Dreaming of an Elevator in East Lakeview? 545 W. Aldine
Tired of vintage walk-ups in East Lakeview?
The Ambiance, at 545 W. Aldine, which was built in 2000, has several key features that many other East Lakeview buildings may not: an elevator and attached deeded parking.
The listing for Unit #6B also describes the unit’s dark wood floors, marble master bath and full-sized side-by-side laundry.
The kitchen has cherry cabinets and granite countertops as well as stainless steel appliances.
Beth Babcock at Koenig & Strey has the listing. See more pictures here.
Unit #6B: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1573 square feet
- Sold in March 2000 for $423,500
- Originally listed in April 2009 for $599,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed for $589,000 (plus $35,000 for parking)
- Assessments of $474 a month
- Taxes of $6655
- Central Air
No.
$589k for a 2/2? What a joke.
I love the urine colored walls..nice touch.
460k.
that’s 2/2 with no parking. parking makes it $624. $400/sqft in lakeview? lmao.
ok 589k w/o parking but even closer to thee lake was that 4br on 411 w Briar for only 535k. use the 54k difference to upgrade it.
545 w aldine ass doesnt include heat???
so besides the elevator why would someone buy this over 411 w Briar?
A slightly larger 2/2 (1,761 sqft) in this building is also on the market — $649,000.
I looked in this building in 2005 and was put off by the high assessments relative to a condo with a similar layout in a 4-flat.
Wow 2 for 2 on the overpriced lakeview condos. Beautiful building but I would never buy in midrise that has an elevator. What a waste of money. Wasn’t 2000 before the bubble began? Why would these people fork over 423k in 2000?! I agree with bob 450ish…next!
“so besides the elevator why would someone buy this over 411 w Briar”
three off the top–
Not right on Sheridan?
Parking available in the building?
Hate the idea of dealing with reno?
“but even closer to thee lake”
What advantages does being closer to the lake have if you don’t have lake views vs. living a few blocks west? I don’t see any advantage at all. In fact if you are right on the lake without views I’d consider that a disadvantage as you’re going to catch the wind chill and much more lake effect snow than if you go inland a mile or so.
I think you’re imagining some sort of premium for proximity to the lake which doesn’t exist unless you have lake views.
“Wasn’t 2000 before the bubble began?”
Nope. I knew people buying pre-con and flipping before closing in 1999/2000. That’s the beginning of the bubble in Chicago.
its 4br vs. 2br!
Yes, remodeling suck when your living there while your doing it but before you move in is fun.
and your right being closer to the lake both with no views is irrelevant.
“What advantages does being closer to the lake have if you don’t have lake views vs. living a few blocks west? I don’t see any advantage at all. In fact if you are right on the lake without views I’d consider that a disadvantage as you’re going to catch the wind chill and much more lake effect snow than if you go inland a mile or so.
I think you’re imagining some sort of premium for proximity to the lake which doesn’t exist unless you have lake views.”
“three off the top–
Not right on Sheridan?
Parking available in the building?
Hate the idea of dealing with reno?”
As a reader of CC, occasional poster, and housing bear, I’d like to say I am now under contract to purchase my first home.
Also, I’m now switching sides. Go Housing!
A bit pricey, but I am going to go out on a limb and say I can see it selling in the low to mid 500s. I think some of you just need to get over the playa hating and step your career game up so you can afford some of these places and stop complaining about how everything is over priced. I think the real problem is you guys just dont make enough money.
Not saying some places aren’t over priced, but the whining is getting a bit old. Bottomline, even if you have a 20% down payment, a $35k per year job won’t get you 1500 sqft and a highly upgraded unit on a desirable street in LV/RN/LP/BT which is what seems to be goal of a lot of the posters.
There are a good number of people who want to live in certain neighborhoods in this city and the reality is a lot of them can afford to pay $400k-$600k to do so. Contrary to popular belief, not all are FBs either.
Neighborhoods do change and many urban areas have seen an increase in popularity and desirability. Price run ups are not entirely driven by the funny money financing.
I remember people back in 98/99 startign to flip properties because the demand exceeded supply because so many people wanted to move closer in and many areas have arguably changed permanently for the better (not just talking about Chicago here).
“its 4br vs. 2br!”
You suggested that the elevator could be a basis for opting to spend more.
And it’s 3.5 v. 2. That 4th BR–with the laundry in it–is a mudroom/den/storage room. Not a “real” br. The bigger thing is it’s 2600 v 1573.
“As a reader of CC, occasional poster, and housing bear, I’d like to say I am now under contract to purchase my first home.
Also, I’m now switching sides. Go Housing!”
Congrats, and I hope you enjoy your 8k from the gummint!
“Contrary to popular belief, not all are FBs either. ”
Not yet, in any case. When looking at housing I see no catalyst to increase RE valuations in the near to intermediate term. So I’m not worried about ‘being priced out forever’.
