2 1/2 Year Later, This 3-Bedroom House Returns to the Market: 3729 N. Hermitage in Lakeview
We last chattered about this 3-bedroom single family home at 3729 N. Hermitage in Lakeview in December of 2008.
See our prior chatter and the old pictures here.
Back then, we chattered about whether the house, listed at $699,000, was “affordable” given the prices of other single family homes in the neighborhood.
Many of you thought it was still too expensive though some of you thought it would sell somewhere in the $500,000s.
Remember, this was December 2008, which was in the midst of the financial crisis.
The house never sold. It was rented for several years (previous rental asking price was $3,000 a month.)
It has come back on the market listed $80,000 under the 2008 list price.
It also has some new paint and staging.
At 3100 square feet, the house is on a smaller than standard 25×108 lot.
There is no garage, but one could be built.
The kitchen has granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances.
It has a partially finished basement, as you can see from the pictures.
2 out of 3 bedrooms are on the second floor with the third one on the main level. There is also an open loft space on the second level.
In December 2008, realtor Eric Rojas commented:
“They should have taken it off when the melt-down hit in October (if possible) and bring it back in February at $629K with some touch-ups and it should fly out the door.
This is a move-in quality home in a nice location. Regardless of comparables that help it’s list price (which show a teardown/gut rehab property selling for $450K on the street this summer) this house will sell for over $600K, especially with favorable financing rates hanging around. Great spot, nice condition, great deck. If it has any yard at all, then it should get over $600K.”
2 1/2 years later- what will this house sell for now?
Mitch Gordon at Baird & Warner has the listing. See more pictures here.
Or you can see it in person at the Open House on May 29: 11- 1 PM.
3729 N. Hermitage: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 3100 square feet
- Sold in November 1990 for $126,000
- Sold in September 2000 for $380,000
- Originally listed in June 2008 for $774,900
- Reduced several times
- Was listed in December 2008 at $699,000
- Withdrawn and Rented
- Currently listed at $619,000
- Taxes of $8972
- Central Air
- No garage
- Bedroom #1: 15×12 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 14×13 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 10×10 (main floor)
- Loft: 13×12 (second floor)
- Partially finished basement
These sellers should hold out to see if CPS ever decides it really can’t afford to keep Hamilton open. Bam! 100k increase overnight!
Even if they don’t to sell then, they can rent it out for 7300 😉
I know several people in the Audubon district who are sending their kids to Hamilton instead. It ain’t going anywhere.
That’s a big basement. Put up some dry wall for crying out loud.
Level 3 standing. It should be closed.
Big discussion on CPS Obsessed about Hamilton, it’s not going anywhere.
I don’t understand leaving the basement unfinished like that – how much would it really cost to throw up some drywall and paint?
In an area like this and for this price they should have dormered the roof. Also I see no reason why they didn’t put up a garage, they are very cheap, unless they had to cut down that tree.
I live on the block, so of course I am biased. But it really is a top location. Hamilton is definitley not going anywhere. The new principal is fantastic and it’s got a waitlist for K.
@Roma—There’s actually quite a few houses in the neighborhood on renting in the 6,500 plus range in Hamilton.
@Skeptic–I know two people in Blaine who are sending their kids to Hamilton. Size is the big factor there and being really impressed with the dramatic turnaround.
Jason – I felt like I’ve educated myself on CPS elementary. What’s Level 3 standing? And that’s so odd – I’ve also heard of people saying they want to send their kid to Hamilton.
Whoops, skip my comment I’ll go check out CPS Obsessed tonight.
I think the question here is what have they done since 2000?
my daughter is going there – turns out an old high school classmate has her’s going there as well. as Groove might agree, it’s one small world.
As for the house, it’s very big inside and has a great airy feel to it. The owners only had one car and would rather have the backyard space so they did not put up a garage. Also, the renters that were there did not have a car, so again, no need for one.
The backyard space is very nice, but I would think if you want a garage I would put up a 1 car and keep the tree.
CPS obsessed is interesting, but no idea what the discussion in question is after running a search – a little help?
@skeptic…my little guy will be there in 2012!
important question for Groove: where can I take my digital camera to be repaired on the northwest side (dropped it and LCD is cracked but still takes photos) and not get gouged.
Skeptic it’s in the comments of this post
http://cpsobsessed.com/2011/05/11/rahms-education-platform-guest-post-by-hsobsessed/
“I don’t understand leaving the basement unfinished like that – how much would it really cost to throw up some drywall and paint?”
Go to the open house, ask and report back to us!
Chances are they didn’t think it was worth the effort if they were selling the place, figuring a new owner would take care of that to his/her liking.
Dormering ain’t cheap. I’d cut the tree down and put in a nice sized garage. Chances are the tree’s roots are already about to attack the house’s foundation.
“important question for Groove: where can I take my digital camera to be repaired on the northwest side (dropped it and LCD is cracked but still takes photos) and not get gouged.”
People still repair things?
Icarus:
I know that companies like Nikon and Canon will have mail-in service. You mail in a camera, they give you a quote, and repair if approved. That said, unless it’s a pretty nice camera, I’m guessing it’s not going to make sense to repair. I had a Nikon DSLR repaired in this way.
“People still repair things?”
Ending is better than mending in this world.
I love how the price of good Nikon lenses do not go down.
