Flipper Alert? 13 Months and a New Kitchen Later: 1309 N. Wells in Old Town
We last chattered about Unit #607 in Michael’s Terrace at 1309 N. Wells in Old Town in May 2008 when it was owned by the bank and just sitting on the market.
See our prior chatter here (scroll all the way to the bottom of the post to see the building and listing. No interior pictures were available at that time.)
It finally sold in June 2008.
13 months later, it is now back on the market with a new kitchen with sile stone counters and stainless steel appliances and what looks like new floors throughout the unit.
Only 2 units have sold in 2009 in the building. Both sold in July:
- Unit #701 for $333,000
- Unit #808 for $325,000
Two other 2-bedroom units are currently on the market in the building. (The entire building is 2-bedroom units, I believe.)
Will this seller be successful in selling for a profit one year later?
Frank Mitrick at Real-Tek Realty has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #607: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed
- Sold in September 1991 for $156,000
- Lis pendens filed in June 2004
- Bank owned as of November 2007
- Listed at $279,900 in May 2008
- Sold in June 2008 for $285,000 (parking included)
- Originally listed in July 2009 for $347,000 (parking included)
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $342,000 (parking included)
- Assessments of $407 a month
- Taxes of $2838
- Central Air
- In-unit washer/dryer
I saw the unit with a client this weekend. It shows great, there are just a few odd nuances. The over sized w/d are right inside the front door and uncovered, the kitchen is a bit overloaded, and the master closet is about 40% usable. It will be interesting to see how it sells. Might be better for an investor.
Building itself is cheaply constructed and unattractive, and likely candidate for future high special assessments. Renovation looks like owner picked the right color and finishes, but execution is clumsy.
Ryan,
How were the bathrooms? they don’t look updated.
Renovations look nice, but why spend the money on the kitchen and flooring and not spend a few thousand more to overhaul the bathrooms or at least replace the $29.99 faucet shown in the picture. While the building’s exterior is unappealing to me, the location is great and the unit is staged well. It will sell very close to the asking price. Anyone know about the health of the association? Didn’t this building have major issues 5-7 years ago?
The seller must have been watching re-runs of Flip That House. Kitchen upgrades always produce an 80-100% ROI.
This building is an incredible eyesore on wells. Short of condemning it, I wonder if the city could create a TIF DISTRICT to do an exterior overhaul. How do these kinds of projects get through the city planning department?
I like this. nice neighborhood, nice place, includes parking. kitchen seems small. anyone have an idea what the sq ft is?
Architect, what’s your basis for stating the building is cheaply constructed? Honest question.
What do we think this goes for? $320K? $285 seems low for June ’08
There is a SPECIAL ASSESSMENT going on. Not sure for what or for how much….
Seller will pay it.
Price Seems reasonable if they finished the other bathroom from rental quality to condo quality. So, knock off 10k, but WOW the realtor made the price INCLUDE parking… I think that’s the first listing I’ve ever seen without separate parking!
previous chatter says assessment is $390/mo, this one says $407/mo. Wouldn’t $17/mo be low for a special assessment or no?
If this unit does sell near the price of the 2 comps mention above, then I would attribute the profit to the fact that the owner originally bought a foreclosed unit. The foreclosed unit was a depressed and probably (at least slightly) damanged unit.
Foreclosed properties always sell for a discount due to the added risk, hassle, higher acquizition cost, and the premium of the unknown (again risk).
I agree that the $285 price was a creat buy- and it was that cheep because it was REO.
The ‘flipping’ model has changed. Before it was buy an overprice property, overspend on over-improvements, and then easily resell it at and even greater over-price amount in weeks. repeat, repeat, repeat.
Now someone needs to find an significantly underprices (i.e. REO) property, make minor and only necessarily repairs and improvements, hold -live-in or rent, and then sell for slightly under the market price.
Flipping will no longer be a hobby. It will be done by professional and not amatuers since it will actually take some inteligence and skill to pull off.
“DC on August 12th, 2009 at 8:12 am
previous chatter says assessment is $390/mo, this one says $407/mo. Wouldn’t $17/mo be low for a special assessment or no?”
perhas they have an automatic yearly assessment increase; say 3% or tied to some cost of living index. If heard of association or boards building that in so there is always a gradual increase and no need to meet or vote.
That $17 is about 4% of the original assessment.
Or, the RE agent could have just made a mistake.
Tom on August 12th, 2009 at 8:17 am
“perhas they have an automatic yearly assessment increase; say 3% or tied to some cost of living index. If heard of association or boards building that in so there is always a gradual increase and no need to meet or vote.”
Yeah after I posted I realized $390 was from over a year ago, so that would make sense.
The special isn’t included in the monthly assessment, folks. They receive either a separate 1 time bill or monthly charges
I think it’s a great price for a two bedroom in that area. There aren’t that many affordable units in that area with a view.
“previous chatter says assessment is $390/mo, this one says $407/mo. Wouldn’t $17/mo be low for a special assessment or no?”
I always thought if assessments are raised then it’s not a special assessment. Always thought special assessment was a one-time hit or something on top of the monthly assessment.
I’ve been to a party at a friend’s house in same unit/different floor. Definitely feels small when you are inside the unit. Put a bed in the bedroom that is set up as an office here and there’s no room at all. Nice place, but with more than one person living here you’d be on top of one another.
Check out 1212 Wells. Arguably not as nice of a part of Wells but there are 2/2s with parking going in the 380’s or so in there….some are short sales/foreclosures.
MUCH newer building, late 90’s early 00’s.
The units here are really small for 2/2 and have hardly any closet space.
The central air units are on the balcony.
this person is reselling because they got a really good deal. nothing about “making a profit in one year” matters.
again, the price you pay for something has nothing to do with it’s price at a later point in time.
I think it really depends on how much the owner spent on the remodel and how much this special is that he is paying for. That could kill the profits
While there are two units that sold at/near $325k in the first quarter, a bunch of these sold in 2005-2007 at or around $305-$315k. I see no reason why this should sell any higher – with or without parking. Also, there’s an available unit at $345k with split floorplans – and depending on the real cushion in that pricing, you aren’t too far off from having a very well priced unit that would be significantly easier to rent. I love this location despite the weird commercial space and unappealing entrance to the property. I wonder if 300K would come close to getting the job done…
“paulj on August 12th, 2009 at 7:33 am
This building is an incredible eyesore on wells. Short of condemning it, I wonder if the city could create a TIF DISTRICT to do an exterior overhaul. How do these kinds of projects get through the city planning department?”
I disagree, this building looks different than most of the “white” building around it. It adds character to the block.
I just think you have something against things that are black.