Foreclosure Alert: Even Luxurious Park Tower Isn’t Immune: 800 N. Michigan

Every corner of the city is being plagued by short sales and foreclosures and even the most luxurious and prestigious high rises aren’t immune.

This 2-bedroom bank-owned unit just came on the market in the Park Tower at 800 N. Michigan Avenue in the Gold Coast. Many of you would know it as the Park Hyatt building.

The listing says the unit has mahogany wood floors, a De Giulio kitchen with a wood paneled Sub-Zero refrigerator, a Miele dishwasher, a LaCornue stove and a granite sink.

The listing also says it is priced $100,000 below the last sale of a unit with the same floor plan- and this bank-owned unit is 22 floors higher in the building (apparently this last sale was on 3/12/09.)

Will buyers be flocking to catch this unit at “well below market price”?

Lisa Kay at Coldwell Banker has the listing. See all of the pictures here.

Unit #5003: 2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2000 square feet

  • Sold on August 6, 2000 for $550,000
  • Sold on August 7, 2000 for $580,000
  • Looks like there was a trustee’s deed in July 2007 for $317,500
  • Bank-owned in February 2009
  • Just listed for $1.150 million (parking looks like it may be included)
  • Assessments of $1023 a month
  • Taxes of $14,459

86 Responses to “Foreclosure Alert: Even Luxurious Park Tower Isn’t Immune: 800 N. Michigan”

  1. I’ll take it for the 2000 price! hah

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  2. logansquarean on April 9th, 2009 at 6:40 am

    um, no. ~8% appreciation annually?

    For that price the entire place needs to be glistening polished and cleaned, and re-photographed. Oh, and it may have been expensive, but get that ghastly yellow “thing” out of the kitchen.

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  3. The 3 flat screens. Looks like a trader who blew out.

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  4. I was thinking the same thing about the owner being a trader. Given how much some of these guys make, it is pretty sad that they are still living check to check.

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  5. Thats the ugliest stove I’ve ever seen. The flatscreens would need to come out and those bedrooms, or at least one, is tiny.

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  6. Huh? How much? For what?

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  7. 100k less than the regular priced, much nicer units? Clearly some trader, who thought he would be getting his 7 figure annual bonus, rain or shine and therefore didn’t bother saving any of it. And god forbid, they buy an “affordable place” they can pay off within 5-7 years. Some of those guys really need financial counseling!

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  8. Great view North from this unit. Note the 3+ parking spaces….

    The condo brings up an interesting internal question for me which is lifestyle. In big cities, people often justify how much they work by what they can buy, but buying just leads to more work. Ford vs a BMW. I am starting to lean towards the Ford.

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  9. The 2000 price was the white-box price, no? All of the build-out was done after purchase, wasn’t it?

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  10. ” Note the 3+ parking spaces”

    Note that every place in hi-rises that CB has listed lately has “3+” parking spaces. It’s the size of the whole garage, not this unit’s number of space.

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  11. WTF Is that a TV behind the Stove? And yeah this guy was a trader… nobody else I know would have 3 computer screens lined up like that. Nice place, but 1.1 million? LOL right! Cut the price in half!

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  12. Anon,
    Your correct, buyers bought white box and built out to there own specifications.

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  13. Matt Garrison on April 9th, 2009 at 8:08 am

    This unit will probably go for full price in less than 2 weeks.

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  14. The MLS is showing two closings on 8/7/2000, one for $510K and the other for $1.1 millions. The $510 K closing had substantial contract period, which i would presume would have allowed time for build-out. I’m assuming the $1.1 is for the built-out unit.

    So this unit is available for 2000 price. any takers here?

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  15. Sonies, I think that is a tv behind the butt ugly stove….. also there is no way in hell this place goes for half asking. That would be $275.00 per sqft. Come on this is park hyatt….

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  16. The listing says one garage space, the “3+” refers to the total, as anon noted.

    Here is a little more history on this unit.