Al government incentives now will end at some point, what will that do to housing demand?
“Congrats, and I hope you enjoy your 8k from the gummint!”
It just means he overpaid by $8K. That’s how it works with ‘free’ money. No different than the effects of easy financing.
Russ: If i understand correctly, it’s not that properties are overpriced, it’s that potential buyers don’t make enough money?
Yeah, that’s pretty much always been the problem. That’s why wall street created IO loans, subprime, Option ARM, and neg am mortgages. Affordability at it’s finest.
“Russ on August 6th, 2009 at 10:54 am
A bit pricey, but I am going to go out on a limb and say I can see it selling in the low to mid 500s. I think some of you just need to get over the playa hating and step your career game up so you can afford some of these places and stop complaining about how everything is over priced. I think the real problem is you guys just dont make enough money.”
First, I agree…$450k (including parking).
Second, with regard to proximity to the park/lake…beyond providing a nice view, I might be mistaken here, but isn’t the park/lake rather nice for running/biking/walking? If that’s the case, what would be better, a very short distance to begin that run/bike-ride/walk in the park or along the lakefront (or trip to the playground, for those loathsome stroller-pushers!), or a longer distance? A survey of the home values along the first or second blocks (i.e., with no views) from Lincoln Park (or the lake up in the northern burbs, or Central Park in NY, etc.), as compared to homes a mile away, might shed some light on the subject.
I place no premium on being “close to the lake”, but i think there are a substantial number of people who do.
congrats King Hippo – better to have bought now versus any other time in the past 5 years.
Russ is taking a page from the classic Heitman playbook that we’re all deriding these properties as overpriced because _we_ can’t afford them. He also puts forth an estimated sample income of 35k/year as the average income of the ‘detractors’.
Sorry Russ but nothing we say on here is going to get the loan volume back for you. Nothing we say here is going to stop the mortgage lenders from imploding left and right. Who was it yesterday? Taylor, Bean & Whittaker?
You’re compensated on commissions and the entire market is in a shyt storm. Methinks its you who should be more concerned about your near and intermediate term income than most of us on here with more stable income streams. But hey if you want to believe we’re all 35k earners so be it. In fact you can believe I am a 12k/year janitor and call me Susan if it makes you happy.
😀
Russ- I don’t think the negative comments have anything to do with “playa hating”. It has something to do with the countless people all over Chicago that bought over priced condos just bc the bank approved the loan and some hot shot realtor convinced them of a bunch of rehearsed nonsense. Bob, homedelete, Sonies etc and whomever else may seem harsch at times but they are simply stating the truth. Our real estate market for the past 10 years was built on dishonesty and greed. And LOL at the career comment, you are the one assuming that just bc someone isn’t bragging about how much dough they are rolling in they aren’t making money. And even if someone is claiming to be making bank, this is an internet blog, you can be whoever you want. If I want to be a zookeeper that makes 2.5M a year, I can.
HD:
No, you don’t understand correctly. Some properties are no doubt over priced, but I think many of you confuse over priced with unaffordable for YOU (not saying you specifically HD). Big difference.
Hell, I think NY real estate is over priced with an average condo going for about $1 million. But the reality is that is isn’t so much over priced as that I just don’t make enough money relative to the folks who do who choose to purchase.
Yes, some of the properties here are expensive, but the reality is that there are plenty of people who can afford to buy these places and they do.
Lauren:
I know, I forgot. All these people make $200k+ per year and enjoy living in their $700/mo studio in uptown because they called the top of the market and they are going to sit on their hundreds of thousands in cash and pounce on a place as soon as they decide when the bottom is here.
Bob:
Sorry, Heitman is way more of a RE Bull than me. I am closer to the bear camp, particularly for the jumbo stuff, but I also don’t think we are going to be picking up these nice places for pennies on the dollar either. I am just not as extreme as some of you. The $35k comment was made more in jest, someone as sarcastic and sharp as you Bob should have read through that…
Well in any case, increasing income is going to be hard for most of us..
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aRU6ZUwzT9iA
“Wages and salaries, which drive recoveries in spending, fell 4.7 percent in the 12 months through June, the biggest drop since records began in 1960”
Might not need to increase income at all to own places that are currently priced out of one’s means. Just keep a job, keep a savings plan in place and wait.
Given stats for Illinois, including the (relatively low) number of Alt-A mortgages here vs. the sand states, massive reductions might not occur, but I don’t see any reason to worry as nothing to push valuations up.
“It just means he overpaid by $8K. That’s how it works with ‘free’ money. No different than the effects of easy financing.”
Even if he did over pay by 8k (which i doubt) would you rather have $8k today and pay it back over a period of 30 years or nothing today and $20 a month for 30 years?
