A 4-Bedroom Single Family Home Under $600K in North Center: 1830 W. Oakdale
We’ve chattered about this 4-bedroom single family home at 1830 W. Oakdale in North Center several times before.
See our January 2010 chatter and pictures here.
Since our last chatter, this 1892-house has been reduced another $45,000 and is now listed under $600,000.
The kitchen has stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops.
The house has 3 of the 4 bedrooms on the second level.
It also has central air and a 2 car garage.
Built on a standard 25×125 lot, it has a spacious backyard that looks perfect for someone who wants to start a garden this spring.
Is this a deal?
Gary Lucido at Lucid Realty still has the listing. See more pictures here.
Or see it in person at the Open House this Sunday: 11 AM to 1 PM.
1830 W. Oakdale: 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 1800 square feet, 2 car garage
- Sold in April 1995 for $264,000
- Sold in April 1998 for $340,000
- Sold in May 2000 for $444,000
- Sold in February 2003 for $492,000
- Sold in July 2007 for $700,000
- Originally listed in March 2009 for $724,850
- Reduced several times
- Was listed in October 2009 for $624,850
- Was still listed in January 2010 for $624,850
- Reduced
- Currently listed for $579,850
- Taxes of $8581
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 15×12
- Bedroom #2: 15×9
- Bedroom #3: 10×7
- Bedroom #4: 11×10 (lower level)
Needs a hot tub.
And bigger bedrooms
A nice home that should sell soon. The bedrooms are pretty small, but if your just starting your family that shouldn’t be too much of an issue. I have some questions though. Is the home within a a good school boundary and will the train line a block and 1/2 away be a noise problem?
Gary, if I could give a suggestions to your listing, would it be possible to have a link on the page to mapquest to find out exactly where the listing is so that those who are interested don’t have to open up a new browser. Also, whats up with the pricing always ending in 850? Otherwise you have done a great job with the info.
At least this home still exists; it could have just as easily been torn down a few years ago and replaced with some monstrosity. Regardless, $700k to $580 is a large reduction.
I think/dream all kinds of things when I’m lying in bed waiting to fall asleep.
Having a tilting roof above me would induce a constant “walls are closing in” psychosis.
Nice house.
This neighborhood makes no sense to me, though. If you work downtown, you have to drive, right? Because there’s no public transportation even close to this area. So it seems like a pretty small target market to me.
We lived a block away for years – you’re a fairly short walk to the Diversey or Belmont bus to get to the train (my wife did that), but that’s a hassle, to be sure. Driving downtown from this place during the week wasn’t very fun either (I often did that) and driving ANYWHERE on the weekends was/is a nightmare.
otoh, since we lived in the area, there is a lot more stuff to do/enjoy in walking distance. And if you Aren’t on a 9 – 5 schedule the transportation issue wouldn’t be so bad (this is a bigger demographic than people often appreciate).
looks like jahn is the school.
Shared upstairs bath with a single sink is a deal buster for me.
Hell, yeah it’s a deal! What are people waiting for? Yeah, you could live in a townhouse for the same price but this has a large deck and a back yard and a 2 car garage and no basement – 3 real stories. Cheapest decent SFH for miles.
It’s Jahn elementary, which is a short walk, and Lakeview High School.
Train is absolutely not a problem. You can barely hear it go by when you are outside even. Well insulated by other structures.
As for the upstairs bathroom…opposite that sink is another vanity where I suspect you could add a sink because the shower water lines run right along side it.
Yeah, we could do a map link. And the price of all our listings end in 850 – that’s our signature pricing. You have to have a sense of humor in this business.
Threadjack: What does this do for your home buying plans, HD? If we’re paying to keep foreclosures from happening, that can’t be great for prices.
