Buying an Investment Condo in Edgewater: 1439 W. Elmdale
This large bank owned 1-bedroom unit at 1439 W. Elmdale in Edgewater is in an older court yard building on a tree lined street.
It doesn’t have central air or parking (though the listing says it does have parking- if you know the building and the street- it’s clear it does not). The listing doesn’t say if it has a washer/dryer in the unit (but I know other units in the building do have it.)
The unit was originally listed in mid-December and has since been reduced by $5,000.
There are no interior pictures of the unit, so it’s unclear if the kitchen and bathroom are intact.
This is no small 1-bedroom unit. It appears to have a full-sized dining room and large kitchen.
Are we getting closer to cash flow positive investing in Edgewater?
Michael Olszewski at Area Wide Realty has the listing. See the exterior pictures here.
Unit #1S: 1 bedroom, 1 bath, dining room
- Sold in March 1995 for $60,000
- Sold in March 1999 for $14,626
- Lis pendens in November 2008
- Bank owned in June 2009
- Originally listed in December 2009 for $89,500
- Reduced
- Currently listed for $84,900
- Assessments of $220 a month (includes heat)
- Taxes of $2158
- No central air
- No washer/dryer in the unit
- Listing says there is a parking space- but the building doesn’t have parking
- Bedroom: 16×18
- Living room: 16×15
- Dining room: 14×15
- Kitchen: 12×12
OMG it appears this is a deal in Chicago!
Then again without interior pics one can’t be sure. It could be totally trashed on the inside as it looks like a foreclosure from the verbiage on the listing.
No pictures = POS 9/10 times. Don’t know this property.
I’m really tired of listings that show parking in the MLS parking field and then don’t have it. Lots of times all that means is that they rent a spot down the street. Sometimes there is no parking anywhere.
$17k down = $68k mtg = ~$408 P&I + $220 Assmts + $200 taxes + 15 insurance = $843/mo cost basis…. not sure if that pencils out to CF in this hood…assuming limited capex.
It’s a very good price, but remember taxes and assessments. I haven’t called yet about this, but I’m very interested. Love the location. It’s a safe neighborhood convenient to everything- two major grocery stores, the library, the el, and the beach.
It is also a sign of where things are going in Edgewater and Rogers Park. We have more foreclosures up here than anywhere on the north side.
Those places are tiny, like 500sqft tiny. One of my friends used to live in one of those and actually 500sqft may be generous.
Wonder what happened between 1995 and 1999?
Or is the 1999 sale price a typo?
“Or is the 1999 sale price a typo?”
Possibly a transcription error. CCRD (if the number is from there instead of MLS) has many cases of dropping a 0. $146,260 would fit.
This place is not tiny. With closets and bath, is about 800 sq ft.
Look at the dimensions. This apt is exactly like my rental. Same floorplan, I’ll bet. In Edgewater, rents about $900-950 with heat included.
Honestly,
I don’t see why the words ‘investment’ and ‘condo’ should every be in the same sentence together. What if the association is troubled? What if the assoc. decides to stop permitting owners to rent out condos? You will pay higher mortgage rates and insurance as an investor, too. Plus, don’t forget vacancies.
To much red tape and hassles.
A buyer with some elbow grease who actually wants to occupy the unit should buy it. IMO
“A buyer with some elbow grease who actually wants to occupy the unit should buy it. IMO”
That would be me. If someone took the kitchen out, so much the better. I never like what rehabbers and developers install.
there were a few foreclosure in this building I remember seeing some in one of the mass foreclusre auction advertisements.
These are nice units (generally, not this one specifically – I used to live across the alley in a nearly identical building). But you won’t make any money renting it unless you paid cash; two-bedrooms in marginally nicer areas of Edgewater Glen go for 950-1100 (with yard/patio space). The only two negatives here are that Elmdale is a busy street with traffic coming off Peterson to Broadway at certain times and there have been some drug related shootings (non-high school related) in the past month or two.
Sheridan B, I’m noticing that the crime is increasing everywhere, including areas that were not troubled by it before. Lincoln Park and Lakeview have been rattled by a spate of violent street crime quite unusual for those areas, and while this part of Edgewater is next to pristine, we still have stuff to deal with once in a while. All in all, it is pretty safe in Edgewater, and the south end of Rogers Park.
The “negative” of the heavy traffic just comes with the convenience of a really urban neighborhood.
