A Vintage Cottage for Under $350K: 4209 N. Bernard in Irving Park
This 3-bedroom vintage home at 4209 N. Bernard in Irving Park is a classic starter house.
Built in 1899, it has a stained glass hutch and, according to the listing, hardwood floors in the basement.
The kitchen has been remodeled and it has 2 baths.
Becca Safranski at Saffron Realty has the listing. See the Craigslist post here.
See more pictures here.
4209 N. Bernard: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed, 2 car garage
- Sold in January 1988 for $45,000
- Sold in July 2003 for $225,000
- Currently listed for $344,900
- Taxes of $3334
- No central air- window units
- Living room: 13×12
- Dining room: 14×12
- Kitchen: 12×10
- Bedroom #1: 13×12
- Bedroom #2: 11×7
- Bedroom #3: 13×9
Wow two full baths too. Quite a cute little place at a pretty good price!
Does anyone know what neighborhood is like
All looks great for a quick sale.
Agreed. This is a deal provided its a nice neighborhood.
What? No way. Overpriced.
$325K. Looks like the agent might have used a fisheye camera, as many of the photos have rounded out lines that should be straight (shower curtain, parallel countertops) which is probably making each room look 1-2 ft wider than actual dims.
Multiple 3/4 br houses in the vicinity for under 300K
4134 N Drake. 3/2 for 270K. not as updated but I’d rather have 60K and update my own way.
seems like most of the properties over 300K have been sitting on the market for 100+ days
Between $300K and $325K seems reasonable. The $225K in 2003 was probably the pre-cosmetic update, bought house from elderly longtime owner price. The current owners (presumably) did alot of cosmetic improvements, but $120K worth…doubt it.
The neighborhood is decent enough and the yard is quite nice. I say sold at $315K.
The neighborhood is very nice, very quiet, though a little out of the way.
Beautiful little cottage, but overpriced relative to comparables in the area.
The linked listing sez that the 3 BRs are on all three floors–one up, one main, and one down. Seems like a total layout disaster, but maybe fixable. BR #2 is tiny, tho.
I don’t think that the kitchen adds the $50k to the value that they are hoping for. There is a v. similar house (also 3/2) at 4100 Drake (2 blocks west) w/o the reno’d kitchen and w/o the nice landscaping that is asking $269k. I wouildn’t pay $75k for that kitchen and landscaping (but maybe there are other differentiating features, too).
$325k would be a better starting point, I think, and $310k probably gets it sold quickly–but 10% off initial list is happening some, isn’t it? Which would make $345 the right place to start.
ChiGuy
I think many buyers would rather roll that 60k of updates into a mortgage
rather than pay out of pocket. This house may be small, but it is exceptionally cute-the kind of place people could fall in love with.
dahliachi- there’s a sucker born every minute. I wouldn’t put it past a newlywed couple falling in love with this and overpay. cut off your nose to spite your face.. or something like that
“there’s a sucker born every minute. I wouldn’t put it past a newlywed couple falling in love with this and overpay.”
Not having to live thru a kitchen reno is probably worth $10k to me. But anyone paying $345 for this place would be paying $45k+ to not have to deal with it.
I have been looking in this area for a while now and have been in most of the homes in this price range.
This home really isn’t comparable to the one at 4134 N Drake. I don’t like the layout of either of the homes, but after walking through both one can see the reason for the price difference.
The 3rd bedroom and 2nd bath in the basement of 4209 N Bernard are definitely working against it. Additionally the upstairs bedroom isn’t very attractive. I think this should be much closer to $300k.
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The layout is confusing here. For a couple with 2 small children this may be a game killer. Parents upstairs, 1 kid on the first, and one kid in the basement (At least that way your kids know who the parents love more). This would create an uncomfortable situation for many parents.
And as mention before it is a bit high per the current comps-maybe by their 3rd realtor they’ll price it right. The taxes are pretty good though. If I was a young couple with 1 little kid -or one on the way, this is much better than a condo a mile or 2 eastward.
A bit out of the way but heck its a sf house on the northside for less than 350k. I say it will eventually sell in the very high 200’s.
if I was a young couple with 1 little kid or one on the same way, i’d want my baby/kid’s room on the same level so I don’t need to navigate stairs at 2am if the kid is shaken. or i don’t want the tot to be climbing up stairs in the middle of the night when he sees the boogie man
Basement bedrooms shouldn’t be counted as “bedrooms”. Basement is usually not code-compliant habitable space. Realtors know this. From photo, advertised “vintage hutch” is in basement “bedroom”, as likely illegal in-law flat with 2nd (unphotographed) bath. Tiny third bedroom is off diningroom, too small to qualify as a FHA-approved standard single bedroom.
It’s a quasi-cute cottage for a singleton or couple, no kids, who like the quaint charm, like “urban living” and have no worries about future strong resale potential. House doesn’t meet “three bedrooms/two baths” formula for conventional single-family base-line market expectations. This is not a actively gentrifying neighborhood with strong retail, amenities, or future price appreciation; you’re likely to have rowdy neighbors and possible depreciating real estate values.
Funny point…a few weeks ago I toured some open houses in NYC with my cousin to kill some time on a Saturday afternoon (he’s a RE broker there) and noticed the new phrase for a basement is “atelier”. Fancy word, huh?
“the new phrase for a basement is “atelier”.”
May as well call it a penthouse or shed or foyer. It’s a ridiculous misuse of a word that has a clear meaning related to real estate.
Saw it, it’s small alright! Has a lot of potential. Going upstairs has narrow stairs and I don’t know how they got a bed upstairs! The kitchen seems professionally done, however upstairs and basement was home made. For a single person who wants to undo all of the mistakes could be the challenge of a life time. Not worth the current asking price. It also looks great in pics but can lose the charm in person because you do get disappointed.
Now at $324,900.
http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/reb/1453353523.html
jesus go buy a 50 cent razor blade and get rid of that paint on your windows before taking pictures… epic fail!
Sonies on June 17th, 2009 at 10:08 am
“Wow two full baths too. Quite a cute little place at a pretty good price!”
Sonies on November 5th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
“jesus go buy a 50 cent razor blade and get rid of that paint on your windows before taking pictures… epic fail!”
The summer was tough on this place, apparently.