Buy a 3-Bedroom East Lincoln Park Townhouse and Airbnb It: 623 W. Drummond
This 3-bedroom townhouse at 623 W. Drummond in East Lincoln Park came on the market in September 2021.
Built in 1989, this complex has 14 units with attached 1-car garages.
It looks to be fee simple, which means it doesn’t have any assessments.
The listing says this unit has been “newly renovated.”
The first floor has a 1-car garage, a living room and one of the three bedrooms.
The second floor has a “chef’s kitchen” with granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances and a breakfast bar along with a living room with vaulted ceilings.
The primary bedroom is also on the second level and is en suite with his and her showers.
The third bedroom is on the top floor and has a private balcony.
It has central air and skylights.
This townhouse is near shops and restaurants on Clark and Diversey as well as the Landmark movie theater in Lakeview.
The listing says “AirBnb allowed” and “investors welcome.”
Listed at $579,000, would this townhouse make sense as a short-term vacation rental?
Matt Laricy at Americorp has the listing. See the pictures, floor plan and video tour here.
Unit #7: 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2200 square feet, townhouse
- Sold in November 1992 for $220,000
- Sold in January 1996 for $250,000
- Sold in January 1999 for $306,500
- Currently listed at $579,000
- No assessments
- Taxes of $8939
- Central Air
- Washer/dryer in the townhouse
- 1 car attached garage
- Bedroom #1: 17×13 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 17×13 (third floor)
- Bedroom #3: 12×13 (main floor)
- Living room: 18×13 (second floor)
- Kitchen: 8×15 (second floor)
- Family room: 24×13 (main floor)
LOL at 2200sf
Nice curb appeal and Almost $600k for a shitty 13′ wide 3 floor TH?
3rd bedroom really isnt a BR. Nice stair to get to the deck
Not a fan of overlooking a school/soccer field for the only outdoor space.
Shocked that they didnt mention the proximity to Weiner Circle (Is it still closed?). As a AirBnB, location is great. Neighbors would hate you as this would be booked by partiers every weekend.
Renting is a much better option
“Built in 1989”
what was the architect/developer thinking when designing this place. tear it down and just start over.
Exterior is about as ugly as you can get for a TH in the city. Great location though – – yeah, if you rent this out a lot, not only will the neighbors hate you but I am guessing a couple of trip and falls by drunk renters on that *fabulous* roof access and you are out of business.
Good starter home…no one is raising a family here. Interior and exterior don’t match (good for the interior). Priced at about what the taxes indicate it is assessed for (haven’t looked up the pin). So much wasted space.
How is there no HOA or assessment fee? That concerns me. What if there’s shared damage to your unit and surrounding units?
Layout feels awkward and choppy but it’s mostly turnkey for Airbnb conversion. Though I’d definitely add a smart lock and a nest thermostat. Then throw in some ikea furniture & cheapass amazon decor for ~$5k then you’re ready.
Location is perfect for an AirBnb but to assume it would only be booked by partiers is a bit of an exaggeration. My wife and I have been hosting for 2.5 years and getting partiers is extremely rare, and typically easy to sniff out before they book. The other hosts with whom I network are terrified about partiers getting them fined or, worse, getting their short term rental licenses revoked.
If you buy this property as a non-owner-occupant you have to obtain a “Commissioners Adjustment” from the Chicago BACP department. This requires written approval from any neighbor that shares a wall with your unit. Among a slew of other things you have to fill out and prove, it’s still no guarantee that you will get approved for STR registration from the city. Many I know used lawyers to help and still weren’t successful.
The new post-covid short term rental ordinance the city passed (because of massive parties that irresponsible/out-of-town hosts allowed to happen) has made it considerably more difficult to scale up and host in Chicago as an outside investor, or someone trying to implement an insanely risky rental arbitrage strategy. This overregulation — which I dislike in principal — has selfishly benefited myself and others who are already established and benefit from the resulting supply compression.
If I were in my early twenties or fresh out of college, I’d be begging my parents for down payment assistance to buy this place and airbnb out the other two rooms, or stay with friends/family while renting out the whole unit to build wealth before life (adult) obstacles invariably derail such plan. Doing something like that would likely pay the mortgage on this place for 8 months out of the year.
