“Deal of the Year” in Lincoln Park? 2665 N. Burling
This 5-bedroom new construction single family home at 2665 N. Burling in Lincoln Park has been reduced by over $1.2 million since it was first listed about 11 months ago.
It is now in short sale.
The listing calls it the “deal of the year” in Lincoln Park.
The new owner will have to finish the interiors as it is missing the kitchen and baths.
It has a top floor master suite with private balcony and master bath. It also has a two car garage.
Is this a steal at this price and location?
Ruta Usaviciute at Coldwell Banker has the listing. See the pictures here.
2665 N. Burling: 5 bedrooms, 5.5 baths, 3585 square feet, 2 car garage
- Sold in February 2006 for $937,000
- Originally listed in January 2009 for $1,999,900
- Reduced several times
- Was listed on Nov 23, 2009 for $1,290,090
- Reduced on Nov 24, 2009 to $784,769
- Taxes of $12,203
Wow, I think this is an amazing deal and I want it… too bad we could never sell our condo in order to do so-not in this economy:(
I wonder why they dropped the price so dramatically. Surely they could get more than $784,769 for a 5 bed nearly finished home in a prime area of Lincoln Park?
“Is this a steal at this price and location?”
Yes but I doubt it closes at ask price. As this is a short sale the bank will likely reject that price and continue to drag their feet on this one.
Even if it were to close at this price I’ve noticed banks have found ways to keep foreclosures and short sales from showing up on the Tribune’s website in an attempt to keep these from becoming a comp it seems.
They’re essentially auctioning it off, looking for multiple bids very quickly. Interesting that it was dropped 1/2MM after 1 day. Marketing ploy? Change of strategy?
This makes me think it’s not worth going after this one. It just seems like getting this would be impossible (a hunch based on discussions of banks/short sales). Talk on the news this morning of publicly shaming banks — they’ve more than taken care of that themselves.
Deal? Yes, but the house is U.G.L.Y.
Yes, this house is ugly. This is out of my price range, but it if weren’t, I would seriously wonder about the build quality of something built by someone who approved this construction. It looks like something a 14-year old would do in Google Sketchup. Was there even an architect involved?
I do think that this house has potential to be awesome at a great price – great location.
Who are these lazy realtors that handle these listings without even cleaning the place. Can’t they even sweep the place up for someone looking to spend 3/4 million dollars? You should lose your real estate license for being such a slug.
Looked good on paper, but then the picture of that facade… goddamn that’s beyond hideous.
looks like it still being constructed/finished, could have issues.
The buyer will (porbably? Russ?) have a hell of a time getting the place financed–no way it has an occupancy permit. And then needs at least $200k to finish the place in accord with the rest of the structure.
And there’s the noted issue of not knowing where the builder cut corners as the money ran out.
Also, “Separate entrance for gueat situation.”? Is that supposed to be “great” or “guest” (my guess)? And, what is a “guest situation” that a separate entrance is useful for? Ejecting drunk/unruly guests (Bob?) directly into the alley?
Another thing–the 4th BR is listed on the main floor. Maybe it’s a listing mistake, but I don’t think it’s plausible that a house like this would have a room used as a bedroom located off of the dining or living room. That’s an office/study/den, closet or no.
Here’s a short sale that will NOT get approved. Unless the place has burst pipes or mold or something, then its still a rip off at 750k.
“Unless the place has burst pipes or mold or something, then its still a rip off at 750k.”
?? Unless it’s worse, it’s too expensive?
If it does not have mold or burst pipes, the price of $780k will not happen (no way in hell bank will approve it at $219 a sqft in LP)
If it does have mold or burst pipes, it is not worth 780k, its worth less than that.
I wonder who built this. I would have a hard time buying an expensive luxury home from a builder that just recently came into the building business (and, obviously, couldn’t hack it). I’m all for supporting new enterprises, but when it comes to my home and something I need to drop a million on, I’d rather go with experience. Granted, I’m sure some long time builders have cut corners as well, but reputations are something somebody can research.
It just seems like a rather large gamble to me.
1+ to the comments re. that the bank is doing a stealth auction.
