Foreclosure Alert: Converted Church Unit Sells at 1658 W. Superior

In November 2008 we chattered about a bank-owned unit in 1658 W. Superior, in a converted West Town church.

With its massive stained glass window, it was dubbed by one of you as “the coolest thing”.

See our prior discussion and pictures here.

It has finally closed for slightly above the bank-owned asking price.

A tipster tells me there were multiple offers.

Unit #10: 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, no square footage listed

  • Sold in June 2000 for $319,000
  • Sold in March 2003 for $430,000
  • Sold in December 2006 for $474,000
  • Was listed in February 2008 for $549,000
  • Bank-owned
  • Was listed by the bank in November 2008 for $327,500 (parking included)
  • Closed in March 2009 for $335,000 (included parking)
  • Assessments of $398 a month
  • Taxes of $5400

52 Responses to “Foreclosure Alert: Converted Church Unit Sells at 1658 W. Superior”

  1. Congrats to the new owners, very cool place.

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  2. laurengreaves on March 16th, 2009 at 6:55 am

    I second that. What a unique (in a good way) place.

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  3. Michael Michalak on March 16th, 2009 at 7:29 am

    Good thing they saved money over the Feb 2008 price. This place is going to be a bear to heat and cool.

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  4. “Good thing they saved money over the Feb 2008 price”

    They saved almost 25% off the ’03 price. It really sold for the “2001 price”, or maybe even a little below 2001.

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  5. I am curious how large this unit is. It amazes me that people still list on the MLS lacking such basic information as size.

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  6. Bob, here are the room measurements from the MLS:

    Living Room: 28X18
    Dining Room: 11X11
    Kitchen: 12X10
    Family Room: 15X13
    Master Bedroom: 16X14
    2nd Bedroom: 12×13
    Den: 12X13

    Sorry the formatting is a bit off. The Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen, and Family room are all pretty much one big space, the Master Bedroom is lofted upstairs, the 2nd bedroom is on the 2nd floor of the turret, and the “Den” is on the 3rd floor.

    My client purchased this unit, and is probably planning on converting the family room to a proper second bedroom that doesn’t involve going up the spiral stairs. He’s also going to make the half bath on the main level into a full bath.

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  7. OMG I cannot believe this beautiful place was snapped up so quickly!!
    When I first started browsing this site, I read of this place and immediately scheduled a showing. I absolutely loved loved loved this place!! The only thing that held me back from offering a cash offer at the time is the information I found here regarding the original pricing.
    For some reason, I totally skipped over the new listing and am now kicking myself in the backside as I would have bought it the same day I saw it again….AAAARRRRGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!
    I too thought this was the most unique and outstanding place I have visited since my search for a home started and was floored by the whole place. I was SO interested in owning this place!! In NY, I owned a condo in a renovated 1880’s schoolhouse that was a one of a kind place…24′ high ceilings, professionally remodeled by a top architectual firm, in a fantastic location…just a fantastic place and I was hoping to find a home in that same category. Oh well!!
    You snooze you lose comes in right now and I am SO stupid for not accepting the price at that time even if it was a bit high. There was no reason for me not to, but something was holding me back…..
    I wonder now, if it is sold in an “as is” condition, that it has some ‘issues’ and would end up costing major $$$ to correct them.
    OK my day is now ruined and I will go back to my search knowing I will never find a unit as beautifully unique as this one.
    If someone would post a comment that the entire place needed both all electrical and all plumbing replaced I just may be able to keep from jumping out my office window………………

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  8. westloopelo, if it makes you feel any better, I looked into what it takes to keep up stained glass like that, and the answer is tens of thousands of dollars… Doubt it makes you feel that much better, though, because say you spend $20K when you buy it to make sure the window is in good condition–you wouldn’t have to do anything other than maybe $1000 upkeep every couple of years (inspection to make sure glazing is in good repair) for another 25 years after that. I know people who spend $20K on a piece of wall art, easily.

