Another Vintage Beauty Finally Under Contract: 4712 N. Paulina

We chattered about this 3-bedroom 1930’s vintage unit at 4712 N. Paulina in Ravenswood in June and July 2008.

It is finally under contract after several price reductions. The listing now says, “Reduced, incredible price!”

See more pictures here.

Here’s the history:

Unit #2N: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, sunroom, 2200 square feet

  • I couldn’t find an original sales price
  • Was listed in June 2008 for $429,000 (parking included)
  • Reduced
  • Was listed in July 2008 for $409,000 (parking included)
  • Reduced
  • Was listed in December 2008 for $399,000 (parking included)
  • Under contract
  • Assessments of $402 a month
  • Taxes of $3,720
  • In-unit W/D
  • No central air- window units
  • Keller Williams Lincoln Park has the listing.  See the listing and pictures here.

26 Responses to “Another Vintage Beauty Finally Under Contract: 4712 N. Paulina”

  1. $181/square foot is a pretty good price, seeing as how posters in the last thread said that they wouldn’t go below $200/square foot.

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  2. i’m guessing closing price is 375K

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  3. that IS a good price considering no central air, far north with large square footage. i guess the end of the world is not coming after all, folks.

    what will all the naysayers do with all extra time on their hands? 🙂

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  4. No WD in unit, no central air? No thanks! It is a nice place other than that, and the assessments are fairly low for a vintage place. Guess it isn’t a coop.

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  5. The buyer is a knifecatcher as prices trend downwards. We need buyers like this guy to set comps on the way down. No one ever said the world was going to end; they said that prices would slowly return to affordability.

    “paulj on December 30th, 2008 at 9:22 am
    that IS a good price considering no central air, far north with large square footage. i guess the end of the world is not coming after all, folks.

    what will all the naysayers do with all extra time on their hands? “

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  6. homedelete, if you don’t think living in this huge, beautiful condo for about $2000/month is affordable, I am not sure what planet you are on. (factor 10% down and tax deduction).

    Two recent college grads or 2 service professionals (waiters) would qualify…

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  7. I don’t know what planet you’re on paulj:

    Assuming at $375,000 sales price and 10% down ($37,500 which most college grads have) – a $337,500 mortgage (at 4.75% – again assuming waiters/college grads with *excellent* credit):

    $1,760 principal and interest
    $1,408 Interest only
    plus
    $310 taxes plus $402 HOA puts us at:

    $2,472 not including insurance, maintenance, special assessments….

    Rents are between $1,600 to $2,200.

    http://chicago.craigslist.org/search/apa?query=ravenswood&minAsk=min&maxAsk=max&bedrooms=3

    Of course tax benefits help too…but you don’t get those benefits until the end of the year…and everyone’s tax situation is different so it’s not applied equally to everyone.

    If you did the IO route and factored in tax benefits then rent v. might start to look similar but they’re no where near equal.

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  8. $2k a month? what?

    399000 – 39.9k down payment (lol what recent college grads or waiters will have that laying around?)

    Lets just say they have an above 750 credit score (again what are the odds?) and get a 4.75% loan,

    just the mortgage comes out to $1873 a month

    add in
    taxes of $310 and
    assessments of $402

    and that comes out to $2585 a month, WITHOUT utilities!

    Even with the tax breaks your home expenses are WAY over 2k a month.

    This is a home for professional adults probably older than 40, with household income well over $150k a year.

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  9. Haha HD we posted the same thing pretty much 🙂

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  10. 4437 N. Paulina – 3 blocks south of above property: $1,500.00…..

    ****4437 N. Paulina – available January 1st – beautiful Ravenswood location – Newly decor 3 br, New bath, New eat-in kit, dr, lr, close to el and Metra\shopping, lndry on premises, hardwood floors, separate central Heat and A/C and Pets OK with non-refundable deposit, utilities not included – $1500/mo. plus Sec.*****

    http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/apa/972941761.html

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  11. “G on June 25th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
    This unit last sold from the developer on 4/23/91 for $157,500 with parking. A unit like this will be had for $150/sf when the market hits bottom and wallows there for a while.”

    Let’s see if it closes. Anything below $170/sf at this early point in the correction will lead me to believe that my estimate in June was optimistic.

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  12. Don’t forget that 10% down will require mortgage insurance at about $50+/month until 20% “equity” is attained.

