$184,500 Reduction on Bungalow in Forest Glen: 4923 W. Catalpa
We haven’t chattered much about what is going on in the far Northwest corner of the city.
This rehabbed 2-story 1928 octagon brick bungalow at 4923 W. Catalpa in Forest Glen was first listed in July 2008 and has since been reduced by $184,500.
The listing says it has a new kitchen (the appliances are missing in the pictures) and is also near the forest preserve and Metra.
What’s the going rate on 3-bedroom bungalows on the Northwest side?
Lucy Kozlowski at Coldwell Banker has the listing. See the pictures and the listing here.
4923 W. Catalpa: 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, dining room, no square footage listed, 2 car garage
- Sold in September 2005 for $450,000
- Originally listed in July 2008 for $719,000
- Reduced
- Was listed in November 2008 for $569,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $534,500
- Under “contingent contract”
- Taxes of $5689
Why on earth would anyone pay over 500k for THIS in Forest Glen is beyond absurd!
I don’t know the area so my guess is fuzzy–440k.
I like this property. I like it a lot actually. Even the price is competitive compared to what prices were a few years ago. Surprisingly, Forest Glen has one of the highest median sales prices in the city proper – few condos and lots of nice sfh’s. This place has a lot of pluses: a nice yard, beautiful woodwork, great location near the highway and the forest preserves. However, going against it has only only 1.5 bath and 3 bedrooms. And of course the price a $534k is a tad bit high.
“Why on earth would anyone pay over 500k for THIS in Forest Glen”
Maybe because it’s a spacious well-maintained house with some nice old details and a big back yard in a low-crime family neighborhood that’s surrounded by Forest Preserves and within easy walking distance of a Metra stop for great downtown access?
Apart from only having one full bath, it looks pretty good to me.
I think it will fetch $500K.
homedelete — I think I’m channeling you today!
It’s also walking distance to the metra. And a short distance from the foster ramp of i-90 in addition to the edens. and whole foods is a short drive up peterson. $534k though…eh.
sorry I mean up cicero to peterson to get to the whole foods.
3 bedroom 1.5 baths for 500k+ is a freaking rip off in LP or LV, let alone Forest Glen. That half bath is a KILLER!
Sonies — please point me to some 1800 sq.ft. 3BR / 1.5 bath SFH’s with yard and 2-car garage in LP/LV for less than $500K, so I don’t get ripped off….thanks
Sonies – if you can find a 500K+ SFH in Lincoln Park or Lakeview you’re either extremely lucky and/or the building is uninhabitable and on a 1,500 sqft lot.
The exterior of the house is very decent and the neighborhood is very desirable. Agreed, though, the number of baths isn’t enough for this price.
Nice, not quite a typical octagon bungalow, though bungalow buyers would be put off by the lack of original woodwork. That half bath looks huge – maybe a shower could be tucked into there? This whole corner of the city is very expensive. I think it’s the convenience of Happy Foods nearby.
I doubt I’d be able to find a place that large in LP or LV without 2 baths, but if there were some 1600sqft place with 1.5 baths in lakeview or LP They wouldn’t be even this much.
here’s one you should look at… hot tub and “dry bar” lol!
List Price: $524,999
MLS Number: 07103839
2706 North WILTON Avenue
Chicago-Lincoln Park, IL 60614 Property Type: House
Bedrooms: 3
Full Bathrooms: 2
Half Bathrooms: 1
Status: Active
3125 sq ft. 2.5 car garage
SFH
Sonies, price is a tad bit high and this is a ‘deal’ only because 2 years ago it would have sold for $700k. This home is similar to our former guv’s not too far to the east and that was appriased at $900k IIRC. $534 is out of reach for the average family but the average family doesn’t live in forest glen. Still I think the high 300’s or low $400’s is a more realistic bottom price. This is a solid brick bungalow close to a metra station and 2 highways and forest preserve. It’s a 28 minute metra ride to downtown…not el, but METRA. Quoting G from a few weeks ago, “if you think there are deals today, there will be even better deals tomorrow” or something like that.
And sonnies I would rather live in forest glen than LP any day of the week. LP irritates me because it’s so congested and trying to get anywhere in rush hour or on a weekend is a nightmare. Being confined to one neighborhood is annoying. but that’s neither here nor there, different strokes for difficult folks I guess.
“534 is out of reach for the average family but the average family doesn’t live in forest glen.”
