Roscoe Village Single Family Home, Now a Short Sale, Pending Again: 3308 N. Bell
We last chattered about this 4-bedroom single family home at 3308 N. Bell in Roscoe Village in September 2009.
See our prior chatter and pictures here.
At the time, the house had gone into contract after being on the market only 10 days.
But it fell out of contract and the house was re-listed shortly therafter as a short sale.
It is now pending again.
It is currently listed for $79,000 under the 2006 purchase price and is also listed at the same price as the 2004 purchase.
The listing says the house has recently been renovated. The kitchen has cherry cabinets, granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances.
3 out of 4 bedrooms are upstairs.
It also has a finished family room and guest suite in the lower level.
Is someone getting a deal?
Mario Greco at Prudential Rubloff still has the listing.
3308 N. Bell: 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2 car garage
- Sold in April 1992 for $119,000
- Sold in August 1995 for $291,000
- Sold in March 2001 for $522,000
- Sold in June 2004 for $649,000
- Sold in August 2006 for $728,000
- Originally listed in September 2009 for $729,000
- Under contract in ten days
- Fell out of contract
- Re-listed as a “short sale” in October 2009 for $649,000
- Under contract
- Taxes of $7798
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 20×16
- Bedroom #2: 13×11
- Bedroom #3: 11×9
- Bedroom #4: 20×10 (lower level)
Is it me or is Sabrina finding many of MG listings falling out of contract recently?
What is the moral of this story? Whatever bank allowed this seller to refi at above the purchase price made a big mistake and now will take a loss. Boo who! Beyond that, who cares? This buyer purchased something in 2004 and now will sell it at or slightly below what they paid for it.
Sound the breaking news alarms 🙂
“Is it me or is Sabrina finding many of MG listings falling out of contract recently?”
Yes – I think this is the 3rd one. There was the Lincoln Park rowhouse where the mom ruined the deal because of the commute to school, another one in Lakeview where the guy took issue with the inspection or wanted some representation, and now this one.
I believe the first two were attributed to crazyass buyers…
If this can be purchased below 650K that strikes me as a really good deal. Of course, I’ve been wondering like everyone else what happened with the last contract here and have been meaning to call Mario’s office to find out. I assume he will share that information here shortly.
Are the buyers crazy ass or does the marketplace need to cater to the crazies? Who is bringing the dollars to the table?
“This buyer purchased something in 2004 and now will sell it at or slightly below what they paid for it”
*this* is reflective of Stevo’s reading comprehension–Seller bought it in 2006 and has it listed for $79k *less* than they paid.
I’m starting a new blog titles “Goldchatter”. I will point out instances where gold buyers in the past 60 days have been forced to sell at depressed prices and now have lost a big chunk of their money.
Here is the first Bolg “Leveraged Gold Buyer Loses Equity as Gold Investment Loses Big”
Sabrina Johnson is facing hard times as the gold investment she purchased in October 2009 loses big dollars. Sabrina made the mistake of taking out a home equity line of credit on her home that had doubled in value since she purchased in back in 1995. After reading a popular real estate blog, Sabrina decided to use her equity line of credit to leverage into a gold investment that was promissed to return 15% per year. The investment did not go as planned and that 15% return quickly turned into a 12% loss.
Stayed tuned to more stories of people getting sucked into the gold bubble at the wrong time.
i’m going to have to stop reading Heitman’s comments because A – they never have any relevance to the topic at hand and B – he’s a DB.
Yes, there are a lot of crazies in this marketplace. The rational ones are sitting back with popcorn and watching the slow-paced train wreck, whereas you have to be crazy to put an offer on this house at a price anywhere near the 2006 price.
“GLS on December 30th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Are the buyers crazy ass or does the marketplace need to cater to the crazies? Who is bringing the dollars to the table?
“
“you have to be crazy to put an offer on this house at a price anywhere near the 2006 price”
The ’95 price inflated at 3.5% (for 15 years) is $487k. Add ~$100k-150k in aggregate improvements (excl repair–eg roof, etc), you’re in the ballpark of the current ask.
Anon – Why is 3.5% appreciation the right number to use?