“The Obama administration plans to…requir[e] lenders to temporarily slash or eliminate monthly mortgage payments for many borrowers who are unemployed”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/25/AR2010032502426.html
the problem with the train isn’t the noise – it’s that it (Metra) doesn’t stop in the neighborhood. I actually think a Metra stop at Wellington makes a hell of a lot of sense – if the suburbanites get an express train to Evanston on our rails we should be able to get stops on their trains in return.
it’s getting to the Red/Brown/Blue lines that is a hassle. A Clybourn bus would also help (have they readded that one? I think it got cut a while back).
btw – that’s Lake View High School, not Lakeview High School.
Please stop screwing with official titles.
It’s like watching an entire profession of people who can’t tell the difference between “it’s” and “its” and take pride in that instead of just fixing it. You can claim Lakeview is a neighborhood (which coincidentally sits in the Lake View community area), but you can’t change the names of things that are – in this case, specifically – written in stone.
Totally, totally off-topic, but…
Do you guys know good resources for the housing market in Champaign/Urbana? I *might* be buying there in about a year; would like to start keeping track of it now.
“btw – that’s Lake View High School, not Lakeview High School.
Please stop screwing with official titles.”
Yikes. http://www.oversensitive.com
And, by the way, sentences (and paragraphs for that matter) begin with capital letters.
Lakeview saves a key stroke
It’s a slow motion train wreck that’s going to take years to play out. Believe me, I want to buy sooner rather than later(although my significant other wants to wait another 30-36 months), but I’m afraid that if I buy a home today for $350k that I can buy something better for $275k in 2012/3 and my entire down payment will be wiped out.
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/4317-N-Lowell-Ave-60641/home/13482100
Like whoever signed this K even though it’s been on the MLS for less than 1 week. What will this be worth in 2 or 3 years? Very scary.
“#b on March 26th, 2010 at 11:33 am
Threadjack: What does this do for your home buying plans, HD? If we’re paying to keep foreclosures from happening, that can’t be great for prices.”
“The Obama administration plans to…requir[e] lenders to temporarily slash or eliminate monthly mortgage payments for many borrowers who are unemployed”
“Do you guys know good resources for the housing market in Champaign/Urbana? I *might* be buying there in about a year; would like to start keeping track of it now.”
I spent 5 years of my life there and let me go out here and say this for you….
“I’m really really sorry you have to move to Champaign/Urbana”
but um… live in a nice part of Urbana or Savoy. Stay away from the North side of Champaign.
“It’s a slow motion train wreck that’s going to take years to play out. Believe me, I want to buy sooner rather than later(although my significant other wants to wait another 30-36 months), but I’m afraid that if I buy a home today for $350k that I can buy something better for $275k in 2012/3 and my entire down payment will be wiped out. ”
It won’t be wiped out dumbass… unless you need to sell. But a solution to your problem is to just put down as little as possible 🙂
Jahn is not a good public option right now, and there is no active movement underway to improve it. This seems like a huge reason that families in need of four bedrooms are not snapping this up.
Also, Gary, is that really the “after” pic from the HGTV remodel of the bedroom? The leathery wallpaper is weird, the color palette in general not very attractive, and what’s with the shrunken-down chair in the corner?
Nortcenter is so overrated…and overpriced. They paid 700k for this? If I was the 1995, 1998 or 2003 buyer I’d be laughing my hot tub right now. Obviously the 2007 buyer isn’t good at the game of ponzi economy musical chairs.
Also I am confused by the boundaries of nortcenter as when I walk up to their streetfest I am definitely walking northwest. Oakdale seems pretty far south to me.
it’s just wrong, and worse, it’s spawning ridiculous copycats like “Northcenter” – and god help me, who decided “Northalsted” was anything but a typo gone awry?
I’ll tell you what, start calling other neighborhoods Lincolnpark and Oldtown and Westloop and tell me how that goes.
capitalization on a chat board is irrelevant, I do it largely for proper names and to make sure I’m being understood – which is the point. There is no high school called Lakeview. Sorry.
http://www.lakeviewhs.com/
Ha, well played Bob.
“but you can’t change the names of things that are – in this case, specifically – written in stone.”
