Move-In Ready 3-Bedroom Vintage Home: 5718 N. Melvina in Jefferson Park
This 2-story 3-bedroom home at 5718 N. Melvina in the Gladstone Park neighborhood of Jefferson Park was renovated in 2004.
The house was built in 1926 but now boosts modern amenities.
The kitchen has 40 inch cherry cabinets, granite counter tops and newer white appliances.
It also has central air and a 2-car garage.
Unlike most houses of this size, it has 2.5 baths, including a connecting master bath with jacuzzi tub.
All three bedrooms are on the second floor and the master has cathedral ceilings.
There is an unfinished basement.
The Metra and the Kennedy Expressway are nearby.
Is this a good starter home for this price range and location?
The house is for sale by owner. You can see all of the pictures and the listing on Zillow here.
5718 N. Melvina: 3 bedroooms, 2.5 baths, 1862 square feet, 2 car garage
- Sold in May 1997 for $135,000
- Sold in April 2000 for $164,000
- Sold in February 2006 for $417,500
- Originally listed in June 2010 for $399,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $379,000
- Taxes of $3200 (from public records)
- Central Air
- Unfinished basement
You “Green Zone” baztardz keep sleep’n on the NW. it will help price stay normal for silly car dependent folk like me 🙂
This house looks good. I’d love to see how unfinished the unfinished basement is. Unfortunately, Melvina is too far west even for a pioneer like myself.
Is there any “real” profit or reason to do sale by owner?
Has anyone here tried it? or been on the other side of it? and Realtors willing to share experiences dealing with it?
btw, last i check hitch elm wasnt all that great so it looks like Queen of all Saints tuition will be needed
Is everyone still on vacation?
We talked about the traffic craziness that is Jefferson Park on an earlier thread. For me, this is a deal killer regardless of the house and price.
It’s just too far out and isolated for my tastes.
priced a bit high.i would say 330k at the very best.i live 3 blocks from there.you should give the NW side a chance.very low crime,no ganbbangers,milwaukee ave shopping and bars,right between both expressways,metra station 2 blocks away.and thats onahan school dist. i believe,not hitch.onahan is much better.
JW,
It is Hitch, Nagle is the dividing line for CPS. Which nagle is also the dividing line for quality of neighbors.
This area is great like you said and once you cross nagle is gets better. go towards gladstone park you get a few icky pockets. but still the icky pockets are better than 90% of the rest of the city.
JW, most people on this site exclude the NW side and it more like a burb to them. most are burb transplants that need the “urban” feel untill they get married and squirt out a kid then hop out back to Palitine.
let them feel this way as that mentality will keep prices down for you and me.
one thing i will say about the NW is we need a fricken good local High School its sad it hasnt happened. and as i said before if there was one i would be in a victorian in old norwood park sipping iced tea on my front porch.
Victorians look cool from the outside but the inside is barely functional, small rooms, little closet space, they generally need ALOT of work, way expensive to retrofit hvac and then because every owner puts their blood, sweat and tears into the place, they think their victorian is ‘special’ and want a million dollars.
“i would be in a victorian in old norwood park sipping iced tea on my front porch.”
“Victorians look cool from the outside but the inside is barely functional, small rooms, little closet space, they generally need ALOT of work, way expensive to retrofit hvac and then because every owner puts their blood, sweat and tears into the place, they think their victorian is ’special’ and want a million dollars”
HD, I Agree with you 100%!!!!!!!
the up keep on those things are gut wrenching. and most are rocking old pipes and plaster walls, so pipe leaks are abundant and a pain to fix and fix the wall after.
but still all said i want one 🙂 I have always lived in old chocago homes and apartments. I am used to the horibly small closets 10×9 bedrooms the one bathroom per 3br. and most of the upkeep is fun for me. BUT I WILL NEVER BUY A PLACE WITHOUT CENTRAL A/C AGAIN. no more window units for me.
