What Is Realistic For Assessments in a High Rise? A 2/2 at 653 N. Kingsbury in River North
This 2-bedroom in Kingsbury on the Park at 653 N. Kingsbury in River North came on the market in August 2017.
The building was designed by Lucien Lagrange in 2003 and has 130 units and a parking garage.
This unit is a corner unit with north and east exposures from floor to ceiling windows.
It has dark wood floors, custom window coverings and a chef’s kitchen with maple modern cabinets, stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops along with a large island.
The bathroom has duel sinks and a separate natural stone shower.
The unit has central air, washer/dryer in the unit and parking is available for $30,000.
Originally listed in August 2017, it has been reduced $21,500 to $478,000.
It has monthly assessments of $698 which includes virtually everything including heat, air conditioning, cable and Internet as well as the other features of a full amenity building like doorman and exercise room.
Given what heat and/or air costs per month for a 2/2 of this size as well as cable and Internet, are these assessments actually cheap?
Sarah Ziehr at Redfin has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #1807: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed
- Sold in October 2003 for $336,000 (no parking)
- Sold in July 2011 for $343,000 (no parking included)
- Originally listed in August 2017 for $499,500
- Reduced
- Currently listed for $478,000 (parking is $30,000 extra)
- Assessments of $698 a month (includes heat, a/c, gas, doorman, cable, Internet, exercise room, exterior maintenance, scavenger, snow removal)
- Taxes of $6694
- Central Air
- Washer/dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 14×12
- Bedroom #2: 12×10
- Office: 10×6
Hope no one gets killed in that bathroom
The finishes in this place suck, guess they ran out of money and could only afford 3′ of tile on the wet walls
There’s no sf listed because its small. Whomever is marketing this is playing around a bit to make this place seem bigger than it really is. The couch is about 4′ from the TV and they’ve stretched some of the photos
Assessment level and what it includes is the highlight of this place. Not my thing.
Isn’t 600-700 pretty much the standard assessment for a 2/2 in river north?
regarding assessment levels—one of the key expenses here is doorstaff—if they are 24 x 7, that’s particularly expensive for a building of this size (a lot easier to divide approx 200K for 4 shifts/fully loaded cost, by 200 units than 100). Even just daytime doormen would still be a lot. It seems like most buildings of this size–unless higher end–do not have this anymore. The other costs (and hopefully accruing for major system repairs and replacements) can quickly add up to 400 or 500 for this sized unit, even in a newer building: Insurance, elevator maint, some landscaping, engineer, janitorial, utilities, cable.
In retrospect, that 2011 price was pretty amazing. Tough to find a decent 2/2 in a high rise in RN for less than $350k. Sure the finishes are a bit cheap but so what. I have cheaper finishes and furniture in my house too – I’ve got kids who bang into everything, write with markers on the fall, and between the 6-12 month age, bang everything they can grab into something else. I made the mistake of buying an expensive all wood coffee table before I had kids, and now it’s practically destroyed with dents and scratches due to kids.
The assessments do seem reasonable. I don’t know that I would say they’re cheap. There’s a big difference between $700 and $2300 assessments from the post yesterday.
HD – the 2011 price might look low now, but as someone who bought in this neighborhood in 2011, there were a lot of 2/2s on the market for $300-400K. I think what’s ridiculous is trying to list this for $499K. However, four 2/2s have sold in this building in the last year and they all went for >$500K. Most had nicer finishes though, and I didn’t look to see if parking was included.
JAN TERRI DISAPPROVED!!!
NICE SQUEEZE PAD THO LOLZZ!!!!!!!!!!!
I own a 1/1 with everything included and assmt’s are $550/mo, so I would say that it seems pretty reasonable.
HD –
I bought a unit around 2011 for about 350k, currently worth around 500k. If you were a smart buyers 6 or so years ago, it’s paying off now.
“could only afford 3? of tile on the wet walls”
isn’t this pretty common for a stand alone tub?