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  9. The entire place needed both all electrical and all plumbing replaced. Now that it has been posted by an anon. Internet poster you may rest safe in your office. I feel that I have done my good deed for today.

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  10. We went and saw this place in January. It needs about 50k of work done on it at least… that was the only thing holding us back from considering making an offer. I would have for sure scooped it up at around 260k though. The taxes and assessments are a real bear though so we wouldn’t be able to afford it at 325k which was their asking price.

    As far as size, its probably 1400 sqft, but its really a 1br 1.5ba not a 2br that’s for sure. Maybe 1br +den (in the turret lol)

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  11. Thanks for pulling me off the ledge there Wicker…LOL!
    Kenworthy, one of the people who help me with the rehabs I have done in the past is a master with any type of Glasswork and I would have utilized his talents to maintain this beautiful work of art.
    You are right Sonies, it would have taken between 50-100 worth of work to bring this place up to date. I did consider this in my decision not to xcoop it up then. It was not major work that was needed, just a basic fine tuning. But then considering the building’s background, that is something that would be a true investment as I believe over time the buyer would have received more than that in return. BTW, I did measure the entire place (my agent loved the move) and it did come to a bit over 1400 sf. and yes, I agree, the turret would need to be a den/work space with added work.
    Still, I feel awful that I was not able to be the person responsible for doing this work!! Beautiful place even with the work that needed to be done…

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  12. It did not need 50-100k worth of work. Yes, the bathroom tile is kind of ugly, but was easily replaced, and was in good condition. The kitchen was serviceable, appliances were in good shape. There was drywall repair to be done from a former roof leak (association fixed it), and the whole place needed to be painted. New carpet was needed upstairs. Other than that it was in pretty good shape. More like 20k worth of work, much of it being the cost to paint due to the super high ceilings.

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  13. There was cracked drywall all over the place on the seams, especially in the high curved areas, that is fairly costly.

    There was a huge hole in the ceiling, leak you say, ok…

    Floor would need refinishing

    Carpet in bedroom needed to be replaced.

    Closet in bedroom needed work

    Bathroom tile, yeah terrible.

    Downstairs bathroom needed quite a bit of work.

    The turrets would need the most and costly work to get them up to livable. Replacing that janky ladder with some sort of serviceable method of getting up there to the top level would be a start.

    Also, I don’t know when you saw the place, but construction workers were probably partying in that place all winter long. Hell, we found some about half a case of beer on the little balcony off the kitchen buried in snow and cigarrete butts everywhere inside the place.

    The only thing that was nice was the kitchen. But even there was plenty of room for improvement there.

    This place would easily need 50k to make it worth 330k, IMO.

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  14. My client (an architect) bought the unit, so I’m very aware of it’s condition. It did not need 50k worth of work. It also appraised for more than he paid for it.

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  15. I’d love to see the comps for church lofts that need work, in that area of town.

    Of course it appraised above what you paid for it, (we just bought a place and it appraised for 20k over what we’re paying for it) otherwise the bank won’t lend… And i’m sure the appraiser knows what you paid for that.

    So why exactly did your client pay over ask price? Its been listed at 327k since before christmas. Just curious.

    And in our opinion it probably would have needed 50k of work since we wouldn’t be doing the work ourselves. We wanted a more ‘turnkey’ property for 325k. I still love the place don’t get me wrong, but at that price with those assessments and taxes and the work that needed to be done, we had to pass.

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  16. In this day and age, if a property is overpriced, an appraiser will say so, and will not appraise it for the purchase price. It happened on my own personal property I sold last year. So, for an appraisal to come in ABOVE the purchase price these days, that’s a good thing.

    We offered over asking because we were informed by the listing office that there were multiple offers. My client loved the place, so we wanted to ensure that we got the property. After our offer was accepted, the woman at the listing office told me that we weren’t even the highest bidder, but we had better terms. It also took 2 weeks for our offer to be accepted, and we came in at the tail end of things. The bank took a long time to make a decision because new offers kept coming in.