You guys are very observant re: fallen deals and that is a reality in this market. Fortunately, for every 3 that fail, we’re able to keep 10 others together. As for the first deal, I thought I shared what happened but I guess not. The first deal was interesting in that an agent bought it for themselves and agreed to pay $682,500. The appraisal came in at $666,000. The inspector brought up some “near the end of their useful life” issues and the buyer/agent asked for a substantial credit off of the agreed $682,500 as a result of the inspection and the appraised value. Buyer and seller couldn’t agree on a reduced price. The present deal in scheduled to close on 1/19/10 for around 97% of the present asking price.
“Anon – Why is 3.5% appreciation the right number to use?”
Why not? It’s pretty close to the long term average and the number is then a good guidepost; if you think appreciation was higher, then you’d think this is a good deal, if you think it was lower, you’d think it’s still too rich.
I actually think that the ’95 price was too high, but can’t justify using 7-8% appreciation to base off of the ’92 number (which reflects a notsogood ‘hood in the late-80s, early-90s, and probably poor condition, too) and get to something that’s not absurdly low.
Suffice to say, as I noted in the last thread on this one, all three sales this decade overvalued the house, as it was at the time of the sales. If all of the current reno had been done before 2001, and then stuff updated to current decor at each sale, then I could understand the prices in context.
“The present deal in scheduled to close on 1/19/10 for around 97% of the present asking price.”
Bank approval in place?
Moral of the story…..Buyer should have taken 660k first time around.
Mario,
Not trying to be a jerk here…just genuinely interested. What happened the second time? There was another offer in there according to the MLS.
Bank has approved it. 2nd time: Tom Corbett was the inspector and buyers’ father was at the inspection while buyer’s were on vacation… Does that clear that up for you? 🙂
I’m not knowledgeable enough to comment on the state of neighborhoods, but the value experts here should take that into account. The value in 1995 was based on the neighboring houses, businesses, schools, and other infrastructure. Has that changed? You guys should take that into account as well as the general real estate market.
buyers. Not buyer’s.
Mario,
That is too funny! I literally just got off the phone discussing that guy with one of my colleagues. We have a client that wants an “aggressive inspector”. My question to my colleague was “well does he want someone who will find every imaginable and imagined problem because I know just the guy? But he will kill the deal.”
I actually think Corbett does his clients a disservice as he focuses in on the picayune and misses the bigger issues. He appears to make a living on repeat inspections.
dahliachi on December 30th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Moral of the story…..Buyer should have taken 660k first time around.
meant to say seller…
I used Tomacor once and would concur with MG’s assessment. On another deal, seller specifically stated in the contract that he could not be used (I guess previous deal fell through because of it). I thought that was funny actually.
Readers take note: Realtors hate inspectors who do their jobs.
Runner take note: Realtors hate inspectors who don’t have enough confidence and ability to point out the relevant issues and who aren’t able to put their “findings” into perspective. We want inspectors to do their jobs – just like we want appraisers to do their jobs. Fallen deals are part of the landscape and we accept that but deals that fall b/c of alarmist inspectors and clueless appraisers are not doing anybody a favor – especially the buyer and seller.
I suspect many inspectors just point out any and everything for CYA in case something goes wrong they at least can document that they pointed it out in case a ambulance chasing lawyer decides to sue them down the road.
However, putting things in perspective is the key. I have never seen a property that didn’t have something wrong with it and I don’t care where it fell on the price scale.
When I bought my places I was looking for major repair items that could come up and cost thousands, if not tens of thousands to repair – roofs, leaking basements, tuckpointing, electrical, etc.
“Readers take note: Realtors hate inspectors who do their jobs.”
Of course, the only way realtards get paid is if they get a deal done and quality inspectors get in the way of that.
I’m genuinely curious, when an “alarmist” inspector writes a report, is the issue that he is raising issues that are inaccurate or raising lots of small issues that do not cost a lot to fix? If the latter, isn’t that fairly clear? Or is it something else?
Sonies, you forgot to mention mortgage brokers like Russ.
Sonies – Apparently, only “realtards” are supposed to refrain from posting and chided for posting ad hominems on this board, huh?