So, we’re stuck with Northalsted?
Everyone seemed to peg this at $525-$550 back in October–a (near) consensus that’s going to turn out pretty close to right.
Agreed about train noise, not an issue at all. The Metra just sounds like a bit of a whooosh when it goes by, a half block away.
The walk to the L is a problem, but bus tracker has made catching the bus to go to the train much more convenient.
If 1830 W Oakdale is nortcenter then my places is at nortwestcenter.
Err norteastcenter.
“Everyone seemed to peg this at $525-$550 back in October–a (near) consensus that’s going to turn out pretty close to right.”
The market has gone lower since. So 525 is probably closer to reality.
I see sellers are pooping their pants now and cutting prices as they realize the homebuyer tax credit is likely to go away soon.
anon – Lake View HS is actually made of stone (including the name in the facade, I believe).
I’d pay a one-time tax to tear down anything with “Northalsted” written on it, though. : )
I wanna move to southroscoevillage
“but um… live in a nice part of Urbana or Savoy. Stay away from the North side of Champaign.”
I spent 4 years down there. This is mostly true, though I lived in near-campus apartments so I can’t speak to the quality of homes around there. SW and Urbana is probably the place to be. I’m sure the further away from the university you go the cheaper the housing gets. Everything around campus is expensive since rents are so high.
“There is no high school called Lakeview. Sorry.
http://www.lakeviewhs.com/”
If the space were *really* important, it would be lake_viewhs dot com, no?
Bob,
way to keep the inside joke alive, you da man!
Thanks, Simon and Sonies. I’m actually leaning more towards professor’s row area, Church & University west of Neil. I like old houses.
And I know what I’m getting into. 😉 I’ll be keeping my place in Chicago for weekend jaunts and maybe even summers (or part of them), if I move there, so it’s not so bad!
What I’m actually looking for is more like resources on pricing and quality and the like. Zillow reports past sales, and taxes, which is nice. Wish I had access to a Chambana cribchatter spin-off! Also, going to have to figure out how to access mortgages and liens on homes and the like.
What has suprised me so far is that Chambana still seems to be bubbly–onto just now starting to dissipate the hot air. Prices have *doubled* on houses since 2000.
Skeptic – there is no southroscoevillage, only NorthCostco.
Bob – the house on Lowell must have been snapped up because the fridge was placed as far away from the oven as possible.
Here is the North Center map: http://lucidrealty.com/north_center.htm it’s clickable and expandable.
That master bedroom picture is the after version. It’s not leathery but regular wall paper. The people that live there are very tiny so that chair fits them perfectly…not really…it’s just decorative. Perhaps a chair for a small child. Also, VHT uses a wide angle lens so that’s probably making it looks smaller than it really is.
The school system has very rarely come up as a reason for people not jumping on this.
If you do Champaign stay close to prospect and close to green. I will second Savoy its still farms there but with the apartment complexes that sprouted up you get the college kids causing troubles 🙂
you will need to go to custard cup once a week if you do move there!
I am sorry you will have to live there, so sorry, it will be a shock coming from Hyde park to THAT but last time i was there the “downtown” was pushing a more “upscale” vibe and a few decent food places popped up.
“I am sorry you will have to live there, so sorry, it will be a shock coming from Hyde park”
C’mon. It clearly means an academic job (b/c you don’t own *2* houses as a student), so I think it’s “congratulations”, notwithstanding the cultural downshift.
anon,
This is a total threadjack but since you are good at figuring out CCRD, I have a question for you. In the records for this one property, I see this:
RELEASE 07/23/2008 CONDO ASSN SMITH MARY
LIEN 10/11/2007 CONDO ASSN SMITH JOHN
The warranty deed only has SMITH MARY on it. Is it possible they divorced? Did they simply not pay their dues for half a year?