“a couple of trip and falls by drunk renters on that *fabulous* roof access and you are out of business.” That’s why you make sure you have an umbrella policy attached to your vacation rental insurance policy. Almost every policy I’ve been quoted for includes it.
“Priced at about what the taxes indicate it is assessed for”
Uh, no?
I don’t know how you got your taxes to be less than ~2.12% of your AV (was 1.92% last year), but the taxes are 2-3 thousand light compared to ask.
The ask is $100k+ above the AMV.
“How is there no HOA or assessment fee? ”
Fee simple, w/o an HOA. So like many rowhouses.
1989 price was $198k. +CPI = $442. ’92 & ’96 sales about the same.
’99+cpi=$510
Looks like kitchen was redone for the ’99 sale, with the maple cabinets stained darker sometime since. Baths updated, floor probably too. Depending on the actual degree of wear and tear (would want to see the hvac), +$70k from ’99 isn’t goofy, but I’m a little dubious about the +$70k *in* ’99.
The dryer vent line is a joke–will be full of lint all the time with that run.
“If I were in my early twenties or fresh out of college, I’d be begging my parents for down payment assistance to buy this place and airbnb out the other two rooms, or stay with friends/family while renting out the whole unit to build wealth before life (adult) obstacles invariably derail such plan.”
Thanks for all the insights into having a short term rental property Elliott. Really helpful.
Why does the garage door have a vent?And why in the world have they not painted that eyesore?
I’d feel like a creeper hanging out on the roofdeck drinking beers on a Saturday while watching kids at soccer practice (there’s literally no where else to look).
“Why does the garage door have a vent?”
To make it harder to kill yourself (intentionally or accidentally) with CO from a car left running.
So the trash cans in this townhouse strip just live permanently live out front? Even though the garage is right there? So tacky. Must smell horrible and beckons rats to come within a few feet of the front door.
To make it harder to kill yourself (intentionally or accidentally) with CO from a car left running.
CO2 is heavier than O2. Better not be sitting down of have Fluffy in the garage.
What kind of a Chemist are you?
The lick & stick limestone is Klassy!
Missed it the 1st time but His & Hers showers in the non MBR?
“Welcome to my home. Please leave your trash at the door.”
These have all the curb appeal of a garbage dump. Literally – you walk past the dumpster and garage door to your front entrance.
What went through the minds of the people who designed this? Even without the dumpsters, having a garage door take up most of the front of the townhouse is a serious affront to the senses.
In fact, these may take the prize of having the least curb appeal of any property ever featured on CC. And that counts the coach house on the alley behind Armitage near Clark with the electric pole and wires in front of it.
This unit doesn’t get any better once you venture inside. Only the roof deck has any charm.
At least the location is better than the townhouse featured yesterday that was closer to the expressway than the lake.
“ What went through the minds of the people who designed this?”
This place in a nutshell! Well said Dan
I would not touch a building that allowed short-term rentals. Regular rentals in condo buildings are bad enough.
“CO2 is heavier than O2. …
“What kind of a Chemist are you?”
The kind that knows the difference bt CO and CO2, maybe?
So, that it sinks really only works where there isn’t much (any) air movement (else the CO would be sitting above the CO2, which is heavier still), see, eg:
https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2020/09/23/carbon-dioxide-distribution-atmosphere/
“The kind that knows the difference bt CO and CO2, maybe?”
Thats the best kind
Vents are required by code (or were under the code these would’ve been built under).
“What went through the minds of the people who designed this?”
Adding to it, just on the off chance a family might look at it, the 2nd and “3rd” bedrooms both have some pretty huge drawbacks. One is on the ground floor and has an exterior door into the gangway (so your teen can run over for Wiener’s Circle easily!). The other is on the top floor and opens to the roof deck. I can see why the realtor is trying to focus on STR.
“Adding to it, just on the off chance a family might look at it”
We looked at one of these, in 2010. That unit and this development seemed better suited as rentals, and certainly for non-families (despite overlooking a field). That whole couple of block area back there was pretty strange.
How has nobody mentioned the extreme lack of windows/natural light in the unit??? I have a 3BR townhouse and it’s flooded with natural light, this has like 2 windows in the entire place.