    Sold 8/6/2000 for $510,000
    Sold 8/7/2000 for $1,100,000 according to MLS
    Mortgage 7/1/2002 for $300,000 Wells Fargo
    Lis Pendens 7/15/2004 by Wells Fargo
    Listed 8/26/2004 for $2,950,000 cancelled 4/27/05 after 244 days
    Foreclosure Sale 3/23/2005 for $1,590,000 from Judicial Sales Corp
    Mortgage 6/11/2005 for $2,000,000 Midwest B&T Co
    Listed 7/25/2006 for $2,999,000 cancelled 9/6/06 after 45 days
    Sold 7/18/2007 for $317,500 appears to be a $ error on ccrd
    Mortgage 7/18/2007 for $2,540,000 WAMU appears to confirm $ error
    Lien 4/29/2008 for $6,451 from the condo assn
    Lis Pendens 6/2/2008 by WAMU
    Foreclosure Sale 2/11/2009 from Judicial Sales Corp to JPMorgan
    Listed 4/3/2009 for $1,150,000

    There appears to have been an instant flipper upon closing of the original contract. Perhaps the second owner did the buildout? Either way, the second owner also appears to have been foreclosed upon (although the recorded amount appears to be in error on ccrd.) It then appears that it was purchased at the foreclosure auction by a third party. (Now there’s a relic of the past, you don’t see that much anymore.)

    The first foreclosure purchaser sold it to the last debtor but that recording appears to contain a $ error since the mortgage was recorded the same day for a much greater amount.

    The last owner didn’t pay the lender or assmts for very long, based on the lien and lis pendens filing dates.

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  17. A little simple math tells me that the last debtor’s purchase was for $3,175,000 NOT $317,500 as appears on ccrd. The mort of $2,540,000 happens to be at 80% LTV.

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  18. Way overpriced! 3+ parking, for what, 3 Smart cars all lined up in a row? This is just another seller refusing to believe the housing market crashed and expecting a huge profit as if nothing’s happened.

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  19. It’s a sign o da times, and it’s scary as hell out there. Whether one is a trader, attorney, re agent or plumber, tons of people are being affected. No point in bashing the former owner (unless he/she pulled a Madoff). I suspect a lot of us could find ourselves in a similar predicament if things don’t straighten out at some point.

    Yep, that was white box price. Stove is ug, but expensive.

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  20. “Stove is ug, but expensive”

    The stove is pretty, the Yellow enamel is ugly, and absurd outside a full-Provencal-style kitchen (which I would also hate).

    How do you spend that much and then take the in-stock color that will look absurd in your kitchen either (1) at a discount or (2) because you’re too impatient to wait for the color you want? (which I think are the *only* explanations, given the rest of the decor).

    Does anyone think that $3mm+ was ever “fair value” for this place, compared to what else was available at about the same time for about the same price? I didn’t pay enough attention to condo prices or upper-bracket-type places to know, so it’s a serious question.

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  21. Awesome location… This is whats the worst. When someone puts in lots of expensive ugly stuff and wants you to pay for it. Thanks Bri.. I asked several times for info on this bldg. Always knew some traders would get themselves in trouble at this address.

    Btw.. I am buying some farm land… I love property 🙂

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  22. Not me. I rent. I never bought a million dollar home on the expectation of future riches. I’ll be OK.

    “It’s a sign o da times, and it’s scary as hell out there. Whether one is a trader, attorney, re agent or plumber, tons of people are being affected. No point in bashing the former owner (unless he/she pulled a Madoff). I suspect a lot of us could find ourselves in a similar predicament if things don’t straighten out at some point.”

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  23. No, anon, it doesn’t appear that it was. Here are the two sales in the bldg between 5/1/07-9/30/07:

    #4803 sold 6/15/07 for $1,700,000 (full list) after 1 day on the market. Same floorplan as #5003.

    #5902 sold 9/14/07 for $3,000,000 (LP $3,290,000) after 81 days on the market. This is a 2BR/2.5BA listed as 3,000 SF.

