9 Months Later and Still Waiting For a Buyer in Uptown: A 4-Bedroom at 4530 N. Magnolia
We last chattered about this 4-bedroom duplex up at 4530 N. Magnolia in Uptown in August 2011.
See our prior chatter here.
There was mixed feelings on the future of Uptown and the neighborhood where this unit is located.
Surprisingly, no one commented on the price.
It is now nine months later and the unit is still priced at $379,000. There have been NO price reductions.
If you recall, at 2500 square feet, it is bigger than many city single family homes.
Two of the bedrooms are on the main floor with 2 on the top floor along with a lofty family room.
The kitchen has maple cabinets, granite counter tops and black appliances.
The living room has 19-foot ceilings.
There are skylights and a large deck off the back of the unit.
It has washer/dryer in the unit, central air and parking.
The listing says that seller financing is available.
Last summer, there was also a free trip to the Bahamas in it for any buyer. I don’t know if that still stands.
This unit is still priced 22% under the 2007 price.
What price will get this sold?
Steve Acoba at Keller Williams Lincoln Park still has the listing. See more pictures and the floorplan here.
Unit #3N: 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2500 square feet
- Sold in February 1999 for $259,000
- Sold in March 2001 for $330,000
- Sold in February 2007 for $485,000
- Was listed in August 2011 for $379,000 (included the parking)
- Currently still listed for $379,000 (parking included)
- Assessments of $193 a month
- Taxes of $6029
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 14×13 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 16×14 (main floor)
- Bedroom #3: 19×13 (second floor)
- Bedroom #4: 9×12 (main floor)
- Family room: 19×13 (second floor)
Well, hmm. The unit isn’t really my style, and there’s a glut of condos for sale on Magnolia between Wilson and Montrose. On the other hand, the Sunnyside Mall has cleaned up nicely (honestly it has, I live right by it a bit west), there’ll be an L station entrance just down Sunnyside in a couple years, and Sheridan Park is finally starting to attract some worthwhile restaurants etc. on Wilson and Clark. Also 2500 square feet, holy crap. $360k.
Uptown sucks.
Yeah i was amazed the other day at how horrible uptown is. I was walking up hermitage north of irving. I war zone i tell you.
Dear sellers, I know you’re probably in a financial pickle, but it’s not going to sell at the current ask or anywhere close. You’ve given it a 9 month run, either get realistic on the price or realize that it’s not your time to sell.
“Yeah i was amazed the other day at how horrible uptown is. I was walking up hermitage north of irving. I war zone i tell you.”
“Uptown” is such a big area. Most people don’t realize that Andersonville is in Uptown (as far as real estate is concerned.) There are so many micro-neighborhoods.
“Yeah i was amazed the other day at how horrible uptown is. I was walking up hermitage north of irving. I war zone i tell you.”
Check the map: that is Lake View, all the way up to Montrose.
Linky: http://www.cityofchicago.org/content/dam/city/depts/doit/general/GIS/Chicago_Maps/Community_Areas/Community_Areas_W_Numbers.pdf
Sabrina, just the bit south of Foster. And Hermitage & Irving isn’t Uptown as I suspect vlajos knows. Montrose to Lawrence, Broadway to Marine is the last bit of the neighborhood to not yet earn a non-Uptown realtor euphamism.
I don’t think adding the floorplan is doing them any favors on this listing. It’s so hard to imagine how you would live there if you had more than one child (unless you plan on putting an au pair upstairs). That lofted family room would also scare the bejeezus out of me.
“Yeah i was amazed the other day at how horrible uptown is. I was walking up hermitage north of irving. I war zone i tell you.”
Visiting the mayor? Hermitage north of Irving is in the Lakeview community area. Neighborhood is Southeast Ravenswood according to my pretty map. It’s not Uptown.
4530 N Magnolia is Uptown and pretty close to the worst areas of Uptown.
Lizla beat me to it. It’s a nice unit and Uptown is not as bad as everyone here makes it out. I’d even say it is poised for vast improvement. However, the pool of buyers who want a 4 bedroom duplex is probably limited to begin with and of those, the chances of finding that buyer who wants to spend this much $$ on one in this neighborhood is slim.