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  17. “In this day and age, if a property is overpriced, an appraiser will say so, and will not appraise it for the purchase price. It happened on my own personal property I sold last year. So, for an appraisal to come in ABOVE the purchase price these days, that’s a good thing.”

    Yeah… ok!

    “We offered over asking because we were informed by the listing office that there were multiple offers.”

    You really think that there were multiple offers on the place? Man you got duped by the bank… of course the bank told you there were multiple offers on the place, if they said there were no offers on a place after multiple price reductions and sitting on the market for 4 months, they would lose all bargaining power and you could ramrod the price downwards which is exactly the opposite of what the bank wants.

    “My client loved the place, so we wanted to ensure that we got the property. ”

    Hey that’s understandable, and its not like you offered 10% over ask.

    “After our offer was accepted, the woman at the listing office told me that we weren’t even the highest bidder, but we had better terms.”

    Yeah, that is a possibility, but probably not likely unless the other bidders wanted to 95/5 or FHA the place.

    “It also took 2 weeks for our offer to be accepted, and we came in at the tail end of things. The bank took a long time to make a decision because new offers kept coming in.”

    No it took 2 weeks because Banks are loaded with rediculous amounts of buerocracy and no decision makers. But hey whatever lets you sleep at night.

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  18. Banks take forever to accept offers; the buyer’s Realtor passes the offer to the asset manager’s Realtor, who gives it to the asset manager, who gives it to the lawyer, who presents it to the bank; I lose track of how many people it passes through at the bank. The process takes FOREVER.

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  19. homedelete,

    Another reason we shouldn’t be bailing out banks. If we let the inefficient banks FAIL, then the remaining banks would improve their processes as an incentive to keep their job. Lose the incentive of job loss and bank’s lose the incentive to improve their processes and practices.

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  20. Sonies, I have been an agent for 8 years. I’ve done a number of foreclosure deals both in Chicago and in my “homeland” of California (pre-bubble). The “bank” didn’t tell us anything, the listing office did. How this deal went was very typical in my experience for foreclosure deals. They often under-price the home/condo to gain a lot of interest and to create a multiple offer situation. Then, they wait and let offers come in while telling everyone the cause for the delay is that “they just haven’t made a decision yet”. Some people withdraw their offer because they don’t want to wait. Others wait it out. Then, the bank finally picks one, and that contract moves forward. Then, once it’s under contract, things take forever because like you said, the banks are loaded with “ridiculous amounts of buerocracy” and until you threaten to cancel the contract, they just sit on it. We closed a month later than our original closing date through no fault of the buyer whatsoever.

    After reading a number of your posts, you seem very negative about the real estate market. But it sounds like you’ve finally purchased a place (east of Western no doubt). Best of luck to you with your new home.

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  21. East of Western? Lol yeah, east of the river.

    So was this a forclosure or a bank owned property? My understanding is that it was bank owned.

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  22. Foreclosure/bank-owned are the same, at least to me. “Short sales”, “pre-foreclosure” etc are for properties about to go into foreclosure and not yet owned by the bank.

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  23. Excuse me, let me correct myself, not ALL short sales are pre-foreclosures.

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  24. “So was this a forclosure or a bank owned property?”

    Yeah, honest question–what did you think was the difference, if it’s an MLS-listed property? If it’s on the MLS, it’s not there to advertise the foreclosure auction.

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  25. OMG…this place is my dream pad. That huge stained glass window with the modern upgrades looks like something out of a tech-noir flick. Very sweet. Congrats to the buyers. All sorts of cool…

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  26. ““So was this a forclosure or a bank owned property?”

    Yeah, honest question–what did you think was the difference, if it’s an MLS-listed property? If it’s on the MLS, it’s not there to advertise the foreclosure auction.”

    That’s why I asked, since everyone here was saying its a forclosure, but its technically bank owned since it didn’t sell at auction, right? Or did it not go to auction at all?

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  27. “That’s why I asked, since everyone here was saying its a forclosure, but its technically bank owned since it didn’t sell at auction, right? Or did it not go to auction at all?”