I’ll chain myself to that tree if you try cutting it down 😉
I really love this camera, it’s a sony DSC-P100 that I “won in a poker game”
“I really love this camera, it’s a sony DSC-P100 that I “won in a poker game””
I’m guessing it will probably cost more than $89.99 to fix
http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-Cyber-shot-DSC-P100-DIGITAL-DSCP100-CAMERA-ONLY-/350464107324?pt=Digital_Cameras&hash=item519949e33c#ht_500wt_1156
“I’m guessing it will probably cost more than $89.99 to fix”
With most cameras, you can order a new screen and swap it yourself. The screen should cost less than $90, and (while I don’t know Sony for sure) it’s just a handful of screws and one connection.
“With most cameras, you can order a new screen and swap it yourself. The screen should cost less than $90, and (while I don’t know Sony for sure) it’s just a handful of screws and one connection.”
Sure, for a do-it-yourself job. He was talking about bringing it in for repair. I’m guessing no one will repair anything for under $100 these days.
Repair things yourself = still a good idea
Bring things to “repair shop” = almost never worth it
“I don’t understand leaving the basement unfinished like that – how much would it really cost to throw up some drywall and paint?”
If the foundation walls are in good shape, I’d show ’em off, too. Many buyers would appreciate it. It’s not like the bsmt is finished.
thanks for the link Jennifer (and tip, Jen), very interesting conversation indeed.
“http://cpsobsessed.com/2011/05/11/rahms-education-platform-guest-post-by-hsobsessed/”
Icarus, if you are up to a do-it-yourself repair, one strategy is to buy another used one for parts–$20 plus a little time:
http://cgi.ebay.com/sony-camera-dsc-p100-parts-repair-b1-05-/120714935261?pt=Digital_Camera_Accessories&hash=item1c1b2bbbdd
“3100 square feet” must include the basement, right?
thanks for the suggestions. I’ve opened the camera, hoping that I can swap out the LCD with one from one of Future-Mrs-Icarus cameras, but there is one damn screw that I cannot loose….
@Rick, thanks I may try that if her LCD isn’t compatible.
it must include the basement!
The unintended consequence of inflating the # of sq feet is that I think it artificially lowers the overall sq foot price per redfin.
http://www.cdn-redfin.com/stingray/do/region-chart/2011_05_17/2/26094/MEDIAN_HOUSE_SQ_FT_BY_TIME.png
Even at $600,000 that’s only $200 psf compared to the median which appears to be about $325 in 60613
@homedelete–what a great chart to illustrate the unrealistic expectations of sellers! Hope springs eternal in the new year, apparently.
Is a teardown property really still worth $450k on this block? I think it’s probably closer to $350k for an easy teardown.
I think that $560k probably gets this done. The kitchen and baths are just over rental quality, but the rest of the finishes look pretty nice. It’s basically probably a 2200 usable finished sqft house that can go to 2500 with a good dormering and can get a full finished basement. A garage should cost $15k or so and the dormering upstairs would maybe cost about $50k or so?
If we had been on the market for a SFH, this place would have been a contender. Good location. Enough space for us.
I’m wondering, on the second floor is the “master” bath separate from the two bedrooms? I’d hope so. I wouldn’t want the kids/guests in bedroom two entering my bedroom to use the bathroom.
Same school district but across Addison I believe:
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1827-W-Patterson-Ave-60613/unit-2/home/13387077
For me, personally, I’d call these comps. Would others?
I typed Addison, but I guess most U.S. Americans can’t find the US on a map. I meant Lincoln
“Same school district but across [Lincoln] I believe:”
Audubon, not Hamilton.
ps: Not really a comp, b/c it’s a 2-flat. Move it two block so it was in Bell, it’d sell for ~$600k to someone wanting to gut it for a SFH, assuming the condition of the limestone is as good as its appearance from the street.
Wicker–1827 W. Patterson is three lots from the Brown Line, very close to the Addison stop. IMHO, the location is much worse than Hermitage for this reason.
I looked at the Patterson place. No go completely because it is essentially on the Brown line.
I’ve also been in the Hermitage place. Tons of space for the $. I like the unfinished basement. The ceiling height is about 7 feet, so I would not bother digging it out and it is completely ‘clean’, open and available. I like that you can have access to wire the entire house as you please. For the money, there is nothing else available in the neighborhood at this price and square footage. there is ample space on the first two floors and you can configure the basement as you please.
I would guess this goes for right about 600.
Question: There are two bathrooms in the Hermitage place. One is on the upper level with the two bedrooms. It can essentially be a master bathroom as it adjacent to the master (but has a different entrance) and the second upstairs bed is across the loft and hall.
When we knew the people who rented they had guests stay on the main floor bedroom and use that full bathroom, so it was nice to have a separate space.
JJJ-When we toured they had two quotes from garage builders for a 2 car garage and it was 9K and 10K. As far as dormers go, it might be hard to tell from the pics, but it doesn’t actually need it, unless you want to add a third bed upstairs, which would be easily done for about 10K.
The two beds and loft upstairs are very spacious and open. I would maybe do a third bed upstairs down the line and to configure it would be about 10k (DH is a contractor).
@Jen, thanks for the info.
2 bedroom + office on first floor. No master bath. No garage. Short lot – build a garage and you won’t have a backyard. Unfinished basement. Taxes just below 9k…
Mid 500’s sounds right since you can find a less updated SFH for @500k with a backyard, garage and possibly a finished or semi-finished basement.
I found these. May not be direct comps but they help put the Hermitage property into perspective. I’m now thinking mid 550’s or less in this market…
2030 W FLETCHER St CHICAGO, IL 60618
2131 W FLETCHER St CHICAGO, IL 60618
3623 N HERMITAGE Ave CHICAGO, IL 60613
1943 W FLETCHER St CHICAGO, IL 60657
I’ve actually seen this place. Very nice place. Spacious and gorgeous. Garage thing seems to be an issue though.