Why Rent? A $199,000 1-Bedroom in East Lakeview: 450 W. Briar
This 1-bedroom in 450 W. Briar in East Lakeview came on the market in February 2015.
It is on the 7th floor and faces south.
This was a new conversion in 2005 so this has a kitchen with cherry cabinets, black granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances.
There are wood floors in the living room and new carpet in the bedroom.
The listing says it has been newly painted.
The building was built in 1974 so there is no central air. It has wall units in the living room and bedroom.
But there’s an in-unit washer/dryer and parking is available in the building for $29,500.
This building even has a rooftop pool and fitness room.
With 5% down and a 3.9% mortgage rate, according to the mortgage calculators, your monthly mortgage payment would be just $900. Even with taxes, PMI, assessments it’s just $1330.
Why rent?
Matthew Putnick at Jameson Sotheby’s has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #7N: 1 bedroom, 1 bath, no square footage listed
- Sold in November 2005 for $258,000
- Originally listed in February 2015 for $215,000
- Reduced several times
- Currently listed at $199,000 (parking $29,500 extra)
- Assessments of $288 a month (includes pool and fitness)
- Taxes of $3290
- No central air- wall units only
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Bedroom: 13×11
- Living room: 16×13
- Kitchen: 11×10
And our special feature on hideous AC units takes us to Lakeview today.
Why rent? Because your life may make a one bedroom inadequate in the short term. Will you be able to get out of the property in say two years?
Sure, if you are a perpetual single cat lady with no major changes coming into your life on the horizon, buying a cheap one bedroom may make sense.
If there is a chance you could relocate, get married, etc in two or three years, buying a one bedroom seems like a gamble imho.
Another 1970’s masterpiece lol
Why no pics of pool?
Why rent? Because the neighborhood is transient. And sketchy. Can’t say I know this area that well, this property may be far enough east of Halsted to avoid all the drugs, party lifestyle, associated with the gay community. There are at times it seems predator-type gang-bangers that frequent the area, Where do those guys come from? What are they doing? selling drugs? preying on drunk gays? The East Lake View area is having some problems currently. Tunney always gets heat on the crime issue.
“drugs, party lifestyle, associated with the gay community. There are at times it seems predator-type gang-bangers”
Wait. Which kind of gang-bangers are you referring to? This is a critical distinction…
I’ll take “things found in prison for 400”, chuk
chuk: the kinds of guys who obviously don’t live in the neighborhood but hang out, and seem to be everywhere. And they don’t seem gay, so why are they around?? (white tank tops, caps, tattoos, muscle-bound, smell of skunk pot smoke, and then also Go drive thru the area after 10 pm. Also, for PC concerns I won’t type the physical description here, but look it up: http://www.cwbchicago.com/2015/07/lakeview-convenience-store-clerk-pistol.html
So, in short:
White tank tops = gay gang-banger
White hoodies = criminal gang-banger
Got it!
I dunno chuck. Just scroll thru and read on your own. you’ll see who and what they are, when they prey, etc. http://www.cwbchicago.com/
PS one of the comments below the article:
I am starting to regret buying a condo here a year and a half ago. Part of me wants to stick it out and hope for the best, but part of me is afraid. And that is no way to live. I keep telling myself that this is gonna end one of these days, but I keep hearing about this crap over and over and over again. And the violence keeps escalating. If things don’t start to turn around, we can add weekly shootings the mix.
CWB, I want to thank you SO MUCH for all that you do. I’m hoping that we can get some sort of grass roots effort going and march on the mayor’s block, “occupy” in front of Tunney, Cappleman & Michelle Smith’s offices, paper the neighborhood with fliers about the CWB website, put up CWB billboards…. Until we organize and DO something, we will continue to get the same.
http://www.cwbchicago.com/2015/08/now-you-got-aids-home-intruders-and.html
cwbchicago blog-site too (Crime in Wrigleyville and Boystown) offers a clear-eyed portrait of Lakeview, Uptown, and Ravenswood. Lakeview, particularly at night, does seem to have a high incidence of street-crime and home-invasions (incl burglaries when residents are clearly at-home).