    Most “bank-owned” or REO property become bank owned b/c of foreclosure (can be by deed in lieu of foreclosure (and possibly other means), but that’s not happening to much, I don’t believe, until HD informs us to the contraray). So, it’s safe to call an REO a “post-foreclosure” property, or just a foreclosed property.

    A property for sale at a foreclosure auction is *also* a “foreclosure”, but it wouldn’t be on the MLS. And anyone who bought at the auction and wanted to flip (no judgment on whether flipping foreclosures is wise) wouldn’t want to include that it was a foreclosure, for fear of wasting time on low-ball offers.

    So, a MLS listed property that says it is a foreclosure is (almost certainly–I honestly cannot think of a reasonable circumstance when it wouldn’t be) a bank-owned property.

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  28. I can’t think of a better owner for this unit. This architectural unit needed an architect as an owner to take full advantage of the special qualities of this unique space. The restoration of this unit will probably be a labor of love.

    Westloopelo:
    Not sure I would trust anyone to restore a stained glass window. These windows need specialized materials and skills. Restoration may include straightening out bows, soldering, painting the glass, finding replacement glass, special putty, etc, etc. We spent $$$ in restoring our leaded glass windows, which included most of the work mentioned above. But if done well, it will last. Ours are still going strong after 20 years and are wonderful to look at. I trust the new owner has done due diligence on the inspection of the stained glass window.

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  29. After foreclosure judgment is entered against all interested parties, the property goes judicial auction. The lien holders are granted credit towards the purchase price in the amount of their judgment. In most cases, no one offers any outside money to buy the unit so the property usually goes to the senior most lien holder. If the senior lien holder is a bank (or servicer) then it has made the transformation into an REO (real estate owned) a/k/a bank owned property. The home owner may continue to live in the house until the buyer gets confirmation from the court usually shortly after the sale. An order of possession is entered in favor of the buyer usually giving the tenant 30 days to vacate.

    In cook county, the buyer takes the order of possession to the sheriff and files a completely separate eviction action in eviction court. In other counties the order of possession can executed after the 30 day stay.

    At this point the property is transferred to various asset managers around the country who hire local realtors and attorneys to market the properties in the MLS and close on the sales. As what is becoming apparent, banks are retaining a significant portion of their REOs and only slowly trickling them onto the market. Some of those properties can be found on the various bank websites. There are a lot of properties in the pipeline so to speak but I don’t know if anyone has a firm estimate on the total number of properties out there.

    Banks in some cases are delaying foreclosure voluntarily. I’ve heard stories in the bubble states of people living in their homes for months and months without paying the mortgage and without any contact from their lender, not even a notice of default.

    Deeds in lieu is when you voluntarily give up your interest in the property in lieu of going through the foreclosure process. It used to be popular when real estate prices were still going up; the bank would sell the property for a profit. Nowadays the banks are more concerned with dinging the borrower’s credit report with a foreclosure for 10 years. Smaller banks might be interested in taking deeds in lieu, in my experience, to save money; but the bigger banks are so dyfunctional it’s tough to get them do anything except foreclose.

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  30. ROTFLMAO @jc – I begin my property search in September and had viewed at least a dozen places before I was made aware of this place in November. I visited three times, once by myself (totally wowed!!) and twice with the two men who do rehabs for/with me. Both have been in the construction/design business for over 25 years and have seen the best and worst in many cities. I trust their opinions on all of the previous properties I have acquired/rehabbed and either ‘flipped’ or still own and keep as investment/rental properties. Never once have their estimates been wrong and I seriously doubt they would start now. In their detailed estimate (which did include restoration work on the window, by a trained craftsman) they came up with an amount that neared $100k…without the window it was of course around $20k less.
    I also, on all three visits, was informed by the agent that there were already several offers, all above the asking price that had been made and if I was interested in it I had better act THAT day!! So sorry, your Architect client and yourself actually were played big time by the agent! If there were so many ‘above the asking price’ offers for this beautiful (but in need of serious repair) unit, I am sure it would have sold months ago.
    Regardless, I kept this place in the back of my mind and had intended on checking on it’s status this week as my time to find a place is drawing to a close.
    As much as I loved this place after hearing and seeing how much work it needed, I was not ready nor willing to pay that price, after all, it is basically a one bedroom apartment, right?

