4-Bedroom North Center Single Family Home Still Available: 1830 W. Oakdale
We last chattered about this 4-bedroom single family home with a 2-car garage at 1830 W. Oakdale in the North Center neighborhood of Lakeview in October 2009.
See our prior chatter and pictures here.
There were many comments about the paint color of the kitchen which, apparently, someone was paying attention to as you can see from the photos below.
Kitchen Before:
Kitchen After:
The house is still listed as the same price as in October 2009 (but the taxes went up, however.)
The kitchen has granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. 3 of the 4 bedrooms are located on the second level.
The house also has a deck off the back that leads to a generous back yard.
Gary Lucido at Lucid Realty still has the listing. See more pictures here.
1830 W. Oakdale: 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, no square footage listed, 2 car garage
- Sold in April 1995 for $264,000
- Sold in April 1998 for $340,000
- Sold in May 2000 for $444,000
- Sold in February 2003 for $492,000
- Sold in July 2007 for $700,000
- Originally listed in March 2009 for $724,850
- Reduced several times
- Was listed in October 2009 for $624,850
- Currently still listed for $624,850
- Taxes of $8581
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 15×12
- Bedroom #2: 15×9
- Bedroom #3: 10×7
- Bedroom #4: 11×10 (lower level)
I don’t understand the logic around making improvements and upgrades in an attempt to sell your home. The money spent would be better taken off the price, or offered as a payment to the buyer at close in acknowledgment of needed upgrades. The buyer would always be best off using the money to do exactly what they want with it. If the seller makes improvements themselves it will increase the appeal of the house for a percentage of prospective buyers, but for other buyers it will be too nice (meaning the seller spent more than needed on upgrades), not nice enough (meaning the buyers will need to invest more anyway, or undo what the seller did), or simply different from what the buyer would want. In any case, the dollars would be maximized by simply paying cash to the new owners.
In this case it isn’t so bad since painting is relatively easy and inexpensive, but new kitchens/bathrooms/appliances/etc. is an inefficient use of the money IMHO.
Actually, I think easy-to fix items, like paint, are well worth the effort/expense. A colorful kitchen may well be a turn-off to the majority of buyers who can’t look beyond it.
I agree on easy to fix items which I why i acknowledged the painting thing at the end. Some things might be hard to look beyond, and in that case I also see the need. This probably isn’t the best example to make my case. I was more referring to kitchens, bathrooms, etc.
DC – I agree with your logic as a buyer: give me a credit to update my way and I’m much happier. As a seller, that could be problematic and an open dollar amount. If I have a kitchen / bathroom from the 70’s, walking into Home Depot or Menards gives me a defined dollar amount to ‘update’ one of those rooms. There is no emotional negotiation there, unlike the housing purchase.
Even with a bid like this in hand I could not guarantee that the buyer would accept the amount and not ask for more. Thus if truly outdated a refresh would make sense.
Two more points: 1) if some people can’t see past colors on the wall or a current furniture layout, think of how many people can’t imagine what a newly gutted kitchen / bathroom looks like. 2) Some (my wife included) flat out refuse to live in a construction zone.
Am I wrong in assuming this ~1400 sqft. total? It reminds me of the 1750 W Grace cottage that languished at $550k and was pulled off the market http://cribchatter.com/?p=7923. Is there a snowball’s chance that this will sell in the $600’s? Are there any comps to support it?
Nice choice of color for the kitchen. Loud, harsh colors make a place look smaller and have a way of spotlighting clutter. The kitchen looks much nicer now, and all in all it is a very nice house in a fine neighborhood..but it is not worth anywhere near the 2005 price no matter what the seller did to it.
It’s small, it’s frame,it has no architecture, and this is the year that will see the largest number of foreclosures and the largest number of defaults on really large mortgages. It might also be the year of interest rate hikes.
$450K at the most in this sad economy.
The kitchen looked much better before. If it looks any bigger now, it’s because the picture is taken from further away.
Seems like a nice house on the inside. The master bath’s a bit cramped and I’m not huge on vaulted ceilings, but the interior seems absolutely liveable. At 650k, though, I’d want a bit more for my jumbo mortgage.
Any CCRD eagles around? Curious.
One mortgage for $525k.
