Can This Vintage 3-Flat Be Saved? 2509 N. Halsted in Lincoln Park

This vintage 3-flat at 2509 N. Halsted in Lincoln Park has been on the market since March 2010.

2509-n-halsted-approved.jpg

It has been reduced $30,000 in that time.

The listing calls it a “charming property” but it is also available as a tear down to “create 3 upscale residential units and 1 commercial space.” It is apparently zoned B1-2.

Already looming over the house right next door is a newer constructed condo building.

The units are as follows:

  1. Unit #1: 1 bedroom, 1 bath, washer/dryer in the unit, window air conditioning, rented for $2000 a month
  2. Unit #2: 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, washer/dryer in the unit, rented for $1300 a month
  3. Unit #3: garden unit- with 1 bath. Listing says it can’t guarantee legality of the garden unit. No rental income listed.

The listing says the house has a newer roof, windows and appliances.

It also has a 2-car garage on a standard 25×125 Chicago lot.

Will someone save this 3-flat from a developer’s wrecking ball?

Judi Weintraub at @Properties has the listing. See the pictures here.

It is agent owned.

2509 N. Halsted: 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2 car garage, 2-flat

  • Sold in January 1988 for $185,000
  • Sold in July 1992 for $200,000
  • Sold in April 1998 for $40,000?? (to same owner as 1992)
  • Originally listed in March 2010 for $829,000
  • Reduced
  • Currently listed at $799,900
  • Taxes of $11,611
  • Looks like no central air

73 Responses to “Can This Vintage 3-Flat Be Saved? 2509 N. Halsted in Lincoln Park”

  1. This place is an overpriced dump. I went to many college parties at this house during my DePaul years.

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  2. LOL. I’m glad they won’t vouch for the legality of the “3rd unit,” as it’s clearly based in fantasy.

    but I’m impressed/surprised with the rent they’re getting.

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  3. it looks overpriced, but it’s not a dump. I’ve seen DePaul party houses that ought to have been condemned on the spot, this looks pretty well-maintained.

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  4. This particular property (investment) in this market would probably sell for the mid 500s. If you could get it for the upper 400s, it would be a great deal. Anything over mid 500s is a dream (in my opinion).

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  5. Multi-family is going to be the next bubble to burst. This stuff is all so over priced I wish there was an effective way to short it!

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  6. $2000 for a one bed/one bath!! wow. I am floored.

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  7. Matt – Multi-family buildings have already been pummeled, far more than single family homes. The current pricing of this property is just indicative of the fact that most owners of ALL property types are currently overpricing their properties in this market.

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  8. Multi-family already burst for the most part. Two flats all over the northside of the city are selling like johnny cakes in the two’s and three’s. I quite frankly don’t understand the three’s; I think that they may cash flow ‘a little’ but it’s the depreciation of the building that investors use to offset their other income. In some neighborhoods the distressed multi-family units are the highest priced and fastest moving properties while similiarly priced SFH are languishing.

    “#matt on September 24th, 2010 at 11:04 am

    Multi-family is going to be the next bubble to burst. This stuff is all so over priced I wish there was an effective way to short it!”

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  9. $2000 for a one bed/one bath!! wow. I am floored.

    You can get a pimped out one bedroom at aqua for that price if I read their ad correctly.

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  10. Mike HG – not with parking unless they are offering some type of special

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  11. “Multi-family is going to be the next bubble to burst. This stuff is all so over priced I wish there was an effective way to short it!”

    my bet for the next big bubble is 100k college degrees that have anything to do with art, history, interior design, journalism, broadcasting, digital media, psychology, sociology, etc.

    How can the housing market expect to recover when people in their twenties are saddled with debt.

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  12. “my bet for the next big bubble is 100k college degrees that have anything to do with art, history, interior design, journalism, broadcasting, digital media, psychology, sociology, etc. ”

    This is 2010–I think you mean 160k college degrees.

    Isn’t it great when the government gets involved in financing certain goods (housing, higher education)? Our government is so fantastic I can’t wait to see what they do to healthcare.