The “average” Forest Glen family doesn’t share a shower between parents and kids.
poeple who would consider forest glen would never live consider lincoln park and vice versa. Sonies, if you had ever even been to this neighborhood you wouldn’t make the comparison. I love how on here there are always those same screeching voices shouting the prices down without even knowing what area they are talking about. (These voices always seem to use far too many exclamation points as if everything they are saying is exciting!!!!
Sonies – ok I’ll concede that there are some in this price range in LP, but your example on Wilton fits exactly with my stated sentiment about such priced houses in LP – There WILL be a major negative about the property. The Wilton house is practically attached to the L and there is no yard. Perhaps there is a large garage, but you have to go under the L tracks to get to it.
I would say that your example is absolutely not any near a comp for the subject house in Forest Glen.
hmmmm the second half of my post got cut off. anyhoo, see how the exclamation points i used are annoying? haha anyhoo the second post on here cracks me up. Why would you even offer a price estimate without knowing the neighborhood? Forest Glen is a highly desirable safe, beautiful neighborhood filled with a fairly large number of city employees. I agree that it would have been nice to find space for a second full bath up, but still this a large full two story bungalow that was renovated very well, and hits the mark for the neighborhood almost perfectly. 500k
HD its called walking. Don’t like getting your wing-tips scuffed, I presume? Look around your law firm, if you don’t want to wind up like the fat partners better get used to walking places.
” LP irritates me because it’s so congested and trying to get anywhere in rush hour or on a weekend is a nightmare. “
Actually they do share showers, or more accurately, did. Like I’ve said for a while, the entire NW side had rampant price inflation through HELOC’s and MEW. Not so much flipping or “I’ll buy and move after 3 years” but more “I’ve lived here for 10 years, I need to liberate $200k in equity from my home” type of stuff. Prices escalated to the point where this d-bag thought he could get $719k.
“#Sonies on February 17th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
“534 is out of reach for the average family but the average family doesn’t live in forest glen.”
The “average” Forest Glen family doesn’t share a shower between parents and kids.”
CountDeMonet,
Because I am more confident of my predictive ability even lacking information than I am in yours presumably knowing more information. I’m like the monkey portfolio manager who throws darts at a board for stock picks and who manages to beat 80% of active mutual fund managers.
“Why would you even offer a price estimate without knowing the neighborhood?”
I’m irritated by walking in lincoln park as much as driving it. once i get out of being stuck behind all the silver Jetta’s i’m stuck behind one of those doublewide strollers
Bobbie boy, let me tell you something. One of the major reasons I like this home is the proximity to the forest preserves. In fact, there is a fairly decent mountain biking trail that parallels the river all the way to central where it connects up with the north branch trail (which happens to be paved) and then that trail goes all the way to the botanical gardens. Right now in old irving I have to bike up koster to foster to catch the trail, it takes 10/15 minutes; living here i could catch the trail where it meets forest glen. dont’ worry the trail isn’t on any map but anybody who mountain bikes in the area knows about it. Plus, it’s so close to the highway to get to palos in the sw ‘burbs which is a great place to bike in the area. Don’t worry about me, the hundreds of miles I bike every summer means I won’t get fat. Biking in your hood LP is dangerous, too many cars, too many car doors, too many taxis, too many uninsured vehicles.
“Bob on February 17th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
HD its called walking. Don’t like getting your wing-tips scuffed, I presume? Look around your law firm, if you don’t want to wind up like the fat partners better get used to walking places.
” LP irritates me because it’s so congested and trying to get anywhere in rush hour or on a weekend is a nightmare. “”
ill repeat it again. If you don’t know the neighborhood and the comps, trends of whose moving in and out, etc etc just throwing a number out is useless. ill put my money on research rather than your magical enchanted “predictive ability”
Ok I love a challenge. We’ll see who is closer, Count. I’m more of a macro guy so I don’t always use location, location, location.
Instead our economy is contracting at the highest rate in 30 years, this time it wasn’t a planned recession to bring inflation under control, our equity markets are at 12 year lows (or worse) and our financial system is insolvent.
I bet when this place finally closes its closer to my 440k than your 500k. Lets revisit the topic when it closes.
The closer guesser will have a better pulse on the real state of the Chicago RE market, will you at least concede that?
I’d like to see an upstairs floor plan for this place….since all three BR’s are pretty decent size it might not be tough to pinch a bit of space from a couple of them for an ensuite master bath adjacent to the current bath.
