$600k Reduction on South Loop Townhouse: 232 E. 14th
Remember this luxury South Loop townhouse at 232 E. 14th Street? We chattered about it in December 2007.
It is still on the market and has been reduced by $600,000.
Cynthia Bauer at Sudler Sotheby’s has the listing.
232 E. 14th, Unit #1E: 4 bedrooms, 2 full and 2 half baths, 4400 square feet
- Sold in June 2004 for $1,391,645
- Was listed in December 2007 for $2,599,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed for $1,999,999
- 2 car attached garage
- The listing states there is a “walnut elevator”
- Taxes of $20,200
This seller doesn’t know it yet but this is going REO.
Sorry but what did they do to this place to justify 600k in improvements? Also who can afford this place given the ridiculous taxes?
LOL I’d buy it if it had “cawford” ceilings.
Meanwhile, townhomes at 18th & Indiana (Kensington Park I & II) fly off the resale shelf. Two were recently under contract in less than one week on the market. Price points $750k and $900k.
That must be a really big walnut. 🙂
Perhaps their ad could read: Gold Coast prices in the South Loop!
Seller needs to lay off the pipe
Beautiful place, reasonable taxes based on the ask price.
Not too out of line based on the likely selling price, which is, sorry, the 2004 price. This is newer construction, which is usually taxed at about 2% market value.
The seller need not expect to recover their $600K in improvements. Only in this wacky runup of the past few years could you sink money into frivolous improvements and hope to recover your dough. You mostly do these renos for your own enjoyment while occupying the hoouse.
“expect to recover their $600K in improvements”
Isn’t the “$600k in improvements” just an assumption? I don’t see it referenced in the listing or anywhere else. I think this is just your typical seller who thinks their property is worth a lot more than it is.
YAWN!
BTW, that is $2,000 a month taxes going to Todd Stroger…… WELL worth it
I’m speaking in relative terms about the taxes.
Personally, I believe we need to retire property taxes and find other ways of financing necessary municipal functions that do not: A. Force you to keep paying rent to the Strogers of the country for property you are supposed to OWN; B. does not give the municipality an unlimited call on the financial wherewithal of all citizens and businesses up to and often beyond their ability to pay; and C. represents a clear and fair relationship between the services that the denizens of the area jointly and severally receive from the municipality, and what they pay for them.
Property taxes are not only one of the most brutally regressive taxes ever, they are most of all a means of preventing you from ever actually owning your property at all.
What is the use of struggling to buy a place, maintain it, improve it, and pay off the mortgage, when you will be confronted with the prospect of being blown out of it by escalating taxes in your declining years? I mean, that’s why you bought, so that you could earn a secure HOME for your failing years, that you would not have to worry about losing as your earning ability inevitably declines.As it is at this moment, it is much more economical to rent than to buy.
Would not this property be part of the south loop tif? If so, then won’t most of this property’s tax bill stays in the south loop to help subsidize construction of new condos that no one will buy?
If indeed this is part of a TIF, future taxes will be diverted away from the services you need and pay for as a citizen, such as police, fire protection, sewer and road infrastructure, schools, parks… and to the back pockets of the developer of the TIF.
Chicago has over 160 TIF districts leeching money from our civil services and amenities and to the coffers of Big Barn stores, developers of redundant housing, private educational institutions (Loyola TIF), and whatever other purpose seems good to the local politicos and their contributors.
“I believe we need to retire property taxes and find other ways of financing necessary municipal functions”
Okay, to an extent. But a LOT of municipal services provide benefits that accrue to real estate–police and fire services, streets and sanitation, transit, parks, library, etc. And completely undoing the property tax-public education link is a very, very fraught proposition. That said, the Cook County portion of property tax (except Forest Preserve and Sheriff) is very dubious, whether run by Stroger, Daley or someone beyond reproach. And the amounts going to both the City and County have disconnected from the real cost of providing the services.
I will not argue with the municipal services you list. Those are what I live in a top-tier city for, and I’m happy to pay for them, including the Forest Preserve, which is rare and wonderful thing that greatly enhances the areas livability.
These are all “necessary municipal functions”. However, we might want to look at other ways of financing these things besides this extremely regressive tax.
And, better, we might want to place strict limits on what our tax money can be used for. The services and amenities you list are absolutely legitimate and desirable, and things this city would be much poorer without.