I’m guessing the seller signed a contract to list and cannot unlist without paying a fee so he/she is just letting it sit until the listing expires.
Oops, I was actually north of Montrose on Hermitage. I couldn’t believe how blown out it is.
I barely made it north of Foster.
“Most people don’t realize that Andersonville is in Uptown (as far as real estate is concerned.)”
Only part of A’ville, and I’d say the less desireable part. Northern boundary of Uptown is Foster.
If someone’s buying a condo and not a SFH, they probably don’t have too much money, therefore they probably do not have alot of children. So, why the need for a 4/3? When a 3/2 condo would likekly do? Who needs or even wants a 4/3?
I could see something like this being of interest to my wife and me… no kids currently, but a couple some day and we’d like to stay in the city. I’m not familiar enough with the location to rule on that, and how that impacts price. The biggest negative to me is all the sloped ceilings in the two upper floor bedrooms and lack of real windows in the non-master BRs. The window in the (tiny) 2nd bedroom on the main floor looks like it’s right on top of its neighbor. And the two upper bedrooms basically just have skylights (why not dormers instead?).
I also see cause for concern with the railing overlooking 2 story living room with kids… a similar set-up was the primary reason my parents didn’t buy the John van Bergen-designed house next to where we did end up moving when I was 3 and my brother was a newborn. Of course, years later a family with 4 young kids did buy the house and all made it to teenagerhood…
“Oops, I was actually north of Montrose on Hermitage. I couldn’t believe how blown out it is.”
I walk this route often and it is still very nice until after Lawrence IMHO.
Everyone has their opinion about Uptown. It’s easy to have one if you’ve never lived here.
The nicer parts of the neighborhood (Sheridan Park) in my opinion are Magnolia north of Wilson. I like Malden south of Wilson better than north of Wilson (quieter with cul-de sacs on the north and south side of Sunnyside, which is a pedestrian mall for one city block). Beacon and Dover are fine. I left out Racine and Clifton, but that’s okay.
But this condo, which is nothing special, is a 5 minute walk to the Red Line, and Broadway, 1/2 block from Wilson where the 145 and 148 express buses run. It close to Lake Shore Drive, but close to Clark and Ashland for another option for traveling south. Sheridan Park is a well-located mid-north neighborhood with decent amenities.
The closer you get to the intersection of Wilson & Broadway, the worse Uptown is. This place is way too close to that epicenter of gang violence and daytime shootings.
I don’t even like riding a bus through there.
The ward’s new Alderman, Cappleman, IS making solid progress in cleaning up bad buildings in the area, and he is moving very fast on the area’s most notorious slumlords. The fetid Lawrence House is in foreclosure and for sale, and the family that owns it is unloading all its properties. Hopefully, the beautiful old Art Deco skyscraper will be gut-rehabbed into market rate apartments, like Sheridan Plaza, which is now a very nice building. The property at 4539 N Broadway is also for sale, I’ve heard. There are still many dominoes to knock down behind those two notorious properties, but at least the area has an aggressive alderman who is not interested in pandering to slumlords.
If you’re young and don’t have kids, it might be worth your while to buy cheaply around there and tough it out. But if you have children and don’t want to wait another 10 years for a safe, clean area, you might want to pay more for less space and go elsewhere.
Speaking as a former Uptowner, I think the strip of Magnolia between Wilson-Lawrence is much nicer than between Montrose-Wilson. The property below, while having less square footage and and one less bedroom, is on a much better part of Magnolia:
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/4734-N-Magnolia-Ave-60640/unit-3/home/12795525
“I walk this route often and it is still very nice until after Lawrence IMHO.”
I know, Hermitage north of Lawrence is particularly scary.
[Vlajos] “I know, Hermitage north of Lawrence is particularly scary.”
Still waiting for someone to pick up on all that sarcasm huh?
Now that Shiller isn’t there anymore to keep Uptown down, things can only get better.
If memory serves me well, Hermitage north of Irving Park has lots of CHURCHES among the big houses including the mayoral mansion – yep, certainly the mark of a scary-bad ‘hood! And north of Lawrence is MY turf – oh yeah, really awful to walk alone after dark around there, which is why I never trek over to the DD/BR store to get a Reader and satisfy an evening ice-cream jones for fear of my life…