Can’t Rent It- Why Not Sell It? 235 W. Menomonee in Old Town
Nearly a year ago, we chattered about this single family home in the Old Town Historic Triangle at 235 W. Menomonee.
The house has a private coach house and 3 parking spaces on an oversized lot.
In December 2007, it was available to rent only. By May 2008, the rental price had been slashed by $5,000 a month.
Now, it’s on the market again but also for sale OR for rent.
Which one is the better deal?
Penny Bagherpour at Prudential Preferred has the listing. See more pictures and a virtual tour here.
235 W. Menomonee: 6 bedrooms, 5.5 baths (but 1 bedroom and 1 bath in the coach house), 6000 square feet, 3 car garage
- Sold in July 1999 for $1,135,000
- Sold in December 2002 for $1.7 million
- Currently listed for $4 million
- Was available for rent in December 2007 for $16,500 a month
- Reduced
- Was available for rent in May 2008 for $11,500 a month
- Currently available to rent for $12,000 a month
- Taxes are $21,734
- Massive roofdeck with cabana
- Full nanny quarters (with own bedroom and bath)
- Central Air
Who rents a place for 12-16.5k a month anyways? Especially when it is a home and not a manhattan penthouse ultra shick pad.
Nobody! That’s why it’s still for rent.
“Red on November 26th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Who rents a place for 12-16.5k a month anyways? Especially when it is a home and not a manhattan penthouse ultra shick pad.”
True Enough! 🙂
$4.0M — what a joke!
Gotta love an overmount sink in a Chef’s Kitchen in a $4Million house.
Very long and narrow.
I’ve been in this house many times prior to the current owner. My thoughts: the work that’s been done is sad in some of the rooms (lots of great woodwork gone), and the kitchen is a tight bowling alley.
It has a great backyard, the rooftop deck is grandfathered in an area that no more can be created (due to the Old Town restrictions), and a separate apartment above the garage.
Scale of the house seems off. Fireplace and mirror look enormous and furniture looks tiny.
Not special enough for the price.
ChiGuy,
What’s the deal with over/undermount sinks? I’ve got undermount and I guess it’s subjectively more attractive/sleeker than overmount, but… whatever.
AT $21,000 the taxes for an allegedly $4.0 home is actually cheap. I know people who live in sub $1.0 homes with taxes 50% as much.
Perhaps the taxes are more indicative of the true price of the house.
homedelete moron,
$21,000 in taxes just reflects a house worth about 1/2 the list.
We are renting this house now month to month and thought it was the best house we had seen in great location, with four car garage in coach house. (My wife loves the kitchen, especially the stove.) Rent wasn’t really an issue for us as we are short term and seemed reasonable for the space and quality. If we knew it was for sale, we would have made an offer.
Photos of the great room are probably tough to pull off – it is a very tall (2+ stories) room. There were a lot of interesting details about the place that don’t seem to come across with this listing. I wonder, do most expensive places not sell due to the buyer seeing a listing online or printed? There are negligible additional delivery or storage costs to put 20-30 photos up online versus the available 5-10. I sound like I’m trying to sell the place, but if I were I’d take that single, discreet step of posting a ton of photos online.
Hockey Dad said: “We are renting this house now month to month and thought it was the best house we had seen in great location, with four car garage in coach house. (My wife loves the kitchen, especially the stove.) Rent wasn’t really an issue for us as we are short term and seemed reasonable for the space and quality. If we knew it was for sale, we would have made an offer.”
Hockey Dad: Well- if you’re renting it now and it’s now for sale- what’s stopping you from making an offer?
It’s still available for rent on the MLS- so are they trying to get a long term renter in the house then? (and you’re not it?)
I am a professional athlete and were always to be short term renter with our situation in Chicago. The broker listing it is now not the one we rented the house from, so don’t know the story, were told not for sale. We bought something smaller and easier to manage and move in January (hopefully sooner). I think they are looking for a long term renter, but not sure. Owner lives in Europe. We like this house/neighborhood.
Should we add “professional athletes” to the list of market saviors?
I doubt they have many years until teams start gong BK, but as long as the checks still clear…
That makes some sense that a highly paid athlete might rent this house month to month- but G is right. There’s a limited pool of those.
Once Rex Grossman bought his condo in Trump Tower, it’s not like he’s now going to buy in the Ritz or Aqua or The Legacy as well.
Also- $4 million is quite a high price tag- even for Old Town.
Does anyone know- but wouldn’t this be the most expensive home to ever sell in that area? (if it indeed does sell for that amount?)
In a given year, you’d be lucky to see even 5 houses in all of Chicago sell for $4 million or higher. It’s not common to sell in that price bracket but perhaps someone can illuminate us on how many $4 million houses have sold in Chicago this year.
I agree Sabrina,
Old Town, north of north ave and near the lake, is a really premium neighborhood, but 4 million is extreme, there just aren’t that many potential buyers when you start creeping up into such a high price range. I think there are quite a few large units that sell for in 1 to 1.5 million range, but beyond that, it starts to thin out, I mean really how much more can they even offer?
Thanks to the tipster who sent me information on the number of home sales above $4 million in Chicago in the last 12 months:
9 total
(one more is pending)
That includes, obviously, part of 2007 when the market was better.
Currently, there are 34 single family homes for sale in Chicago at $4 million or higher.
The house is on a double (tandem) lot, and is actually 2 houses. A main house of 6,000 square feet over 4 levels, a large back yard and coach house of 3000 square feet with parking for 6 cars. Taxes for both parcels are about $40,000/year.
I walked this house last week for a showing, looking for a longer term rental for family, etc. I had been in the house years ago because I knew the previous owner. Current renovation is really nice and house is much more functional, rooms a little small except master, which is massive (I think two rooms/baths converted into one), but I don’t want my kids locked up in their rooms all the time, so I like that feature. Kitchen is still galley, but great and really big. Great room is best in house with 22 foot ceilings and massive fire place. Roof deck is only one like it in Old Town (grandfathered in – I was told), huge yard, huge garage, balcony and greenhouse off master bedroom. Heated floors and three wood burning fireplaces. Debating if want to move back to city, but that is the only reason not to rent (or buy) this house for me.