    Speaking of SF, I’m surprised anon hasn’t commmented on this listing’s rooms totaling only 1,027 SF. No doubt the baths and closets are large, but…

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  24. Is 100k off a million dollar property really a foreclosure? Or do you think its a marketing gimmick to garner attention?

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  25. Just got the news on this unit: My coworker’s grandparents lived in this building so of course I had to forward this listing to him. The owner had a mortgage fraud chop shop and based on the amount of foot traffic he had going in the building, lord knows what other business were open. He would flip run down properties in bad neighborhoods for 3-4x their worth to unsuspecting investors. Since mortgage fraud won’t be as easy and lucrative as it used to be, I think we will be seeing more bank owned units like this one. With that being said, this building is a hot commodity, so maybe CB will be able to get within 10% of it’s asking price. If I had the money, I would pay it just to pal around with Mellody Hobson and Ken Griffin.

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  26. Oh the park hyatt.. yeah ok maybe if I won the megamillions i’d put in an offer on this place.

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  27. “No point in bashing the former owner (unless he/she pulled a Madoff)”

    Yeah actually there is a point, at least if the trader worked for a publicly listed company. Its one thing to trade and profit and lose off of your own money. Its entirely another thing to gamble with other people’s money in a good market and think you deserved the gigantic bonus checks you are given for a job well done. Obviously in retrospect he probably didn’t deserve the gigantic bonus checks because he probably blew up his book.

    You need to understand the trader mentality before taking it easy on this tool. To traders its a dog eat dog world. Well you were a tasty morsel for someone in 2008 traderguy.

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  28. “I’m surprised anon hasn’t commmented on this listing’s rooms totaling only 1,027 SF. No doubt the baths and closets are large, but”

    Well, let’s take the 2000 SF as legit–do you really want **half** of your home to be bathrooms, closets and hallways?

    What do we really think? Closer to 1700, right? So someone paid almost $2k psf. WOW!

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  29. how does this get a mich ave address when it’s on that little street like a half block in?

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  30. @ Bob

    YOu don’t even know if it was a trader so stop speculating…..geez

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  31. “how does this get a mich ave address when it’s on that little street like a half block in?”

    Because the Pritzkers built it?

    East Tower Court is the name of the street.

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  32. I don’t get that stove at all… so out of place it’s absurd.

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  33. This entire thread is absurd.

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  34. Nice to see that even in this time of property crisis the agent still takes her job seriously; I’ve seen better pictures taken of my grandmother’s birthday party by my 90 year old grandfather. You think she could have, oh I don’t know, moved some of the trash or taken a wet rag to the dusty floors before snapping a pic? What, they’ve turned off the power so you can’t turn on a light? So which one is worse, the blood sucking flippers who did nothing for a quick buck, or the blood sucking agent who is still… sucking blood? Note to Lisa: you should be selling burgers honey, not $1mm flats.

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  35. C’mon, Jay, if it isn’t dirty, no one would believe it’s a foreclosure.

    That’s got to be it. Right?

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  36. Just to be devil’s advocate/asshole, I’ll go out on a limb here and say that the former owner could have been a “pro” online poker player. That’s another “occupation” that could use 3 flat screens at a time to play multiple poker sites & games at the same time.’

    The market for online poker has also gone to hell in the last couple years…

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  37. “Just to be devil’s advocate/asshole, I’ll go out on a limb here and say that the former owner could have been a “pro” online poker player.”

    One more thing about this (sorry)–note 3 monitors and no (apparent) PC–could be that one of the owners *before* the most recent one was the poker player/trader/porn editor who installed the monitors and the subsequent owner(s) just didn’t remove them.

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  38. I am thinking maybe just a huge sports fan but with crippling social anxiety disorder preventing them from going to a bar with multiple feeds.

    Seriously though this place so looks like white trash fell into a windfall with the LCDs and the stove so I’m thinking either trader or lottery winner. This place will be lucky to sell for 550k.

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  39. “This place will be lucky to sell for 550k.”

    Again, I own a house, have no desire to own a condos, don’t especially like this one, etc., etc., but still, I’d be interested at $550k. If they listed it for $550k, they’d have multiple offers over list within days.

