6-Bedroom Gold Coast Row House on the Market for the First Time in 102 Years: 31 E. Scott
This 6-bedroom vintage row house at 31 E. Scott in the Gold Coast came on the market in June 2024.
It was built in 1889 and does not have parking.
The current floor plan has the living room, dining room, and kitchen on the main floor.
There are 2 bedrooms on the second floor along with a full bathroom.
The top floor has three bedrooms including, according to Crain’s, the old ballroom which the owners used as a painters studio. It’s the room in the picture with the big window.
The lower level has the laundry room, a half bath and a utility room.
It does have some of its vintage features including staircase spindles, crown moldings and fireplace.
But updating is needed. The listing says it’s an “opportunity to create your own work of art.”
Listed at $1.199 million, without any parking, is it truly priced to sell?
Charles Ginsberg at Mark Allen Realty has the listing. See the pictures and floor plan here.
31 E. Scott: 6 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2835 square feet, row house
- No prior price available. Last sold in 1922.
- Currently listed at $1.199 million
- Taxes of $25,299
- No central air
- No parking
- Fireplace
- Bedroom #1: 12×18 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 12×13 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 10×12 (second floor)
- Bedroom #4: 16×20 (third floor)
- Bedroom #5: 11×15 (third floor)
- Bedroom #6: 8×8 (third floor)
- Kitchen: 6×14 (main floor)
- Dining room: 11×17 (main floor)
- Living room: 13×16 (main floor)
- Laundry: 17×20 (lower level)
- Utility: 18×21 (lower level)
floor plan – check!
Goodness gracious pic 19!!!
Very cool place and idyllic location, but I think they are going to have to reduce price by quite a bit. The buyer will need to be comfortable with doing a full gut renovation (and the risks that come with that), ok with having a narrow floor plan, and ok with having no garage or outdoor space.
With 6 bedrooms and just a tiny kitchen area, with limited room to expand, it could be a great AirBnB property.
“With 6 bedrooms and just a tiny kitchen area, with limited room to expand, it could be a great AirBnB property.”
With 2 bathrooms?
There are some negatives. Need to gut the entire thing. Why not just buy a renovated property somewhere else in the neighborhood for $2 million? Lots of inventory in the Gold Coast.
I would just buy this: https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1246-N-State-Pkwy-60610/home/14111620
This is an interesting example of why homeownership isn’t always a wealth builder.
This house is in one of Chicago’s prime neighborhoods. But values there really haven’t gone anywhere in the last 30 years.
“This is an interesting example of why homeownership isn’t always a wealth builder.”
this is what happens when you do limited updates/maintenance over time. evident by that kitchen alone.
“ This is an interesting example of why homeownership isn’t always a wealth builder.”
While that is a common scenario, I’d argue that this is a horrible example of that. The home was purchased 80+ years ago and likely paid off 50+ years ago. The daughter was lucky to inherit it and not have house payments. Her estate will profit from the sale. Whether it sells for $1M or $100K, it’s a wealth builder for the surviving relatives.
“ With 6 bedrooms and just a tiny kitchen area, with limited room to expand, it could be a great AirBnB property.”
“With 2 bathrooms?”
Why not? Price accordingly. It’d work fine for 2 young families or a 20-somethings bachelorette weekend.
I’d be curious to know what all comes with the house. Is everything in it considered abandoned property? The previous inhabitant passed 6+ mos ago and it doesn’t look like there have been clean out efforts.
First offer was 489k but too many nudes in this turdola special, taking it down to 479k.
“The home was purchased 80+ years ago”
Hate to break it to you, but it was purchased 80+ years ago twenty years ago.
100+!!
Buy it, put $500k+ into it, you have a $1.4m-1.5m townhouse, right?
Interesting: https://sites.tufts.edu/amarbhide/2024/03/22/rip-dear-d/
“Buy it, put $500k+ into it, you have a $1.4m-1.5m townhouse, right?”
$500k?
Seems like it would be more than that but maybe not if no backyard. But it will need all new wiring, roof, kitchen and baths, plumbing. It’s a LOT. Probably windows. Roof. Tuckpointing.
Listing says nothing has been done in 80 years.
“I’d be curious to know what all comes with the house. Is everything in it considered abandoned property?”
Crain’s article says they are going through the paintings as part of the estate and those will be sold.
“Why not? Price accordingly. It’d work fine for 2 young families or a 20-somethings bachelorette weekend.”
The Lincoln Park airbnb rowhouse that has been featured here a couple of times (on Lincoln), had only like 2 bathrooms and the reviews of the house were upset that there weren’t more bathrooms. People want a bathroom for every bedroom these days. And these would have to be gutted. Renters want updated properties.
“Her estate will profit from the sale. Whether it sells for $1M or $100K, it’s a wealth builder for the surviving relatives.”
My point, which I guess I didn’t make clear enough, was that it really should be worth much more than just $1.2 million after all those years. It likely didn’t go up much at all since the housing bubble which was 20 years ago. Gold Coast neighborhood has really struggled. She would have had a real wealth builder if she inherited in Lincoln Square, for example.
Crain’s said her estate is going to charity but maybe they will get more for the paintings. Hers and her fathers have been in prominent art museums.
“this is what happens when you do limited updates/maintenance over time. evident by that kitchen alone.”
True this. You really have to keep a property updated. We see this throughout the Gold Coast with the 50 year old condos which still have original appliances from the 1970s. They can’t give them away.
“My point, which I guess I didn’t make clear enough, was that it really should be worth much more than just $1.2 million after all those years. It likely didn’t go up much at all since the housing bubble which was 20 years ago. Gold Coast neighborhood has really struggled. She would have had a real wealth builder if she inherited in Lincoln Square, for example.”
So it would be smarter to have dropped $500k (todays $) 2X over the last 100 years and sell for $1.8MM?
On the property, I dont think I’ve seen an upper end home of this vintage with such a small kitchen and no pantry
This would be a tough challenge to update and get any value out of it. 18′ is really limiting. Price probably needs to drop into the low 6’s to make it worthwhile
“$500k?”
Hence the “+”.
The place is *maybe* 2500 sf. $500k is $200 psf–which is enough to do a gut in a ‘normal’ Chicago brick house, and this doesn’t need a total (ie, to the brick, everywhere) gut.
But at $200 psf, it wouldn’t end up with the finishes that get $1,000 psf sales, either.
32 E Scott is about the same size and shows the potential of the space. Excellent condition, it sold for $1.9M five years ago. I suspect it would take a lot more than $800K to get the featured property into a similar condition.
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/M7909515136
“32 E Scott is about the same size”
32 is on a 1197 sf lot. But it’s a bit narrower.
31 is on a 938 sf lot.
They both look to fill about the same %age of their respective lots–so 32 is (likely–hard w/o floorplans) about 25% larger.
“ so 32 is (likely–hard w/o floorplans) about 25% larger.”
From the listings:
32 = 2,948 sqft
31 = 2,835 sqft
Not that listing square footage is always accurate.
Regardless, the houses have roughly the same footprint. 32 was able to modernize the home by turning the garden level into living space, expand the kitchen, turn a smaller bedroom or two into a proper master bath, and build out a roof deck.
Same concepts could be applied to 31 with the right budget.
Under contract.