Many households are composed of only one person. Small units serve a purpose for a person who doesn’t intend to get married or cohabitate, but intends to remain in Chicago. Owning a condo still makes sense, so many dumpy rentals, so ability to renovate can be a strong motivator too.
The violence is everywhere lately. I am realizing the only way to escape is to move to wealthy suburb. It’s too bad those suburbs are so far from my workplace.
the question is why the heck are you in boys town at all? I haven’t been to that area in years since my wife lived there during grad school. there’s like no reason to be anywhere near there unless you live there or are some thug or tina/Molly loving party dude!
the thug types have been there for years. they were there during the aughts too. always worried coming back late at night to crash at my wife’s apartment.
the area is really transient. the bike room in the basement was full of abandoned and forgotten bikes from tenants who’ve long moved on, or, whatever.
Aren’t there a few group homes or “teen centers” for troubled kids in Boystown? Thugs are everywhere. You can run, but you can’t hide. 🙂
“the question is why the heck are you in boys town at all? ”
Lakeview west of, let’s say, Racine is very nice, safe, and very little crime. SoPo is nothing like this area around Belmont and Boystown and the seediness of N. Broadway and sometimes Clark. I’m telling you, it’s the dumb, young, singles, gays, drunks, partiers, etc. that are easy prey. It’s that simple. They travel to the area to prey upon the whole scene.
If you live in Lake View, like many I know do, you have to travel through this area to get to LSD. And you see the seediness of the area esp. when you are driving through after dark.
Russ’s points are all valid, 1 brs are always more of a gamble. On the flip side, if you are in your mid-20s, this unit is already on par or cheaper than any comparable rentals in the area. Factor in the principal payment each month and the mortgage tax deduction, and this becomes a much more attractive option than 5 years of renting, even if the place dies not appreciate.
Assuming this place allows rentals, you should have no problem covering monthly nut.
The bedwetting crime chatter is ridiculous for this location. This is next to a highly walkable stretch of Broadway that is more restaurants/shops than bars. Much different scene here at midnight than in the heart of boystown. I would have no concerns with crime here, outside of the minor crime prevention steps I take anywhere else (don’t stumble home drunk too often, lock doors, don’t leave anything visible in the car, don’t pass out on train at 3 in the morning).
Wow there’s usually some good comments here, but not for this post.
“chuk: the kinds of guys who obviously don’t live in the neighborhood but hang out, and seem to be everywhere. And they don’t seem gay, so why are they around??”
It’s amazing how often helmethofer is in the East Lakeview neighborhood. Every time I do a post on a property that is anywhere near Boystown he seems to know ALL about it. Who hangs out at what bars. How late people stay out. Which restaurants are “bad”. How “seedy” it is late at night.
He could write a travel guide to the neighborhood. Jeez.
“Lakeview west of, let’s say, Racine is very nice, safe, and very little crime. SoPo is nothing like this area around Belmont and Boystown and the seediness of N. Broadway and sometimes Clark.”
It is?
Just last week. A woman was attacked in the 1600 block of west Addison. That’s pretty much in the center of SoPo.
You believe what you want to believe.
http://www.cwbchicago.com/2015/08/below-belt-with-helpful-witness-cops.html
Whatever, I’m just telling you what I hear from good sources, the link I provided backs it up. Lakeview is 2-tiered. Sopo is totally different from the Belmont Red Line stop and the weirdos that live and hang on N. Broadway and Clark St. There are indeed “youths” (we won’t go into detail because of PC concerns) that travel to the area to deal drugs and prey on people, etc. My source has a teenager that works at Navy Pier and their parents routinely drive from SoPo through the Boystown seediness to get to LSD for the commute. This is where I get the opinion on the topic.
I also said early on that the subject location of this thread may be far enough out to avoid the BS. But still, who defends N. Broadway and the gay area as wholesome? The biggest likelihood in living in the subject building is having your transient, or better yet the long-time 160-lb. depressed resident blasting opera from the DVD of Tom Hanks in the movie Philadelphia,
Weird
sources? Like ESPN?
now this is a fucking hilarious comment though
“The biggest likelihood in living in the subject building is having your transient, or better yet the long-time 160-lb. depressed resident blasting opera from the DVD of Tom Hanks in the movie Philadelphia,”
hahahahaha you are totally projecting
uggings are a lot more rampant in Lakeview than say, ten years ago. I have been reading cwbchicago for about a year. Yes, crime is everywhere but it has gotten bad in parts of Lakeview, especially after dark. Many people attribute this to the Center on Halsted and other shelters like “The Crib” on Addison. There is some truth to this. (Don’t shoot the messenger) The word on the site is that these gang banger types know that there is not as much police present and there a easy targets galore.