I will say one thing at least Gary does a good job marketing this home on his website. Nice to see good photography and descriptions.
I walk away for a few hours and….
Yeah, we had to get over a few issues in marketing this. The blue walls were turning people off at the Web site stage and so we wanted to fix that. In addition, the flooring on the first floor was vinyl with padding – way too weird for people – so we carpeted it. I too struggle with spending money on fixing a place up but decided it was well worth it in this case.
The square footage comes in just under 1800. We now have an interactive floor plan on the MLS to help people understand that before scheduling an appointment.
I’ve actually been helping some buyers in this price range recently and there isn’t much out there at this price. This home is in a really, really nice neighborhood – it’s the cheapest house in the area. $450K is absurd. I would snap it up in a heartbeat myself at that price.
BTW, we’re getting a ton of showings right now. I really feel like the market is making a big comeback.
Oh…and I’m glad that Sabrina pointed out that it has 3 bedrooms on one floor. You would be surprised how many homes in this price range only have 2 on one floor – big issue for people with kids.
And the deck and back yard are definitely generous.
525k is my guess. This is listed is jumbo territory. 525k would bring it down to conforming territory if the purchaser had 20% down.
Nice place – and well presented. Kudos Gary. The location isn’t ideal for me, although the neighborhood is very nice (and quiet). At this price, it should sell.
The map shows that Oakdale is south Belmont. Isn’t this more Roscoe Village than North Center?
“The map shows that Oakdale is south Belmont. Isn’t this more Roscoe Village than North Center?”
We have this discussion over and over and over. And over.
I say Hamlin Park is the best description, but it is North Center on the official Chicago community area map–North of Diversey and West of the tracks. Roscoe Village–to me–is clearly wrong.
“I say Hamlin Park is the best description, but it is North Center on the official Chicago community area map”
yes we do argue about the boundaries a lot. I will say its hamlin park also. if not “belmont square” or even “northwest LP” better yet “lakeview west” we can try “SoPo lite”
I in my mind North center will be addison to montrose along damen ave.
Officially it’s North Center and a lot of people call this piece Lakeview West but Lakeview West is not in Lakeview. Have you ever seen such a scrogged up mess?
Am I wrong or is there “technically” no Roscoe Village at all?
“Am I wrong or is there “technically” no Roscoe Village at all?”
Depends on what you mean by “technically”. RV has a neighborhood association AND a chamber of commerce, which is enough to make it exist, to me.
But it’s not an “official” Chicago community area, but then neither are a lot of other nieghborhoods–Bucktown is Logan Square; Wicker Park, Ukie Village, etc are West Town; Old Town, Cabrini, Gold Coast and S’ville are all Near North Side.
“Am I wrong or is there “technically” no Roscoe Village at all?”
erm, well, crap…
so how far south of roscoe does rv go, just to belmont? i always assumed it went to div bc nothing else started until lp. course lp probably doesnt go this far west. what neighborhood is costco in?
“what neighborhood is costco in?”
It’s in the LP “community area”. I consider it to be in the Costco neighborhood. Or Lathrop Homes. Or Hamlin Park, which also has a neighborhood association–I don’t understand how a neighborhood association can exist w/in a neighborhood that has a separate neighborhood association–that is, Hamlin Park Neighbors v. RV Neighbors Ass’n *strongly* implies that the members think of their ‘hoods as distinct.
“lanthrop homes” would be an interesting choice for a real estate listing
““lanthrop homes” would be an interesting choice for a real estate listing”
It’s a (v.v.small) running joke I have. It amuses me slightly, so I have little room to be disappointed.
Of course, the reverse is why all that area gets listed as RV–buyers “know” RV, so it’s a plus to get them to look.
Costco is in LP but it’s in LP in name only. I used to live a block or two south of it on Clybourn. It’s a really nice little pocket of the North Side – quick access to expressways, big box stores everywhere, bars/restaurants everywhere, #9 and #74 bus right there, decent rental prices, etc.
Speaking of questionable community areas, I used to live in “Graceland West” and they had a neighborhood association with newsletters and meetings and the whole nine yards. I remember at the time trying to determine what “official” neighborhood I lived in (1400 block of Belle Plaine) and it seemed like LV, NC and UP all staked claims. Great area, one way or another.