Visited the house this weekend. It’s a 2/3 flat in the midst of a conversion to a single family. The story from the realtor was a little confusing, but ultimately, it sounded like the place was pretty close to being finished, except for the kitchen which was to be customized for the buyer. Asking price was something like $1.8-$1.9MM. With no buyers, developer ran out of money and didn’t pay some contractors or mortgage and is now in short sale. Contractors came and ripped out as much as they could (mechanicals, toilets, front door, other fixtures). There’s a $90k+ mechanics lien on the place in addition to the mortgage. Compare the picture on the cook cty assessors website with the listing to see with and without the front door. There’s a small amount of water damage on the first (kitchen) and second floors (back bedroom), and it’s tough to tell where it came from, but at first blush doesn’t look too significant. Three bedrooms are on the second floor and all are en suite. Master is on the third floor with fairly small master bath and nice office and two walk in closets. Ceiling height in basement, 1st, and 2nd floor is nice, but only 8ft on third, which is a little disappointing. It was a bit of a zoo on Saturday as there were probably 5 or 6 groups viewing the house at the same time. Obviously the price has helped attract a lot of attention. The house needs a lot of work. My somewhat uneducated guess is that you could make it liveable for $150K (kitchen, mechanicals, complete a few of the bathrooms and bedrooms) and then complete other projects over time, but could easily drop $350K+ in a heartbeat with all the unknowns. Despite all this, my biggest issue was that the layout in the kitchen was not conducive to the traditional kitchen/family room combo you expect in houses like this. Instead of flowing from front to back, the family room would be next to kitchen and would be very narrow with an awkward layout for TV viewing. That being said, if I could get financing for this at $785K and put in $150K, I’d do it in a heart beat. Nice street, with nice houses up and down the block.
Financing will be impossible without a functioning kitchen and baths. No bank will touch this place. The mechanics lien will also have to be taken care of.
Cash only on this one…
I would definitely be more concerned about the craftsmanship. Way too many pickup truck developers in Chicago. My first condo I bought was done by one and it was a nightmare – never again. Unfortunately, you really have to live in a place to really find out what is wrong with it. It is very risky buying new construction these days with the shoddy/cheap workmanship that was prevalent.
“Financing will be impossible without a functioning kitchen and baths. No bank will touch this place.”
Thx for the confirm, Russ.
“Way too many pickup truck developers in Chicago”
on the way to were my wife gets her hair did, there was a place that was built by those types, every 3 weeks (wife’s hair cut/color interval) it would have a fricken stop work notice and/or yellow city stickers on the door or windows. it sold for 250k
see MLS#:07273688
i would be scared of anything built after regan.
btw; russ sorry your wife got her iPhone Jacked. Its a city wide issue not just green line.
Looks like the bank is in for $1.4 on a $2M+ facility. I am skeptical of the “almost finished story” given where the debt stands. In any event, this looks like a ploy to generate interest for an auction. Smart, if you ask me, but no way this trades at $750k.
Likely buyer is another developer who finishes and relists in the spring. This has happened a number of times in the city and suburbs recently.
“Way too many pickup truck developers in Chicago”
“i would be scared of anything built after regan.
btw; russ sorry your wife got her iPhone Jacked. Its a city wide issue not just green line.”
—
so that trickle down economics I understand now.
Russ,
Very good point about the craftmanship. Bought a place in Wicker Park in ’06 (ugh) and it has been a nightmare. I’ve fixed everything that was shoddy (at least everything I’ve found) so things are better, but it has taken 3 years, lots of $, and a ton of headaches to get things to where I feel good about the place. New floors, new appliances, redone bathroom, ugh.
HIGHLY recommend renting a place for a while before buying if it’s even possibly an option.
I actually saw the house this weekend. The realy estate agent is absolutely clueless. She has no idea if the house was gutted, and she told me she updated the listing to reflect the current condition, however, the listing was completely inaccurate! She did tell us the house is NOT limestone like it says in the listing and it does have leaks. This whole thing is sketchy. I heard the agent tell me one thing and then turn around to another person viewing the house who asked the same question and told them another thing. After talking to the agent, I realized this deal is not worth the headache since she had no clue what she was doing and kept changing her answers. This property is a co-listing and the agent, Ruta, sent her partner, Mary, to handle all the showings because she wants nothing to do with it. Mary has no experience. This could be the worst deal of the year, as opposed to the best, because the agents are so clueless and its clear they are trying to cover something up.