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  13. “# Unit #1: 1 bedroom, 1 bath, washer/dryer in the unit, window air conditioning, rented for $2000 a month
    # Unit #2: 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, washer/dryer in the unit, rented for $1300 a month”

    Any potential purchaser would be wise to do their due diligence on these “renters” to ensure that they are indeed arms-length transactions and not affiliated with the owner and ready to up and move on once the property changes hands, like extras on a set.

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  14. “How can the housing market expect to recover when people in their twenties are saddled with debt.”

    Relaxing mortgage guidelines. Oh wait, we already tried that one..

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  15. oh please people, recent grads have so much debt because:

    a) they didnt work in college
    b) went out of state for whatever reasons
    c) did not attempt to receive one of the thousands of grants/scholorships US offers

    As a relatively recent grad who worked through college to pay of my loans, first thing I did when I landed a job was set up a payment plan to relieve myself of the 100k in student loans.

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  16. Mike HG – not with parking unless they are offering some type of special

    I doubt parking is included either

    http://www.rentedspaces.com/2010/06/02/chicago-rental-lakeshore-east-highrise-1br-for-1-643/

    http://www.apartmentguide.com/apartments/Illinois/Chicago/Aqua-at-Lakeshore-East/84586/

    I doubt it includes parking as well
    here’s where I found it. I doubt parking is included as well.

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  17. The student loan bubble won’t happen for a long, long time. Why? The government backs the student loan market. And as long as they provide financing to borrow $100k there will be schools to provide the degrees. Given that student loan reform occurs so sporadically, it’s going to be a long long time.

    “my bet for the next big bubble is 100k college degrees that have anything to do with art, history, interior design, journalism, broadcasting, digital media, psychology, sociology, etc. “

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  18. So you’re saying that the student loan debt isn’t related to the fact that private schools cost $30k a year and public schools in the city of chicago cost half of that?

    It’s because they didn’t work in college?

    Are we living in 1950 where you could drive a taxi cab and pay for northwestern law school at the same time?

    “#A-Fed on September 24th, 2010 at 12:06 pm

    oh please people, recent grads have so much debt because:

    a) they didnt work in college
    b) went out of state for whatever reasons
    c) did not attempt to receive one of the thousands of grants/scholorships US offers

    As a relatively recent grad who worked through college to pay of my loans, first thing I did when I landed a job was set up a payment plan to relieve myself of the 100k in student loans.

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  19. I wonder when students and parents are going to wise up and quit shelling out so much money for liberal arts degrees. Gone are the days when you could work your way through school and graduate with no debt.

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  20. HD – u dont HAVE to go to a private school. If you choose a private school, u should probably work your way through if concerned about debt. If you are extremely conerned, you should apply for a scholorship or grant allowing you to subsidize some of that debt.

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  21. Now that most student loans are made directly by the government through direct loans they have a program where if you pay at least 10% of your income (idk if it’s disposible or gross or net) towards student loans for at least 25 years then the balance is forgiven at the end of the term.

    So it’s basically debt amnesty. The government eats the forgiven balance. I predict that 25 year frmo now and beyond a majority of borrowers will still have balances on their student loans. And sometime shortly thereafter there will be a student loan debt jubilee.

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  22. HD, agree with you on the government not doing much to change their current funding and legislation because they are slow and terrible at much of what they attempt to do. But I know of many families who have caught onto the scam themselves and are unwilling to pay that price. If only the people noticed the real estate bubble we wouldn’t be in that mess.

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  23. Pete – I was making 25k/yr working as a bar-keep. Most of which was paid under the table – tax free baby! I paid off half of my student loans, bought a motorcycle, ate what I wanted, lived where I wanted, etc…

    Even a simple weekend job can have a drastic impact.

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  24. Sabrina,

    was the Picture by accident or on purpose?

    on a beautiful sunny day that huge shadow engulfing all the sun on this place is such a AWESOME metaphor for what went wrong in the boom. I LOVE IT

    PS. wonder if you ever go the tips i emailed you?

