Forget the Townhouse, Buy a Coach House Instead: 1700 W. School in Lakeview

Many buyers consider townhouses because they want privacy and are priced out of single family homes in their targeted neighborhoods.

But what about a coach house such as this 3-bedroom property at 1700 W. School in the Southport neighborhood of Lakeview?

It has an attached 2-car garage and is on 3 levels.

The listing says there is a professionally landscaped garden.

Two of the 3 bedrooms are on the second floor with the third on the lower level.

The listing says it has an open floorplan on the main level.

The gourmet kitchen has granite counter tops and black appliances.

The house has central air, skylights, and a washer/dryer.

While it has a small assessment, it also has no common walls.

Is this a good alternative to townhouse living?

Leigh Marcus at Keller Williams Lincoln Park has the listing. See the pictures here.

Coach House: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage,  no square footage listed

  • Sold in May 1998 for $340,500
  • Sold in February 2000 for $407,500
  • Sold in May 2005 for $512,000
  • Currently listed for $500,000
  • Assessments of $92 a month (includes lawn care and snow removal)
  • Taxes of $5046
  • Central Air
  • Bedroom #1: 15×13 (second floor)
  • Bedroom #2: 14×12 (second floor)
  • Bedroom #3: 18×11 (lower level)

17 Responses to “Forget the Townhouse, Buy a Coach House Instead: 1700 W. School in Lakeview”

  1. I love the place and the neighborhood. I hate the price. We shall see.

    0
    0
  2. A half mil to live in the clubhouse out back?

    is this seriously considered “Southport Corridor”?

    ok.

    0
    0
  3. “A half mil to live in the clubhouse out back?

    is this seriously considered “Southport Corridor”?”

    Yeah, it’s a little rich.

    I couldn’t keep a straight face calling anything west of Ashland SoPo. It’s not unreasonable to call this either Roscoe Village or West Lakeview (or both), but SoPo is a NoGo.

    0
    0
  4. Nice concept, nice windows/light, and a two-car garage is awesome. I just don’t even think of this area being Lakeview (it’s nice and all, but is well west of the already-west SPort). I bet somebody snaps it up for around $460k and is very happy.

    0
    0
  5. danny (lower case D) on October 28th, 2010 at 1:33 pm

    anon: “…but SoPo is a NoGo.”

    The name “SoNo” should be enough to make anyone avoid that condo tower. But then again people invested with “Madoff”.

    I take my homonyms (and implied meanings) seriously.

    0
    0
  6. * not to mention, by calling it the “Southport” neighborhood without adding the Corridor descriptor seems like a sly realtor trick.

    “is this seriously considered “Southport Corridor”?”

    Yeah, it’s a little rich.

    0
    0
  7. I used to live 6 doors down from this place – except in the front. Loved the neighborhood but didn’t like being in a traffic jam as soon as I pulled out of my garage. So this is on the alley and Paulina with no front yard and the front of the house looks like the back. Not sure what kind of discount that deserves.

    0
    0
  8. “So this is on the alley and Paulina with no front yard and the front of the house looks like the back. Not sure what kind of discount that deserves.”

    A big one, IMO. Plus, nothing says ‘we have arrived’ like shacking up in a coach house. I would much sooner live in Gary’s listing on Malden than this place – even if they were the same price, and this one is listed at 2X the Malden property.

    0
    0
  9. “A big one, IMO. Plus, nothing says ‘we have arrived’ like shacking up in a coach house. I would much sooner live in Gary’s listing on Malden than this place – even if they were the same price, and this one is listed at 2X the Malden property.”

    These places make *nice* rentals–said from experience. For about $2k/month, or a bit more if the 2 car parking is necessary.

    0
    0
  10. it’s funny you say that anon – my first reaction to this listing was how much it reminded me of my apartment in grad school.

    0
    0
  11. ok one for the road,

    so we all read the rat story, and have our own rat stories these past couple of years…..

    ….so do you really want your 500k house IN the alley?

    0
    0
  12. An alley rat started to nest in my car’s engine compartment and chewed through some wiring costing a $210 repair bill this past summer.

    It could’ve been a whole lot worse as the wiring wasn’t completely chewed off and the car was still drivable to the repair shop.

    Same thing happened to a buddy who parks in the same alley nearby and they got him better chewing completely through the wiring harness to the extent that a patch wiring job couldn’t be done and the car had to be towed in. That wound up costing him $500.

    0
    0
  13. No way you can rent these for 2k. Really struggling to find a place in that price range with all these amenities.

    0
    0
  14. “No way you can rent these for 2k. Really struggling to find a place in that price range with all these amenities.”

    The 2-car parking makes it impossible at that rate, true, and mostly the appliances/fixtures/carpet will be somewhat lower quality. And, to the extent out there, they (1) get snapped up and (2) don’t turn over too often.

    Here’s one asking 2100, w/o the garage:

    http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/apa/2030968880.html

    0
    0
  15. And another asking $1800, also apparently w/o garage:

    http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/apa/2030739900.html

    0
    0
  16. Other items of interest:
    1) We never could get our mail delivered properly in that neighborhood. There are some pieces that I won’t get until the mailman dies and they clean out his basement.
    2) This is a 2 unit condo association. I wonder how that’s working out.
    3) That has to be a 2 car garage. Not clear on how this unit gets 2 spots.

    0
    0
  17. I will say that 60657 is way over-represented in stories of mailmen hoarding/not delivering mail. I got *terrible* service when I was a few blocks away from here, it was so bad I actually went to the post office to complain TWICE.

    “1) We never could get our mail delivered properly in that neighborhood. There are some pieces that I won’t get until the mailman dies and they clean out his basement.”

    0
    0

Leave a Reply