Can’t Sell? Auction it! 1634 N. Bissell in Lincoln Park

Sellers are trying new methods every day to move their properties. 1634 N. Bissell, Unit #D, in Lincoln Park is trying to auction off the property at the end of the month.

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The unit has been on the market, off and on, since September 2007.

Will an auction work?

Here’s the listing:

*AUCTION W/MIN BID 10/28 SEEE AGENT REMARKS*PENTHOUSE DUPLEX W/PRIVATE ENTRANCE. OPEN FLOORPLAN, HARDWOOD FLRS, LARGE COOK’S KITCHEN W/BUILT-IN DESK SPACE, SS APPLIANCES, 5-STAR STOVE, GRANITE COUNTERS, BAY WINDOWS IN LR & MASTER BDRM

HI CEILINGS, GAS FP, EXPOSED CHGO BRICK, LARGE ENSUITE BDRMS, 28X22′ PRIV ROOFTOP DECK W/WETBAR AREA. ATTACHED 1-CAR GARAGE, NEW(’06) GAS F/A FURNACE & C/A, CENTRAL FIRE & ALARM SYS.

The unit has been reduced $254,900 since it was first listed in 2007.

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Sheldon Good Brokerage, LLC has the listing. See more pictures here.

Unit #D: 2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 1 car parking, no square footage given

  • Sold in July 1996 for $265,500
  • Sold in November 2003 for $475,000
  • Originally listed in September 2007 for $649,900
  • Withdrawn in December 2007 at $629,000
  • Re-listed in March 2008 for $589,900
  • Withdrawn in May 2008 at $589,900
  • Re-listed in July 2008 for $559,000
  • Reduced
  • Now $395,000 – as a minimum bid at auction (parking included)
  • Assessments of $240 a month
  • Taxes of $5,888
  • Central air
  • Rooftop deck

14 Responses to “Can’t Sell? Auction it! 1634 N. Bissell in Lincoln Park”

  1. They’ll have to drop it to $289,000.

    That said, I’m having a tough time believing this was sold in July 1996 for $265,500. Early shill transaction ?

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  2. Comps fail to capture fair market values during bubble or manic periods; similarly, trendline analysis is dubious when confronted with pervasive shill pricing behavior. Consequently, buyers must also analyze a property from either a price/net income or from a price/rent basis. In both cases, $289,000 is the equilibrium.

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  3. 395k seems like a bargain. Then again I bet it sells for more.

    Note to people living in 2/2s: they’re not all created equal. This one has a roofdeck with an downtown skyline view and a parking space, extra half bath.

    So if you live in a 2/2 in Lincoln Park please don’t assume it is worth as much as this property. This property is probably worth more than your 2/2.

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  4. Is it me, or did anyone else notice that the nice roof top deck also has a beautiful view of the BROWN LINE! this place is across the street from the Clyborn bend in the Brown and Purple line. It has to be loud as hell!

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  5. Is it a duplex because it has a rooftop deck?

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  6. Is it me, or did anyone else notice that the nice roof top deck also has a beautiful view of the BROWN LINE! this place is across the street from the Clyborn bend in the Brown and Purple line. It has to be loud as hell!

    Ah, so it is. I was mildly interested until seeing that. No thanks.

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  7. Out of curiosity, can the seller back out of the auction if they don’t like their price (I assume by outbidding the highest bidder)? It seems this seller won’t take any price even CLOSE to 400K.

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  8. Somewhere around $450 seems about right for this place. The kitchen is a bit… startling, I guess, and yes, is right next to El, but the first is cosmetic and the latter to some could be an asset.

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  9. I think it will sell at auction at substantial amount over $400K. Would be surprised to see it go above $500, but i’ve seen people do dumb things at auctions.

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  10. How is right next to the brown line an asset? it’s not near a station.

    though, it is pretty close to a subway stop.

