Checking In On 3024 N. Sheffield in Lakeview 20 Months Later
Long time readers may recognize the address at 3024 N. Sheffield in Lakeview.
20 months ago we chattered about this Smart Money Magazine article which described buyers who were purchasing in late 2007/early 2008 who thought they were getting “deals”.
See our prior interesting, and long, chatter here.
Here’s a refresher from the March 2008 article:
INDIFFERENT TO THE bleak real estate headlines, 26-year-old Michael Klauer and his fiancée recently bought a two-bedroom condo in the desirable Lake View neighborhood in Chicago. They weren’t in a rush to buy, but when an opportunity presented itself only a month after they started looking, they jumped on it.
The apartment, listed at $519,000, was theirs for only $480,000 — an initial offer they didn’t back down from, even though they knew the seller had bought the place 10 months earlier for $512,000. Factoring in the broker’s fee and sales taxes, the seller lost more than $44,000 on that deal, according to the couple’s realtor, Jay Michael, owner of the Estate Property Group in Chicago.
“We leveraged the fact that they’d already moved out and were in a [financial] struggle to keep two places,” Klauer says. And even though the condo’s value may drop further, the couple wasn’t concerned since they plan to live in the place for at least three to five years. “It was a good time to buy,” he notes. “Prices are on the down low, and it’s something I could sit on for a while.”
While the same unit hasn’t come back on the market, we now have for sale the first unit since the magazine article appeared.
Unit #4N, currently on the market, is a 2-bedroom top floor unit with a private roof top deck with an indoor and outdoor sound system.
It has a wet bar and fridge on the loft level that leads to the deck.
The kitchen has cherry cabinets, stainless steel appliances and granite countertops.
The buyer in the article actually bought in June 2007 (even though the article was published in March 2008.) What about that 3 to 5 year time frame now?
Stephanie Cutter at Coldwell Banker has the listing on Unit #4N. See the pictures here.
Unit #4N: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed
- Sold in May 2006 for $560,000
- Originally listed in September 2009 for $524,999
- Currently listed for $524,999 (parking included)
- Assessments of $147 a month
- Taxes of $7804
- Bedroom #1: 16×15
- Bedroom #2: 12×11
- Living room: 17×14
- Kitchen: 12×11
Buying in a Rocky Housing Market [Smart Money Magazine, Aleksandra Todorova, Mar 3, 2008]
$476 a square foot? No thanks.
SNOOZERS!
Gee, 150 ft from unobstructed El tracks. Not what I would consider desirable.
Hey G,
right here more proof of my simpleminded theory http://cribchatter.com/?p=7780#comment-55482
Nice unit, great roof deck, excellent photos.
Plenty of sales competition for $500k 2 bed new build in that area though. I think those buyers still exist – DINK (100k each) but they lots of options. This is another one that’ll move at a number, maybe $450k.
With regards to the earlier buyer I think he was realistic and his timeframe may be fine. More 5 years than 3 but this area has been very well gentrified and should remain solid.
I wouldnt buy this place for more than $300k. Call me cheap, call me crazy, I just find it totally mundane.
Let see, in the short time they’ve lived there, $23k in taxes, AT LEAST another $20k in “lost” value, another $6k in assessments, plus all the other closing and repair costs. . .
It’s a good thing owner didn’t just “throw their money away renting”!!
That rooftop deck is fantastic, but that living room and kitchen is a JOKE at the 500k+ pricepoint. these guys bought at the very top of the peak and are going to lose a LOT of money on this transaction. I’m sure their realtor ‘suzanne’ researched this and really earned their commissions on such a prudent financial investment that would never lose value…
Nice place. Unfortunately it looks exactly like which ever friends/colleagues/acquaintances place I stop by this week.
I like the unit, but in my recent search (August/Sept) for condos these were “dime a dozen”. In this market, these units just don’t stand out at premium prices.
my friend has this unit in one of these buildings (there’s like 5 straight identical buildings). i really like it. it’s very nice, lots of space, beautiful rooftop. i don’t know why sonies hates the kitchen. it has a nice view downtown, she has a party every year for the 4th of july to watch the fireworks from the rooftop. definitely not worth $525K but i would buy it for $350 and live in it happily. one bad thing though is climbing those stairs. it’s a lot longer than it looks, especially when you’re carrying beer or groceries.
oh, and the EL noise isn’t bad surprisingly. i didn’t even realize it was there.
Looks like we have a bidding war. wtf at $300 and DC at $350. It’s one thing to not like a place and say you aren’t interested, quite another to throw out an unrealistic offer. At least this place – unlike some others we’ve seen and people have liked – is a true penthouse (top floor). This place is fine, don’t get all worked up over a little bit of an inflated price.
Does a three/four flat really have a penthouse? How about a 2 flat? Don’t you need to be significantly higher that the surrounding single family homes to be a penthouse?
Just curious where the marketing ends and the proper use of the term begins.
Give it time, Jon. In real dollars, anyway. Aren’t you long a unit like this?
“Don’t you need to be significantly higher that the surrounding single family homes to be a penthouse?”
Oh, I suspect they *are* significantly higher. Just not any further off the ground.
I was looking at that previous chatter from last year and noticing Steve Heitman’s comment about downtown Chicago condo prices holding up. I miss that smug SOB.
DC, I disagree. I toured one of these a couple months ago and it was really average. The owner-landlords gave every impression of being in over their heads and quite frankly panicked. I rented elsewhere and got much more for somewhat less.
I’d like to know how they measured this kitchen to arrive at 12×11 size.
“Does a three/four flat really have a penthouse? How about a 2 flat? Don’t you need to be significantly higher that the surrounding single family homes to be a penthouse?”
To me a penthouse is a top floor unit with a completely different layout than the lower units and a lot of roof terrace space. I don’t really consider a third floor unit in a three floor building to be a penthouse.
Stephanie better “cutter” price on this place.