14-Months Later and Still Looking for a Buyer in the Fulton Market: 1418 W. Fulton
We last chattered about this rare single family home in the Fulton Market District at 1418 W. Fulton in February 2009.
See our February 2009 chatter here.
It has 6-bedrooms and a 3 car garage.
While the outside looks traditional, the interior boasts a contemporary renovation including a 4-story atrium.
The house has concrete floors and a huge rooftop deck with a wet bar.
Edward Hester at Dream Town Realty still has the listing. See the pictures here.
1418 W. Fulton: 6 bedrooms, 3 full, 2 half baths, 3 car garage
- Prior sale looks to be in May 1998 for $181,500
- Was listed in October 2008 for $1,099,000
- Reduced
- Was listed in February 2009 for $999,000
- Currently listed for $999,900
- Taxes of $7,744
- Hot tub
- Rooftop deck with wet bar
Will they take a check?
Outdoor deck with wetbar? LOL this isnt CA or FL weather & I`m sure that idling delivery truck diesel exhaust must smell lovely.
Wait. I thought when you want to sell something (or if it is languishing on the market), you LOWER the price. Are you kidding me that it’s gone up $900 since FEBRUARY. They can raise it again on April 1 — that would be a great April Fools. Fools.
This area is desolate, and won’t become anything near developed within the next 10-15 years. There’s absolutely no underlying infrastructure of shops or houses. At half the price I’m sure the vendors would be able to find someone willing to put up with all of the negatives for the space, but for a million? Even the red socks guy wasn’t taking *this* many double hits off of the pipe.
I’d rather buy a wing of a Public Storage building and convert that. It would be less dirty and you’d have way more neighbors.
Quick random question guys. I’m looking to buy a place and my broker was discussing doing an ARM. I was completely against this but do you think it would be a good idea when I can get a fixed rate so low? I plan on being at this place for 5-7 years. Thank you.
You’d have to be insane to take an ARM mortgage. Mortgage rates have nowhere to go but up.
ARMS aren’t as horrible as everyone says if you manage it right. Also, if you want to get an arm screw your broker and go to INGDIRECT.com. You have to have good credit and downpayment though.
However, getting a 30 year fixed at less than 5% is fantastic.
Chew on this: internet sleuths have determined that ben bernanke refinanced his ARM into a fixed rate. now if the guy who basically sets short term interest rates for the entire country converted from an ARM into a fixed…what do you think you should do?
“Tom on December 23rd, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Quick random question guys. I’m looking to buy a place and my broker was discussing doing an ARM. I was completely against this but do you think it would be a good idea when I can get a fixed rate so low? I plan on being at this place for 5-7 years. Thank you.
“
HD,
That is what I figured and why I was against it.
Jason,
What’s so good about INGDirect? Have you used them before? My middle credit score of the 3 was 715 and I would be putting 20% down.
Not just the entire country HD, the entire world…
Arms aren’t worth the risk right now… I mean would you wager a hundred or so dollars a month now that in 5-7 years mortgage rates won’t be way higher than they are today at a tune of about $500-infinity per month more?
If The Fed chairman went to a fixed mortgage, and rates being as low as they are, you’re a fool to use an ARM mortgage and I would question your broker’s integrity and intelligence. Well i’d probably do that anyway because this is a HUGE financial decision, do you want someone who gets paid only when a deal gets done to make those choices for you?
ING requires a 30% down payment on single family homes and 45% down on condos in Chicago. If your broker is any good, they should be able to beat ING rates. Brokers are almost always cheaper than retail banks.
Most conventional arms have built in protection and can’t adjust more than 2% up or down in any given year and typically can’t ever go higher than 5% higher than the start rate.
You should run the numbers and see what you save taking an ARM over a 30 year and what the worst case scenario would be 5 or 7 year from now if the ARM adjusted to its max rate.
The building looks more like a 6 unit apartment building than a SFH.
For this location, I’d be inclined to subdivide this place (if zoning allowed it).
What if you don’t plan on staying in the place past say 7 years…then the ARM may make sense.
“danny on December 23rd, 2009 at 7:23 pm
The building looks more like a 6 unit apartment building than a SFH.”
That’s because it’s not a SFH. The left side of the building is a 2-unit if I recall correctly. I’ve no idea why the realtors shoot the pic like that. It makes it look massive, sure, but how does that work out when prospective buyers come by for a showing and expect a SFR for their $1MM?
Oops.