Did I ever tell you you’re my hero, Russ?
It is fighting a losing battle though…most here will never change.
Congratulations kinghippo and good luck with your new home! Feels great doesn’t it?
Good one Lauren…blame people who have pulled on their grown up undies and bought their own homes. If you were foolish enough to buy blindly without performing your own due dilligence, then I guess you deserve what is coming to you.
What has and still is really surprising to me is that although you all live in one of the countries largest and most expensive cities, you still expect to pay what you paid in Michigan or Indiana for your homes. Crazy.
westloop – Exactly. The people that did things the right way aren’t the issue. It’s like buying a 35k Jetta just bc the bank approved the loan and your salesmen told you it’s an awesome investment?!
Russ- I’m not saying that nobody in LP/LV etc makes a decent salary. My landlord is proof that there are people that really have money and that invest it wisely. What I’m saying is look at the numbers and look at the mentality of alot of american consumers. We like to act as if and that attitude has caught up with us. Even if we don’t make 200k a year, we like to finance big condos and big cars to make you think we make 200k a year. For many of us, life isn’t about what we can afford, its about what we want others to think what we can afford. As HD just mentioned, if we really had that many people making 200k + a year then there wouldn’t have been such a demand for “wolf in sheeps clothing” loans. Banks came up with those evil loans bc they knew just how many people there are that would use crap financing to buy huge, overpriced places to create an image.
And Lauren, I’m real estate neutral (since i bought a place in late March in River north) There are plenty of good deals out there but also plenty of dreaming prices (such as the property near wrigley and this one, they both aren’t my style, not to say they aren’t someone elses style).
The recession is over next quarter doom and gloomers, if you can afford to, take your 8k from the gummint and run!
Lauren:
I don’t necessarily disagree with you entirely.
The post seem to follow this line of thinking which was the root of my frustration. Property listed for $500k. The usual banter of 1) the owner is a FB 2) the place is over priced 3) the decorating sucks 4) ahhh, why didn’t they use a condom! they gotta move because Jack, Asher, or whatever yuppie name is on the wall in the kids room showed up. 5) last but not least, the Realtor is HOT!
The place eventually sells at $480k. Then the comments are the person that bought it using three dollar bills! The person that bought it is a knife catcher!
Of course, no one stops to say maybe the person who bought it likes the place, could afford the place, and just maybe it wasn’t priced so far out of line with it’s true worth. Again, not saying there isn’t some over priced crap on the market, but I think a lot of the stuff for many of the RE bears is really just more than they can afford so there is an undercurrent of playa hating…
Thanks! It does feel nice, especially knowing I did it on my terms.
“I think you’re imagining some sort of premium for proximity to the lake which doesn’t exist unless you have lake views.”
This makes no sense. A lot of people actually enjoy going to the lake, not just looking at it. Being 2 blocks v. 1 mile away is the difference between taking a stroll by the lake after dinner everynight and not. That’s worth money to a lot of people. In the past 15 years I’ve lived all over this city. I now live two blocks from the lake and I will never live more than walking distance ever again.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-08-05-rental_N.htm
GO KING HIPPO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! all the best wishes to you and your new home!!!!
hey dont knock 35k a year i was making a small bit over that in 2002 when i bought my house.
annonny “trip to the playground, for those loathsome stroller-pushers!”
i am a loathsome stoller pusher, and just for that comment i am going to find your neighborhood and hog up the sidewalk with all my kid pushing friends 🙂
J, when I first moved to the city nearly 15 years ago I too lived by the lake. For three years it was at the end of my block and for the other two I was no more than 1 block away. However, about 10 years ago I moved away from the lake and I don’t miss it one bit. I enjoy being closer to the north branch of the chicago river and the 12 mile bike trail that goes all the way to the botanical gardens. To each’s own I guess.
I can understand that for some, only the lake view is worthwhile. But I, like many others here apparently, definitely value proximity to the lake – being a short walk to the lakefront is a HUGE value-add in my book. I would guess having kids/pets is a big divider in this dep’t.
I’m several generations older than most of you all. Those of us who bought our first houses in the 70s were not real estate neutral. We loved it.
I lived for 30 years in DC and it suburbs. In my day Washingtonians only cared about three things: real estate; the Redskins; and sex.
I’m several generations older than most of you all. To follow-up on Sonies comment above: those of us who bought our first houses in the 70s were not real estate neutral. We loved it.
I lived for 30 years in DC and it suburbs. In my day Washingtonians only cared about three things: real estate; the Redskins; and sex.
And btw, based on 30 years of profits from our primary homes we have both a lake view in Madison and an urban view in RN. Best of both worlds.