Thanks for the congrats, anon, but they’re premature. 🙂 I’m visiting there next fall, and we’ll see if they like me. (And if I like them!) Also, I don’t own a house right now–I own a tiny little two bedroom basement apartment in HP that I love far beyond reason, given its quality. 🙂 Since I bought it for a pittance in 1997, it will be easy to maintain as an “in towner.”
what HGTV show was this on?
“C’mon. It clearly means an academic job”
and thats why i steered him to savoy and nice homes away from campus rentals.
“notwithstanding the cultural downshift”
that where i was heading/meant. If it wanst for the alcohol, college girls, working, Dj’ing and hitting the books sucking up my time the cultural aspect is a rough one coming from the city.
Kenworthy cograts on the promo,
Gary, with all due respect, the school district is the reason I’m NOT looking at this. I’ve toured nine public schools and over 20 apartments in select neighborhoods. The reason you’re not hearing this as a complaint is that parents are eliminating this property from the get-go. If this were in Bell district, it would be sold.
Kenworthey you’re going to go through Rajun Cajun withdrawl symptoms when you move away from HP.
“What has suprised me so far is that Chambana still seems to be bubbly–onto just now starting to dissipate the hot air. Prices have *doubled* on houses since 2000.”
Not in general. I have lived in SW Champaign (Cherry Hills) for 23 years. My current house appreciated around 40% between 2000 and 2006, and has dropped about 15% since then. There are a lot more upscale homes here now (nearly all in SW Champaign) than there were ten years ago, which likely skews the average price stats.
Professor’s Row might have experienced a bigger bubble because it’s such a unique area. But overall, C-U was MUCH less bubbly than the Chicago market.
Stay away from SE Urbana, crime is getting bad there due to a lot of public housing.
There is a fair amount of discussion of C-U on the Illinois forum at city-data.com
“and thats why i steered him”
her.
back to Jahn for a second, I thought that school was supposed to be on its way up – no?
and any man who will fight the power and stick with North Center gets my respect. think of the children, the poor, easily-confused (CPS-educated?) children…
thanks, Groove–but don’t jinx me! Thanks, too, on the advice re: where to live–but given that I *do* like the college town vibe, I’m actually inclined to live close to campus! At any rate, I’ll try to get a good sense of next semester. Do you know of any cribchatter-worthy resources? What I figured I’d do is find a few houses I was interested in, put them into a spreadsheet, and track how they do. The market is small enough that it shouldn’t take much work (and as is obvious by my addiction to this site, I love real estate).
Lookit what you can get in Champaign: http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/712-W-Park_Champaign_IL_61820_1116467594
How much would that be in Hyde Park? 😉
Bob–word.
JPS–thanks. I did find those fora, and found them helpful.
“Lookit what you can get in Champaign: ”
it has pocket doors!
I know! 😀
“what HGTV show was this on?”
Design on a dime. (I hear it coming)
“the school district is the reason I’m NOT looking at this. I’ve toured nine public schools and over 20 apartments in select neighborhoods. The reason you’re not hearing this as a complaint is that parents are eliminating this property from the get-go. ”
While I understand that the school might prevent some people from considering this home we have not had a shortage of people considering it. We’ve had a ton of showings. Now that the price is lower a greater mix of the folks coming in have no kids or have teeny tiny kids and they’re not worried about the schools right now.
Kenworthy, as a UIUC grad, I would just check to make sure anything you’re looking at isn’t in an area the school is thinking of expanding to one day.
I’ve gone back there a few times, and it’s increasingly unrecognizable – my townie friends keep moving moving further and further out to escape, but I agree that once you get out of the frat area the campus/college kid neighborhoods tend to be pretty nice.
“Do you know of any cribchatter-worthy resources?”
wish i can help you there, all ties i had to the area are long gone and i havent been there in like 2-3 years either. and that was only to catch a game or two. The restaurants i worked at there are gone also 🙁
The house you linked is by the bank i used and i would my jogs over there. beautiful tree lined streets. and the public tranisit is REALLY good where its at to get to the campus and shopping.
also a shock besides home prices will be how fricken cheap groceries are!
