Short Sale Alert: Views, Views and More Views at 512 N. McClurg in Streeterville
A lot of buyers love Streeterville for the views. Some buildings in the neighborhood have lake, river and city views, all from the same unit.
This 2-bedroom just came on the market at the River East Center, 512 N. McClurg, in the heart of the Streeterville action.
The listing in the Chicago Tribune says it’s a short sale.
It has northeast views with hardwood floors in the living and dining room. The kitchen has white cabinets and there are white kitchen appliances.
There’s no deeded parking available in the building (rental only) but there is an in-unit washer/dryer.
Is this a deal?
It is the cheapest 2/2 in the building and cheaper than Unit #3701, a foreclosure, which was just reduced. See pictures of that bank-owned unit here.
Jennifer Ames at Coldwell Banker has the listing. See the pictures here.
See the brochure here.
Unit #1701: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed
- Sold in August 2002 for $364,000
- “Short Sale”
- Currently listed for $449,000
- Assessments of $470 a month (includes heat, a/c, cable)
- Taxes of $5482
- In-unit washer/dryer
- Central Air
- Living room: 23×16
- Kitchen: 17×9
- Bedroom #1: 16×14
- Bedroom #2: 14×11
I’d love to know what the seller spent the money on that he took out of this place.
ehh. looks like a rental to me, and much too sterile (all white walls/appliances/etc). Plus the over-the-counter sink in the kitchen would be unacceptable to me. Great view, though. You’d get a decent view see the Wed/Sat fireworks off NP. For $450K, I’d be looking somewhere with a balcony and a non-rental kitchen. I’m guessing this will move for $415-$435, though.
As long as banks hire realtors to get rid of their properties, I think it will take much longer to find an interested buyer. Realtors are on commission so they are naturally looking for the highest commission (highest selling price). I think Banks should have a team of REO specialists that are on a regular, fixed salary and these properties would move that much faster.
So the newest trick is to list it as a foreclosure/short sale to garner interest and make people think its a “deal”?
Lauren- I believe your conclusion is partially wrong. The agent doesn’t make any money if the property doesn’t sell. They are in sales like anyone. If I price my product too high I don’t make the sale, but of course I want to make as much “spread” as possible. I’d guess it has more to do with the seller (whether a bank or person) than the agent who just wants to make $$, whether $4K or $6K. But what real estate agent would give up their current commission structure to get a flat fee? Make 1 sale and get $4K or make 10 sales and make $4K… Reminds me of the adage “work smarter, not harder….”
The listing price is decided by some asset manager halfway across the country in conjunction with the bank.
ChiGuy- That’s exactly my point. A realtor’s goal is to make as much commission as possible off a sale. The bank’s goal is to unload their properties. Those McClurg court properties are proof that hiring agents to unload REOs is not that effective. They have been on the market for ages. Either the bank isn’t accepting lower offers or the agents aren’t. But there has to be some reason why so many foreclosures are marinating on the market for so long w/o really budging in price.
Thanks HD. Makes sense now. No wonder the stuff isn’t moving.
If its a true “short sale” and the price is still high you can bet your arse that the seller’s realtor is trying to pocket the difference.
“The listing price is decided by some asset manager halfway across the country in conjunction with the bank.”
wrong. The short sale price is decided by the bank, if approved. The listing price is decided by the listing agent.
Sonies, do you work in an office that does over 100 REO sales a month?
Actually Sonies, we’re talking about two different things. Short sale prices are decided by the listing agent and the bank either approves, disapproves or gives a counter-offer (no negotiation). The REO listing prices are more or less decided by the banks and the asset managers who handle everything from halfway across the country. Most of the work for asset managers and realtors is doled out to other REOMAC members. However, most of the members have been members before REOs and foreclosures were anything more than a blip on the radar. Now that REOs are huge most of the work has gone to REOMAC members and not necessarily other high volume realtors. Which is clearly reflected in the level and quality of pictures and listings out there.
“Realtors are on commission so they are naturally looking for the highest commission”
I would actually argue the opposite. All realtors care about is getting deals closed. The incremental income from getting an extra $50K on a property is not worth an additional 3-6 months of the agent’s time. That is why, I will never use a realtor to sell my house. They have no incentive to get you the highest price, because a sale at a low price right now = money in agents pocket today.
In short sonies, we’re both right.
http://reomac.com/
with the amount of ss and foreclosure activity currently taking place and in the pipe in streeterville why would this still be worth $300+/sq ft with old finishes, high assessments and no parking?
I’ve been waiting and waiting for a post on this building! Thanks, Sabrina!
I have been puzzled by the very high prices in this building. The building, I’m assured by picky friends who have rented there, is rock solid and well-run, and the location is excellent. But no outdoor space, lots of competition from more fabulous/newer places nearby, no possibility of purchasing parking, mediocre/rental-ish finishes… How do these units ever sell?
Bozo the clown signs his john hancock on a mortgage document in 2002 then proceeds to treat the condo as ATM using fraudulent/funny appraisals.
Now the bank believes they are cutting someone a deal by only offering this property for 85k more than 2002 price?
“Either the bank isn’t accepting lower offers ”
Its the bank, Lauren. Due to an accounting change (suspension of mark to market accounting) the banks reclassified all of their mortgage backed securities as held to maturity, meaning they don’t have to write them down. But if they start dropping prices on REOs in quantity they likely will be forced to write them down. So they sit on them like a papa penguin on an egg in winter.
the 1st mortgage is for $410,400; the 2d for $102,600. So, $513k appraisal in early ’06.
