Cheapest House in Old Town is Now Cheaper: 1454 N. Orleans
We last chattered about this 3-bedroom single family home at 1454 N. Orleans in Old Town in May 2008. It was among the cheapest single family homes currently on the market in Old Town.
It’s gotten $34,000 cheaper since we last chattered about it. The sellers are also now “motivated.”
Are the El tracks, right in front of the house, putting a damper on buyers’ enthusiasm?
Otherwise, the house looks renovated and current. There is deeded parking included in the price next door at the Royalton Towers.
Ann Rossley at Rubloff now has the listing. See more pictures and a virtual tour here (much better pictures than the last time we chattered about the property.)
See the property website here.
See our old chatter here.
1454 N. Orleans: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1 car parking
- Sold in August 1994 for $146,500
- Was listed in April 2008 for $775,000
- Reduced
- Was listed in May 2008 for $749,000
- Reduced
- Re-listed in January 2009 for $715,000
- Taxes of $7,558
- Central Air
- Parking next door at Royalton Towers- deeded
Unfortunately, the CTA redid a section of the ‘L track at the Sedgewick stop a year or two ago. Ever since, the trains shrilly squeak and scream when they traverse that section. Must be hell for the people who live in this house, and that’s probably why it’s not selling.
Place looks great on the inside. I’d be wary of the exposed brick in the loft. looks like any of those bricks could fall out at any time. not to mention the creepy-crawlers that probably invade when its warm out. El noise would suck, especially since every day i ride by here on the brown line, it squeeks like all hell around that curve on North.
715K is ridic, though. i’m thinking 600-630 would be reasonable, considering this isn’t the “nice” part of OT, in my humble opinon.
“Sold in August 1994 for $146,500”
*sigh* I know it didn’t look this good in 94 but still….
“I know it didn’t look this good in 94 but still”
Orleans (south of North) as a whole was very un-pretty in 94. Lots of broken glass on the street from all of the car break-ins. Looks like they completely gutted the place.
Um isn’t this place cheap since it backs up to a bunch of section 8 homes or even projects I mean there is probably an alley in the way, but on Sedgwick and west of there there is a MASSIVE amount of section 8 and subsidized housing.
Also you have the el tracks right in front of the house as well. I’m sure its really noisy there. Also, no parking on the lot its next door at the condo building.
Cool place though at a somewhat reasonable price, depending on how big it is. Probably won’t sell unless they aggressively cut prices even more. So many deals out there on McMansions in better neighborhoods, why would you buy a place a block from the PJ’s for the same price?
“isn’t this place cheap since it backs up to a bunch of section 8 homes”
I think that the biggest location problem this place has is being in the middle of a looong block If you could walk (almost) directly to Wells, it would be much more desireable. As it stands, you have to walk to North or Schiller. It’s not *that* far, but it would be much, much improved if Blackhawk went thru from Orleans to Wells.
Anon (tfo) probably gave the only credible commentary on this location. Where this is located on Orleans you would avoid the noise made at the turn (hopefully) but certainly see the train pass by. I live on the 1500 block and it’s very loud. The train runs on the opposide side of the street behind North Park. This property is closer to Schiller than it is to North Ave. The property is pretty close to the Marshall Field Garden Apartments that starts on the southwest side of Schiller and Sedgwick.
I’m not defending the price and understand the arguments re: Marshall Fields, minimal appreciation b/c of the train/area, etc. but this really is a very well located part of town for those that love being in Old Town and can’t afford the single family home prices on North Park, parts of the Triangle, etc. That said, I’d rather spend $715k somewhere else.
Is there any other section 8 housing in Old Town(besides Marshall Fields Garden Apartments and projects off of Divison)?
That area is too noisy and sketchy for that price. The El runs all day/night and the minute it gets quiet the section 8 people yell out mating calls that can be heard blocks away. I agree with Chi_guy, 625-650k would be an ok price, given that the area is still trying to figure out how to throw out the riff raff.
Regardless of the noise, the view is unattractive in this area as well, many of the buildings on the west side of Orleans are nice, but they all face a black hole that is the ugly ‘L’ tracks. It isn’t appealing to come home looking at the tracks the entire block long walk, though perhaps if you drive you wouldn’t notice it as much.
Ground level first floor would bother me and usually indicates a dirt crawlspace instead of a basement. I guess that’s ok if you like rats, radon, and the constant smell of mold and sewergas, and don’t mind sawing up your first floor living space in the event of a sewer or water problem. And crawlspaces result in cold floors and high gas bills.
“a dirt crawlspace instead of a basement.”
I doubt there is a crawlspace. This seems likely to be on a slab. Which is even worse if you need to do anything with the plumbing, but hopefully they replaced it all when they did the gut job.