1940s 5-Bedroom Tudor Back to the 1998 Price in Portage Park: 5501 W. Byron
We’ve seen prices roll back to 1999 levels in some neighborhoods but I believe this 5-bedroom tudor home at 5501 W. Byron in Portage Park is the first I’ve seen listed at the 1998 purchase price.
It is a short sale.
Built in 1940 on a 31×124 lot, the vintage brick tudor also has a 2-car garage.
2 out of the 5 bedrooms are on the second floor with the other 3 on the main level.
It has central air and a finished basement.
Is this a deal?
Michael Sorensen at Re/Max City has the listing. See the pictures here.
5501 W. Byron: 5 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2317 square feet, 2 car garage
- Sold in August 1998 for $200,000
- Lis pendens foreclosure filed in June 2009
- Just listed as a “short sale” for $200,000
- Taxes of $4536
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 23×12 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 17×15 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 13×11 (main level)
- Bedroom #4: 13×11 (main level)
- Bedroom #5: 11×8 (main level)
i think this one is having an open house this sunday, we should have a Crib Chatter party
not near transit, outside of GZ (amirite? – not sure of the definitions) yep – this area got crushed.
NW side is where you get more bang for your buck!!!!! hmmm i this place as in LP it would be around what 1.2mil? or hey in stupid bucktown it would be 800k. in SoPo 2.9mil? even in lincoln square (ha) it would fetch 700k!
BTW you guys need to eat at the Portage cafe/restaurant its surprisingly great. skip the desert and walk over to dairy squirts for ice cream.
wait so in 10 years the owners really owe more than they paid?
Yes, if you have a family.
wait so in 10 years the owners really owe more than they paid?
and the still have a stove like that.
*sorry hit submit by misstake
Now this is what I’ve been talking about.
10 mortgages in 8 years.
The first mortgage in 1998 was for $150,000.
The last mortgage in 2006 was for $465,000.00
It went into foreclosure in June of 2009 and was dismissed in December of 2009 most likely due to a loan modification.
the only thing I don’t like about it is the distance to the train. If I’m going to need a car I’m heading out to the burbs.
Jeezus – anyone looking for evidence of a bubble?
“The first mortgage in 1998 was for $150,000.
The last mortgage in 2006 was for $465,000.00”
A lot of people drive to the blue line or metra and park their cars on side streets.
“roscoevillager on November 16th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
the only thing I don’t like about it is the distance to the train. If I’m going to need a car I’m heading out to the burbs.”
I totally get that – and it’s what I’d do. Would prefer to remain a 1 car family, and if I’m driving to the train it seems like more of a suburban set-up and totally weakens my “I don;t want to move to the suburbs” arguement with the missus.
“Now this is what I’ve been talking about.
10 mortgages in 8 years.
The first mortgage in 1998 was for $150,000.
The last mortgage in 2006 was for $465,000.00
It went into foreclosure in June of 2009 and was dismissed in December of 2009 most likely due to a loan modification.”
They need to be put in prison. And if they try to claim some “goodie” defense like medical bills they need to be roughed up first to put them roughly back into the condition they were when they had the ailment…then thrown in prison.
It looks like they got a $315,000 check. Now I understand real estate as a retirement funding vehicle! This house was truly an ATM for these people and now they are off the hook…
Nice little house.
it served as someones high interest ATM for 8 years.
Strange way to live.
I go to work every day.
and I have a small business.
I must be old fashioned
or a complete idiot
My intuition told me to search the records at http://www.ilnb.uscourts.gov and I found exactly what I was looking for.
Credit cards, IRS taxes and property taxes.
Oh where did all the money go?
They list the mortgage payment at $3,100 a month. Would you pay $3,100 a month to live here?
“James on November 16th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
Nice little house.
it served as someones high interest ATM for 8 years.
Strange way to live.”
“Nice little house.
it served as someones high interest ATM for 8 years.
Strange way to live.”
Correction, my friend. It served as someone’s LOW interest ATM for 8 years. Someone lived very high on the hog for basically over a decade due to Beneficient Bernanke.
that is a mountain of cahs to blow through – although I think Clio might refer to it as long weekend money.