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  40. Unless we are headed for a deep depression there is now way this place sells for 550k. Prime building and location in the city.

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  41. haha no way this place sells for $550k. and Bob really has an inferiority complex towards traders.

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  42. “and Bob really has an inferiority complex towards traders.”

    Only the successful ones, jfmiii, only the successful ones. Theres a lot more aspiring Gordon Gekko’s than successful ones judging by this unit’s REO status. 8)

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  43. I don’t know what the final sales price will be but I’d bet it’s lower than $1,000,000. The market for places like this were tards with temporarily high incomes (i.e. traders) derived funny money ($160 oil and commodities or MBS, etc); and now that the demographic has shrunk considerably this unit might languish on the market for a while. A lot of crap was built this boom for the nouveau riche, and as Frederick Lewis Allen famously said about Florida:

    “And exactly as the developers of the tropical wonderlands of Florida had learned that there were more land-speculators able and willing to gamble in houses intended for the polo-playing class than there were members of this class, so also those who carved out playgrounds for the rich in North Carolina or elsewhere learned to their ultimate sorrow that the rich could not play everywhere at once. ”

    “Unless we are headed for a deep depression there is now way this place sells for 550k. Prime building and location in the city.”

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  44. Sorry but the junk built on the Floriduh coasts doesn’t even compare to the freaking Gold Coast in Chicago.

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  45. South Beach is junk Sonies? Because that’s probably the nicest remnant of 1920’s Florida land bubble. The comment was supposed to show that there were more developers willing to build high end luxury housing than there were people to buy it. The fact that some goof trader bought a million dollar 2 bedroom and it’s been in foreclosure twice is a testament that the truly wealthy cannot be everywhere once at once and sometimes the goofs get to live like Gatsby for a day. (And even Gatsby himself was nothing but a fraud).

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  46. NO shit builders wanted to build luxury homes, the profit margins were far greater for less work!

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  47. Exactly, so now you understand why my comment was poignant and apropos.

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  48. “some goof trader bought a million dollar 2 bedroom”

    It’s much worse than that: Some goof, trader or otherwise, bought a THREE million dollar, max 1800 sqft, 2 bedroom.

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  49. Thank you for the correction anon(tfo).

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  50. I just love the “Sold 7/18/2007 for $317,500” and the dropped zero. Someone “paid”** $3,175,000 for this place–over $1500/ft even with the not-quite-real 2000 sqft–which apparently wasn’t even listed for sale at the time and was listed for $175k *less* when it had been. *Of course* WaMu made the loan (wholesale, I wonder?) and 9 months later there’s 6 months of unpaid assessments.

    Just WOW.

    **Speaking of looking, smelling and quacking like fraud. And being followed around by little fraudlings.

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  51. “Exactly, so now you understand why my comment was poignant and apropos.” You never mentioned South Beach, you mentioned florida and north carolina…

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  52. Yeah there was probably fraud but I wondered why they even bothered to pay three months assessments. WaMu really put out some toxic waste, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen them get taken for millions on a single transaction.

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  53. Actually I meant to say its not the first time I’ve seen them get taken for millions in a single transaction

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  54. “why they even bothered to pay three months assessments”

    Might have had to escrow them? Maybe the condo board took a while to get the lien filed? I doubt they actually paid them, except as part of making the loan look good.

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  55. I play online poker and have 3 monitors as well…also, it hasn’t dried up, it’s as ripe as ever…

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  56. Lots of professions use 3 monitors. As a software engineer, I need at least 3.

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  57. I’ve always thought the idea of a flat screen TV behind the stove was cool, but damn is that stove UGLY! I don’t care how trendy these things were a couple of years ago, shouldn’t this be in violation of some ordinance?

    This is just another of many listings where anyone who can afford to pay anywhere near the asking price would not be interested in a place like this. Let the bank take a well-deserved loss on it.

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  58. Matt Garrison on April 9th, 2009 at 6:44 pm

    Again, I bet this property sells full price.