Looks like there is some decent potential in that basement too, assuming it’s dry.
“I would say that your example is absolutely not any near a comp for the subject house in Forest Glen.”
Yeah its only twice the size and the same price, with the only negative is no yard (lol yard work) and the El nearby (oh its one block from the El to take a nice 15 minute commute to the loop. Oh and that whole desired Lincoln park area to live in.
“Actually they do share showers, or more accurately, did. Like I’ve said for a while, the entire NW side had rampant price inflation through HELOC’s and MEW. Not so much flipping or “I’ll buy and move after 3 years” but more “I’ve lived here for 10 years, I need to liberate $200k in equity from my home” type of stuff.”
Sounds like a dream, yay I have two kids and have to share the bathroom with not only my wife but my two dirty little brats. And who’s fault was it that they took out so much equity, or had appraisals that allowed such idiocy?
“I’m irritated by walking in lincoln park as much as driving it. once i get out of being stuck behind all the silver Jetta’s i’m stuck behind one of those doublewide strollers”
Hahahaha hilarious! 🙂
The cherrypicked Wilton property is $525K because its garage is under 4 el tracks. Good luck shaving in that separate master bath which will rattle every time a train passes.
And 1/3 of the listed square footage is below grade. Nicely finished, but still a basement.
Sonies, the property in this thread is a pretty nice house. It is over priced. It’s just as overpriced as the one story bungalow that hasn’t been updated in 30 years in my neighborhood that is listed for $359,000. We should all rejoice that prices are falling starting to fall and are slowing coming into alignment with what households can afford. $534k is still high; $400k or high $300’s would be a much better price. We need knifecatchers to set comps on the way down.
I’m familar with “Forest Glen”, having grown up there. Area is actually divided into several distinct neighborhoods: Sauganash, Sauganash Park, Forest Glen, Edgebrook, Edgebrook Towers, Wildwood, etc. Some areas then further subdivide into different mini-neighborhoods, with distinctly different sizes and prices. Parts of Sauganash and Wildwood are very “North Shore” in character, with large lots, large distinct vintage houses of character, and high home prices. Other areas, like outer Wildwood, Sauganash Park, and parts of Edgebrook have small post-war “little box” houses that look remarkably all the same (like the song) that were considered to be starter houses for many home-buyers.
This house is south of true Edgebrook or Sauganash, in a more blue-collar area. It’s a tricked-up ’20s era large bungalow, perhaps even originally configured to have a rental unit in the attic. Someone bought it at market peak, put in new Home Depot caliber kitchen and baths, and tried to peddle the house at a luxury price. No longer works in this market. Price still seems high for neighborhood. Remember the adage, “never be the most expensive house on your block”, the buyer here should be mindful of that recommendation.
Old Edgebrook is a nice little area but I never see anything for sale.
I went to HS with a bunch of kids from Wildwood, Sauganash etc. they did a lot of bragging about being tough city kids and making fun of “north shore cake”. I had a good laugh when I visited Wildwood. It’s the north shore suburb within the city.
Architect, after browsing this neighborhood on redfin and looking at this houses neighbors, I definitely agree. Looks like a nice neighborhood (with a suburb-within–the-city feel), but this is overpriced compared to others trying to sell here.
hey bob. this thing closed earlier this month. for 495,000. so suck it. hahahhah
CountDeMonet,
If so good call! I don’t yet see it on Tribune’s website but for now I’ll take your word for it. I’ve never been to Forest Glen and don’t imagine it being nice, but its nice enough to warrant half million dollar valuations apparently if this is true.
That being said, is it any surprise your valuation guessing skills were above a monkey throwing darts (the Bob technique for areas he knows little about)? 8)
I do like the callout, I just wish it was me doing the calling out as its soooo much more fun.
“I’m like the monkey portfolio manager who throws darts at a board for stock picks “
closed on the 10th. will be a good test of how fast the trib gets updated
This place all renovated and new is a ‘steal’ at $495,000 compared to the completely *absurd* pricing on the far northwest side. Here’s a 3 bedroom ranch on the NW side for $579,000 just a short distance away. A ranch! Just listed too, only on the market 4 days – you better hurry!!!!
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/6784-N-Hiawatha-Ave-60646/home/13591790
I predict yesterday’s “Better buy now or risk being priced out of the market forever!” will become tomorrow’s “Better buy now or risk missing the bottom!”