We need to allocate more money to such things, not less. Moreover, we need badly to add to the list with things that will enhance our emergency preparedness, like a city-wide wireless network available to all citizens and businesses cheaply; and we urgently need to repair and drastically upgrade our water, sewer, and transportation (street and rail) infrastructure.
This means that we urgently need to reduce and hopefully eliminate spending for non-public purposes, and we need a mechanism by which we can force our politicians to stay on track with our money and prevent it from being diverted to things like the TIF boondogles and other corporate “gimmes” that give us so little in return for such massive gifts.
The County provides a wide array of useful services but there is a ton of bloat and much of it comes in the form of patronage. It’s been known for years that the hospital system, juvenile detention system and the administrative offices exist as they do only to provide good high paying patronage jobs on the tax payer’s dime. Where else is the money going? We have the highest sales tax in the nation!
For how many years has the Stroger family stacked the county government from top to bottom with its own political hacks? And yet every two years, I’d bet that 80% of the posters on this board punch Stroger’s democratic ticket without a second thought. This is one of the bluest counties in the country. I’ve known countless number of people who say they’ll never vote republican and instead vote for the democratic machine – full well knowing what that means. Stroger and his cronies know the citizens will vote for them no matter what they do. So they tax the hell out of everyone and then hire all their friends and family with the money. Yet most of the county continues to vote for them. That’s what the citizens get when one party rules everything for long periods of time. I hate to say it but Cook County gets the government it deserves. I’m not trying to rip on democrats as repub v. democrat debate, but the fact that when the county elects only one party to run the county, everyone loses except Stroger and his cronies. They’re making $100,000 grand a year or more, traveling around the county in government vehicles, gas paid for by the county, hell Dorothy Brown has a personal assistant to get her mail, retrieve her newspaper and open the front door of her home when he picks her up for work – in a county vehicle. She’s the freaken clerk of court – not the queen of england!
Do you want to apply for a county job? You don’t need to apply; you just need to know Stroger. watch the nightly news on 32/9/7/5/2 and read the trib. They’ve put together a campaign to rip apart the stroger administration, and come next election, hopefully break the one party rule. The editorial page of the tribune has a counter at the bottom that states the number of days since the tax hike and the number of days until the next election. The news stations have stories on a regular basis about the corruption, patronage, made up political jobs that pay $100k+ a year for Stroger family members…..What about the story the other day about how the children of the county all have seasonal summer jobs at the water reclamation district paying $13.00 an hour? It’s more like paid summer camp for the administration’s children. And if you’re not the child of cook county’s politically connected – you need not apply. Enough ranting for tonight – i’m going to bed.
HD,
Nice try. Theres enough welfare mamas, city employees, social workers and other miscellaneous “livin’ the dream” hipsters who vote to never make this an eventuality. Blame the two-party system more than anything, which ultimately relies on the common person.
This is why I celebrate tax increases: most are targeted at consumer (not savers) behavior and are ill thought out.
People deserve the government they vote into office. If they want to believe the Rs are bad and the Ds are good who are we to say otherwise?
Of course when these people start pumping out kids they all-of-a-sudden become Arlington Heights house mommies and daddy’s. No longer ‘livin the dream’ as much as they are uber-commuters paying more for housing than any other city in the midwest.
People deserve the government they vote into office. Remember that. Not everybody deserves to ever be upper middle class. Remember that too. Life is all about choices.
Those people who vote always vote for the same party, and usually its the candidate annoited by the machine. At least some collar counties swing between red and blue and the parties have to work for votes. Rahm emmanuel doesn’t even campaign in his own district – my district. Every so often he sends out a flyer that says “look at all the free stuff I got for you “. He was annointed by the local machine and now he’s got a job for life. Thanks people.
HD: “every two years, … punch Stroger’s democratic ticket”
We only wish it was every two years–Cook County board is a 4 year seat. Not to take this further into politics, but I’m an almost kneejerk Democratic voter and I have NEVER voted for a Stroger. I voted for the noxious Pereica–and would do so every time that his opponent is a Stroger or a Daley. My one serious (SERIOUS!) issue with Obama is that he showed up at a Stroger rally and allowed himself to “endorse” the Toddler.
L: “However, we might want to look at other ways of financing these things besides this extremely regressive tax.”