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  59. gaudy. I wouldn’t live in that place for 300k. And am I going to be the only one that says that I don’t want to live on the Mag Mile w/ all the tourists?

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  60. I am willing to bet that this may have been a pretty bad ending. Why would one leave several flat screens or even those appliances? The stove is not my taste but still has value.

    But it will sell close to asking.

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  61. “Why would one leave several flat screens or even those appliances?”

    Because the last owner wasn’t interested in trashing the place for a couple grand in salvage? Do you always strip out fixtures when you’re moving out?

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  62. A TV is not a fixture.

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  63. “A TV is not a fixture.”

    Even if it’s built into the wall and removing it leaves exposed studs? C’mon. Neither is that stove, but would you leave the gap?

    Besides, you knew what I was getting at.

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  64. This place will sell for around $1 million, and I think that’s a bargain. This location is incomparable in Chicago.

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  65. Turd Ferguson on April 10th, 2009 at 3:51 pm

    Bob, did a trader bang your girlfriend or something? BTW HD, most traders I know killed it last year, since volatility is more important for them than direction or the market. Once again you’ve proven what a no talen ass-clown you are.

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  66. “BTW HD, most traders I know killed it last year, since volatility is more important for them than direction or the market. Once again you’ve proven what a no talen ass-clown you are.”

    1) No ‘talen (sic) ass clown? Are you for real?

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  67. Turd is more like Tucker Max–more legend than reality.

    And only Turd and people like him would believe that floor traders and others using a straddles strategy are the only traders out there.

    http://www.nypost.com/seven/03192009/business/record_hedge_funds_close_in_08_160219.htm

    Turd you only hear about the successful traders because theres not as much trading bravado to be gained from bragging about your losses. I wonder how many hedgies will shut down this year and I wonder how many more distastefully done noveau rich pads like this will pop up.

    That stove? Really? Those LCDs? Really? I think they left them in to insult potential buyers that at one time someone with far more money than class owned the place. I hope this trader scored a lot of tail off of his Michigan Ave address while it lasted because his glory days are definitely behind him for good.

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  68. Sonies on April 9th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
    “Sorry but the junk built on the Floriduh coasts doesn’t even compare to the freaking Gold Coast in Chicago.”

    In a positive way, I do agree with this statement…in favor of Florida RE.
    I don’t understand how you could compare Florida’s RE offerings with those here in Chicago regardless of where they are located…SOBE vs GC for example. Most every older building there has already been totally renovated to exacting period standards. If you are speaking of new construction, it is FAR from junk in comparison to the newer high rise buildings here.
    You have to understand that over one half or so of those uber high end homes in Fla (esp So Be) are NOT primary residences for the mega wealthy foreign investors who spend maybe a few weeks a year actually living in them. They are more likely to be 4th, 5th or 6th residences for them.
    Here in Chicago, the owners of what are considered high end, luxury homes (new or vintage) ARE permanent full time occupants. Big difference.
    As far as high end Florida buildings being junk (LOL) the building codes and regulations in Florida are so incredibly stringent because of the location/climate and that makes them the exact opposite of junk. Build what you would consider a Chicago high end luxury residence in So Fla and see what happens at pre hurricane level winds… now that would truly be considered junk!

    homedelete on April 9th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
    “South Beach is junk Sonies? Because that’s probably the nicest remnant of 1920’s Florida land bubble. The comment was supposed to show that there were more developers willing to build high end luxury housing than there were people to buy it.”

    I believe once the market is stabilized, South Florida will rebound quite rapidly. Although Madoff’s tactics did totally wipe out over 1/3 of Palm Beach’s wealth, those buyers were all American citizens and not foreign investors. In most other areas, the majority of investors are not from America.

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  69. Nobody commented on the $2,540,000.00 WaMu loan ???? The July ’07 buyer bought it for $317,500 but borrowed $2,540,000. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen some completely absurd WaMu loans in the ’06 – ’07 and into early ’08 time period.

