Crib Chatter

 

 

 Yes, foreclosures are happening even in the ritzier downtown Chicago locations.  But some buildings are seeing more of them than others.

In my unscientific observation, the #1 building in Chicago for foreclosures to date has been The Sterling at 345 N. LaSalle in River North.  Located near the Chicago River just down the street from Trump Tower Chicago, it was originally constructed to be an apartment building.   American Invsco bought the building in 2001 as it was just finishing construction and converted it into condominiums in 2002. There are 389 units ranging from studios to large penthouse units. There is no parking available for purchase but you can rent it in the attached public parking garage for about $200 a month.

Several times a month, units at The Sterling have been popping up on the foreclosure auction lists. I talked with one agent handling a bank owned unit in early spring and he said at that time that there were probably “20 to 30” units under foreclosure.

And that was then.

The building’s problems can be traced to the sheer number of investors who bought in the building- especially under American Invsco’s “2-2-2” deal. That deal gave buyers two years of free assessments, two years of taxes paid and two years of guaranteed rental income for the unit.

According to an agent I talked to, many of the investor owners weren’t prepared to suddenly pay the assessments, taxes and a higher mortgage payment when their ARM adjusted.

Here is a Junior 1 bedroom on Craigslist in pre-foreclosure for $220,000.

Another unit just went on the auction block:

Unit #4303: 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 1350 square feet

• Previously sold in December 2003 for $616,400
• Auction price of $493,100

The 03 tier has consistently sold for the upper $500,000s to upper $600,000s since 2002.  What does the foreclosure do to the comps?  It depends on what it sells at auction and for what price.  But, suffice it to say, it’s not good for those other owners.

Past sales:

• Unit #4803 sold for $670,000 in April 2005
• Unit #4703 sold for $595,000 in March 2007

Good luck to Unit #4103, currently on the market for $580,500.  The pictures above are of Unit 4103. 

(By the way, on a side note, the listing describes #4103 as “highly upgraded.”  But that bathroom doesn’t look “upgraded” to me.  The kitchen, as seen in the pictures, was an upgrade package offered from the developer to larger units located on the upper floors.  But it wasn’t exactly top of the line cabinets, faucets or granite.  No Waterworks here.  The developer didn’t offer an upgrade package for any of the bathrooms- so everyone got the standard apartment rental bathrooms.)

Rizzo Realty Group has the #4103 listing.

The foreclosures seem to have trickled a bit in the building lately.  Maybe the worst is over. 

Or maybe not.