Give me a painted lady over any McCrapbox anyday, give me a Brick bungalow before a blah square modern/contemp in bucktown anyday of the week.
shoot if i were given a place for free and had to choose between this and the 1mil+ place on 2226 W. Medill i would choose this one.
“shoot if i were given a place for free and had to choose between this and the 1mil+ place on 2226 W. Medill i would choose this one.”
Come on man, think! Take the Medill, sell it, buy this one, have like $600k leftover 🙂
“Come on man, think! Take the Medill, sell it, buy this one, have like $600k leftover”
screw that its not worth the 600k to tarnish my name by being affiliated with that overbuilt crap.
groove,i think there might be a glitch in the public school zoning map or whatever,i live 6000 block melvina and my kid went to onahan,my wife thinks peterson is the dividing line.i have to agree with you about taft,my kid went there 2 years and we had to eventually send him to finish h.s. at a private school.anyhow its nice to see you sticking up for the nw side here all the time.i grew up in edison park,but i think norwood/gladstone is far more walk friendly.the house across the street from 5718 sold for 450k a year ago….foreclosure on a mini-mansion where the guy had started out at 700k in ’06.still a lot of old timers over here.my next door neighbor has lived here since 1945.kind of like the neighborhood historian type.
JW,
I guess i have to stick up for us NW’ers as most here paint a obscure picture of it not knowing anything about it. most think anything past western is the Burbs. good to see another like you on CribChatter.
“but i think norwood/gladstone is far more walk friendly”
Screw walkabilty and the highly coveted walkabilty score. Last night walking in that heat to get groceries and then walking to dinner, beat the crap out of me. once my son went to bed 15min later i went to bed. If we were at the house we would have driven to the grocery store and then i would have cooked at home or drove to dinner and used valet. realistically if we were at the house i wouldnt have needed to go get groceries cause a once a week trip to get perishables and once a month non-perishable trip by using a car and loading up. at the apartment one of us stops to pick up something once or twice a day so we dont have to schlep bags walking.
IDK if i would be there in below zero january walking i would be a happy man. I am grumpy now pounding the pavement now and its still below 100. Walkabilty can kiss my azz.
“Screw walkabilty and the highly coveted walkabilty score. Last night walking in that heat to get groceries and then walking to dinner, beat the crap out of me. once my son went to bed 15min later i went to bed. If we were at the house we would have driven to the grocery store and then i would have cooked at home or drove to dinner and used valet. realistically if we were at the house i wouldnt have needed to go get groceries cause a once a week trip to get perishables and once a month non-perishable trip by using a car and loading up. at the apartment one of us stops to pick up something once or twice a day so we dont have to schlep bags walking.”
But that’s the thing about Chicago, you can have walkability and driveability.
“But that’s the thing about Chicago, you can have walkability and driveability.”
Dz, you lie there is NO driveablity around my apartment, none, its horrible.
i agree about the so called walkibility score. what i do like about living over here (as opposed to the burbs,i guess,not the area near the lakefront).is that there are about 6 or 7 bars (irish bar,polish bar,frat boy,old man,etc)all within walking distance.not that i have a drinking problem.;>) nice to go out and have a few and not have to worry about driving.
What I like about Chicago is even in neighborhoods with a walkability score of 60-70 theres usually a bar or three within a mile. I couldn’t live in the JP though.
Groove, Peapod. Yeah, it costs a bit more, but sometimes it is sooo worth it.
“Groove, Peapod. Yeah, it costs a bit more, but sometimes it is sooo worth it.”
Aw c’mon Groove’s all E-LP now. Strictly Whole Foods (despite the *sigh* commute).
Treasure Island if he’s slumming it.
“.is that there are about 6 or 7 bars (irish bar,polish bar,frat boy,old man,etc”
JW,
doode, that strip down milwaukee all the way to lawrence has every kind of bar you can imagine!
Even NW HWY has a neat Irish pub, and a cute vintage coffee house with vintage store plus outdoor patio.