I post this information to show that homes in many areas of the NW side skyrocketed in value between 1999 and 2006. This home had a value of $471,000 in early 2007. That’s absurd. It was $200k in 1998 and nine years later it’s $471k. The CPI calculator says $200,000 in 1998 was $257,000 in 2007 and $268,000 in 2010. Yet the home had a value of $471,000. Owners like these then ‘liberated’ their equity every step of the way and it drove them straight to the poor house. Now home prices are returning to reality because 10.5% appreciation per year for Portage Park is just ridiculous.
$200k with a $160k mortgage has a PITI of roughly $1,250 per month. That’s reasonable for this house. I’m not going to say this is a ‘bottom’ but it’s a return to rational home pricing. This is something to rejoice.
“$200k with a $160k mortgage has a PITI of roughly $1,250 per month. That’s reasonable for this house. I’m not going to say this is a ‘bottom’ but it’s a return to rational home pricing. This is something to rejoice.”
It’s cheap for this house, unless there’s significant deferred maintenance, b/c, ex. the stove (reasonably likely they gave the nice one to family/friend soon after default), that kitchen is nicer and newer than typical. This is a nicer house than it was in ’98, with a much lower monthly cost to own in real $$.
Nice looking Crib.
Will be interesting to see how this closes:
MULTIPLE OFFERS RECEIVED/ DEADLINE FOR SUBMITTING OFFERS IS WED
What is this hood like?
“What is this hood like?”
You grow up in the metro? Have you spent much time in the city west of Western, ever, except at the airports?
It’s a traditionally “Chicago” working class hood that’s been mainly Eastern Euro and now heavily chicano and in moderate decline after the heloc/refi fueled boom of the past 15 years. If your idea of city living is formed by lakefront and/or bucktown/WP and/or artsy/boho/hipster enclaves, this ain’t your hood.
Very accurate description. OTOH, it’s a brick SFH in the city on the northside a short bus/drive from the blue line, and a big park. These don’t exist in the ‘Green Zone’ unless of course the green zone were to expand…
“#anon (tfo) on November 16th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
“What is this hood like?”
You grow up in the metro? Have you spent much time in the city west of Western, ever, except at the airports?
It’s a traditionally “Chicago” working class hood that’s been mainly Eastern Euro and now heavily chicano and in moderate decline after the heloc/refi fueled boom of the past 15 years. If your idea of city living is formed by lakefront and/or bucktown/WP and/or artsy/boho/hipster enclaves, this ain’t your hood.”
well put.
****************************************
It’s a traditionally “Chicago” working class hood that’s been mainly Eastern Euro and now heavily chicano and in moderate decline after the heloc/refi fueled boom of the past 15 years. If your idea of city living is formed by lakefront and/or bucktown/WP and/or artsy/boho/hipster enclaves, this ain’t your hood.”
It appears that houses outside the GZ get the least number of comments yet I find them to be the most interesting.
Also of note, Sabrina has completely stopped posting suburban properties.
At anything around the list price, this seems like a screaming deal to me. Obvious negative is only 2BR’s up. Weird lack of cabinets, given that the kitchen looks fairly recent.
Other than that, from the looks of it, a fantastic opportunity.
“It appears that houses outside the GZ get the least number of comments yet I find them to be the most interesting.”
The properties outside of the GZ are really interesting to me right now because we are REALLY seeing the effects of the housing bust in full force now. Some of the 2005 sales prices are shocking when you see that they are now selling for 60% or more under those prices. And what it means, in a neighborhood like PP, is that the entire neighborhood is going to feel the pain of the bust now.
Not too far from this house is a bungalow listed for $389k. Even if it has a more modern kitchen, does anyone believe it will sell for anywhere close to that? Of course not. And on and on and on in these neighborhoods until we finally hit bottom.
Of course, the same thing is happening with condos in the GZ. Some are starting to throw in the towel so we are seeing prices back to 2001-2002 in LP and Lakeview now. But it’s slowly working its way through the system there. It’s going to take a little longer.
“Also of note, Sabrina has completely stopped posting suburban properties.”
I have some suburban properties to post on but the city is just too darn interesting right at the moment.
“Also of note, Sabrina has completely stopped posting suburban properties.”
I for one would love to see more posts for Portage Park and Jefferson Park.