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  25. You’re right. Too bad that there is only one selective public school in Illinois, the rest of which are average at best (southern? eastern? come on) and there plenty of expensive elective and elite private schools (loyola, depaul, U of C, NW, north park, etc.)

    “#A-Fed on September 24th, 2010 at 12:13 pm

    HD – u dont HAVE to go to a private school. If you choose a private school, u should probably work your way through if concerned about debt. If you are extremely conerned, you should apply for a scholorship or grant allowing you to subsidize some of that debt.”

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  26. “oh please people, recent grads have so much debt because:

    a) they didnt work in college
    b) went out of state for whatever reasons
    c) did not attempt to receive one of the thousands of grants/scholorships US offers

    As a relatively recent grad who worked through college to pay of my loans, first thing I did when I landed a job was set up a payment plan to relieve myself of the 100k in student loans.”

    I completely do not understand your post – unless you are saying that $100,000 in student loans is reasonable.

    Did you just finish law school? I sure hope you got a BigLaw job with that loan balance.

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  27. HD – do you think it really matters if you get a UG degree from a “expensive elective and elite private schools” or an “average at best” school….absolutely not….grad school definitely, not UG though. I’d take $0 loans from southern vs 160k from NW or UofC.

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  28. I love your mentality A-fed. You worked at a bar and cheated on your taxes and paid for some of your student loans – ergo – everyone could have done the same.

    Was your ‘college’ USP aka University of Southern Palatine aka Harper?

    Or university of phoenix online?

    I law clerked all throughout college and full time every summer/break since 1996 (except for one)

    I made good money too. It paid my rent, my food and living expenses.

    I still incurred debt because Loyola was $18,800 a year for full tuition alone. And I had nearly half of it paid for with scholarships and grants. But there’s still books, other expenses, etc.

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  29. HD – Uni of Iowa aka Idiots Out Walking About…

    🙂

    And you shouldn’t poke fun at people who go to online school or Harper…at least they are trying

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  30. In a perfect world it wouldn’t matter. In the real world, it does. I wouldn’t want be the guy from southern with $0 in debt competing against the guy from NW with $80k in debt.

    “#A-Fed on September 24th, 2010 at 12:34 pm

    HD – do you think it really matters if you get a UG degree from a “expensive elective and elite private schools” or an “average at best” school….absolutely not….grad school definitely, not UG though. I’d take $0 loans from southern vs 160k from NW or UofC.\”

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  31. Tipster – No, Iowa was abt 25k/yr (all in). I didn’t attempt to get any scholorships despite my parents constant pressure. Shoulda Coulda Woulda. Im saying that IF you know you are going to have 100k in loans (which is reasonable for college), to not wait until you graduate to start paying them off.

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  32. HD – that guy from southern might have made 100k in his tenor at college working hard, paying off debt…that snob from NW with 80k in debt might have attended a “better” school, but hasn’t worked hard to pay off the debt.

    Ill take the hard worker over the smug a$$ with a 4.0 gpa anyday.

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  33. Too bad that there is only one selective public school in Illinois, the rest of which are average at best (southern? eastern? come on)

    if your looking at going into teaching Illinois state has higher freshman admission standards than Iowa, missourri, and Indiana. The only problem is that the school has no law or medical program. Just business teaching and nursing.

    If your ever looking into going into the landlord business buy a place at a college town. The rents there are rediculously high for what the students get. It’s possible to be much more profitable than having a 3 flat in the city outside the green zone.

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  34. HD,

    your my internet homie and all, but you harp on about people and their financial planning (mistakes) and yet you complain any chance you get about your student loans. i see the irony do you?

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  35. Oh I seee now HD…u have a bunch of student loans…thus your position in this debate.

    I don’t mean to be rubbing it in…

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  36. Look, in 1994 when I made the math it was attend U of I or Loyola. Loyola was twice the price at $15,000 but they gave me some grants. U of I at $7,500 gives nothing except for those that are politically connected or in the top 1% of ACT.