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  11. David (the first one) on October 1st, 2008 at 10:22 am

    $649K in 2007? Gimme a break. That’s over 8% annual nominal appreciation since 1996. If it were priced correctly in 1996 (hypotehtically) this should be in the $400-475K range now, ballpark depending on the overall condition, quality, renovations, and various X factors.

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  12. Hey what would you think if I told you that it sold for $366,000.00 in 1993? Yeah a Lance Lerch sold to the Bamfords for $366k in 1993; and the Bamfords sold it to Mr. Shepard sold it for $265,500 in 1996. The boom and bust cycle of Lincoln Park real estate continues….history repeats itself time and time again. How much of a haircut will this seller take?

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  13. There’s something seriously funky about that ’93 price–’96 may have been a little lower, but that location and those dates, something about the ’93 price stinks.

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  14. Sorry for posting on this after the thread seems kinda dead but…

    Auctions are a great tool for finding out the real value of hard to value property, as the auctioneer can play the part against the whole, use different auction formats, even changing the format on the fly as he feels best suited to get the highest price from the current attendees and how properties are selling that night. I’ve been to Sheldon Good auctions before and they are a great company. No one dots their i’s and crosses their t’s as well. They do tons of pre sale publicity to get the largest buyer pool which is absolutely critical.

    To answer the trader’s question on sellers backing out…. Typically there is a 10% buyers premium (at least that is what I remember most often, if someone has the details on this one please correct me, I did not order the buyer’s packet) that is paid by the buyer to the auction house. Most often the seller, if he does not wish to sell at the auction price may opt to step in and “purchase” the home himself, by paying the premium the buyer would have owed.

    Generally, I feel auctions are a terrible way to sell residential property. Auctions are great for hard-to-value properties/commercial properties where you have sophisticated buyers who understand the terms of the auction, are comfortable making purchase decisions in a fast real time format, due their due diligence, have experience and funding for auctions and are comfortable putting money on the line they may lose. In most auctions if you fail to purchase you lose the 10% or so you put up as a down payment the very night you won the auction. There are usually no financing contingency clauses. Most residential buyers are simply not comfortable/incapable of doing this, thus the auction format limits the number of potential buyers for a property. Smaller pool of buyers = lower price. Some may argue that the buyers that do show are sophisticated and have the money, but in my experience those people are looking for alpha returns and are not going to bid near market. My experience with the auctions I have attended, both with clients and for myself, is that the sales price ends up being somewhat lowish to fair market value when calculated as: Auction Price + Buyers Premium = Fair Market Value. Usually it seems that the price that is obtained at auction is a little less than I think the poperty could have been sold for traditionally as the open auction format (residential are usually not sealed bid) gives you the highest price a buyer is willing to pay knowing the highest price the other bidders in the room are willing to pay, whereas in a brokered sale the highest price is the highest price you can get someone to pay, before they THINK someone else will pay more. Of course it not unknown for the auction house to bid against the property too – you can have an auction with just one bidder – it’s the auctioneers job to get the price up anyway he can and to push any buyers to their highest. High end multimillion dollar residential properties are exception to this rule as often times they are unique or have other attributes making them hard to value. Properties ripe for conversion to another use or redevelopment may make great candidates also, as the buyer is more likely to be a sophisticated developer.

    My experience has been that when sellers use an auction format its simply because they are unhappy with the realistic value of the property and look to the auction as the alchemist’s cauldron turning their stinking brew of 2×4’s into gold.

    I do like auctions for the fact that they generally remove all the contingencies before the sale, as opposed to inspection contingencies in a traditional sale which most agents just think of as ‘super happy free time to negotiate more money from the seller’. I have often wished that we could just hire independent inspectors for the property and make the results available to all buyers.

    Anyhoo, you will have also noticed that the auction house gets its fee from the seller and the buyer no matter who ends up buying, provided the sale meets any reserve. That’s the beauty of the business; Auctioneers, like bookies, get their money coming, going, crossways, sideways, diagonal-ways, anyways! I should get my auctioneers license…..

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