Bye-Bye Basketball Court, Hello New 2.5 Car Garage: 1445 W. Cullom in Graceland West
This 4-bedroom single family home at 1445 W. Cullom in the Graceland West neighborhood of Lakeview came on the market in February 2020.
We chattered about it in March 2020 just as the pandemic lockdown hit.
You might recall that it was built in 1901, on a wider than standard Chicago lot measuring 30×125.
But back in March, it had a basketball court in the backyard, and no garage. The sellers were offering a $10,000 credit in lieu of the garage.
We chattered about whether or not a garage would get the sale done.
See our chatter here.
The home has not sold and now it has been re-listed with a new 2.5-car garage.
According to the new listing it also has a new roof, new windows, 2 new furnaces and 2 new A/C compressors.
If you recall, it has had an addition added to the back which allows for 4 bedrooms on the second floor, including a primary suite with an attached bathroom and walk-in-closet which wasn’t, obviously, a common feature in homes in 1901.
The house still has what looks like some of the original woodwork on the main level and a wood burning fireplace with a gas starter.
But some of the pictures show virtual pictures with the woodwork painted white.
Does white trim make the home seem more modern?
The kitchen has white cabinets, what looks like granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances, along with an attached family room/eating area.
There’s also a recreation room in the lower level along with an office and, the listing says, a Martha Stewart quality laundry room.
It has central air and a patio off the back of the house along with a fenced in back yard.
Originally listed at $1,149,000, it has now been reduced $124,000 to $1,025,000.
The listing says its just a 1 1/2 block walk to the Sacred Heart bus pick-up and a “short walk” to the Lab school bus pick-up.
Will the garage now make the sale?
Marlene Granacki at Re/Max 10 Lincoln Park still has the listing. See the pictures here.
1445 W. Cullom: 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, no square footage listed
- Sold in June 1989 for $193,500
- Originally listed in February 2020 for $1,149,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $1,025,000
- Taxes are now $19,963 (they were $21,197 in June 2020)
- Central Air
- Wood burning fireplace
- New 2.5 car garage
- Bedroom #1: 21×15 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 12×12 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 12×12 (second floor)
- Bedroom #4: 10×9 (second floor)
- Living room: 17×12 (main floor)
- Dining room: 14×11 (main floor)
- Family room: 21×15 (main floor)
- Kitchen: 17×12 (main floor)
- Office: 14×9 (lower level)
- Library: 12×10 (main level)
- Recreation room: 18×16 (lower level)
- Walk-in-closet: 10×7 (second floor)
They really went all out on those garage pictures.
This house has a lot of nice elements and a couple of really great elements, but my overall impression is that it’s missing something that I can’t quite put my finger on.
I’m somewhat perplexed by the “staged” closet in pic 27. Does hanging 12 or so random items really give a better perspective?
can we all just agree to ban doctored up photos with color schemes changed, aggressively stretched perspective and dimension, and fake 3d furniture?
At least not ALL CAPS description…
What would settle the issue on photos would be for someone to grab some video on a walk through and post here.
THAT WOULD BE WORTH ALL-CAPS!!!
It’s hilarious that the seller ever thought a $10,000 credit would offset the lack of a garage, given what it costs to build one.
Sounds to me that, given the cost of replacing the basketball court with a large garage, the seller would have just done better to drop the price by about $150,000.
about the garage door
for walking in and out of the garage, is garage door entrance on the side? is there any reason you can’t have the garage door at the back of the garage to make it a shorter distance to get in and out?
“It’s hilarious that the seller ever thought a $10,000 credit would offset the lack of a garage, given what it costs to build one.”
How much do you think that (probably) Absolute Garage Builders or Danley garage cost? I’ll give you a hint: https://absolutegaragebuilders.com/garages/2-car-garage/
“is garage door entrance on the side?”
In Chicago, typically yes, and that is typically bc there is already a sidewalk along the side of the house out to the alley. Putting a door on the ‘back’ (facing the house) means more concrete for a new piece of sidewalk.
anon, I went to the site you linked. I have not seen any of this company’s work, but I have a difficult time believing that a high-quality 2.5 car garage can be built in Chicago for anything like $10,000, especially if you want things like electrical outlets, light.
The price quoted is for the bare-bones structure itself. It doesn’t include things like site preparation, foundation, electrical, concrete, or the cost of getting a permit. I’d be very surprised if anyone could bring the whole project in for less than $40,000.
“I’d be very surprised if anyone could bring the whole project in for less than $40,000.”
Well, I know a *bunch* of people who have had garages done for less than half that. Including me, and mine is *slightly* (but only just) fancier than that, and I did .
And the claim of a 2.5 car garage is dubious–the pix show ~5 feet on the one side, and there’s gotta be 3′ on the other (for the sidewalk), which means it is max 22′ wide, and while the angle of the pix is not our friend, it looks pretty darn square to me. I’d guess that it is a 22’x22′ garage (yes, 22×22 is almost 25% bigger than 20×20, but I don’t think of 2′ of extra depth being part of making a “half” garage space). And *that* can totally be done for about $12k, with electric, but no drywall, etc. I mean, this is in no way fancy–it’s vinyl siding, there’s no storage loft, there’s only the one window. It’s a typical Chicago garage that fits two cars and a few garden tools, or one car and all your outdoor crap.
Now, it looks like they didn’t have a sidewalk out to the alley before (apparently relying on the sportcourt), so that’s some extra money, and so is fixing the fence, and the additional landscaping, which is why $10k wasn’t enough, nevermind the headaches.
But if these folks spent $40k on that project, they got stonecold ripped off. By ~$20k.
Anyone in Chicago who has had the experience of (a) driving around in circles looking for a “nearby” parking place; (b) digging out several inches of surbside snow in the morning and putting down old chairs for “Dibs”, knows the importance of attached garages or at least a parking pad. I had the same problem with a listing on the southwest side; the owner felt that a driveway was quite enough for “off-street parking” and refused to acknowledge the wisdom of either building a garage or at least giving a credit to the buyer. Suffice to say, we finally got the house sold but for far less than what it could have sold for if there had been a garage.
You could do a lot worse as a wealthy family committed to raising your family in the city. Great block. And I like how the front part of the house still has vintage charm.
Contingent as of 9/23.
“Contingent as of 9/23.”
The garage, apparently, DOES matter.
…AND an 11% price cut.
Still laughing about the thought that a 22’x22′ vinyl sided, pyramid hip roof would cost at least $40k.
Maybe if there’s a $25k consulting contract attached to it.