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  70. AMW was right about the day trader aspect of this purchase; although it wasn’t the ’07 buyer; it was the the August 2000 buyer for $580,000. This article is pretty good evidence (name blocked for privacy reasons):

    http://www.businessweek.com/archives/1999/b3659015.arc.htm

    “Going, Going…Richer
    The well-heeled crowd at online auctions

    How much would you pay for a cow? Not the real-life, mooing sort. But a piece of art, craftily made of mirrors. A couple of hundred? A few thousand? Try $65,500. That’s how much ****** ****** shelled out for Mirroriam, the reflector-skinned bovine up for sale in an Internet auction of 75 cows held by the City of Chicago. The cows, sculpted by local artists, were part of a campaign to attract tourists and raise money for charity. “I said, `Yeah, that’s the cow that I want,”‘ recalls ******, a DAY TRADER from Key West, Fla., who was prepared to bid as much as $100,000. “I went nuts.”
    (capitalization added for emphasis).

    The ’07 buyer appears to be some local guy who made a foray into buying, rehabbing and flipping – or outright fraud. It looks like he tried to do some work on the unit; new bathrooms, flooring is ripped out, etc. I’ve seen cases where outright stupidity looks damn close to fraud. I mean think about it: the ’07 buyer could have been an underemployed mortgage broker/realtor/contractor/etc in then and he and a partner concocted a scheme to borrow $2.4 million to rehab and flip a condo on the 50th floor of a luxury high rise. WaMu was just giving money away – all you have to do is ask! It’s the opportunity of a lifetime.

    They figure it takes no more than a few months to rehab then flip; they’ll pay everyone off at closing and still make tons money. Everything goes well for the first two weeks for these amateurs until they get hassled by the city for not having permits, hassled by the building for using the wrong elevators, WaMu won’t release all the funds to pay for supplies, etc, and eventually they just walk away. Because no mortgage payments or assessments were made it looks like fraud but it’s just damn stupidity.

    What lends even credibility to my theory is that this dude was living there throughout the process. The condo assoc tried to evict him in april of ’08 for not paying assessments and he fought it *pro se* for 6 months! He was living there; this condo was his baby, it was going to make him rich! If this was fraud why fight the eviction:

    https://w3.courtlink.lexisnexis.com/cookcounty/Finddock.asp?DocketKey=CAAI0MB0HBAFBG0MD

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  71. AMW was right about the day trader aspect of this purchase; although it wasn’t the ‘07 buyer; it was the the August 2000 buyer for $580,000. This article is pretty good evidence (name blocked for privacy reasons):

    http://www.businessweek.com/archives/1999/b3659015.arc.htm

    “Going, Going…Richer
    The well-heeled crowd at online auctions

    How much would you pay for a cow? Not the real-life, mooing sort. But a piece of art, craftily made of mirrors. A couple of hundred? A few thousand? Try $65,500. That’s how much ****** ****** shelled out for Mirroriam, the reflector-skinned bovine up for sale in an Internet auction of 75 cows held by the City of Chicago. The cows, sculpted by local artists, were part of a campaign to attract tourists and raise money for charity. “I said, `Yeah, that’s the cow that I want,”‘ recalls ******, a DAY TRADER from Key West, Fla., who was prepared to bid as much as $100,000. “I went nuts.”
    (capitalization added for emphasis).

    The ‘07 buyer appears to be some local guy who made a foray into buying, rehabbing and flipping – or outright fraud. It looks like he tried to do some work on the unit; new bathrooms, flooring is ripped out, etc. I’ve seen cases where outright stupidity looks damn close to fraud. I mean think about it: the ‘07 buyer could have been an underemployed mortgage broker/realtor/contractor/etc in then and he and a partner concocted a scheme to borrow $2.4 million to rehab and flip a condo on the 50th floor of a luxury high rise. WaMu was just giving money away – all you have to do is ask! It’s the opportunity of a lifetime.

    They figure it takes no more than a few months to rehab then flip; they’ll pay everyone off at closing and still make tons money. Everything goes well for the first two weeks for these amateurs until they get hassled by the city for not having permits, hassled by the building for using the wrong elevators, WaMu won’t release all the funds to pay for supplies, etc, and eventually they just walk away. Because no mortgage payments or assessments were made it looks like fraud but it’s just damn stupidity.