““and thats why i steered him”
her.”
are you sure not a “feminine” him if memory recall’s? (sorry to talk about you K like your not here)
Today’s ChiTrib has an article in the Real Estate section about living in NC:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/communities/ct-home-0326-north-center-chomes-20100326,0,2294288.story
Thanks, skeptic. Good advice.
And Groove, I am a woman trapped in a woman’s body, I promise. Though I guess there’s no way to prove it on the interwebs.
groove – where did you work, out of curiosity? I spent years working in the cafeteria at ISR, horrible job, but I learned how to eat for a day with only one free meal, so I saved a lot of cash.
“are you sure not a “feminine” him if memory recall’s? (sorry to talk about you K like your not here)”
I know anon knows a lot of stuff and knows how to google and stuff, but is he really the last word on Kenworthey’s gender? Perhaps I’m missing a joke…
“And Groove, I am a woman trapped in a woman’s body, I promise. Though I guess there’s no way to prove it on the interwebs.”
never said my memory is good 🙂
“groove – where did you work, out of curiosity? I spent years working in the cafeteria at ISR, horrible job, but I learned how to eat for a day with only one free meal, so I saved a lot of cash”
Where didnt i work out there, I worked at couple cafe’s in downtown, chevy’s mexican, Pickles on Niel, Peir 1, RPS (Roadway packaging systems), R&R’s, Dj’ed a few bars, DJ’ed at C-streets, worked at IGA, and i remember working petsmart for like two weeks.
I love this quote in the Trib article:
North Center is regarded by residents as a relatively safe city community. “It’s a very low-crime neighborhood,” Bott said. “The most that ever happens is some graffiti gets put up. That’s about it.”
Not entirely true. How quickly residebts forget or ignore the attempted kidnapper / rapist that was prowling the neighborhood for several months a year or so ago. I guess it doesn’t make as good a soundbite for the article.
http://www.chitowndailynews.org/Chicago_news/Warrant_issued_in_Bell_School_attack,16764
Nothing ever happens in Nor’center…
http://www.chitowndailynews.org/Chicago_news/Warrant_issued_in_Bell_School_attack,16764
dang dude, you got around.
“dang dude, you got around.”
That’s the *nice* way of saying it.
“dang dude, you got around”
dont tell my wife 🙂 oops wait you meant jobs!
yep, i would quit once they gave me shyt or wouldnt let me take a weekend off. Or the job didnt fit my short term goal (i.e Pier1=discount on furnishings and xmas gifts, IGA=free/discount groceries, Dj=free drinks no cover, R&R’s=large supply college ladies, etc.)
“I know anon knows a lot of stuff and knows how to google and stuff, but is he really the last word on Kenworthey’s gender?”
You’re questioning anon(tfo)’s omniscience? Do you want him to post your name, address, DOB, SSN and highschool sweetheart on here?
“I know anon knows a lot of stuff and knows how to google and stuff, but is he really the last word on Kenworthey’s gender?”
Wasn’t claiming to be, but it would the same if someone referred to you or groove as “she”.
“You’re questioning anon(tfo)’s omniscience? Do you want him to post your name, address, DOB, SSN and highschool sweetheart on here?”
I realized after the fact that while kenworthey would almost certainly know her gender with greater (or equal) certainty, anon might be a more reliable source of information on it.
“Wasn’t claiming to be, but it would the same if someone referred to you or groove as “she”.”
Was just amused by the way that Groove talked past Kenworthey, an active participant on the thread.
“Was just amused by the way that Groove talked past Kenworthey, an active participant on the thread.”
i apologized for that see;
“Groove77 on March 26th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
are you sure not a “feminine” him if memory recall’s? (sorry to talk about you K like your not here)”
“Was just amused by the way that Groove talked past Kenworthey, an active participant on the thread.”