A lot of the crimes are committed by people who don’t live in the neighborhood. There is a lot of easy prey with people leaving bars late at night, but it wasn’t always this bad. I mean, a guy got shot at Oakdale and Sheffield not too long ago. It wasn’t always like this.
The condo seems nice for the price but having to deal with the LSD exit at Belmont is enough to make one not want to buy here.
“the 1600 block of west Addison. That’s pretty much in the center of SoPo”
Huh? That incident was essentially as far west of Southport as Wrigley is east. Is the SoPo Corridor really over 3/4 of a mile wide?
In what world is the Lakeview East area dangerous? Boytown (Halstead) and Wrigley certainly draw their share of muggings (the foreseeable result of having a large bar scene and everything that comes with it), but the 400 West Block of Briar – and the whole area east of Broadway between Belmont and Diversey, is a great area to live.
I’ve been a renter in that neighborhood for 8 years, and many of my friends live there as well. Nobody has ever had a single problem. Occasional weirdos as you get closer to the Belmont Red Line. But anyone who thinks this area is “bad” should probably move back to Iowa. Maybe city life isn’t for helmethofer
“I’ve been a renter in that neighborhood for 8 years”
White tank top or white hoodie?
“White tank top or white hoodie?”
Well played. I can appreciate that. It’s a hoodie. I usually rob people after work.
What is SoPo? South of….?
And we all know the neighborhood, with all its problems, is getting HOT and going to get HOTTER now that the Cubs are back into “contender” mode and maybe will get to the Series before this decade is out…and people are going to want to move there and “be a part of it” when the World Series celebrations start!
yeah who wouldn’t want people rioting right on their doorstep!
where can I sign up?
I always found this particular building depressing, and its tiny units cramped and bland, ever since I looked at it to rent 30 years ago and rented up the street at 540 instead.
I love this part of Lakeview and would happily pay $300K to $400K for a 2 bed if I could really afford that, but I would hesitate to buy this unit at any price after watching how long this recently-converted (c.2007) building took to sell its units in the bust. You can move anything in a prime neighborhood when the boom is on as it is now, but tiny, charmless one bed and studio units are almost impossible to unload when things go bust. And that always happens sooner or later after these rapid runups.
Did the resident bigot just acknowledge that the basis of his opinion is hearsay from a friend’s teenage child who has only driven through the area?
At least make something up that makes you seem remotely reliable.
Bigots are the types who move to Highland Park/Deerfield or join the Standard Club to be amongst their own and flee diversity. Nobody can really be a bigot in diverse Chicago unless they are professional “advocates” for a certain race, like Luis Gutierrez, Jesse Jackson etc. are.
It was the parents who drive their HS kid to his job that explained the situation of the seediness of Boystown versus the opposite situation in SoPo.
From the beginning I said: “this property may be far enough east of Halsted to avoid all the drugs, party lifestyle, associated with the gay community. “
HH darling don’t kid yourself. You are a bigot if there has ever been one.
No, you are. You use the term, not me. It takes one to know one.
renter for 8 years moray? you missed the top and the bottom. too bad for you.
“Huh? That incident was essentially as far west of Southport as Wrigley is east. Is the SoPo Corridor really over 3/4 of a mile wide?”
Southport isn’t simply one street.
“Southport isn’t simply one street.”
Who suggested it is?
“renter for 8 years moray? you missed the top and the bottom. too bad for you.”
who cares about the top/bottom. my rent is sooooo cheap. and if you rent, if ever your house were ever to be infested w sewage, could just move rather than having to put up w it.
I think HD forgot to put a sarcasm tag on his post.
check out the heat map, Boystown versus SoPo
http://www.trulia.com/local/cook-county-il/tiles:1|points:1_crime