2-Bedroom With Premium Finishes Reduces Again in Lakeview: 3535 N. Reta
We last chattered about this 2-bedroom Lakeview condo at 3535 N. Reta in August 2010.
See our prior chatter and pictures here.
The price has been aggressively dropped on this unit. It is now listed for $65,100 under the 2006 purchase price.
If you remember, the unit has upgraded finishes you may not find in a typical north side 2 bedroom unit including crown molding, a tray ceiling, and solid core doors.
The kitchen also doesn’t have just any stainless steel appliances, it has Subzero and Bosch plus a wine fridge.
The unit has natural stone baths with a steam shower.
Is the era of the $450,000 2-bedroom Lakeview condo now gone for good?
Matt Garrison at Coldwell Banker still has the listing. See more pictures and a floorplan here.
Unit #2: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1 car parking, no square footage listed
- Sold in May 2006 for $480,000
- Originally listed in January 2010 for $475,000
- Reduced
- Was listed in June 2010 for $439,900 (parking included)
- Reduced
- Was listed in August 2010 for $429,900 (parking included)
- Reduced
- Currently listed for $414,900 (parking included)
- Assessments of $150 a month
- Taxes of $6620
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 17×12
- Bedroom #2: 12×12
This is a GREAT deal!! I can’t believe it hasn’t sold. The location is awesome, the building is newer, and the finishes are nice. I really think that 2/2 in THIS particular area will/should be highly sought – only because there are a lot of gay people in this area and most don’t have kids so this is probably enough space for 1-2 people. Also, there are a lot of business that primarily cater to gay people around here – I just don’t know why it hasn’t sold!!!
ohh – and predicted that unit featured a couple of weeks ago at 3310 Halsted #4 is, of couse, contingent and had multiple offers…
I, for once, will agree with clio in that this is a good deal for a unit that mirrors thousands of others of similar design and layout. Sure, it does have a few upgraded finishes and it is priced below most of the other units exactly like it and it does show extremely well. That is plain to see.
The one problem I have with his outlook (there is always at LEAST one) and comments (MANY) about his suggested demo is that is simply is NOT true. Boystown is a draw for younger gays who still rent but not neccessarily those upper income indivuduals or families required to purchase a unit priced at this level. Now rewind to 20 years ago when prices were drastically lower and a unit such as THIS one (although THIS one did not exist at the time) would certainly be THE place to own. Those upper level income ‘gays’ who can swing the asking price are definately not looking in this area.
So once again clio, your views are seriously dated and will not affect the sale of this above average unit. Really, you need to spend some time outside of your “gated servant heavy estate” to see how REAL Chicagoans live! I am not a full time resident of this great city but I do know basics about what the ‘gays’ are seeking…and this just ain’t it!
Ugh, you’re looking at ~$2400/month for a 2/2. That can’t be close to rental parity for this hood, even as nice as this place is.
“Ugh, you’re looking at ~$2400/month for a 2/2. That can’t be close to rental parity for this hood, even as nice as this place is”
jd, but what is the alternative? A 1700/month crappy rental? (check out the rents in this area).
jd, but the price will appeal to those who can’t resist falling knives. Dog bless em, too. The more pain they are willing to withstand, the less pain for responsible people.
Clio, did anyone suggest that 3310 Halsted would not sell quickly?
“So once again clio, your views are seriously dated and will not affect the sale of this above average unit. Really, you need to spend some time outside of your “gated servant heavy estate” to see how REAL Chicagoans live!”
Wetslop, I actually DO live (part time) in Chicago and DO understand how “real chicagoans live”. Also, just because I live in a nice place, doesn’t mean I am not surrounded by people who are “REAL”. All of the people that do work at my houses, all of the support staff where I work are “normal” chicagoans. More importantly, what is this constant need you have to belittle and attack everything I say? There has to be some repressed/suppressed issues underneath it all – maybe you could talk to your therapist about it this week…..
Link to prior chatter: http://cribchatter.com/?p=9065
WRT “gays” purchasing in this neighborhood, I’m with westloopelo; they’ve mostly moved on to Andersonville/Lincoln Square. Boystown isn’t a town of boys anymore.
Why wouldn’t the attraction of boys town diminish with the increased acceptance of boys everywhere else?