Yeah, but this is prime NorthCostCo* house (alas, w/o a Gator Deck(tm)), and she started gabbing about **CHAMPBANA**, which is even worse than talking about the irrelevant suburbs, so she really was asking for it.
*check the superfluous, and incorrect, capitalization together with Wicker’s innovation of nospace.
wow a lot of UIUCers here. I was a lab assistant at the Civil Eng computer lab. Free paper, and I let people order food to the lab.
Back to schools: so on the CPS school locator page – if a house is on the line (like say Waveland between Bell & Audubon) is it safe to assume the logical division is in the middle of the street? ie: north side of waveland = Bell and south side = Audubon?
I worked in the library at the video desk. I checked out laser discs to homeless dudes who wanted to sleep in the viewing cubes for an hour.
Laser discs to homeless dudes. That should be a band name.
Wicker –
I was just wondering the same thing the other day. And wondering why on earth they didn’t just do it street by street? Nothing could possibly piss me off more than knowing the kids across the street got to go to a great school while mine didn’t. I could live with one street over. But literally outside my front window? Are they trying to make me throw things through their front window?
“Back to schools: so on the CPS school locator page – if a house is on the line (like say Waveland between Bell & Audubon) is it safe to assume the logical division is in the middle of the street? ie: north side of waveland = Bell and south side = Audubon?”
Yep, that’s the rule. And what are there–5?, 7?–houses for sale North of Addison, west of Lincoln and not in Bell?
“I could live with one street over. But literally outside my front window?”
So the kids denting your garage door with their basketball, living across the alley and going to a better school would be preferable? b/c that’s the primary alternative.
Altho, with Bell/Audubon, there are four blocks south of Addison that are in Bell that could’ve be switched to make the boundaries solid major/-ish streets–River->Lincoln, Addison->IPR.
“Yep, that’s the rule. And what are there–5?, 7?–houses for sale North of Addison, west of Lincoln and not in Bell?”
3, on Redfin at least, and as this is my first spin through that area out of curiosity – WOW. Now I appreciate the debate a while back re: pricing ticks up into the Bell district. crazy.
“So the kids denting your garage door with their basketball, living across the alley and going to a better school would be preferable? b/c that’s the primary alternative”
Yes, I could live with that. If you miss the boundary by a street, you miss the boundary by a street. It makes no sense to put the boundary in the middle of a street.
Also seems to lead to confusion about which houses are or are not in certain school districts.
The Belmont/Damen intersection is a mess for this stuff.
“3, on Redfin at least”
Huh. A few have been taken off the market without selling. The most interesting was the one on the northside of Patterson on an irregular lot.
Hey, DZ, checking on this, I see there’s another new construction option–Mangan on a 35′ lot at 3905 Oakley. $1.625.
And looking at mangan’s website, there’s a presold house on Hamilton on a double lot–60′, tearing down a couple of old two flats. Wonder what that cost–there don’t appear to be deeds for the two lots recorded yet.
Regarding what school a house belongs to…there’s only one technique I would trust and that’s to go to the Chicago school locator and plug in the address: schoollocator.cps.k12.il.us/
It’s amusing how different a view Gary Lucido takes of proximity to the tracks when he’s defending his listing and when he’s attacking someone else’s:
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chicago-real-estate-getting-real/2010/03/can-new-marketing-strategy-sell-a-bad-location.html
Oh Joe,
You have no shame; the first picture in your link is worth a thousand words…You can’t even compare the two properties …
Is Joe Zekas, the soup Nazi of YoChicago, really on cribchatter? Say it ain’t so Joe.
And, speaking of Mangan, it appears they managed to sell the house on Leavitt across from St Ben’s. Last list was for $1.995. Started somewhere around $2.2. 37.5′ lot.
@skeptic, No, there is no group that I know of that is working to attract local families to the Jahn. Burley, Prescott, Hamilton, Audobon nearby all are at various stages of transformation, but Jahn hasn’t begun.
