Buy a 1-Bedroom Condo in Lincoln Park for Under $200,000: 400 W. Deming
This 1-bedroom in The Marlborough at 400 W. Deming in Lincoln Park in July 2017.
The Marlborough was built in 1912 and has 106 units.
It sits directly on Lincoln Park.
This is a north facing unit with a dining room.
The listing says there’s been “some updates” to the kitchen and bath but it’s being sold “as-is.”
The kitchen has white cabinets and appliances.
There’s steam heat, no a/c and no in-unit washer/dryer. There’s coin laundry in the building.
The building does not have a parking garage.
It has hardwood floors throughout as well as vintage windows and moldings.
Originally listed for $199,000, this unit has been reduced to $180,000.
In what other major city can you get a 1-bedroom in a prime location like this for under $200,000?
Is Chicago a Millennial’s dream?
Rose Marie Russ at Baird & Warner has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #2N: 1 bedroom, 1 bath, 750 square feet
- Sold in September 1995 but no price is listed
- Originally listed in July 2017 for $199,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed for $180,000
- Assessments of $552 a month (includes heat and gas)
- Taxes of $3427
- No central air
- No in-unit washer/dryer (coin laundry in the building)
- Bedroom: 17×11
- Living room: 18×12
- Dining room: 12×11
Without doing much of a deep dive, I think I would prefer this place (same listing price, lower assessments/taxes, pet-friendly, redone recently, top floor w/elevator…) – thoughts?
https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/515-W-Wrightwood-Ave-60614/unit-507/home/13366653
“thoughts?”
When the top feature is “NEW FIRE-RATED DOOR”, things are pretty bad. Not “NEW BURGLAR BARS ON 2d FLOOR WINDOWS” bad, but pretty bad.
Somewhat more seriously, it depends upon what you value–the featured unit is in a fantastic building, and (appears to) have unobstructed, albeit indirect, park views. The cheaper place is in a building that legitimately could be *anywhere* in the world and still look boring and basic, and while still well located, is nothing special location-wise, too.
WW has maybe ~$15k in finish upgrades to the bath/kitchen, but they aren’t up-to-date finishes, either. Basically, one is “interesting”, the other is “not interesting” but perhaps a bit nicer inside.
For me, I’d go for the far better light and far better building, and consider the assessment difference the cost of that ‘better’.
Small, no parking, no AC and $500 assessments? And vintage? Maybe I come from we call this 22 year old Becky’s first post-college studio in the big city! Who looks at this and says what a deal? Nobody!
Gross unit, seriously kind of sad that 200k is considered cheap for something so awful
This is a great building. I’ve had an investment prop in there. It’s been renovated top to bottom in the last year and looks fantastic, inside and out, with attention to architectural details. There’s a full on-site building engineer and property manager as well as professional landscaping year-round. The laundry is card, not coin. While there isn’t parking in the building, there is parking for rent at the building next door. The location across the park is really exceptional, too.
As for the idea of 515 W Wrightwood as comparison, forget about it. I’ve been in that building to look at a few units and, despite the tidy outside, it is really gross on the inside (common areas and units) — outdated, worn-out common areas, cheaply constructed a la 1960s or so, super low ceilings, creaky, dorm-like smelly and the location doesn’t hold a candle to Deming and Lakeview. (The views from the windows captured in the listing pictures pretty much says it.) The units are super tiny, too, and you really notice it in the kitchen (the photos in the 515 Wrightwood link really makes the kitchen look much bigger than it is).
It’s really apples and oranges — a trade-off between vintage details of a full renovation versus a bland unit in an ice-cube tray building. I would imagine these two buildings are speaking to two very different groups of buyers.
“200k is considered cheap”
And it’s 10% less than that!
Is there any other city (in the league of Chicago… that is, not Little Rock) where 180K for a 1BR city condo isn’t considered cheap?
depends on what your definition of league of chicago is
“definition of league of chicago”
Basically, it’s a question of whether Philly, Dallas or Houston ‘counts’, right?
“definition of league of chicago”
don’t forget St Louis, or Baltimore, or Pittsburg.
TOLEDO. OHIO. LOLZ!!!!! COME AND GET SOME!!!!!!
