4 Months Later and This Foreclosure Is Still Available: 933 W. Van Buren in the West Loop

We last chattered about this 3-bedroom penthouse foreclosure at 933 W. Van Buren in the West Loop in August 2009.

See our prior chatter here.

At that time, many of you thought it would sell quickly at its list price, which was about $200,000 under the 2003 purchase price.

It’s 4 months later and the unit is even cheaper.  It’s been reduced by $83,000 since August.

How low will this unit go?

Daniel Vianna at @Properties now has the listing. See the pictures here.

Unit #912: 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, 1800 square feet

  • Sold in July 2003 for $620,000
  • Lis pendens in June 2008
  • Lis pendens in July 2008
  • Bank owned in June 2009
  • Originally listed in August 2009 for $418,900
  • Reduced
  • Was listed in August 2009 for $407,900
  • Reduced several times
  • Currently listed at $324,900 (looks like 2 car parking is included)
  • Assessments of $812 a month (includes the assessments for the two parking spaces)
  • Taxes of $7338
  • Central Air

18 Responses to “4 Months Later and This Foreclosure Is Still Available: 933 W. Van Buren in the West Loop”

  1. LMAO! Those are some high-res pictures on the listing!

    Also this place hasn’t sold probably because of the crazy high assessments, taxes and the terrace and probably every window in this place overlooks the Eisenhower…

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  2. Matt the Coffeeman on December 29th, 2009 at 3:10 pm

    Um, “south facing”, when you’re south of the loop, is usually not a selling point.

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  3. talk about not putting effort in to market the property.

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  4. “the terrace and probably every window in this place overlooks the Eisenhower…”

    Heck with “overlooks,” it nearly overhangs the Ike.

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  5. Question: When the bank takes possession of a condo, do they still pay the assessments? Or does the association get screwed?

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  6. Danny: Check out http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext.asp?DocName=076506050K9 section G

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  7. Only 6 months of past assessments need to be paid upon an REO sale. The association eats the rest.

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  8. Whoever does buy here be prepared to hold on. The comps for the entire building are thrown off by the south facing units.

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  9. G,

    I’ve been told that if an association takes appropriate action, including filing a lien on the property, that they can recover all the assessments.

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  10. Define appropriate action?

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  11. I looked at a unit or two in this building over a year ago. The location and the building are not bad, other than being right next to the expressway. Great buy for a deaf person.

    Unfortunately lots of West Loop units have this same issue. Usually they’re sound insulated well enough so that you don’t hear the roar of traffic when everything is closed up, but the balcony is effectively useless.

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  12. “Sonies on December 29th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
    LMAO! Those are some high-res pictures on the listing!”

    Holy CROW! Those are some terrible pics (low rent cell phone pics, maybe?). Seems like Daniel doesn’t care that much about selling this property.

    I walk by this building every day in the summer; seems nice enough on the outside, but the interior (from what I can tell) look like just about every other condo/loft in the West/South Loop/Univ Village, etc. Not sure if this is a full amenity building (doorman, workout room, etc.), but those assessments seem brutal.

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  13. Chichow,

    Most importantly, filing the lien. I also believe that they have to be tenacious in sending letters and pursuing collections and follow all the rules about number of notices etc…

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  14. “Most importantly, filing the lien. I also believe that they have to be tenacious in sending letters and pursuing collections and follow all the rules about number of notices etc…”

    Are you talking about from the foreclosing lender, or from the f/c’d borrower?

    Relevant portion of the Illinois Code is:

    (3) The purchaser of a condominium unit at a judicial foreclosure sale, or a mortgagee who receives title to a unit by deed in lieu of foreclosure or judgment by common law strict foreclosure or otherwise takes possession pursuant to court order under the Illinois Mortgage Foreclosure Law, shall have the duty to pay the unit’s proportionate share of the common expenses for the unit assessed from and after the first day of the month after the date of the judicial foreclosure sale, delivery of the deed in lieu of foreclosure, entry of a judgment in common law strict foreclosure, or taking of possession pursuant to such court order. Such payment confirms the extinguishment of any lien created pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) of this subsection (g) by virtue of the failure or refusal of a prior unit owner to make payment of common expenses, where the judicial foreclosure sale has been confirmed by order of the court, a deed in lieu thereof has been accepted by the lender, or a consent judgment has been entered by the court.

    (4) The purchaser of a condominium unit at a judicial foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, who takes possession of a condominium unit pursuant to a court order or a purchaser who acquires title from a mortgagee shall have the duty to pay the proportionate share, if any, of the common expenses for the unit which would have become due in the absence of any assessment acceleration during the 6 months immediately preceding institution of an action to enforce the collection of assessments, and which remain unpaid by the owner during whose possession the assessments accrued. If the outstanding assessments are paid at any time during any action to enforce the collection of assessments, the purchaser shall have no obligation to pay any assessments which accrued before he or she acquired title.

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  15. Thanks, anon.

    Here are the only ways I understand that all past due assessments are collected:

    1. The lender is outbid at the foreclosure auction by an amount equal or greater than the outstanding assessment lien and there are no other higher priority liens to satisfy. Someone outbidding the lender at the foreclosure sale is a very, very rare occurence today.

    2. The past due assessments are for fewer than 6 months when the REO is sold by the lender. In this case the 6 months max required from the REO buyer would pay it in full.

    Please let me know if you interpret it otherwise.

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  16. “Please let me know if you interpret it otherwise.”

    That’s consistent with my reading and understanding, but the practice may be somewhat different.

    The structure of the statute is also a very good reason for banks to hold off on foreclosing–they avoid throwing good money after bad.

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  17. anon,

    Thanks for the clarification. You are correct. I followed up with my source (Association Advocates) and it looks like I misunderstood the process. Associations do have the ability to collect all the assessments but it’s not sufficient to file the lien. They really need to take possession of the unit and lease it out to collect the assessments: http://associationadvocatesinc.com/pdf/RPN_AssessmentCollectionArticle_5-31-08.pdf Now that would be aggressive!

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  18. One other thing…taking possession is really the process they would follow prior to foreclosure taking place. Not sure what happens after foreclosure.

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