HD
How’d you see info about “Credit cards, IRS taxes and property taxes” at http://www.ilnb.uscourts?
Did you take the borrower’s name from CCRD and then input it somewhere at http://www.ilnb.uscourts.gov? Where? Must one have a PACER acct to see documents?
walk over to dairy squirts for ice cream.
Dairy Squirts?
“Dairy Squirts?”
We aren’t obliged to explain midwest culture of vernacular to you, Madeline. Don’t you have a flight to catch to the right or left coasts? What next are you going to ask us to explain what sliders are and how they came to get that nickname?
midwest culture of vernacular
culture of vernacular?
I have a PACER account. I handle a few bankruptcies (not exclusively though) and it’s a common theme in portage park (and lots of other places too):
Refi refi refi, usually between 8-10 times in as many years, and then file BK. This seems especially prevalent over the NW side where long time owners liberated all the equity in their homes through this past decade.
I’ve got one family making $100k a year in Jefferson Park who borrowed an average of $25,000 a year for 8 years (2001-2008) against their home. They bought it for $100k in the mid-90’s. They could have paid it off during that time but instead went CRAZY like serial refinancers.
I remember when ANOTHER of my clients did the 7th cash-out refi in 2006, the client called me up a few weeks later and was complaining that a piece of furniture hadn’t been delivered yet and wanted me to write a nasty letter to the furniture store (I declined to do that…). The total purchase was like $12,000 in furniture or something and I remember being sort of stoic about it.
HELOC your home, buy fancy furniture & a 60″ LCD, default on the mortgage, get a loan mod, file BK. Keep the furniture and TV and then short sale the house when you’re ready to move.
It’s the American way.
“#dedalus on November 16th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
HD
How’d you see info about “Credit cards, IRS taxes and property taxes” at http://www.ilnb.uscourts?
Did you take the borrower’s name from CCRD and then input it somewhere at http://www.ilnb.uscourts.gov? Where? Must one have a PACER acct to see documents?”
Nucular, it’s pronounced Nucular…
“#Madeline on November 16th, 2010 at 10:17 pm
midwest culture of vernacular
culture of vernacular?”
Interesting details HD. It explains a lot about why the economy will not recover from this for decades. The level of spending that was going on in the last decade will not be replicated. The House ATM is gone.
How will the middle class survive now? (without a serious decline in their standard of living?)
“How will the middle class survive now? (without a serious decline in their standard of living?)”
Another asset bubble. I hear government bonds were hot. Until the Fed started QE2 then Wall Street had to stop front-running them and start offloading them and gave a big THANK YOU to Big Ben for the free $$$ earned off a risk free bet. Paid for by US taxpayers, of course. Someone has to pay for that Manhattan private school tuition lol.
The middle class in America is F’d, unless the Fed can inflate our way out of these problems at a measured pace. Unfortunately they cannot.
But for those that didn’t gamble on assets in bubble, I suspect there will be some killer deals over the next 4-5 years. The bottom can’t be that far off from 2014 in nominal terms I’m betting.
madeline,
its really called dairy queen, the squirts part come from what happens after you eat thier food (not ice cream though).
sorry for the off color off topic post 🙁
“I for one would love to see more posts for Portage Park and Jefferson Park”
i will second that but ask to skip portage and add edgebrook and edison. jeff park is awesome and most sleep on what you can get for the price and the best area its a transportation epicenter.
you have blue line, metra, 90, 94, ohare, 14 (nw hwy) and jeff park bus terminal!
Here’s another one. Took me about 20 seconds of time looking up the neighbors.
http://www.ccrd.info/CCRD/controller?commandflag=searchByProperty&optflag=SearchCommandForIL&PIN_1=13&PIN_2=21&PIN_3=108&PIN_4=022&PIN_5=0000
5511 W. Byron, just a few houses down from this one.
Bought the house in 1989 for $61,500 (for what appears to be cash).
Fast forward to 1998: cash out refi with a $131,000 mortgage
refi 2002: $122,000
Cash out refi 2003: $153,000
Cash 2nd mortgage 2004: $74,000
Cash out refi in 2006 for a total of $240,000.
Liberate that equity baby, liberate that equity.
Its my equity and i’m not going to give it back.