“I bought a unit around 2011 for about 350k, currently worth around 500k. If you were a smart buyers 6 or so years ago, it’s paying off now.”
I don’t know about this. Maybe your situation was different. I needed a home in 2011 so I purchased one. I needed a (larger) home last year so we purchased another one. I know plenty of smart people who purchased condos in 2008 and got burned. I don’t think we “timed” the market particularly well when buying last year, but we needed space for our family. Our condo has appreciated >$100K, but I don’t think we were particularly savvy RE investors in our mid-20s. We got lucky that the market was attractive when we were ready to buy.
“I bought a unit around 2011 for about 350k, currently worth around 500k. If you were a smart buyers 6 or so years ago, it’s paying off now.”
If you bought $350,000 of bitcoin in 2011 it would be worth $5,600,000,000 today.
“$350,000 of bitcoin in 2011 it would be worth $5,600,000,000 ”
Picking the 2011 bottom, sure. In July 2011, Bitcoin was ~$31.
Also, who would lend you $280k to buy Bitcoin in 2011?
A friend owns this unit on another floor. I was surprised by how small the living room and kitchen are. Other than the kitchen, the finishes are surprisingly mundane. The assessments are reasonable but I think the price for the unit is high since a buyer will probably want to re-do the bathrooms (or at least I would.
To the question: are these assessments actually cheap?
Here is one way to look at it…
Assuming 1200 sq ft., use a per sf/ft calculation.
$300 – $.25/sqft = exterior maintenance, scavenger, snow removal
$120 – $.10/sqft doorman
$120 – $.10/sqft Heat, A/C
$120 = $.10/sqft cable, Internet, exercise room
====
$660
… by that method, the assessments of $698 are fair.
God, that parking podium is awful.
The assessments seem fair for what you get. How does sharing the utilities work though? Does it mean that this place doesn’t have its own furnace and air conditioner? If not, can each unit control its own heating/air conditioning?
“I don’t know about this. Maybe your situation was different. I needed a home in 2011 so I purchased one. I needed a (larger) home last year so we purchased another one. I know plenty of smart people who purchased condos in 2008 and got burned. I don’t think we “timed” the market particularly well when buying last year, but we needed space for our family. Our condo has appreciated >$100K, but I don’t think we were particularly savvy RE investors in our mid-20s. We got lucky that the market was attractive when we were ready to buy.”
What many do not understand is that often times you personal situations dictate real estate purchases much more than the market. I do not want to spend another $25-30K on rent next year and have the means to purchase a place for $350K in the next 2 months. Is the market perfect, not by a long shot, but would waiting a couple more years really negate the added rent cost?–very likely not.
So many of my friends all of a sudden become RE experts whenever you talk about buying (especially when they might be jealous that they didn’t save up enough yet, etc.). Yes I understand that 4500 new luxury apartment units are coming onto the market each year (but they’re unlikely to convert to condos for a long time and moreso impact the rental market).
Call me old fashioned but I’m so tired of places where the LR/DR and kitchen are combined. Especially ones like this where all three have enough space together to be about one room. I also don’t like how many of the windows here seem to face directly into other parts of the building, parts of which look like 1960s Soviet architecture. And the 2nd bedroom looks tiny.
Otherwise, it’s great.
What, exactly, makes this a “chef’s kitchen”? Is it because it has a stove and a fridge?
“Other than the kitchen, the finishes are surprisingly mundane.”
Callebaut: This building is old enough that sellers really need to think about renovating the kitchen and baths. They’re, basically, starting to show their age, especially at a much higher price point that many are trying to get.
“I bought a unit around 2011 for about 350k, currently worth around 500k. If you were a smart buyers 6 or so years ago, it’s paying off now.”
Congrats Riz. That’s great for you and your family.
Large parts of the GreenZone have seen this kind of appreciation off the bottom.
CLOSED 492,500
Interesting how a price drop seems to have prompted a bidding war to a price point that likely would have snared the property at the previous ask. Thanks David.