    And thanks HD for your explaination of the process of foreclosures/bank owned properties, it is 100% correct and should be commoon knowledge to ALL agents.

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  31. “You really think that there were multiple offers on the place? Man you got duped by the bank… of course the bank told you there were multiple offers on the place, if they said there were no offers on a place after multiple price reductions and sitting on the market for 4 months, they would lose all bargaining power and you could ramrod the price downwards which is exactly the opposite of what the bank wants.”

    Actually- Sonies- I do (and obviously I wasn’t involved in this deal.)

    I’ve been hearing from numerous people involved in trying to purchase bank owned properties in the “prime” neighborhoods (i.e. the North Side) that they’ll have multiple offers within 24 hours or so of putting the listing on the MLS. (Sometimes within hours.)

    Yes- if the deal is THAT good- things are selling quite quickly.

    You’d be surprised.

    There are plenty of buyers out there looking for a “deal” and they’re all in competition for the 2/2 in Lincoln Park or West Town or whatnot.

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  32. JC: Thanks for the explanation of why it took this unit so long to close.

    I think most buyers are under the illusion that these transactions are “normal” when they’re not.

    (And if you think bank-owned units take a long time, try buying a “short sale” which is even worse. It can be 6 months or longer before you close on those properties- if you’re lucky.)

    Yes- many buyers drop out of the deal because they’re impatient. Also, some buyers, frankly, just don’t have the right financing so it’s not always the highest bid that “wins” in the end.

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  33. jc: “After reading a number of your posts, you seem very negative about the real estate market. But it sounds like you’ve finally purchased a place (east of Western no doubt). Best of luck to you with your new home.”

    Having only read this wonderful site for a few months, perhaps I should not comment, but I will regardless. To me, it seems it is only those who claim to be in the ‘biz (agents/brokers/lenders/bankers) who show their negativity in their usually short and snarky comments. But when you think about it I guess they are allowed to do so as their income has been cut greatly in the past year…hopefully not enough to have to rent “east of Western”.

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  34. “It did not need 50-100k worth of work. Yes, the bathroom tile is kind of ugly, but was easily replaced, and was in good condition. The kitchen was serviceable, appliances were in good shape. There was drywall repair to be done from a former roof leak (association fixed it), and the whole place needed to be painted. New carpet was needed upstairs. Other than that it was in pretty good shape. More like 20k worth of work, much of it being the cost to paint due to the super high ceilings.”

    But JC, it didn’t have granite in the kitchen, marble in the baths, and cherry kitchen cabinets that were brand new. (sarcasm, sarcasm.)

    Buyers today want new, new, new! Otherwise it’s just not “worth” what they’re paying and they have to put thousands and thousands of dollars into it.

    Imagine that- a bank owned property that needs “work”. I’ve never heard of such a thing (sarcasm again.)

    It’s truly amazing how much people are overpaying on properties simply because someone puts in a new kitchen or bath. Truly.

    I can’t wait for the trend of “redoing” the kitchen every 5 years to go away. What a complete waste of time and money.

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  35. Sabrina, you are correct in most of what you say, but there are a number of buyers who are willing and able to pay cash for what we may consider “a good deal” and usually these transactions are passed through the process in record time.
    I would say 70% of the properties I have purchased in the past for flips or as investment properties have been foreclosures/bank owned properties and I deal only in cash to speed the closure.
    Believe me, wave a reasonable cash offer in front of a banker and you will be surprised how quickly the deal closes.