Have you ate at the tapas place yet? (its just past gladstone bakery, RIP) cant remember the name it starts with a “M” and the food is fricken amazing. the service is horrible and it has a depressing vibe. BUT THE TAPAS are the best i have ever had. (in the U.S.)
“Groove, Peapod. Yeah, it costs a bit more, but sometimes it is sooo worth it.”
Q,
I may try it, but i thought it was $$$ more than if i stopped in to a local market? like a box of cheerios is like $2.50 and at peapod its like $4.50?
“Aw c’mon Groove’s all E-LP now. Strictly Whole Foods (despite the *sigh* commute). Treasure Island if he’s slumming it”
LOL, but the sad thing is yes we have become a whole foods family since little guy got off the gerber and formula/boob milk. after reading the ingredient list on stuff we switched quick.
seriously does everything have high fructose corn syrup? its even in ketchup!
“What I like about Chicago is even in neighborhoods with a walkability score of 60-70 theres usually a bar or three within a mile. I couldn’t live in the JP though”
Bob ur missing out, and a “tight azz” (read frugal) like you would be in heaven there. and if you get a day were you want to splurge you are 3 blocks or less to the blue line.
Bob, i challenge you to one day just head up to JP for dinner and a few bars. go with some buds and come back and report.
Groove, it is expensive, but you gotta learn how to use the coupons. Your first few orders can get free shipping, then if you take time off in between orders, you’ll get sent more coupons. It is really convenient when you don’t want to slog groceries in the rain/heat. You just can’t do it all the time.
Q,
I will have this misses try it this week. good tip on the coupon thang.
you would think with all the eating out now we wouldnt need that much groceries. who knows how the world works?
JW,
forgot Have you tried that BBQ joint on NW Hwy? I passed by it and never stop in cause its usually on my way to meet up at a restaurant in edison.
groove
no i never tried it but i heard its pretty good.
theres a pretty good mexican place about 6000 n milwaukee right at elston.i havent been in there in a while,but he used have pretty good prices.
JW,
Doode you need to try the Tapas place this weekend you will not regret it at all.
also a question bieng so close how many times a month do you eat at super dog? I make the trip there once a month during the summer, not because its good its just nostalgia.
i check out superdog maybe once every 2 months.kind of pricey to take the family there.i’ll give tapas a try.thanks
JW,
Took the in-laws to that BBQ place this weekend, its cheesily called Smokey’s BBQ.
Butt the food is darn good (not the best i have had) but in the top 15 of BBQ places. and like i have noticed in that hood the food is great but the service is so so. given smokey’s is a order and pick up your damn self place. example we asked if they have two high chairs the girl said yes, well she forgot to tell us where they are. I had to go and find them myself without any help.. (if want to know they are in back “party room” next to the stereo and some signs).
you would think she could have said “yes, they are down the hall in the back”, or got it for us.
when our food was ready well i go up and get it and its missing the sides we ordered and drinks. the girl says, “i gave them to you” i explain to her we only got the one bottle of water we ordered and she can look at our table and see that.
Grandparents cared less about the service cause the little ones were in a good mood (no we didnt have another we were baby sitting a cousins kid). wife didnt care about the service as she caught me scoping out a girls juggs and then wanted to slowly kill me with attitude the rest of the night.
but i found the service rough around the edges.
still good BBQ at a good price, the slaw was top notch!
ooow,
just remembered 3 years ago we ate at italian place just down the street from superdogs dont know the name but it was pretty darn good for the price. i remember the pasta was fresh and my wife had the tortellini which melted in my mouth.
groove,sorry i didnt see this sooner.
yeah i heard the service is pretty *iffy* at smokeys.havent tried tapas yet,been working odd hours.it’s on my list.
i didnt noticed you mentioned gladstone bakery earlier,but i actually lived in one of the apartments above there for almost 10 years.you would not believe how great that building smelled when they started baking at 3AM every day.it was unbelievable.i think the owner died,he was pretty old.