“….what is this constant need you have to belittle and attack everything I say?”
I am simply correcting the outdated views you have of neighborhoods you seemingly know little to nothing about. While you may live in Chicago, I think you focus on neighborhoods that are exclusive and not working class. Most of your prior comments prove this to be true.
I am not the only one who calls you out on your ill-informed statements so that begs me to ask you why you single me out when 90% of other posters do the same? Infatuation with me? LOL
I hope these comments do not get deleted as I have no interest in sparring with you as these discussiong are not about any one poster in particular. We are here to intelligently discuss/debate RE issues and not comment on each others personal or RL issues.
And once again, no I do not have any personal issues with you whatsoever. Nor do I know who you are in RL…couldn’t care less who you really are so let’s just drop that thought.
I treat you just as I treat other posters here on CC and believe me, I have no favorites or enemies…this is an anonymous message forum and not a forum used for the sole purpose of degrading or belittling anyone.
Want your comments to be taken seriously? Keep your personal beliefs/thoughts out of the mix and we will ALL be a happier and a more informative/informed bunch of RE obsessed fanatics.
There are plenty of ‘older’ gays (late 30s, early 40s) who are still chasing their youth in boystown with large enough bankrolls that would be very happy to live in this place. Though boystown isn’t ‘for the boys’ the same way as it was 20 years ago, and the age of the people in the area trends younger, I can see a gay couple making an offer here.
“Why wouldn’t the attraction of boys town diminish with the increased acceptance of boys everywhere else?”
I don’t think it has decreased the acceptance of ‘bois’ in other neighborhoods. The gay demographic is simply moving on and out of one centralized neighborhood and onto others…many others.
Speaking for a group, maybe wrongfully, we don’t care to be all clustered in one location as we have done in the past. Just like all other groups we want to mix in with everyone while enjoying all the benefits of urban living that all people enjoy.
We want to spread our collective ‘fabulousness’ throughout all of Chicago! And in doing so we tend to, as a group, increase the value of RE in these chosen areas. This has been proven again and again in most inner city neighborhoods throughout the country…as has been discussed here on CC many times in prior threads.
Hope this comment is not taken the wrong way!
jd, I really like the finishes but with these upgrades isn’t it a little hard to bring up rental parity as there are A LOT of places you are comparing it to that do not have awesome appliances and a steam shower?
“I am not a full time resident of this great city but I do know basics about what the ‘gays’ are seeking…and this just ain’t it!”
ok i CANT speak for all gays, but can speak for the gays i know. our sons god parents are in Rodgers Park and so are their circle of gay friends.
another circle of gay friends i have live in the high rises on sheridain from foster to hollywood (all with lake views)
and my upper end gay friends were/are in logan square on and around the boulevard. or rent in ELP.
not one of those “gays” ever lived or rented in boystown.
I like this place, but not this location. I have a friend who just bought a place a couple blocks away and his place is similarly nice (with a private rooftop deck too) but I can’t get over the location where his place is either. I can’t stand going into this area when there are Cubs games, and I don’t even drive. The games make it miserable to find parking, clog up public transportation options, and fill the streets with drunken idiots on a regular basis. Not to mention, on Halsted on Friday/Saturday nights, the streets are full of similar drunken idiots. I, for one, would not pay a premium to live in this area.
Then why is Sidetrack and all the bars on that strip of Halsted so crazy busy night of the week?
“not one of those “gays” ever lived or rented in boystown.”
I still don’t understand why anyone in this market would pay over $400K for a walk up 2/2. I have friends who bought a 3/3 duplex down for $375 back in 2002, they want to sell and are going to put it on the market for $399 and would happy accept $375.
To me that is the market we live in. The 02 price market.
Sorry Clio,
You are wrong on this one. I agree with everyone else posting. Most gays that I know, don’t buy in this area. Andersonville, Lincoln Square, River North, all over the place, but this is Cubs area…BLAH
“Then why is Sidetrack and all the bars on that strip of Halsted so crazy busy night of the week?”
HD,
not saying the dont go there, they have/do and dragged me and wifey there many times.
its just our “gay” friends and family never lived or rented in the area.
When listings say “steam shower” does that mean that the glass goes up to the ceiling so that no steam can escape or is actually a steam unit in the shower. Just curious b/c I was looking at those steam units on Kohler’s website and they are quite pricey…. Like minimum $2k for the generator and control kit.