    I figured well, I don’t want to borrow living expenses. I could deliver pizzas for $5.00 in urbana and borrow the rest, or, I could clerk in Chicago for $14.00 an hour and keep the borrowing of expenses to a minimum.

    So I clerked in Chicago for an average of $14.00 an hour all throughout college and I still graduated with debt, not anywhere near $10,000, but after the interest capitalized, it was pretty significant for the time. Today’s 18 year olds are crazy

    And yes, it does affect the housing market, and will for years and years to come.

    Boomers have to decide if they want high housing prices, or, a steady stream of retirment income as a result borrowers repaying student loans. Boomers can’t have their cake and eat it too.

    “#A-Fed on September 24th, 2010 at 12:38 pm

    Tipster – No, Iowa was abt 25k/yr (all in). I didn’t attempt to get any scholorships despite my parents constant pressure. Shoulda Coulda Woulda. Im saying that IF you know you are going to have 100k in loans (which is reasonable for college), to not wait until you graduate to start paying them off.”

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  37. Homedelete, I don’t even know what to say if you have a balance after 25 years of paying 10% of your income on student loans. Wow, that’s a very poor ROI on your degree.

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  38. You have to pick a student loan wisely such that you do not get hit too bad with all the interest. They are various private/public (school and gov based) programs to assist.

    No different than picking a mortgage.

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  39. My student loans are the price of admission to the labor market at my level.

    You can’t rent an education like you can a house.

    I have a lot of loans, who doesn’t now a days, but at least I see them for what they are.

    And for the record, i’m the only lawyer I know under 35 who has actually made a significant dent in their student loans. I’ve paid off about half. Most people I know are still on graduated plans, forebearance or interest only. I’m not kidding. And I know a lot of lawyers.

    How does that bode for the housing market? hahahah

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    A-Fed on September 24th, 2010 at 12:38 pm

    Tipster – No, Iowa was abt 25k/yr (all in). I didn’t attempt to get any scholorships despite my parents constant pressure. Shoulda Coulda Woulda. Im saying that IF you know you are going to have 100k in loans (which is reasonable for college), to not wait until you graduate to start paying them off.

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  40. I wish people would take a deep breath and understand that we ARE the government.

    “Our government is so fantastic I can’t wait to see what they do to healthcare.”

    Take it over, please. First, how can you do worse than the private sector, which in health care has a 25-30% red tape/administration cost for every dollar spent on health care? Medicare operates with less than 10% overhead – these are FACTS.

    If health care costs were divorced from the cost of running a business & employing people, we wouldn’t see the big companies firing American workers and offshoring the jobs.

    This is a no-friggin-brainer, and ties in 100% to the housing market. People without jobs can’t buy homes, or afford their current mortgages. US companies cannot compete in a global marketplace when they are saddled with health care costs that competitors in China and other countries are not.

    back to Econ 101 for you, HD.

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  41. direct loans started what, 10 year ago? we’ll see the stats in 15 years who has balances forgiven…

    the numbers will be shocking, i guaranteee.

    “#Tipster on September 24th, 2010 at 12:47 pm

    Homedelete, I don’t even know what to say if you have a balance after 25 years of paying 10% of your income on student loans. Wow, that’s a very poor ROI on your degree.”

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  42. I didn’t say that!!!!

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    skeptic on September 24th, 2010 at 12:49 pm

    I wish people would take a deep breath and understand that we ARE the government.

    “Our government is so fantastic I can’t wait to see what they do to healthcare.”

    Take it over, please. First, how can you do worse than the private sector, which in health care has a 25-30% red tape/administration cost for every dollar spent on health care? Medicare operates with less than 10% overhead – these are FACTS.

    If health care costs were divorced from the cost of running a business & employing people, we wouldn’t see the big companies firing American workers and offshoring the jobs.

    This is a no-friggin-brainer, and ties in 100% to the housing market. People without jobs can’t buy homes, or afford their current mortgages. US companies cannot compete in a global marketplace when they are saddled with health care costs that competitors in China and other countries are not.

    back to Econ 101 for you, HD.

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  43. A-Fed, I strongly disagree with you.

