Crib Chatter on Vacation This Week
It’s spring, but the weather is not cooperating.
But that doesn’t mean the spring housing market isn’t hot.
Many properties seem to be selling briskly in the GreenZone this month as when I’ve gone out to take pictures, the properties are under contract before I can crib about them.
Will March show a distinctive bump in activity after several months in the doldrums?
And what neighborhoods are the hottest?
It seems like Fulton Market/West Loop has cooled now that McDonald’s headquarters has opened.
Is Logan Square now the chosen neighborhood?
Or are the South Side neighborhoods like Bronzeville and Hyde Park about to move into the spotlight?
As always, I’ll be checking in on the discussion from the beach this week. But look for new housing updates on April 8.
See you then!
Sabrina
I’ve been wondering how many of the homes featured on HGTV’s Windy City Rehab have actually sold. I find a lot of the design decisions on that show in questionable taste, and I hate the way they have ripped apart some lovely homes. On top of that, the prices they ask seem kind of crazy. The Sunday Trib featured one of the featured homes as still being for sale. Does anyone know what has happened to the rest of the homes?
http://digitaledition.chicagotribune.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=3e7227b1-e3b7-4fac-aa07-5f943e58b4c5
Oh, and is it just me, or is any contractor who leaves the main water main open in the middle of winter when there is no available heat in the house not someone most people would want to hire?
I live within or on the same block as a number of these Windy City Rehab houses and I hate every one of them (not just the ones on my block). The only thing I can say about them is that they are (only marginally) better than the unloved dogs that they replace. But now we get fresh dogs instead of old ones. They’d have been better off knocking them down entirely and starting from scratch. To me they’re just run of the mill flippers with good press agents. As for “oops the house collapsed” and “ooops the contractor flooded our house” … TV needs a good storyline. Oh, and they’re doing just that.. building from the ground up on two different lots on Wood. God help us.
Oh, and as for prices – they may ask a premium, but IMO they’re not in outer space. Lots of things have gone under contract this spring near or a little below their asks.. so, I guess the market will decide vs us smarty-pantses.
I live by a few of the WCR homes and all the neighbors are so fed up with them. Work has still been lingering on many homes that were featured on the show. Garages aren’t built and construction mess is still all around. They make the front look clean and new for the show but what you can’t see is the ongoing work and mess. I’m just annoyed with the fact that she’s all about restoring and bringing back chicago history, but will then go to some salvage place and buy some artifact from somewhere else and put it up. Case in point, the house at 1906 Hoyne. She said she paid $8k for that outdoor trim that was from France (bought at Jayson Home). It’s just terrible and is the laughing stock of the hood. Also, the 2 white painted brick homes on Wabansia? How do they fit in with the neighborhood?
https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1906-N-Hoyne-Ave-60647/home/13355448
“They’d have been better off knocking them down entirely and starting from scratch.”
Really?
Some are brick homes from the 1800s. They weren’t landmarked. You’d really be okay if it was knocked down and replaced by a steel and glass new build?
“I’ve been wondering how many of the homes featured on HGTV’s Windy City Rehab have actually sold.”
The Sun-Times had a great follow-up on this recently. They said 4 out of the 11 have sold. But some got “stop work” warnings among other problems.
It’s one of HGTV’s highest rated new shows. And that’s great for Chicago, especially as it highlights our wonderful architecture.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/entertainment/windy-city-rehab-problems-hgtv-neighbors-complaints-permit-flip-gentrification/
@Sabrina.. vs. what they did to them? Yes. They’re horrible.
If you mean do I think they all should have been knocked down from the start… Of course not. I guess its a decent question. Which would you rather have? A horrible flip-o-vation, or the original unloved structure. Neither is an ideal choice, but here we are.
Yeah, we were noticing that very few of these have sold. We’re wondering if HGTV is subsidizing the flips because you can’t make money if you can’t sell them.
The “Leavitt House” at the corner of Leavitt and Homer (1 block south of Armitage) is perhaps the worst of them all. They built up and used a mismatched brick, so it looks like there are 3 different bricks used along with a red brick stripe. Of course, rather than using brick, the side of the house that is not exposed (it sits on a corner lot) is siding, and then there is another material towards the bottom. The addition off the back is also siding on the back, but brick on the side facing the street. It is crazy.
The garage is original (and awful), as are the front stairs. To top it off, there is artificial turf in the front yard AND between the sidewalk and the street. We laugh because they paid a silly amount to rebuild the cornice and add stain glass to the front door, but then did these things…
I believe the episode said it sold before print, but there is a port-a-potty there and workers were there this past weekend.
“Leavitt House”
I live very close to this house…workers are still there. from what a neighbor told me, they are tearing down the garage which needs to happen. probably why the dumpster is still around. we’ll see. port-a-potty is finally gone. they finally poured the garage concrete pad for the one on Hoyne. regarding the brick facade…they painted it, during the cold and snow, which can’t bode well for the quality and longevity of it. i can’t believe they re-used the front wooden steps. for that money, i don’t want some old wood porch with a fresh coat of paint. it needed to be replaced.
Sabrina: Can we talk about this one? It has a lot of pros and a lot of cons. https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1445-N-Cleaver-St-60642/home/18741616
Seems like a lot of properties have suddenly come on the market. Have owners figured out it’s a good time to sell?