I would not be interested in this property for a combination of distance to the el and the Jahn enrollment boundary. However, there are reasonably priced religion-based schools nearby like St. Alphonsus, St. Luke’s and St. Andrew’s pretty close, for those who only want to do private anyway.
With regards to noise of railroad tracks, there is a huge difference between the noise from a metra train “not too bad” and an el track “almost deafening”.
With regards to Gary and Joe’s battle, they are both Metra tracks I believe. The only difference is that the Belgravia development is right on the tracks while Gary’s house is about a block away.
Correct me if I’m wrong.
that’s more than the only difference, it’s a HUGE difference. It’s the difference between night and day.
“The only difference is that the Belgravia development is right on
the tracks while Gary’s house is about a block away. “
So are people making the decision that private school = X, and their kid will be in the grade school for 6 years so 6X, thus paying for Bell is worth it to pay up? Just seems like it shouldn’t be so hard to to choose a place in the city to raise a kid or two.
“their kid will be in the grade school for 6 years”
Actually, 9 years. K-8.
“paying for Bell is worth it to pay up?”
$10k/year is ~$150k in principal. So, $100k premium to be comfortable sending two kids to neighborhood school is actually cheap.
When I was at UIUC, I bussed tables and washed dishes at the IHOP on Green Street ($3.15/hour plus 1 meal per shift). I also offered house cleaning services from an add in the paper. Later on, I worked at the Nuclear Reactor Laboratory.
Champaign/Urbana is not a cultural wasteland, as some other posters made it seem. There is sufficient art, music, and culture if you seek it out. Sure, it pales compared to Chicago, but no one should really be bored there.
My problem with the towns is the lack of any particularly beautiful spots. Allerton Park is the nicest, but its not really in town. Otherwise, the place is just a darn corn field. Especially compared to beautiful big 10 campuses like Madison, Bloomington, and Evanston.
True about 9 years of K-8. Add four more years if you figure in having Lincoln Park HS as the back up plan to the selective enrollment high schools, and you’ll see one more reason why homes in LP still command a pretty high price per square foot. At this time, no other neighborhood high school could be considered an acceptable backup by most people looking in this price point of $500K+, Lake View HS included.
I’d like to put in my congrats to Kenworthey on her new adventures in downstate Illinois. Very exciting. There is some great housing stock in that town. My uncle has lived there for 50 years. He loves it (and 2 out of his 3 kids stayed there to live when they were adults.)
Don’t listen to those who were students there. There is a whole other world there when you’re older and not concerned with the next frat party.
Keep us informed of how it goes!
Joe,
Thank you so much! I was just dying for the folks on Cribchatter to see what you were up to on Getting Real but didn’t want to threadjack. I find the whole interchange extremely entertaining and look forward to responding in the morning.
As others have said here…there is a world of difference. From the Oakdale property you can not see or hear the trains/tracks. There is a whooshing sound as it goes by if you are outside. From Union Row you are right on the tracks – several sets. Frankly, I don’t know what it sounds like because I’ve never stopped to listen. Usually the trains go by pretty slowly. There are several sets of tracks and I believe that I’ve seen Amtrak, Metra, and freight cars go by. And, no, I haven’t thoroughly researched the train traffic by Union Row, nor do I know the make of the cars or who the engineers are.
Skeptic and other interested parties,
I got curious about the broader usage of Lakeview vs. Lake View so I checked the Google Keyword tool. It shows that, right or wrong, Lakeview (specifically in terms of Chicago) is used about 10 x as frequently as Lake View by the general public. At some point you just give in to popular usage.
I’m with Jan on the schools, except that Burley is not up-and-coming. It’s solidly established and one of the top five neighborhood schools. Hamilton, Prescott, Coonley, and Audubon are on their way up, but with CPS $700 million in the hole, who knows what will happen to them. Jahn is really not on the radar.
“Hey, DZ, checking on this, I see there’s another new construction option–Mangan on a 35? lot at 3905 Oakley. $1.625.”