Executed Feb 06, with MERS as the mortgagee, re-fi’ing from New Century, which was a re-fi of the original loans with Wells Fargo.
“Sonies, do you work in an office that does over 100 REO sales a month?”
No but I am very familiar with how they work since my best friend used to work in short sales and reo real estate.
Talking about this property, it isn’t a REO from my understanding, so the (short sale) price is determined by the realtor/seller
“Talking about this property, it isn’t a REO from my understanding, so the (short sale) price is determined by the realtor/seller”
Not even an LP filed. So nowhere close to an REO.
“so the (short sale) price is determined by the realtor/seller”
Unless the realtor got the price already approved from the bank (not bloody likely)
“so the (short sale) price is determined by the realtor/seller”
No, the (short sale) price is determined by the bank. The (short sale) listing price is determined by the realtor/seller.
In a case like these McClurg short sales that have been on the market for just about a year, is it possible to go around the realtor and make an offer to the Bank directly?
Nearly impossible to make an offer directly to the bank. The bank employee who has any authority to make any decisions is hidden away in some office somewhere in CA or CO and he/she prefers to remain anonymous.
sorry, not anonymous, but hidden. There are layers of people in between you and the guy who has the final authority to accept offers and he’ll just tell you to deal with the realtor anyway.
That’s what I was trying to say, G. Thanks for making it clearer.
And Lauren… LOL no. Not until its forclosed upon and REO’d, and even then… good luck getting through the beaurocracy to reach a decision maker.
These REOs really do take forever. I’ve been following one REO listing that went contingent two months ago and still no recorded sale over at the Trib. Another was a short sale that went contingent four months ago and no recorded sale yet either.
These banks aren’t just utterly incompetent at risk management they are utterly incompetent at doing anything right it seems. It would’ve been best to let them go out of business instead of rewarding them with taxpayer dollars.
The various RE industries from carpenters, to realtors, to brokers, to those in the mortgage industry, to title companies, to high finance, to whatever, has been nearly decimated. Just absolutely decimated. The only entities making any real money (other than Steve Heitman) are the REO realtors and the asset managers (and their necessary and related entities). They’re constantly harassed by former industry people looking for work, any kind of work, because RE is all they know. They try not to advertise what they do.
Here’s an interesting article from April in the NY Times about REOMAC. I may have posted it before, I don’t remember, it’s a decent read anyway.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/us/06convene.html
This listing shows the true problem with the real estate market right now. It’s not that values have dropped slightly, its that people over-consumed debt. How do you have a $450k mortgage on a $360k apartment? (this statement assumes that the bank is only trying to cover it’s own exposure on the mortgage)
“How do you have a $450k mortgage on a $360k apartment?”
He doesn’t. He has two mortgages totaling $513k on a $360k apartment.
If anyone checks out this unit I’d be really interested to see if that view is truly from this unit. The green space on the bottom right of the picture of the view is the park attached to the Park View condos. You won’t clear the Park View from the 17th floor and based on the location of this building (directly behind the Park View) the pictures surprises me. This building is turned 45 degrees from the street so that could explain it.
I would also like to add that while in almost all scenarios the bank determines the approved short sale closing price and the agent/seller determine the list price, the organization (or lack there of) of each bank/instituation is unique and different. With some of the local banks the person who originated the loan may have the authority to approve a short sale while at others – there may be a work-out group either in Chicago or half-way across the country. Point being it’s very difficult to summarize how all of these are handled, since many of the banks are still figuring out how they are going to handle their bad assets.
If you have real questions, ask a RE attorney or someone in the field… or you can ask Sonies, because his buddy knows about it.
Freeman Anselmo has an in-house loss mitigation dept for some of its ASC serviced & securitized loans. Chase handles its own and the WaMu cases out of corporate somewhere halfway across the country (but interestingly enough its DQ CC’s are handled in-house from 1 N. Dearborn). B of A doesn’t do anything b/c their so screwed up with their countrywide mess. I don’t know about wells or what not. I do know that my experience (I don’t do short sales but just from what i’ve seen) in general securitized loans held by investors are more likely to agree to short sales than big banks, probably b/c investors are more missing to take the losses and run, while banks have balance sheets to protect. just my two cents.
Maybe Dwayne Wade will save the Chicago real estate market 🙂
http://www.chicagomag.com/Radar/Deal-Estate/August-2009/NBA-and-Olympic-Star-Buys-in-River-North/
“Maybe Dwayne Wade will save the Chicago real estate market ”
And Adewale is moving downtown from Vernon Hills (or wherever). Maybe ‘Wale will bail out Rexy from his Trump Tower debacle.
Its just too bad Rexy is as bad on the field as he is speculating in the RE market.
I hate Rexy and I hope he ends up destitute and broke selling used vehicles. Something about that guy just makes me hate him. I can’t put my finger on it, but he just really really rubs me the wrong way.
“I can’t put my finger on it”
Uhh you might be the only one in the world who can’t. Does Super Bowl XLI ring a bell?
The superbowl is a given, but I disliked him before that, there’s something the way he looks; He’s an a$$hole. I don’t like his face. His a$$hole face.