I wrote for info on this place, and I want to see how intact it is. However, better deals are coming up. First, West Rogers Park caved, and now E. Rogers Park is getting real. But now I’m seeing huge drops in Edgewater. Many two bedrooms in this part of Edgewater are at last dropping off their mid-2000s high, and they are toppling very fast and steeply. I’d take this, but I’m really hoping for an especially good deal on a 2 bed. I’m convinced that in a few months, I’ll get it, what with the number of foreclosures coming down the pike in over the coming year.
We are at last reaching the “capitulation” stage of the real estate bust.
Laura: I agree that you should wait. Just 6 to 9 months ago there were maybe a dozen 1 bedroom condos listed under $100k (foreclosures) and mainly in the high rises along the lake. Now that number is jumping (as they create comps in those buildings) and the foreclosures are creeping inland to the mid-rises and smaller buildings.
Right now, not as many are the 2-bedrooms but it’s only a matter of time.
I know someone who bought a 2/1 on this same street in 2003 for $125,000 (a non-distress sale at the time) and it soared over $200k at the peak. It’s probably worth around $175k now- so it’s not quite as low as you would think- but it will get there.
Your patience will be rewarded. But it’s also clear that it’s taking quite a long time for the foreclosures to move through the neighborhoods and for the new “reality” of prices becomes apparent to other sellers.
Also- owners are clueless as to what their properties are really worth. I know someone who bought in one of the Edgewater high rises in 2005 for $155,000 (1/1 with parking but no w/d in the unit.)
10 months ago a 1 bedroom in the same tier as his sold for $95,000 as a foreclosure.
But that buyer didn’t even get a “deal.”
Another unit two floors lower just sold 2 months ago for $71,000.
My friend asked me, “when do you think I’ll be able to break even?” I told him “20 years.”
He truly believes that “in a few years” he’ll be able to sell for close to $150k and that these comps aren’t the “real” market.
That’s why it’s going to take years to hit the bottom.
employment increases would avoid many of these dire scenarios.
Sabrina, I’m looking at two beautiful 2 beds in Edgewater and south Rogers Park. The Edgewater place has been through a number of drastic price reductions (is a short sale), the most drastic taking place recently.
More and more up at this end of town is being cut.
But I’m not expecting appreciation once I buy, nor do I hope for it. That’s why I want something I love that is priced at rent parity and that I can pay off within five years and actually OWN, as opposed to being a perpetual rent-payer in something priced 2X rent parity. Housing will once more become what it was before 1980, when our economy became dependent upon finance rather than manufacturing and commerce. A house or condo will be purchased because you want to live in it, or you are a landlord looking for cashflow. Prices will be directly related to income and rents, and loan ratios will be sensible.
IMHO, employment increases won’t solve these dire scenarios for three reasons:
1) bubble prices were based on shoddy lending which has since been corrected (absent FHA);
2) new jobs pay less than old jobs so that won’t support high prices
3) the shadow inventory is looming, it can’t drip forever.
Cheaper real estate is here to stay! it will be a buyers market for a long time coming.
“#revassal on January 8th, 2010 at 10:17 am
employment increases would avoid many of these dire scenarios.”
What is a good minimum per unit reserve (in dollars) for condominium buildings? I’m asking about reserves for buildings that are already completed.
Laura: Were you able to get in to look at this unit at all? I’ve been hearing it’s under contract but it’s not listed as such.
Laura, there was another shooting just last week – the area has gotten distinctly worse in the past six months, though the Thorndale Station strip has been deteriorating gradually the ten or so years I’ve lived in the area.
I think the blond brick courtyards on Elmdale are pretty intact overall – the really nice red-brick courtyard just to the east was butchered when they converted it. You might like the half-courtyard on Thome which has a two-bedroom available – original decorative features are still intact.
Sabrina, I have not been able to get in to look at the place. It might be “under contract” but it is not yet sold, or it wouldn’t be listed.
Sheridan B: Actually, Edgewater has improved greatly in 10 years, but the COUNTRY is deteriorating. Look for escalating crime absolutely everywhere as we continue to deteriorate economically.
And we WILL continue to deteriorate, due to externalities that have nothing to do with neighborhoods or house prices or even jobs. Those things are all symptoms, not causes.
“Sheridan B: Actually, Edgewater has improved greatly in 10 years, but the COUNTRY is deteriorating. Look for escalating crime absolutely everywhere as we continue to deteriorate economically.”
Have you actually looked at any crime statistics over the past decade? Most of the country (Chicago is one of the exceptions) are at crime levels of the early 60s.