I agree w/RVer– not sure rental parity is the issue here.
(Though if it were for potential buyer, this place loses, as that $1700/mo rent figure is actually the *highest* currently listed in the Reader for a LV 2 bedroom).
Like Sabrina, I think this is a statement on where is the market for a “best in class ELV 2/2 in a 4 unit McCrapbox”.
That market is brutal, as there are just too many of these buildings / units around.
Since it’s football season: “McCrapbox: 20 yard penalty, repeat first down.”
It varies by area but some are ’02, some areas (IMHO due to a lack of move-in condition inventory priced appropriately) is at ’04 levels; and some of the suburbs like Park Ridge are at ’00 levels; and some of the more battered suburbs, are decimated by foreclosures and you can’t really even pinpoint a year. I’ve seen people who bought in the 500’s in 2006 in Kane County and today it’s worth less than $300k. Sad, but necessary to return prices to affordable levels. Those people who bought for $500k could never really afford $500k anyway hence the teaser rates, option ARMs and NINJA loans.
“To me that is the market we live in. The 02 price market.”
Wow.
Yesterday Clio was the expert on the neighborhood I’ve lived in for nine years and now he knows just what the gays want! We have a term for that, I believe it’s called a “know-it-all” and it’s frowned upon in most settings.
clio is the 2010 westloop, but he stirs the pot with more succinct posts.
so boystown is like rush and division for gays? ie not a lot of city folk partying there? mostly cheesballs from far away
Ever think the Clio character and the homedelete character are authored by the same person?
This has beautiful finishes but seem too nice for this type of 2/2.
Anyone want to know where my gay people live?
20 years ago this neighborhood may have appealed to gays but certainly no self-repecting gay would pay this price for this breeder finished unit in this yahoo neighborhood.
“I treat you just as I treat other posters here on CC and believe me, I have no favorites or enemies”
C’mon, WL, most of us were here for the various MG throwdowns. You certainly have *one* “enemy” here.
“I was looking at those steam units on Kohler’s website and they are quite pricey…. Like minimum $2k for the generator and control kit.”
And, if retro-fitting, there’s a bunch of extra work with plumbing and electric and ensuring that the shower is *actually* a water-vapor tight box.
one positive is that the open kitchen/dining/living(front room) combo actually can fit a life sized big boy dining table and full sized front room furniture.
and you still have enough room to NOT hang your TV over the fire place. unlike current owners.
“Then why is Sidetrack and all the bars on that strip of Halsted so crazy busy night of the week?”
why is soundbar and spy and y bar so full every night they are open? It certainly isn’t from the people living in the area…
there’s this magical thing called transportation, dummy!
This is a beautiful unit, with better architecture and finishes than most of the “urban generic” flats that were built all over the city in the past 10 years.
It would easily be worth the asking price if it weren’t for current economic conditions. Most people really don’t grasp the scope and depth of the credit debacle, or how much these super low interest rates are impeding lending.
Would YOU, with billions in bad mortgages sitting on your books, want to give someone a 30-year-fixed at 4.34%, or 4.75%, knowing where interest rates are likely to go in the next few years?
Places like this depend on “move up” buyers, and those buyers have disappeared, largely. People who would be buying “starter” properties, mostly the young, are impaired by massive college debt and bad job prospects.
A place can be “worth” so much and still sell for much less because of the conditions of its likely buyers. For every property that sells quickly, about 10 languish.
With your vast knowledge of the primary residences of boystown bars can I assume you visit there often on the DL?
“#Sonies on October 21st, 2010 at 9:48 am
“Then why is Sidetrack and all the bars on that strip of Halsted so crazy busy night of the week?”
why is soundbar and spy and y bar so full every night they are open? It certainly isn’t from the people living in the area…
there’s this magical thing called transportation, dummy!”
maybe you’re on the dl hd, pretending not to know sound, spy and y arent in boystown
Plenty of gay people still live in this area, though my guess is the majority probably rent. Not sure if they are still buying in the area, though, and I certainly agree that Andersonville is the hotter spot for gays these days. But I do know a few different guys that own condos in boystown. Interestingly, they all own along the lake.