ARMs have their place, depending on the terms of the note and your relocation intentions.
“What if you don’t plan on staying in the place past say 7 years…then the ARM may make sense.”
And buying may not make sense… It all comes down to how much risk are you willing to take on a leveraged asset? For me, i’ll take my risk on something i’m familiar with like stocks and options and keep my housing expense as fixed as possible.
Because I know mortgage rates in 7 years are highly highly likely to not be this low, ARMS are dumb right now in my opinion.
I still disagree. If you were in stocks last year 2008 you would have taken a bigger hit in stocks then if you were in real estate.
ARMs aren’t bad. What gets to be really bad is the ARMs and the no money or 3% down or interest only ARMs…
But if you are of reasonable means and putting 20% down, I don’t think that choosing an ARM over a 15 or 30 year fixed is in itself a bad choice depending on what you are going to do with the property
Well imagine this scenario…..
3-5 years ago many people bought ARM’s convinced that they would be selling thier places for huge profit and making the move to the a bigger more expensive place. For them it made sense at the time. I even joined in the ARM party. Now in the face of decreased value many are forced to stay put longer than expected and wait for some recovery.
I think that having a lock at current low fixed rates gives you added flexibiliy. Let’s assume that you experienc a signifigant change in your income or job, that there is another major housing drop, or another unforseen economic catastrophe. You will be more likely to be able to stay intact or at least rent the place with a known fixed cost than whth an adjustable product.
We are considering selling our condo in this depressed selling enviornment solely because we believe we stll have 30% – 40% in equity. This gives us the flexibility to get out intact and buy something special with a long term prespective at a discount.
Our friends who had little down payment and ARM’s are stuck for years. Combine thier unknown future payment and limited ability to refinance witout bringing additional cash and you have found the real problem.
I’d sugest that people should only buy today if they have at least 25% or more down and are planning on staying for a LONG term (10+ years) perspective. Then and only then will they minimize thier risk.
Bernacke should be as liquid as possible as he will be unemployed soon. I’m sure someone will offer him a new job. Perhaps he can become editor of Crib Chatter! He might have some interesting comments…..
Oh I almost forgot. I still like the place and I could even handle 1400 Fulton but find it is vastly over improved for most peoples budgets for this type of location. Where is Wilco, R Kelly, or Billy Corigan when you need them? An artist of some type that neeeds/likes to be out of the congestion of condo mania will eventually find this place…..hopeully!
Billy Corgan has a swank-ass mansion on the Lake in the north burbs.
Wilco… I don’t know where any of them live.
R Kelly… I don’t think you’d want him in the neighborhood.
“chichow on December 24th, 2009 at 10:32 am
I still disagree. If you were in stocks last year 2008 you would have taken a bigger hit in stocks then if you were in real estate.”
Depends upon how bad you are at investing. I’m no investment guru, but the moderately aggressive retirement account I started in mid 2006 came back into the black this year, and that was after losing money for a good deal of 2007 and 2008 (enough to more than wipe out any gains made before the bubble burst).
Unless you are a believer in stagflation, the definition of “flexibility” is to have adjustable rate debt. Typically, interest rates will be higher during periods of economic growth, which should mean that your career/investments are performing well during those periods, typically allowing you to “afford” higher interest payments on an ARM. When the economy tanks, rates will drop and your mortgage will be cheaper. Though right now, rates are very low by historical standards, and I think fixed rate loans are the way to go if you have a long term horizon on housing ownership.
I don’t think there is any shame in renting, but, I personally rent a place at a payment and lifestyle that a monthly cost far cheaper than what a coinciding mortgage payment would be. The big decision with buying a place in this market (for renters) is how much are you willing to pay on the margin for a bigger/better place? My timeline is short, I’ll keep renting til I’m sure I can live with losing money on an upgrade.
Doesn’t r kelly have a house near olympia fields golf course? Not on it but nearby.
They RAISED the price since February? Get bent!
Joe,
I aggree with your definition of the word flexibility but not in terms of the debt on a property. Having a “fixed price” on the debt will allow additional options or flexibility in terms of what can be done with this property. If your fixed costs are rising during an economic boom this can only mean that the increase in cost will decrese potential income from a rental option. If the carreer/earnings are rising perhaps you can afford an additonal property without selling the original piece. Leverage!
“Wilco… I don’t know where any of them live.”
Tweedy is HD’s neighbor in OIP.
Tweedy’s on the other side of Irving.