“Is there any other city (in the league of Chicago… that is, not Little Rock) where 180K for a 1BR city condo isn’t considered cheap?”
There are no deals in real estate and there’s a reason this is cheap.
Both units make me sad.
If owner-occupied, it cost $840/mo in taxes and assessment. Which is probably more than the mortgage, my rough guess is about $825/mo for a mortgage payment. Making the monthly cost over $1,665.
If this place were a rental, what would it rent for?
If you put $40K into upgrading the kitchen and bath, new paint, refinish the floors, new window treatments…This place would be NICE. You still have coin laundry – – the hallmark of renting. At $220K all-in plus taxes plus assessments, you are over $2K per month. I don’t think this even breaks even as a rental however, if I were a parent of a young college student, I bet this would be cheaper than dorms. and in four years, junior stays and starts their career in Chicago and / or mom and dad have a sweet pied a terre. Really this is a pretty awesome location for an in-town. It isn’t a bargain by Chicago standards but it isn’t over priced either. I would take this over the other unit Jon posted. This building and this unit have a soul – – just needs some TLC. That other place, tempting though free laundry and no pet restriction – – has no soul. Very depressing space and light going on there.
“You still have coin laundry – – the hallmark of renting”
I used the laundry room in this building for a couple years. As far as coin laundry goes, it was really nice (it’s kept very clean and isn’t used that heavily, partly because some of the bigger units (especially over on the Lakeview Ave side) have in-unit). But it’s still coin laundry.
We rented a big 2/2 on the Lakeview Ave side (all rooms but the kitchen and dining room faced the park) from 08-10. It was partially updated, and I think we were paying maybe $2,400/mo when we moved out (plus $200/mo next door for parking). The unit owner must have been incurring at least a small loss. Excellent location, well-maintained building and some great units. It took a unicorn to get us to move.
“don’t forget St Louis, or Baltimore, or Pittsburg.”
That’s a nice list of clearly 2d tier cities.
Depending on how broad you make your tiers, there can be a ton of argument, with some clearly in (for T1, NYC + LA) and others clearly out (your list). If you talk metros, then Balt is prob in Chicago’s tier, bc it is part of greater DC.
Baltimore population 614,664
Milwaukee population 595,047
…is anyone really going to compare Chicago to a city that is like Milwaukee?
Having lived in both places, I compare Milwaukee to Chicago all the time. Plenty of things about Milwaukee beat Chicago.
Tier 1: LA, NYC, San Fran, Chicago, Boston, DC, & Seattle
Tier 2: Atlanta, Portland, Charlotte, Austin, Houston, Dallas, Denver, St. Louis, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Miami, etc
Tier 3: Boise, Omaha, Sacramento, San Antonio, Orlando, Salt Lake, etc
Chicago is clearly a Tier 1 city in terms of population, industries, size, amenities, etc. It is the cheapest of the Tier 1, but one cannot deny the city is world class.
Tier 2 cities imho are nice, but largely suburban, smaller downtowns, typically smaller populations and much smaller variety of industries. However, they can be just as expensive in some cases for urban living.
Tier 3 are cities that people don’t really think about. Not saying they aren’t nice places, but not really top of mind cities for young urban professionals so to speak.
Flame away…
“…is anyone really going to compare Chicago to a city that is like Milwaukee?”
No. It’s not even close.
Can’t even compare the two. If you don’t have a true international airport with flights going worldwide, you’re not Tier 1.
“Is there any other city (in the league of Chicago… that is, not Little Rock) where 180K for a 1BR city condo isn’t considered cheap?”
No.
You can’t even get 1-bedroom in a 3-bedroom house for $180,000 in any other Tier 1 city.
Baltimore, St Louis and Milwaukee are not at all in Chicago’s league.
They are third tier cities with virtually nothing that compares to the top tier.
They are cheaper though, but that is because less demand.
“Tier 2: Atlanta, Portland, Charlotte, Austin, Houston, Dallas, Denver, St. Louis, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Miami, etc”
That’s a huuuuge spread. There’s very little comparison, as a city/metro, between Philly and (eg) KC.
Nice to see the parochial homers are out voting in force.
lol at the muuaakee homer.
At least I have first-hand experience living in both cities. What do you have apart from a spelling deficiency?