” That’s worth money to a lot of people. ”
Maybe to one segment, but in the aggregate it doesn’t seem to have that much of an impact on pricing. $/sf numbers seem similar whether one block from the lake (with no view) or a mile away from the lake (with no view).
Sorry for the double post.
(I too am a loathsome stroller pusher.)
“And btw, based on 30 years of profits from our primary homes we have both a lake view in Madison and an urban view in RN. Best of both worlds.”
Your generation got lucky and you specifically timed the market right. As we know past results are not an indication of future returns. I don’t see the baby boomers experience being replicated in successive generations.
Also sounds like a bit of debt was used in buying increasingly larger residences–the debt spicket is going to have to be pared back dramatically and already is.
“$/sf numbers seem similar whether one block from the lake (with no view) or a mile away from the lake (with no view).”
Lake Michigan? In the 60610, 60614 or 60657 areas? Hmm.
Bob
Of course debt was used, but we never put down less than 20% on any house. We refinanced as appropriate occasionally pulling money out on the refinances. Agreed though we were lucky. In one case very lucky. We bought a house not knowing that the row house attached to ours had been bought by the private school next to the attached house. We spent $7,000 fighting the re-zoning and won. Then we managed to sell the house for $45,000 more than we paid for it a year and a half before to some folks with more money than brains. And, we did disclose.
“Lake Michigan? In the 60610, 60614 or 60657 areas? Hmm.”
See the Roscoe Village 3 bedroom that sold for $560k that was featured here yesterday. PPSF numbers of around $300/sf, not close to the lake.
Yeah they are shooting for $400/sf here but I doubt it will close at this ask. If you look around enough at properties in good neighborhoods I doubt you will see much of a pricing difference between properties much closer to the lake vs. not.
russ – people with money didn’t get that way by burning their cash. i make decent coin by the metric you threw up, and i certainly don’t think i’m a mark. moreover, what i or anyone else here can afford doesn’t set the price — the market does that. and when people poo-poo a property here, more often than not, you’ll see a comparable or the like in the comments. i offered one on this place earlier – $400/sqft in lakeview.
do you think there’s any place in lakeview worth $400/sqft? If so, do you think this is one of them?
Well done Russ – spot on as usual – and this time with a high degree of entertainment. (yes Bob, the Russ fan club is back)
KingHippo – Congrats, and I actually joined you recently in the first-time-under-contract club. I’d like to point out that the insight and contacts provided by fellow CC readers were very helpful through out the process, and in particular helped me line up with a terrific financing source that will save us a meaningful amount compared to what my basic mortgage lenders were suggesting.
I’m curious if there is a forum anywhere here in Chicago to provide feedback on the various service providers (agents, inspectors, lawyers, lenders, etc) through out the home buying process… Sabrina, any thoughts?
Strongly agree with many that the proximity to the lakefront / park is highly valuable – Chicago’s waterfront and parks are some of its best assets. When in NYC, (tiny apt) was 2 blocks from Central Park – when in Chicago, will never live more than a mile from the waterfront / park. Sure, personal preference – but these locations will ALWAYS be in high demand.
Russ wrote:
Not saying some places aren’t over priced, but the whining is getting a bit old. Bottomline, even if you have a 20% down payment, a $35k per year job won’t get you 1500 sqft and a highly upgraded unit on a desirable street in LV/RN/LP/BT which is what seems to be goal of a lot of the posters.
Double that and your estimate will be correct for what I got straight out of college. Quadruple that and your estimate will be correct for the average salary in my field. No, we dont make shitty salaries we’re just not stupid enough to drink the kool aid.
That yellow paint EVERYWHERE totally ruined the place.
On the lake issue, wife and I use the lake extensively and a property’s proximity to the lake will be a significant factor in our next home buying decision process. We are currently 1 mile from the lake and would struggle to get much further away. In the Lakeview area, the temperature differential usually kicks in right when you cross Sheridan.
Does anyone here look at comps?? An elevator 2/2 sold for 455 in the winter in the same area (with parking) and that was waay smaller. Plus, the winter was ground zero for the real estate panic too.
You can hire a really good painter to repaint for like $200! You guys, seriously… paint is an issue now?
Paint isn’t the issue. Inflated prices REMAIN the issue.
We’re STILL seeing a price adjustment taking place and I believe it will continue for at least the next year. We’ll hopefully also see deeded parking ushered out except for places where it’s an absolute premium. 500 S Clinton is perfect example. Units were all sold with parking, and now greedy owners under water are attempting to sell the parking separately from the unit itself.
“We’ll hopefully also see deeded parking ushered out except for places where it’s an absolute premium”
So, leased parking instead? No one owns their parking space? Because “deeded parking” means you own a specific a parking space which usually also has a spearate tax bill, not that the parking is sold spearately from a unit.
The pricing games are just that, not something intrinsic to “deeded parking”.
This is now $549,500 with parking included.