DZ – The issue is not the inspector raising the issues – he/should raise as many as he/she legitimately finds and different inspectors have different hot buttons – but when an issue is raised and not explained or put into context (i.e., if house is built in 1895 and has a slight slant to the floor, responsible inspector should suggest that if the buyer is concerned about this, they should have a structural engineer or the like look at the potential issue). Many inspectors instead pounce on issues like this and term it a “serious” in a knee-jerk fashion instead of suggesting to the buyer to keep in mind that this might be typical for a house of this age, or get a second opinion from a structural engineer, etc. before getting too alarmed.
Unfortunately for all involved in a transaction in this market, buyers are very nervous and it doesn’t take much to freak them out. As a result, inspections have gone from an information-gathering exercise to a mandatory punch-list-creating endeavor – regardless of the price paid or age of the home.
If a buyer is so easily shaken, perhaps they shouldn’t be involved in anything more than a lease transaction?
Sounds like the used home salesmen and debt sellers are running out of qualified buyers at still inflated prices. How will the Ponzi scheme go on?
Thanks for your views, MG. I will probably hire an aggressive inspector and carefully assess the findings. Not likely to be scared away but I do want to be fully informed.
The whole appraiser thing baffles me a bit. I know what they are for, but isn’t the market price (what a willing buyer will pay) the market price (what the appraiser is supposed to determine), setting issues of fraud aside? I’m sure they are supposed to protect lenders against lending more than a property is worth, but they didn’t really do that during the bubble, did they? The market price may be distorted, but I don’t see how appraisers can catch that.
” The market price may be distorted, but I don’t see how appraisers can catch that.”
You and I could “catch” it if (1) we did it every day, as our business, and (2) the incentives were set properly.
The bigger problem has always been #2–>how do you stay in business if you always say that everything is overvalued at “market” price? You’d quickly have no customers, esp in the past decade, if you insisted on valuing every property sans market distortion, as you’d be the angel of death for deals.
“If a buyer is so easily shaken, perhaps they shouldn’t be involved in anything more than a lease transaction?”
G i will disagree with you (in turn you will attack me here for the rest of the day, lol)
Its a different world now, People are dropping up to 70% of there take home pay on a mortgage also the typical buyer will have no clue on how to do basic home repairs.
So if something as basic on the report like “outlets are dated and need to be replaced” i can see the buyer freaking out.
When i bout my house it wasnt updated since the 80’s maintence was lacking and it was a wood frame built in the 1930’s. So you can imagine what the inspector came back with 😮
so i can see the paranoid new buyer wigging out on minor details. i do think the Buyer needs to learn to take the info with a grain of salt.
i for one was pleased that our inspector was “hardcore militant anall”
Those are the same people going into foreclosure.
“Its a different world now, People are dropping up to 70% of there take home pay on a mortgage also the typical buyer will have no clue on how to do basic home repairs.”
“Those are the same people going into foreclosure.”
and proof the cycle will continue just an adapted version.
Let me share my experience with a certain inspector, who was representing my buyers.
I was there with my buyer and I asked a question. He turned to me and said “I can’t talk to you without permission from my client” and went back to work. I turned to my client and said “Can you give him permission to talk to me?” I don’t think this is normal behavior conducive to getting the job done.
Every time I asked a question he responded in a hostile manner along the lines of “Are you trying to minimize my findings?” In fact, I was not. I was trying to understand what he was saying.
I never could get a simple yes or no answer to a yes or no question.
He opened the furnace and found some water stains and concluded that the basement had flooded. I looked at it and pointed out that the stains were not consistent with a flood and that in fact it looked like A/C condensation. He finally agreed.
He also claimed the 10 year old roof needed to be replaced. I’ve heard this before from an inspector. In both cases a roofing contractor was able to make needed repairs for a nominal cost and provide a guarantee.
It was clear to me that this guy was on an ego trip. Believe me I don’t want my buyers buying a black hole but I also don’t want them to lose out on a good deal because some crazy inspector is trying to prove how great he is.
“crazy inspector” – there go the “realtards” with their ad hominem attacks… 🙂
All jokes aside, great post Gary. This is an all too common occurrence with some inspectors. Most are very good though.