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  36. LOL @ your last post Sabrina…all true. I too cannot wait for these ‘trends’ to pass. The home I have restored for my retirement has all it’s original 1950’s design components and the materials I needed to replace certain items are as close to the originals as possible. The mere thought of walking into a classic home only to see characterless replacements yelling at you!!
    Had I decided to invest in this property, I would NOT have gone the granite, cherry cabs, marble marble marble route. But instead I would have restored it to reflect the original work of art it was.
    Hopefully this ‘architect’ will have the sense to do the same.

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  37. correction:

    should have read
    “the mere thought of walking into a classic home only to see characterless replacements yelling at you is indeed….nauseating.

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  38. “In this day and age, if a property is overpriced, an appraiser will say so, and will not appraise it for the purchase price.”

    Hahahaha – even if there was a clear definition of overpriced in a market like this, that statement would still be ridiculous.

    “It happened on my own personal property I sold last year. So, for an appraisal to come in ABOVE the purchase price these days, that’s a good thing.”

    Wow – you are personally aware of an example of an appraisal for less than the purchase price?!? Must be true for all purchases… specious reasoning.

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  39. Sabrina –

    None of what Sonies cited were granite, marble, cherry cabs, etc… Actually no updates to the kitchen. Not even counting maintenence to the stained glass, that list would be over $20K of work – esp with the turret. Also, I’ve seen several cases where the association “fixed” a leak to the roof that didn’t work out so well…

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  40. fullhouse, as I mentioned above I am an agent, so I have quite a bit experience with appraisal results. Recently I’ve had 4 separate buyers have appraisals come in ABOVE the price they are paying. So, just speaking from personal experience. My OWN client purchased this unit, so I know exactly what type of work needed to be done, and it was not 100k worth. FWIW, the stained glass window is in excellent condition and is not in need of any work at this time.

    One thing to keep in mind though… one person’s idea of “a lot of work” is not the same as the others. For my client, the home was in pretty good condition and is very liveable nearly as-is. For some people, they wouldn’t even consider living there without doing a complete renovation. Not everyone wants or needs granite, marble, cherry cabinets etc. I know I’m not a fan of the same cookie cutter finishes that every brand new condo has.

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  41. westloopelo, all I can say is what my experience with the property, it’s inspections, and my client’s contractor’s opinions were. My client is very happy with the unit, the price he got it for, and it’s current condition, and that’s all that matters. As for waving cash in front of the bank to speed the deal, that’s essentially what we did (no mortgage contingency), and they still delayed the closing by a month because they couldn’t get their act together. We were ready to close by our original closing date, they were not.

    As for agents etc being negative, most are, I agree. I also don’t like most real estate agents. But, I’m staying positive, because my clients are still buying properties, and are getting some amazing deals. I’ve noticed the majority of the negativity about the market is coming from “buyers” who think everything is overpriced and the whole world is going to hell. I have a few of these clients as well and they bum me out 🙂

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  42. I had this place listed before the owners let it go into foreclosure, it’s worth $400,000 – all day. We had offers over that but couldn’t get the “short sale” negotiated before the cut off date with the bank. Find me a comp that shows otherwise. JC, you’re right with your thoughts. Sonies has obviously been hurt in a bad real estate related decision. Sonies, find your self a good agent next time.

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  43. NT,

    We’re early in this downturn. This REO sale IS the new comp. Given Chicago’s income numbers and current RE values, we’re going to see a lot of people who can’t cover the inflated monthly nut in the future much like this seller.

    I do agree though that REOs are generally cleaner than short sales, I have no experience in either but this is my impression from reading up on them. With an REO you don’t have to consider what precarious financial situation or financial hole the seller dug themselves into and don’t have the bank bureaucracy to deal with.

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  44. “Sonies has obviously been hurt in a bad real estate related decision.”

    Um no. I recently took advantage of falling prices and insanely low interest rates and am closing on my first home in less than two weeks. Now if I could just get some assholes to sublet my place in Lakeview, things would be peachy!

    I was just commenting on this property, if you don’t like my OPINION, then buzz off.