    What lends even credibility to my theory is that this dude was living there throughout the process. The condo assoc tried to evict him in april of ‘08 for not paying assessments and he fought it *pro se* for 6 months! He was living there; this condo was his baby, it was going to make him rich! If this was fraud why fight the eviction:

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  72. eviction

    https://w3.courtlink.lexisnexis.com/cookcounty/Finddock.asp?DocketKey=CAAI0MB0HBAFBG0MD

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  73. $575/sf for the Michigan Ave address premium? I’m not buying it. I can’t wait to see what this eventually sells for, regardless of how many years and price reductions it actually takes to sell.

    Monica & Mr. Garrison, a gentleman’s bet it is that this place will sell for nowhere even close to asking. Not only is out of the ballpark of possibilities, its in another stadium.

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  74. this building is so baller, its unbelievable, 575/sqft is cheap here.

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  75. “$575/sf for the Michigan Ave address premium?”

    It ain’t 2000 sf. It’s more like $650 psf.

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  76. Not too many good traders work for publicly listed companies (I don’t consider sell-side to be traders), with the exception of Goldman which was forced to take TARP money and will be paying it back soon. If you were good, why would you get paid based on the seniority-based increasing pay scale of banks, rather than meritocracy-based (but, if you don’t make money you get no bonus)?

    If he was a trader at a bank, he probably wouldn’t trade from home, anyway. If the guy did trade on his own from home, he should have more like 8 monitors and a turret.

    “Yeah actually there is a point, at least if the trader worked for a publicly listed company. Its one thing to trade and profit and lose off of your own money. Its entirely another thing to gamble with other people’s money in a good market and think you deserved the gigantic bonus checks you are given for a job well done. Obviously in retrospect he probably didn’t deserve the gigantic bonus checks because he probably blew up his book.

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  77. The previous owner admitted in a business week article that he was a day trader. He’s the guy who originally lost it to foreclosure. I know it was him because of the unusual spelling of the guy’s name, the fact he bought a chicago cow, the monitors, and the public records correlate fairly well- all of which leads me to believe the guy in the article is the same guy who bought this unit at 800 N. Michigan, who is the same guy who day trader, who installed the monitors and subsequently lost it to foreclosure. Stranger things have happened and I could be wrong but I feel pretty confident about my assumption. The second guy to lose it to foreclosure was flipping it and I don’t think he installed the monitors.

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  78. ic… Bob’s primary complaint was that he may have been a day trader at a bank. Still, it’s pretty atypical not to have a turret, and I’ve never seen a trader with only 3 screens.

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  79. Maybe that explains why he wasn’t making very much money and lost his sweet pad to foreclosure

    “#
    fullhouse on April 13th, 2009 at 11:00 am

    ic… Bob’s primary complaint was that he may have been a day trader at a bank. Still, it’s pretty atypical not to have a turret, and I’ve never seen a trader with only 3 screens.

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  80. You are on Bob. This unit will sell for north of 1 million for sure.

    MGG

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  81. The unit is now PENDING on the MLS so closing any day now. I am going to guess a cash offer between 900-1million

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  82. Hopefully the deal includes a “stove replacement credit”.

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  83. dont give trader’s shit. there is also a trader in that building who is a billionaire. penthouse level to be precise.

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  84. It sold for 1.18 M

    http://www.chicagomag.com/Radar/Deal-Estate/June-2009/Sale-of-the-Week-Foreclosure-on-the-50th-Floor-Gold-Coast/

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  85. So it looks like Bill Rancic bought this place.

    “According to Chicago magazine’s Deal Estate column, Mr. Rancic purchased a condo on the 50th floor of Park Tower, the building connected to the Park Hyatt on Michigan Avenue, for $1.185 million —half the amount of the previous owner’s mortgage on the property.”

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  86. Well Monica and Mr. Garrison were right on this one and I was off base. I’ll admit they know more about this area and market segment than me.

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