Thanks anon. I like that every week you increase the list prices of the places you find for me by $100K. How does the price seem as an increment over the $436K lot purchase? I would think something is negotiable, but preesumably they wouldn’t be that inclined to deal given that they just purchased the lot.
“Thanks anon. I like that every week you increase the list prices of the places you find for me by $100K.”
I hope, for your sake, that, unlike groove, you haven’t shared this place with your wife. And I just find what’s available, within what I know you’re looking for, in the area I keep an eye on.
I’m by no means certain how Mangan operates, but they will start construction w/o a buyer (evidence the two houses on Leavitt–37xx and 39xx) and don’t appear (altho I didn’t watch them week-to-week) to raise the price if they start building w/o a buyer (ie no real pre-con discount). So I would guess that pre-construction buying means you can get a lot of customization w/o getting up-charged.
As to the price v. the lot price: It’s going to be a 5000 sf house; with Mangan quality and finishes, that’s easily $750k (probably more) in construction cost. Based on the 39xx Leavitt house, they have at least 10% + a year of carry built in above their minimum profit–give them a low cost of funds, they might–at some point–let it go for something like $1.35, but I can’t imagine it much below that unless things get absurdly bad sometime after they finish it. If nothing else, a low price just b/c they paid less for the lot hurts the “value” of their next project.
“I hope, for your sake, that, unlike groove, you haven’t shared this place with your wife. And I just find what’s available, within what I know you’re looking for, in the area I keep an eye on.”
I appreciate the info and I haven’t shared, although she is very good in finding things on the internet. For groove’s situation, I imagine it’s just good for both of them for his wife to have an extra means of tracking his whereabouts and sobriety.
“As to the price v. the lot price: It’s going to be a 5000 sf house; with Mangan quality and finishes, that’s easily $750k (probably more) in construction cost.”
That’s almost certainly more house than we need in terms of space. It may be worth talking to a builder if they are receptive about something more suited for us. 3 good size bdrs, 2 bath, up would fit us just fine. Maybe 3 bath if I’m thinking about when the kid gets older. If the builders get whatever delta in absolute terms of profit that they are looking for, presumably they would be amenable. I am really trying to stay under $1MM though. I have more doubts about the 3620 N Bell place, just from looking at the layout more carefully. We might visit some time (life has just been busy lately), in which case I’ll post.
““I hope, for your sake, that, unlike groove, you haven’t shared this place with your wife. ”
I appreciate the info and I haven’t shared. For groove’s situation, I imagine it’s just good for both of them for his wife to have an extra means of tracking his whereabouts and sobriety”
Hahahahaha (in a slow condescending voice). yeah i know the key to a happy marriage is stay the F away from each other as much as possible. After 9 years we havent tried it yet, and now with the baby we spend even more time together and true that is correlating to me sleeping on the couch more often. (word to the wise NEVER SKIMP ON COUCH i am glad i didnt and my back thanks me).
I’d like to share the following commute information from my client with everyone regarding this property:
“Just so you know I’ve been taking public transportation since we moved in. I know at least 2 others on the block who are with me daily. Short walks to either the Belmont or Diversey bus which takes you to the red or brown line (I’m about 40 minutes door to door on average) or the Damen bus to the blue line. The bus to the train switch might not be ideal but there are plenty of options and unless you live within 3 or 4 blocks of the el you can’t get a much quicker commute.”
40 minutes door to door “on average” my ass, that would probably be a record commute from here.
“40 minutes door to door “on average” my ass, that would probably be a record commute from here.”
I agree – I think that’s pretty optimistic, assuming an office close to one of the stops in the loop. I used to live at George and Wolcott and took the Diversey bus to the Diversey brown line to Adams/Wabash. If the planets aligned, I could make it in about 40 minutes. Average, probably 50ish.
” I have more doubts about the 3620 N Bell place, just from looking at the layout more carefully. We might visit some time (life has just been busy lately), in which case I’ll post.”
3620 Bell needs work – still over priced IMO.