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  13. $168/ft would be 5%/year for the 17.5 years since the original closing.

    Where was the residential cycle in ’91? On the downslope, but not at the bottom, right? So, sort of a cyclical match, no?

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  14. Sure, if you accept the 5%/yr and that this downslope isn’t actually a cliff.

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  15. I was just suggesting that “under $170/sf” isn’t indicative of much on this particuler unit. Under $170/ft is on track with (approximately) “normal” appreciation and isn’t based on a prior bubble or overcorrection price.

    Sure, there’s plenty of room underneath that which we will likely see, but if the new owner also holds it for 17 years, they’ll have a somewhat reasonable basis if it closes at $370k (not that I think that’s likely it will be that low) so long as we don’t have a long dollar deflation through 2025.

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  16. With tax deductions on both the RE taxes and the interest, the total cost is around 2K per month. You can lower your monthly withholding and get the amount estimated in your check every month rather than getting it back from the IRS – financial planning 101. Does anyone actually get money back on their tax return? Big mistake letting the gov keep your cash for 1-18 months. Talk to your tax advisor.

    Oh, and you get to live there. Many seem to forget the joy of that. Dinner parties, holidays, hanging out by the fire and watching the snow fall…. memories, decorating.. continue to write rent checks, what is more depressing than that?

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  17. “continue to write rent checks, what is more depressing than that?”

    Watching equity evaporate?

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  18. “Oh, and you get to live there. Many seem to forget the joy of that. Dinner parties, holidays, hanging out by the fire and watching the snow fall…. memories, decorating.. continue to write rent checks, what is more depressing than that?”

    Continuing to write checks for house payments to a depreciating, illiquid debt asset that you can barely afford?

    What you can’t have dinner parties, or celebrate holidays if you rent? You have to be a realtor! The only thing that’s different from renting or owning is the ability to renovate your place. You have a HELL of a lot more liability/responsibility as an owner however, and right now you are certainly paying a large premium to be able to spend more money on your own place…

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  19. Paying a mortgage as the value decreases down from your purchase price?

    Also, it’s not likely that the “Two recent college grads or 2 service professionals (waiters)” would be itemizing already so the standard deduction has to be considered against any “tax savings.”

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  20. That’s not correct. We showed above that it’s at least $2,500 a month not including PMI, maintenance or insurance. And tax deductions are different for everybody. AND the first $5k doesn’t count because it’s available via the standard deduction and if the owners are married make that ~$10k of ~$16,800 interest is not applicable.

    So lets assume at the 25% tax bracket a deduction of $6,800 is $1,700 bucks or $141.00 a month. Still, nowhere near compelling. But hey, the figures don’t matter, b/c paulj researched it!

    Or I could rent a similar unit three blocks south for $1,500.00

    “With tax deductions on both the RE taxes and the interest, the total cost is around 2K per month. “

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  21. paulj has been attending Steve Heitman’s RE seminars on being a land baron I imagine.

    Quick hint paulj: SteveO actually doesn’t make much off of his real estate holdings, he makes most of his $ off of his seminars instructing others how not to make much off of real estate.

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  22. HD: “But hey, the figures don’t matter, b/c paulj researched it!”

    It’s $20,616–you forgot the RE taxes. But the std deduction is also up to $10,900 for MFJ. So it’s $2429–$202/month–still not nearly enough.

    It’s best to be right when you’re piling sh!t on someone else’s argument, and you know well enough why, HD. But that doesn’t matter, b/c HD’s on a roll!

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  23. I did forget the real estates but it still doesn’t matter like you said.

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  24. god damn it, i suck at multi-tasking…

    “I neglected to calculate the real estate taxes, but regardless, the figures are still not nearly enough, as anon(tfo) has shown above.”

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  25. HD, renting a skanky apartment for $1500/month would not be an option for me. Nope, no way. That was fine when I was 22 and broke, but not now. I am sure it works for some people. I still love you all and wish you all the best in 2009.

    And no Sonies, I am not involved in residential real estate sales or development in any way, not that there is anything wrong with that.

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  26. wow, I have that exact same unit! actually, I have four of them, unfortunately I live in East Garfield Park where I’d be lucky to get 399K for the entire building. oh well, at least I got some decorating ideas for the living room.

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