That equity in your house is just there, doing nothing, similing at you, calling your name as only a siren can, begging you to set it free. That equity isn’t doing you any good trapped in your. Liberate your equity and invest it in something useful, like a trip to hawaii or roomplace furniture.
I remember another guy I jnow called me in 2007 to tell me he cash out refi’d his house for the 4th time, to pay off his high interest credit card but he coukdnt afford the mortgage payment so he used his cash out refi to pay his monthly mortgage note. I told him this would not end well and he said” I know”.
5511 byron,that’s just unbelievable what they did there.
These people should never be allowed to buy homes again!!! Seriously, if mortgages were totally private, what sane investor would lend money to people who have displayed such an irresponsible track record? I think that the credit should be tainted for life (not just the 7-8 years after a foreclosure). Come on, when you get arrested, that doesn’t go off of your record after a few years. The same should go for this. It is important information and tells a lot about a person.
“Come on, when you get arrested, that doesn’t go off of your record after a few years.”
Uhh…yeah it can.
Groovy –
I did that walk all the way up Milwaukee Avenue when I was in town and finished up at the Gale Street Inn in Jefferson Park. Thank you for the recommendation! I love food recommendations. For anyone who likes ribs and martinis, excellent service and old-school flavor, check out the Gale Street Inn.
I love Sabrina’s posts on non-GZ hoods too. Everything west of the river and south of the Loop is fascinating to me.
If they used that last refi to pay for their kids’ college, that’s some pretty sweet (accidental) financial planning.
“I did that walk all the way up Milwaukee Avenue when I was in town and finished up at the Gale Street Inn in Jefferson Park. Thank you for the recommendation! I love food recommendations. For anyone who likes ribs and martinis, excellent service and old-school flavor, check out the Gale Street Inn.”
cool glad you did go 🙂 isnt milwaukee crazy! you can “literally” see the migration of the polish and czech followed by the mexican community and now the yuppies behind them.
when i was a punk skater kid belmont down to central park was Polish mecca and bucktown/wicker park was Ghetto and jeff park was irish and polish middle class loop workers. Logan square was 95% mexican.
in my moms era, my grandparents house was in logan where the highway is now and it was a mix of imigrants and irish catholic and a large polish catholic area, humbolt park was beautiful then but still had a bad rep but not as bad as it is now.
just three blocks up from gale street is kings gyros. awesome gyro’s and fresh cut fries! and a mile up was superdog!
“you can “literally” see the migration of the polish and czech followed by the mexican community and now the yuppies behind them.”
Two Michelin starred restaurants within walking distance of where I am now in Logan (three if I’m willing to walk a bit farther). Pretty nutty.
That is SO interesting. Thank you for sharing your perspective. I’ve only known Chicago since 1993. I love the area along Milwaukee from Belmont up to Jefferson Park, but it seems like mostly houses and not condos, so unfortunately I don’t think I’ll find my place there.
I did some research into a pretty condo I saw in Mayfair by the Montrose el stop, however it appears to be one of those cases where everyone took out no-money-down mortgages and there are perhaps 3 people left living in the whole building. None of the various phone numbers I was given for the condo association worked.
“cool glad you did go 🙂 isnt milwaukee crazy! you can “literally” see the migration of the polish and czech followed by the mexican community and now the yuppies behind them.”
Except the yuppies never really earned 5x what the polish, czech or mexicans did. They were just idiots livin’ the credit dream in most cases but they did manage to bid up properties to insane and unjustified levels.
And additionally most 100k/yr jobs are less secure than 30k/yr jobs. Excluding the protected class of government workers, of course.
“I did some research into a pretty condo I saw in Mayfair by the Montrose el stop”
Mayfair park always had good pickup games there. my aunt lived in mayfair for ever until it changed and now its changing back. Make sure to hit up the irish heritage festival at the irish heritage center. you will never see as many red haired people in one place as you do there. kind of creepy when sober.
do hit up susie’s beef when in mayfair! or closer to the montrose el Roma’s beef on cicero around the corner.
there used to be a cool vinyl record store right there at the bus turnaround.
I hear you, Bob. And it’s not just houses which get bid up when you’re living the credit dream and maintaining appearances. There’s an enormous amount of pressure people put on themselves – maybe it’s more extreme in NY than CHI – to eat out all the time at the $30 entree places or drink multiple $20 cocktails and compete with your Prada bag or Tory Burch shoes.