    $100,000 in student loans on an undergrad degree is too much. Way too much. You are delaying your entry into the period of your life in which you build up wealth for a comfortable living standard. You may even be delaying it until you don’t have enough working years left to build up anything at all.

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  44. HD – I know several lawyers (of all types) that have paid off 90% their student loans by 35. Why? They didn’t buy a new car when they landed the ~6+ figure job. Didn’t buy a 500k house. Lived within their means investing bits and pieces here through stocks/bonds/mutual funds etc…gradually chipping away in the 10ish years post grad.

    The only person you can blame for your situation is yourself. The pessism you are spreading is only a function of you.

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  45. Tipster – maybe you are misunderstand me. yes, 100k is alot to graduate with. But going in, if you know you owe 100k for schooling, try to reduce it via work and graduate with 50k in loans.

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  46. Tipster – maybe you are misunderstanding me. yes, 100k is alot to graduate with. But going in, if you know you owe 100k for schooling, try to reduce it via work and graduate with 50k in loans.

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  47. especially if you are planning on going to grad school (another 100k).

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  48. Sure, the 600 big firm lawyers in chicago pay off their debt before age 35. What about everybody else?

    A-fed you won’t be so fresh and green a few years from now.

    Tipster – of course 100k is too much debt. But other options are limited.

    Don’t forget there is more outstading student loan debt than credit card debt.

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  49. Nah HD, I’m talking about your divorce lawyers, RE attorneys, crimial and civil based, none working for huge firms. Sure, I know a patent laywer making the big bucks but thats an outlier.

    And so fresh and green? No no no, I agree with you

    SO FRESH AND SO CLEAN??? Absolutely, Ridin Dirrrrty!!!

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  50. All this talk about student loans leads me to do a bit of bragging today: just sent off my last student loan payment today. After that clears I’ll have zero balance.

    And I’ll be complete out of debt in a couple weeks (still a minor 0% CC balance of a few hundred bucks). BOO YAH!

    Also good thing I focused on getting out of debt the past 3 years instead of buying property like Joe Zekas wanted me to. I’d be royally screwed if I ever listened to that old man!

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  51. “So I clerked in Chicago for an average of $14.00 an hour all throughout college and I still graduated with debt, ”

    dude that was a sweet clerk salary back in 95, but true even that couldnt cover grad/law school.

    i will say is if i went grad school route i would have left with some debt.

    i think after i finished i owed like $700 is some fees and parking tickets.

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  52. Hey congrats Bob!!! I sent of my last check in Feb.

    Great feeling eh?

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  53. Congrats bob, that is awesome, not many people these days can say they are debt free

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  54. Bob – now go buy Wrigley’s unfinished pernthouse!!!!!

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  55. oh heck, sorry HD, getting lost with the threads here – I’m going to see Roger Waters tonight, so it’s hard to concentrate today!

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  56. wait a minute – am I living in bizarro world here? Bob, one of the most caustic and insulting people on this site (no hard feelings Bob) is actually being congratulated on something he should do (pay off his loans) while I (on another thread) am being blasted for telling the truth. It just doesn’t make any sense to me at all.

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  57. Clio – I agree with your choice in sports vehicle and overall viewpoint on how to make $ fwiw.

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  58. Congrats Bob, perhaps this will lead to a sunnier outlook on your part.

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  59. hey, where do we get Crib Chatter accounts? Or is that a Crib Chatter credit card?

    “And I’ll be complete out of debt in a couple weeks (still a minor 0% CC balance of a few hundred bucks). BOO YAH!”

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  60. “Also good thing I focused on getting out of debt the past 3 years instead of buying property like Joe Zekas wanted me to. I’d be royally screwed if I ever listened to that old man!”

    Ya, I miss his rants about how property owners at 235 van buren and 1600 s michigan did not get CMK’ed. When G use to post here, he was relentless on him for sticking up for CMK.

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  61. “Great feeling eh?”

    Yeah. Went into debt for grad school..thought it would only last a couple years. Then car died (hooptie that it was). Six years later..finally back to cero.

