4 Months Later and It’s Still a “Great Investment”: 2300 N. Commonwealth

We last chattered about this 2-bedroom unit at 2300 N. Commonwealth in Lincoln Park in March 2009.

2300 N. Commonwealth was a successful Belgravia conversion in 2006-2007.

See our prior chatter here.

Since then, the unit has been reduced by $29,000.

It is currently listed for $44,000 under the 2006 purchase price.

The listing still calls it a “great investment in any market.”

Keith Weinstein still has the listing. See the pictures here.

Unit #7L: 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, no square footage listed

  • Sold in 2006 for $414,000 (included parking)
  • Was listed in March 2009 for $399,000 (parking included)
  • Reduced in late March 2009 to $370,000 (parking included)
  • Currently listed for $370,000 (parking included) 
  • Assessments of $353 a month
  • Taxes of $5,000
  • Living room: 14×14
  • Dining room: 8×10
  • Kitchen: 10×8
  • Bedroom #1: 14×16
  • Bedroom #2: 13×12

18 Responses to “4 Months Later and It’s Still a “Great Investment”: 2300 N. Commonwealth”

  1. It seems like the property listings that we see on this site are a case study in the ‘fallacies of logic’. In less than 4 years this property has lost $44,000 in value, so it was obviously not a great investment for the market that the current seller purchased in it.

    In a previous chatter I had suggested that RE agent be required to take a basic math class which included training on the use of a tape-measure and on how to calculate sq footage. I now suggest an entry level logic or philosophy class be added to that curriculum.

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  2. what a craphole.

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  3. Agreed. That price should be in the 200s. 370k goes much farther these days than it used to

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  4. Matt the Coffeeman on July 29th, 2009 at 7:19 am

    Looking at the pictures, it appears that it is occupied by a couple and two small children. How in the world did they make that work with one bathroom?

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  5. The owner’s of that place got robbed. I can’t believe someone let them pay $414k for a 2/1 in that building. Insanity. If they used an agent during that purchase, the agent should be sued. That place shouldn’t be more than the high 200’s at best.

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  6. I’m not defending this place – it’s way overpriced – but people’s comments about how much space is “necessary” are interesting. My brother lives in Japan in about 500 sq ft with his wife and their toddler. There, that is considered a moderately roomy apartment. It’s all relative…

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  7. LOL @ these 350k 2/1’s that aren’t in the gold coast

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  8. Ha! This dump isn’t worth $190k, even in that location.

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  9. Also, this building looks like my college dorm building, and well the units appear to only be a slight upgrade in living quality…

    Also, I’m a fan of those terrible bunk bed desk combo’s…

    LOL poor bastards had twins!

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  10. What a gross apartment. Yes, apartment.

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  11. I dont see this going for more than 250k and it wont go for a long, long time.

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  12. you guys are so harsh, yes its way way over priced. but why so mean 🙁

    i assuming here again, but maybe these parents wanted to have there kids go to the best school, and be close enough to work were they can get back home to spend time with the little ones. back in 2006 how many places in lincoln school district were priced at 400k? but again i am just assuming.

    hey dont knock family household with one bathroom, that’s how i grew up in places with only one bathroom. its very doable. and sq ft is not that bad, my friend since grade school grew up in a 600 sq ft with his two brothers mom and dad. and two of them turned out ok.

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  13. Great location. But good grief, why was such a building ever built there in the first place?

    Beyond the super locale (and the wretched dorm building notwithstanding), the unit itself is on the top floor, has in-unit w/d and a heated parking space…not too shabby. Someone would do well to rent this place for roughly $1,500. But that’s about it, given the single bathroom issue.

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  14. This building looks like public housing. I feel depressed just looking at it.

    The interior looks nice, but the building is just so sad.

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  15. “Someone would do well to rent this place for roughly $1,500. ”

    So, low-200s, max?

    “why was such a building ever built there in the first place?”

    It’s not the ugliest building in the immediate area. And I suspect that it maximized the (rental) units on the available land under the then-applicable zoning & building codes. And when it was built, it just wasn’t the same neighborhood it is now.

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  16. To the couple that paid 415k for a 2/1 in LP..wow. I can’t believe it. PT Barnum must be rolling over in his grave right now. I bet these lemmings can’t even figure out how their babies came about.
    Did they ever think with a 400+k mortgage maybe it would be difficult to send the kiddos to private school?

    This one is going to foreclosure or will be taken off the MLS as there is zero chance anyone will pay close to what they paid for it. 260k tops.

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  17. This building was constructed at time Lincoln Park was a transitional neighborhood filled with rental housing and very few upper-middle class families. It was designed to be “young professional”, meaning school teachers, nurses, and young adults just enterring workforce.

    Unit’s livingroom is tiny, or its realtor somehow can’t calculate floor area. Master bedroom is larger than livingroom and 2nd bedroom isn’t small either, suggesting that livingroom should be larger than as noted. Apparent noted floor area doesn’t reconcile with asking price, or prior selling price.

    Unit desparately needs professional staging and better housekeeping. Despite bunk beds, this unit looks barely furnished and hardly occupied, a very bland corporate-like apartment without sales appeal and anonymous furnishings.

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  18. “Unit’s livingroom is tiny, or its realtor somehow can’t calculate floor area.”

    He carved out a dining room from undeferentiated living space and may have left out a “hallway”, too. Which seems like a misjudgement to me.

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