The Spring Buying Season is Here: A 2-Bedroom Loft at 616 W. Fulton in the Fulton Market
This 2-bedroom brick and timber loft in the China Club Lofts at 616 W. Fulton in the Fulton Market neighborhood of the West Loop came on the market in January 2016.
The China Club Lofts were converted in the 1990s and has 112 units plus a heated parking garage.
When they were originally converted, this area was pretty sparse but there are now some of the cities best restaurants and the French Market not to mention the hottest area of the city, the Fulton Market area, just blocks away.
This loft has 14 foot ceilings and dark, diagonal wood floors.
The listing says it has a custom kitchen with quartz counter tops, stainless steel appliances and a glass backsplash.
Neither bedroom has full walls, which is common in many Chicago lofts.
The loft has central air, washer/dryer in the unit and garage parking is available for $15,000.
The spring buying season “officially” starts after the Super Bowl.
With warmer than normal weather, and no snow to be seen, will buyers be out even earlier here in Chicago?
Pasquale Recchia at @Properties has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #302: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed
- Sold in December 1996 for $174,000 (included parking)
- Sold in March 2001 for $292,000 (included parking)
- Sold in August 2012 for $277,000 (included parking)
- Currently listed for $469,000 (parking is $15,000 extra)
- Assessments of $434 a month (includes doorman, cable, Internet, exercise room, exterior maintenance, lawn care, scavenger, snow removal)
- Taxes of $5101
- Central Air
- Washer/dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 16×12
- Bedroom #2: 10×10
Is the only light exposure in this entire place the window in the living room, which faces another building?
I understand that this is a loft…and in chicago we definitely stretch the definition of a second bedroom – but shouldn’t at least one bedroom have a window?
Ah the 1100 sqft bowling alley lofts are coming back on the market at $400+ a sqft! party on!
Riz: you don’t have to have a window in a bedroom. BUT- it has to have some natural light which is why lofts put in 3/4th height walls.
Many of the lofts converted in the 1990s didn’t have any windows in the bedrooms. They made them long and narrow (as this one is.)
The listing says the unit faces north.
It’s really hot out there. Anyone have any buying stories?
I heard one today. 10 offers on a property in Avondale. Not even in the GreenZone. And yes, Avondale has been hot for a while but STILL.
There is simply NO inventory. Looks like many buyers will be getting into bidding wars this spring and it’s another market where you had better see the property the first day it comes on the market or you’re out of luck.
This morning a former client called me looking for some old foreclosure paperwork. I asked why they would need the paperwork today. I was told the mortgage broker needed it so they could buy more properties. Some people just can’t get enough.
“Roughly 5 percent of all Federal Housing Administration-insured loans closed in December had FICO scores below 600; 3.4 percent had FICOs between 550 and 599, and 1.5 percent scored between 500 and 549. FHA, whose role in the marketplace is to provide a doorway to homeownership for applicants who could have difficulties being approved for “conventional” loans — those eligible for sale to giant investors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — still pulls in plenty of applicants with solid scores. Thirty seven percent of approved applicants had FICO scores of 700 to 799 in December.
But the majority, 56 percent, had FICOs between 600 and 699″
Read that last line for a second…over half of FHA buyers in Dec. had credit scores between 600 and 699.
A 600 FICO score means you sometimes pay your bills on time. Sometimes, but not all the time.
And a 699 means that more often than not you pay your bill on time, but not always, and some of your bills – like old collections – you don’t bother to pay at all.
It’s not that hard to have an 800 credit score, it just means you pay your bills on time. That’s all. If you buy something on credit, you pay it back.
That’s why the market is “hot”, because unqualified buyer with 601 credit scores are feeding the market at the bottom, and that’s filtering up, almost all the way to the top, except for the $1,000,000+ plus far suburban market, for which there is just too much supply that may never recover given the demand for $1,000,000 SFH in the GZ.
A
And it’s only going to get worse with the threatened end of Dodd-Frank, etc. It’s no secret that the financial folks in the new government would love to bring back the halcyon days of sub-prime loans, etc.
“It’s no secret that the financial folks in the new government would love to bring back the halcyon days of sub-prime loans”
Which is, of course, why they halted the cut to FHA insurance premium rates. Makes perfect sense.
“And it’s only going to get worse with the threatened end of Dodd-Frank, etc”
yeah because Dodd Frank totally punished the guys that fucked up the economy last time right? NOPE, all it does is fuck with honest hard working people that try to do things the right way.
It’s in the Ogden district. Today, a homeless guy walked on the Ogden playground and started attacking children at recess. Now, there are homeless all over that area, particularly at the park across the street. Also, the playground has a gate and lock that nobody ever thought to use. There is also cameras all over and security guards. Not sure why keeping the children safe at Ogden is a monumental task.