As an aside: I’ve always thought that the conventional wisdom about boystown seriously overestimated the desire of LGBT people to live among their own and underestimated the tolerance in much of Chicago towards the community.
G: “Why wouldn’t the attraction of boys town diminish with the increased acceptance of boys everywhere else?”
WL: “I don’t think it has decreased the acceptance of ‘bois’ in other neighborhoods.”
Some things never change…
hasn’t this all been addressed in that redeye article about teh geighs moving out and the famblys moving in? I seem to remember a distraught mother worrying over the sights her child saw in the window of The Ram.
Bottomline, looks like it’s a diverse neighborhood with a little glitter on the edges.
@roscoevillager,
Wife and I lived up there for 3 years prior to moving to WL, and I couldn’t agree with you more. Thank you, great comment.
Looks like the concrete jungle neighborhoods are getting hit pretty hard, as expected:
Foreclosures moving into once trendy neighborhoods
http://www.suntimes.com/business/roeder/2823098,woodstock-foreclosure-chicago-102110.article
“Woodstock found that city neighborhoods with the greatest increases in foreclosures were the Loop, 76.7 percent; the Near South Side, 70.1 percent; and the Near West Side, 63.7 percent. “
“Foreclosures moving into once trendy neighborhoods”
This is the better article, as it includes actual numbers, ratehr than just percentages, and drills down on particular buildings, too:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/foreclosure/ct-biz-1021-loop-foreclosures–20101021,0,5879370.story
what a shame. this is a gorgeous unit. it just goes to show how bad the market really is. unfortunately it doesn’t seem to matter how low the price goes – nobody is in the market now and next year is forecasted to be worse.
we live in a 2BR $350k unit right now and would love to upgrade to a 3BR in east lakeview but nothing has sold in our 40 unit building all year (with prices $10-$40k lower than what people paid in ’04) we’re not even going to bother listing.
good luck to the seller of this unit!
In other news Aimloan.com is now showing 30yr fixed mortgages for 3.75%. As it gets closer to zero with the fed printing money to buy government bonds it makes even Bob himself want to buy a half-million dollar McMansion.
ZIRP ZIRP ZIRP..
In response to: “Ugh, you’re looking at ~$2400/month for a 2/2. That can’t be close to rental parity for this hood, even as nice as this place is.” by #jd on October 21st, 2010 at 6:47 am
Not true at all! This is exactly in-line with rental market pricing for this unit. If you owned this unit as a rental which the original developer did, it would rent for $2400-$2600/month. The 3br/3.5ba duplex-down in this same building rents for $3300/month. You can view photo gallery for that unit on my photo website.
“Ever think the Clio character and the homedelete character are authored by the same person?”
Um…no.
If you’ve been around here long enough (say 3 years) you know this could never be true.
thanks sabrina, i think everyone should know that you actually “vet” the posters and would never allow duplicate posters to be on this site.
That’s interesting you think clio and homedelete are the same person.
This is only my online persona. In real life I keep much of my opinions to myself so as to not make awkward social situtaions.
There’s nothing wrong with gleefully awaiting lower home prices. Its been a long time coming. Check out any chart regardimg outstanding consumer credit and watch it shoot upwards since 1970’s. Every tom dick and harry borrowered their way to properity the last 40 years and the prudent have suffered as housing costs increased as borrowers borrowed until the faucet was turned off in 2008.
Finally, for the first time in nearly 40 years, bozo the clown and his crew haveactually been shut out of the housing market. The howmuchamonth crowd has no say in what housing should cost. The u of c professor with a million in debt who borrowed at every junction in life with no plan to repay it no longer can dictate what my house should
Cost. Sure some people will suffer financially, but many would have been in the same position regardless. Most home owners will be ok.
You would never read an opinion like this from clio.
Hey Square D Guy – for some of us it’s still baseball season! I’m a Yankees fan as well as a Cubs fan (and of course a Sox non-fan; long family tradition).
As I stated before with regard to similar overpriced properties within home run distance of the Shrine…as the Cubs’ fortunes have fallen, “there went the neighborhood.”. The cachet of overpaying to live in a World Series winner’s stomping grounds is now dormant.
Consider: Bridgeport and its immediate environs didn’t become semi-gentrified until another team had some good fortune and appeared to be poised to become another Chicago sports “dynasty” LOL!