North Center Cottage Returns to the Market: 1750 W. Grace
It’s back!
We chattered about this 4-bedroom cottage home at 1750 W. Grace in North Center several times last year as it kept reducing but still had not sold.
See our last chatter here. See pictures here.
It was withdrawn from the market and has now been re-listed $94,900 under its May 2008 listing price.
Will the lower price finally move this property?
Scott Zelkin at @Properties now has the listing. See the pictures here (including some additional rooms not seen last time. Notice, also, the basement is no longer included in the photos.)
1750 W. Grace: 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2400 square feet, 2 car garage
- Sold in May 2006 for $555,000
- Was listed in May 2008 for $669,900
- Reduced several times
- Was listed in November 2008 for $584,900
- Withdrawn
- Currently listed for $575,000
- Taxes of $8407
- Central air
- Basement
Lower price and better marketing will make a big difference. The previous @Prop. pictures did not do the place any service. Now it looks spacious and very clean. I would have to visit in person to know if this is the price that I think will sell it. But overall major improvement.
There must have been a sale on baby blue mats…
Talk about a house in dire need of staging! Also, Is it in Hamilton school district? Hamilton has been a very mediocre school up til now…….
“There must have been a sale on baby blue mats…”
Looks like they picked up a 6 pack of those rugs at Costco 8)
Looks nice enough. Maybe dig out that basement (from the old pictures) and create a downstairs rental unit. Or just more living space. The ceiling seems a bit low.
Appreciation over the bubble: NO.
My favorite thing is when the sellers change realtors AND lower the price. How much you wanna bet the old realtor wanted to lower the price, but the sellers resisted. Now, they hire a new realtor and agree to a lower price.
by the time they’re on their 4th realtor/price reduction, it should sell. And of course the 4th realtor will be the best ever!
bubbleboi: I find that people are resistant to any picture they dont have in their head, but they eventually come to their senses.
Take for instance all the couples ditching their condos and moving to the burbs. You think the guy was like “FUCK YEAH, SUBURBS!”? No, it took her a good 4 tries before she could get him open to the idea.
Just human nature. Same thing for pricing of their inflated property.
bubbleboi, if the first 3 realtors listed it at a price it couldn’t sell at then the 4th is certainly the best of the lot.
The worst mistake sellers make is hiring the Realtor who convinces them that a house will sell at an inflated price. However, people generally want to be sold and are usually so emotionally attached to their home, the Realtor that is upfront and honest about the true market value is very unlikely to get the listing agreement. Most sellers rather test the market at an inflated price, not realizing that their listing gets stale after it doesn’t sell and probably will wind up going for less than if they maybe priced it more reasonably from the get go. Not too mention the carrying costs.
Telling someone their home is worth X when they think it is worth Y is very much like telling them their child is ugly or mentally challenged. Not an easy conversation.
Very few sellers want to hear that their place is overpriced, has some serious flaws, or that their decorating is horrible…
Should sell at $500K I would think.
Good luck with this closing above the 2006 price. Even with the entire economic meltdown, you can’t cure people of the endowment effect…(from psych 101). Kind of amazing. I guess, since I paid attention in psychology, I knew about such cognitive biases and sold at a loss (quickly) rather than acting like so many other people who think their place is worth more than it is simply because they live in it. My neighbor was priced 80k above me… 80k – same exact thing but I had a better view. go figure. It’s still on the market.
i never make fun of anyone’s interior decorating bc I think it’s sort of mean & i know a lot of owners end up reading this…
but… 6 identical oriental rugs? how did that happen??
“6 identical oriental rugs? how did that happen??”
Seriously? They were on sale someplace, super cheap. They wanted to cover the (likely bare concrete) basement floor with something, and that was the cheapest, fastest way to do it.
Sure, they could have called Luna or Empire with similar speed and probably less effort, but (1) that’s doubtless more expensive and (2) if (I have no idea about this block) there’s any chance of water in the basement, these polyporpelene rugs can be washed out in the alley, while the wall-to-wall is garbage and another round of paying Luna/Empire/whoever.
And, in any case, would it be better if it were 6 *different* rugs?
No kc08, not enough of a difference as the price “cut” is nominal. I wonder how the whole tactic of “screw you guys I’m taking my home off the market/taking my toys home” worked for this seller?
This seller is equally hilarious as they are probably blaming their realtor for their property not selling. Hey buddy got news for you: if you’ve been through three realtors its not your realtor that has the problem(s). They are going to stay put in this nice home as it will not fetch more than around 500k. They’ve earned the right to stay here and signed up for it with an inflated mortgage. Enjoy.
Even at 500K with 20% down, monthly costs would be $2,800? Add utilities and we’re at 3K per month for a house that may never appreciate? When you add the below-grade living space that will be a chronic mold/smell/humidity problem, the seller will have to find wealthy buyer who really likes the place.
“at 500K with 20% down, monthly costs would be $2,800?”
$400k mortgage at 4.75% = $1583/month (discounting principal)
Taxes, after $500k deed and w/ Homeowner exemption, ~$500/month
Maybe $50/month for insurance incremental over renter’s insurance, round it up to $2150.
Less ~$200 (conservatively) in tax benefit–nets to under $2k/month.
How are you calculating $2800/month? And why add utilites? You pay those in a rental, too.
Almost nobody brings 20% down in Chicago. The poseurs that bought this I’d be willing to bet didn’t bring 111k to the table. In fact I’d be surprised even with 56k.
In fact, if people were required to bring 20% to the table, it would show that only people with a track record of savings and budgeting were being allowed entryway into home ownership.
This (20%+ down) segment is much smaller than the overall population, which includes people with no financial sense and those that who think that having two mortgages and a monthly nut far in excess of rental equivalent is a good idea.
“The poseurs that bought this I’d be willing to bet didn’t bring 111k to the table. In fact I’d be surprised even with 56k.”
Recollection from prior post is that they had ~10%. And then pulled some (or a lot more than 10%–open to interpretation) out.