I refuse to go into debt for stupid things, so as a result this excludes me from outings with most girls I know. Which is fine with me.
Saw this house this past Sunday with a friend. There must have been 15 other groups looking at the place in the 20 mins I was there & lots of excitement – people on the phone trying to get quick preapproval & making offers.
And none of that refi money went into home repairs as far as I could see – kitchen had cheap pergo floors w/ gaps, older windows, upstairs had drop ceilings. It was a nice house, but not rehabbed in any way.
And, if you’re on the far NW side & want to eat, you should check out Smak-Tak, some of the BEST polish food around. 5961 North Elston Avenue, Chicago. Their potato and cheese pierogis are sublime.
“And none of that refi money went into home repairs as far as I could see – kitchen had cheap pergo floors w/ gaps”
So, you think the pergo was original to the house? And what about the kitchen cabinets?
On a less snarky note, did you look at the mechanicals, roof and tuckpointing? Was any of that done in the last 12 years? That stuff adds up quickly.
Anon, I didn’t take a close look at the mechanichals – I was with a friend and she crossed it off her list pretty quickly. We didn’t even go into the basement. I did notice a bedroom at the back of the house, probably a converted porch, that had a couple of cracks in the wall, so that may be settling badly, but the main house seemed ok.
“And, if you’re on the far NW side & want to eat, you should check out Smak-Tak, some of the BEST polish food around. 5961 North Elston Avenue, Chicago. Their potato and cheese pierogis are sublime.”
i put in a vote for a new place Sami Swoi (spelling?) its on addison and austin. white eagle never disappoints but thats Niles.
if you want CHEAP polish eats try Smakosh (spelling?) its on lawrence and central.
“I did notice a bedroom at the back of the house, probably a converted porch, that had a couple of cracks in the wall, so that may be settling badly, but the main house seemed ok.”
oh yes the chicago enclosed back porch turned into bedroom or den, 80% of them were done without permits and done poorly. and even with permits were done with NO insulation at all.
“a bedroom at the back of the house, probably a converted porch, that had a couple of cracks in the wall, so that may be settling badly”
Bad news. Especially as the back of the house is brick and looks to be original–so it’s probably not a bad reno issue.
“And, if you’re on the far NW side & want to eat, you should check out Smak-Tak, some of the BEST polish food around. 5961 North Elston Avenue, Chicago. Their potato and cheese pierogis are sublime.”
X 100. Smak-Tak is fantastic. Besides the pierogis, the Hungarian pancake, hunter’s stew and all the soups are to die for. Not the cheapest Polish place, but the quality is far above stereotypically heavy and bland Polish cooking. It leaves White Eagle etc. in the dust.
Grove77: “…Logan square was 95% mexican.”
I think you meant Puerto Rican.
“Will be interesting to see how this closes:
MULTIPLE OFFERS RECEIVED/ DEADLINE FOR SUBMITTING OFFERS IS WED”
I don’t have a clue about this area and pricing, but this looks extremely cheap. I wonder if the owner/bank are on a fishing expedition here?
Smak-Tak got a Bib from Michelin.
“Grove77: “…Logan square was 95% mexican.”
I think you meant Puerto Rican.”
dont know where my mind was my bad it did turn majority mexican right before the yups pushed in but before that puerto rican was diversey (logan) down and up was mexican
I remember reading about the gradual transition of Humboldt Park from Puerto Rican to Mexican. What stuck in my mind was the switch from softball fields to soccer fields in the Park itself.
the Hungarian pancake,
Is that the potato pancake stuffed with goulash? Because that is AWESOME.
We go to Smak-Tak about once every 8 months. I’m still a little full from our last visit 6 months ago.
youre right about kings groove…gyros and beefs are very good.try the rib tips sometime,too
i’ve got to try smak tak,just a block from me.i need to get out more,i guess.
“i’ve got to try smak tak,just a block from me”
trust me you wont regret it. just dont go with a part bigger than 4 people! the place is SMALL but highly worth a trip.
all my years nobody i know tried the tips at kings, we all say we are until we get there and end up with a gyro. next time i am in the area i will take you up on that!