquist, an agent in the Lincoln Park office of Koenig & Strey Real Living. “I’m up late dealing with people who want to get listed.”
After more than a year of being told a lack of inventory is holding back the local housing market, homeowners “are finally really hearing it and doing something, Ms. Ranquist said.
It’s another step in the local market’s gradual recovery, said Rich Kasper, a broker at Conlon: A Real Estate Company.
“Last year looked good, this year looks better,” he said. “More people can see the activity in the market now, so they’re coming into it.”
Buyer eagerness also may be pulling homes onto the market. Many sellers who didn’t wait for the cold to break did well, which makes sellers who waited for spring even more eager to capitalize on demand, Mr. Kasper said. He had clients who wanted to postpone listing their two-bedroom Lakeview condo until the weather warmed up, but he urged them to “get in ahead of the market.” The property sold in less than three weeks.
“If they can sell it in that cold, you can get it sold in the spring,” Mr. Kasper said.
Of course, the uptick in listings in recent weeks was not entirely unexpected: February through April typically are busy listing months, and many people who planned to list their homes for the start of this year’s spring selling season postponed their plans in February because of the bitter cold. But February’s crop of 16,983 new listings was down less than one percent, or about even with the 17,152 for February 2013, indicating the weather didn’t send sellers into a deep freeze.
Here’s what’s going on in new construction. Anything “new” sells fast (even renovated older homes.) Everyone wants “new.” If you don’t update your property- you really won’t be able to compete.
From Crain’s:
New homes in the city “sell immediately,” Ms. Parker said.
Her own experience isn’t all she’s going on. Builders sold at least 313 new detached houses last year, up from 208 in 2012, a 50 percent jump, and 111 in 2011, according to figures from Midwest Real Estate Data LLC.
Builders sold 33 single-family homes in January and February, up from 31 a year earlier.
“There are buyers in the market driving this,” Ms. Parker said. “A lot of them are design-savvy, environmentally conscious, and they want a house they can move into.”
Thirty-five buyers showed up at a Jan. 26 open house for the two Avondale homes built by Chicago-based GNP Development, she said. One home, on Dawson Avenue, was listed for $489,000 and the other, around the corner on Wellington, was priced at $469,000. By the time she went home that day, the offers were rolling in.
The Dawson house closed March 9 for $504,400, 3 percent more than its list price. The Wellington sale hasn’t closed yet, and Ms. Parker declined to disclose a price.
LOT PRICES UP
Ms. Kutermankiewicz and Ms. Parker both said there’s been an influx of builders who want to get a piece of the action, pushing up the price of home lots.
On Race Street in West Town, builder Denmax Corp. was buying standard-sized lots for $150,000 about three years ago; the going price is now over $300,000, Ms. Kutermanciewicz said.
Similarly, GNP used to pay $50,000 to $70,000 for vacant lots in Humboldt Park, Ms. Parker said, “but now we’ve crossed over $100,000.” The firm bought an empty lot on the 1700 block of Albany for $50,000 in May 2012, and bought another a year later on the block — in the same condition — for $115,000. GNP now has five houses going up on that block.
Although prices for land and construction materials are going up, builders are able to pass along the extra costs to buyers, Ms. Kutermankiewicz said.
“The same house I was selling at $699,000 in 2012, I can sell now for $829,000,” she said.
Doesn’t that pretty much say the exact opposite of what you are saying?
There’s no doubt the market has improved, but long term its not sustainable or rational. However, like warren buffet (that greedy old man) once said, the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent. I was talking with a UMC couple last weekend and they were lamenting over the ridiculous prices of homes. They rent and want to buy. But they’re only looking in the traditional GZ suburbs. They can’t find it in themselves to pull the trigger because it’s all too expensive And quite frankly, I don’t blame them. It is pretty ridiculous. But there are plenty of buyers out there willing to pull the trigger and more than a few do. There’s no way I would pull the trigger on my place for $100k more than I purchased it for (after rehab of course) but people do that. I saw a house on the market today, that was bought at $200 psf – the median price in the area; then renovated, and now it’s on the market for $350 psf – the very high end of the market. Ridicuous
“Doesn’t that pretty much say the exact opposite of what you are saying?”
300 houses isn’t the market in a city with nearly 2 million people. It’s a needle in the haystack. Not to mention that new construction is geared towards the top 10% nationally (and in Chicago, it’s more like the top 2% or so- at least for right now.) During the bubble they attempted to build new in more middle class neighborhoods but right now that’s too risky.
If you want deals go south. Flossmoor has some awesome homes on the market. Just amazing architecture. High property taxes but what will it matter when Chicago has to double theirs to pay the pension liability mandated by the legislature next year? Anyone else have any idea where Rahm is suddenly going to come up with about $600 million?
No- me neither. Property taxes WILL go up.
So we’ll have:
1. Rising prices
2. Rising mortgage rates
3. Much higher property taxes
What else am I missing about the fantastic future of the housing market in Chicago?
“Anyone else have any idea where Rahm is suddenly going to come up with about $600 million?”
He won’t have to. Do you really believe Quinn, Madigan and Cullerton won’t do something?
“Anyone else have any idea where Rahm is suddenly going to come up with about $600 million?”
“He won’t have to. Do you really believe Quinn, Madigan and Cullerton won’t do something?”
Chicago’s bond rating was just cut to above junk. Quinn, Madigan and Cullerton CAN’T do anything or Chicago will literally not be able to borrow a dime. Seeing as it’s already $10 billion in the hole, I don’t think it’s wise to postpone the day of reckoning.
And how long do you (or can you) postpone it without a default on the pension system? The actuaries must have figured this out already which his why, in 2010, they gave the City until 2015 to figure it out. Because after 2015- it will likely get very, very ugly unless the extra payments start rolling in.