    Also to jc; You are correct about the stained glass, its in pretty amazing shape. We saw the place during a freaking blizzard in January, and there was no cold seepage what so ever, we were quite amazed.

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  45. “fullhouse, as I mentioned above I am an agent, so I have quite a bit experience with appraisal results.”

    Just b/c you’re an agent, it doesn’t mean you know what your talking about when it comes to appraisals, especially what is fair value in a falling market with relatively fewer recent data points than before. I’m not saying this place isn’t worth the purchase price, or that I have any idea what a fair appraisal is – just that your logic was faulty.

    “Recently I’ve had 4 separate buyers have appraisals come in ABOVE the price they are paying. So, just speaking from personal experience.”

    How does this support your point? Unless that is offset by a number of appraisals coming in BELOW the price, it would go counter to your point (that appraisers are getting much tougher).

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  46. Hey that two week course in real estate makes them professional appraisers too didn’t you know that fullhouse?

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  47. jc, you mention that each buyer has different expectations when it comes to purchasing a property and why they do so. In my case, for this beautiful, BUT IN NEED OF MANY REPAIRS unit, I had planned on taking it back to it’s original splendor. Although the place was, yes poorly, chopped up into units, there could have been through a historic restoration, a return to what once was.
    That was my reason for doing so…a restoration that I would have used as my Chicago residence and would have made for investment reasons. I am thinking that is why the projected cost of the repairs/upgrades/restoration amount was different from others.
    As many different reasons we all have for purchasing places, so are there different amounts for the money needed to persue our outcomes.
    You state that unit was ‘livable’…sure and any place in South Chicago slums are livable, but do I want to be in that enviroment? A resounding NO!!!
    Re: the windows….my restoration specialist (it is his only trade and he is an expert at this) saw many things with the window that needed attention to prevent more costly repairs later in it’s life. I am all about fixing BEFORE deterioration, not only on this window but throughout the unit itself on other issues not visible to normal buyers.
    Again, there is no way in hell that I would have converted this into some replica of all the units that are unsold on the markets now…it would have been a labour of love for myself as well. I am an very experienced restorer and flipper and can spot what needs to be done to each of my purchases.
    OK enough defending the amount I was contemplating investing in this property….can’t backtrack and purchase it anyway! Good Luck to the party who did land it and I hope they do see what I saw to get it back to a beautiful unit that will last for decades!
    jc….I too do notice in my viewings and in speaking with other potential buyers that there are MANY who are anticipating…actually wishing the RE market takes even a larger nosedive than it already has. To me that is just totally unacceptable to be in that mindset. For a calamity of this magnitude that has forced many out into the streets is enough, but add to that mix buyers and realtors who are just hoping to lowballs sellers into even more insane scenarios is beyond me.
    When I purchase a property (3-4 times a year now) it is because I see true potential in it and don’t really sit and calculate how much money I will spend and how much my profit margin will be. I am in this side business because I enjoy the hell out of finding a place in need of renovation, spend what I need to be restore/upgrade it, and then reap the rewards upon completion. It matters not if I sell it, keep it as an investment for future sale or utilize it as a rental later…it is the process I love and that is why I do it.
    In the meantime, I have been very priviledged to have lived in some fantastic historic homes across the country. Now regardless of the economic problems that are facing the market, I still carry on as before. Am I selling right now, absolutely not as you say people are whining and complaining if they are not allowed to knock off up to 20-25% of a seller’s asking price and that I am not willing to do under any circumstances!

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  48. just for the record unit 10 doesn’t require “all new plumbing or electrical”. It hasn’t been updated/upgraded since the original owner purchased it in ’99.

    I’ve been a resident of 1

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  49. (to continue) i’ve lived here since ’99 myself.

    bathrooms need to be gutted imo and a new kitchen wouldn’ hurt either.

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  50. “I am an very experienced restorer and flipper” Huh?

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  51. The team that bought this place is hedging real estate is
    headed back up.I heard they have been buying repos all overthe ciry.

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