    “Congrats Bob, perhaps this will lead to a sunnier outlook on your part.”

    Dunno. My interest rate was close to 0%, and now that I’ll be accumulating assets it looks like a similar interest rate. I’ll guess I’ll just go out and get a spiffy new toy when totally debt free Oct 10(altho not so much that it puts me back into debt lol).

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  62. To suggest that people have massive student loan debts because of lack of effort to pay it down during or after college is specious, at best. There is no one-size fits all approach to earning a college education.

    I have a grad degree from Northwestern. I know it got me interviews and a high paying job. A prestigious degree opens doors. My grad degree cost ME— not my parents— handsomely 4 years ago. I supported myself 100%. I received generous scholarships, but I am still paying off that debt. No regrets.

    As to working during grad school, I did. I earned a 3.95 GPA while working 25+ hours a week to get my required clinical hours. These working internships were not only mandatory but unpaid.

    Not all degrees afford the luxury of sub-par GPAs and/or hanging out… errr… working at a bar.

    BTW: I didn’t choose Northwestern soley because it’s an elite school, I chose it because it had the academic program that was the best match for my area of study (and one of the few schools that has it in the country). I’m sure others who chose to go to well-regarded schools, did the same.

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  63. School debt is just like taking on the first big mortage. Suck it up, make hard choices and pay it off as quickly as possible. Then take your first big mortgage and do it all over again.

    Selfish Gen-Y wants everything today. Job, car, expensive home (or a clear path to the expensive home). Boomer parents sure f’d you guys up.

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  64. I think a lot of them would be satisfied with just the job.

    “Selfish Gen-Y wants everything today. Job, car, expensive home (or a clear path to the expensive home). Boomer parents sure f’d you guys up.”

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  65. for once i am understanding HD…saddled with law school debt from a third tier law school…not a pretty place to be. thus i understand the anger toward (for the most part, successful) baby boomers and the fear he exhibits toward the future. it will be ok. focus on yourself and quit analyzing everything in light of you and your generation’s predicament. work a little more than we had/have to and keep renting.

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  66. Hahahah. I didn’t attend a third tier school and I have a ‘good’ legal job. So x educator not only are you wrong, but your condescending attitude makes you sound like an idiot. If you can’t see the future and how the boomers….well, let’s just say, my generation will be the first to pull the life support from your sorry bunch and then take your money to repay your generations years of prolifigate and spendthrift wasteful spending. Good riddance.

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  67. “my generation will be the first to pull the life support from your sorry bunch”

    I wish this were possible. But I think congress is going to bail them out. The problem is the voting participation rate among older people is much higher than younger people and there are more baby boomers than any other cohort.

    In fact so far our government has been working overtime to bail them out: throwing trillions at the symptoms of the structural economic problems in an attempt to keep asset prices lofty. It disproportionately benefits those with assets at the expense of those without and its not the capitalism I was told the US economy functions by in school.

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  68. “Our government is so fantastic I can’t wait to see what they do to healthcare.”

    You don’t need to wait–check out Medicare.

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  69. Even better example: VA benefits or even better yet: Medicaid and S-Chip type programs!

    “#

    #
    anon (tfo) on September 27th, 2010 at 10:32 am

    “Our government is so fantastic I can’t wait to see what they do to healthcare.”

    You don’t need to wait–check out Medicare.

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  70. “Even better example: VA benefits or even better yet: Medicaid and S-Chip type programs! ”

    Medicare is (1) larger and (2) more swayed by political influence (old people vote–a lot).

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  71. http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/In-the-Literature/2002/Oct/Medicare-vs–Private-Insurance–Rhetoric-and-Reality.aspx

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  72. Skeptic: “[linky]”

    All I know is, the Gub’mint better keep its hands off of Medicare, or some old people are going to be really mad.

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  73. Uh, I thought this was a REAL ESTATE chat-room, not a student-loan chat room.

    For what it’s worth, I think it looks like what I remember as the Munsters’ house. So maybe kids from DePaul could have one heck of a Halloween party here.

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