Okay, suggest something else which is funded by the beneficiaries of the services that is less “regressive” and would produce the same amount of revenue. I wouldn’t want to argue your position on this–I can see re-shuffling the allocation of the tax burden so that low income folks living in market rate rentals or owned property get an income tax credit, but in general, property tax isn’t really regressive–it’s a WEALTH tax rather than an INCOME tax, which is actually more progressive than a sales tax.
On the waste, graft, patronage and TIFs, I mostly agree.
anon is the reason I support excessive taxation of Cook county citizens. By his own admission he is a knee-jerk democrat voter, imaigne how much analysis and forethouhgt anon puts into his voting ticket.
In Cook county you have 911 dispatchers making upwards of 200k, guaranteed pension and all the rest. You have a two-tiered employment system with public and government workers in this country receiving substantially more all-in compensation for their occupation than the private sector, not to mention more job security. Yet this is allowed to exist because the median voter is stupid and only looks at top line remuneration and figures they’re making x% more than public official X despite having zero job security, zero pension, and meager or expensive benefits.
I’m smart enough to shift my behavior around to minimize taxes and maximize take home income. In fact I’d bet I’m smarter than the median voter. I say tax them to death–look at how well the one-party system worked for Detroit. People get what they vote for and deserve is right.
Getting a government job is like winning the lottery for many county residents. They keep voting for the same people over and over again hoping that one of these days they’re gonna get a winner and score themselves one of those good government jobs. Do you know that CTA bus drivers make $25k an hour after 5 years…plus overtime, pension and great benefits? And you don’t even have to go to grad school either!
Who was the poster earlier who said that he made $60k a year? I bet he works his butt off for that. but he’s stupid, he could have just got a job with a local municipal governmental organization and earned $60k barely breaking a sweat. Drive some buses, work some overtime, before you know it, you’re at $60k. Why work long hours in the rat race when the government can pay you better? And how do you keep that job? punch the one-party ticket…..
Bob: “anon is the reason I support excessive taxation of Cook county citizens.”
Don’t be such a jerk Bob. I vote Dem b/c of social issues; if the Republicans ran candidates who didn’t kowtow to the (large and politically significant) fringe of the right on social issues, I might have a real option. I haven’t ever voted for Blago, I vote against Rahm–not so much b/c I disapprove, but b/c I want him to feel slightly less secure, I’ve never voted for a Stroger, I vote against my incumbent alderman EVERY TIME, b/c it shouldn’t be a job for life.
I take it you live outside the county? Of course you want others taxed.
What’s the matter with peraica? Bc He wants accountablilty from public officials? Because he wants a balanced budget that cuts waste? Because he stands up to and argues with toddler and beavers and daley? Or is he noxious because his party affiliation is republican? I think we all know the answer. Go ahead with your kneejerk reaction and vote for anita alvarez i.e the machine’s candidate and expect more of the same. Its frustrating, really.
“What’s the matter with peraica?”
Um, I noted I vote on social issues and I vote Dem–maybe it’s that Pereica has expressed that he’s anti-choise and anti-gay rights that causes me heartburn. Look, if you have such a huge problem with Cook government, move out of the county–I consider it almost daily and would do so without a second thought if we were to sell.
Cook County – love it or leave it? huh?
hd–until there’s a real crackdown on the rampant corruption in the city and county government, there isn’t any way to out vote the patronage armies. Even if you, Bob and I (and everyone else who has ever posted here) could convince every single person we encounter to first vote (both primary and general) and then vote against anyone connected to the machine, it simply isn’t going to change anything until elected officials and their families start going to jail.
And, of course, it isn’t just the local officials–they are all backstopped by our dear representatives and senators (and Blago) in Springfield who refuse to propose legislation that would help Cook County residents throw off the yoke of corruption and cronyism that is supported by state law that enforces ridiculous, archaic governence structures in Cook County. The republican party of Illinois isn’t the answer either–they have demonstrated that they are just as beholden to the culure of corruption, cronyism and patronage as the dems.
So, it’s more like–Cook County, accept that you knew what you were getting (and find the right person to ask “Ubi Est Mea”) or leave it. Anything else is a waste of too much energy for too little return.
Except that we can trade-in Stroger (for someone less obviously corrupt and in over his head) in 2010–make sure everyone you know who lives in Cook both (a) registers as a Dem for the primary and (b) votes for WHOEVER is running second against Stroger in the Feb primary. If you’re too opposed to registering as a dem even temporarily, then you don’t really care about getting rid of Stroger, either.
End of my political rating here. I promise to leave it all alone for the rest of teh month at least.