I agree with Gary that at this price it turns into an auction for the best cash offer. No buyer financing possible with the kitchen missing and a big mechanic’s lien.
Once an offer is accepted, the bank will have the BPO completed to know exactly what the market value might be.
“She did tell us the house is NOT limestone like it says in the listing and it does have leaks. This whole thing is sketchy”
good write up JR, this place has snake oil written all over it.
anyone know what the land is worth here, would it be better for a complete tear down and all new if someone really wanted to be in this area for a long time.
I assume an investor would just patch up the crappy work finish the place and try to sell at profit before the “problems” appear
I was speaking to a banker who told me that the contractors poured cement in the pipes of a commercial building when they weren’t paid, that will hurt your value!
I visited the property this past weekend as well. First, I was happy to read the above comments about how incompetent the agent is. She was making up lies left and right and you could tell she had absolutely no clue what she was talking about. For those of you who have expressed interest in the property, I wanted to let you know the TRUTH about what the property currently looks like and the problems with it. There are obvious large leaks on the floors of the first, second and third floors, in addition, all of the sliding doors are very warped and pulling away from wall due to more leaks, that, of course, the real estate agent didn’t acknowledge and pretended like she was seeing it for the first time when I pointed it out to her. This could be caused by possible deck drainage defect that travels down thru entire back of house…New owner would probably have to strip back to studs all four levels of east side of house to resolve this. Also, the layout of the main level with the living room, dining room, family room and kitchen is AWFUL! Most people spend the majority if their time on the main floor of their house in these room. There is NO family room, although the dimensions are listed on the listing. There is no possible way to put a family room next to the kitchen..there is not enough space. There is an extremely small area for a dining room table, which would end up sticking out into the path to the kitchen. The living room is an awkward shape, with a fireplace in a horrible location. In other words, it would be extremely hard to make any of these rooms livable the way they should be. And, for a house of this size and price, this is key to have, in my opinion. The house was in disgusting shape. The contractors came in and ripped out everything…there is no furnaces, air conditioners, bathrooms, they even ripped out the fireplace! They also went to the bathroom in the two toilets they left and there is an AWFUL smell, as it’s still there. The agent didn’t even bother to clean up the place. There are candy wrappers, ladders, saw dust, etc. everywhere. In my opinion, the place is worth LESS than $784k and considering it’s pretty obvious there is extensive leaking issues, which, most likely has caused mold, as it’s been going on for 11 months, this is NOT a good deal! Also, just so you don’t waste your time, the real estate agent told me she changed the listing to reflect the current condition. If you look at the listing, it shows what an absolute idiot she is. She put that there was a bedroom on the main floor. There is NO bedroom on the main floor. She also listed all of the appliances being included, and there are no appliances included. She also said the outside of the house is Limestone, however, it is confirmed that it is definitely not limestone. I normally don’t do write-ups like this, however, I think it’s important for people to not waste their time on this place and I think this is a great website to help weed out those agents/sellers that are trying to “steal” from us innocent buyers.
BSBL:
Thanks for the AWESOME summary!
now if we only knew a lawyer that could sue for fraud.
“now if we only knew a lawyer that could sue for fraud.”
I think someone would need to buy it (or at least sign a contract) based on the fraudulent representations to have a chance of winning. Not much of a claim for an hour of BSBL’s time, even if he could legitimately claim a $5000/hr rate (doubtful).
Reporting the realtors to the AG’s office is a maybe, but I don’t think you’d get anyone to pay attention *unless* this were an REO, which might provide L.Mad with a Bank to be a whipping boy–the perfect situation there is a Repub AG and Broadway Bank as the REO holder–alas, we have a single party regime in Illinois for now.
thanks anon, the AG would be the best place to stop these frauds b4 they happen.
BSBL;
Doooode, great summary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
look forward to many more form ya 🙂
so there is doo doo in the toilets? that has to set some kind of record low in marketing.
OK folks, here’s the scoop. I lived at 2665 N. Burling on second floor with my 3-generation family from 1970 to 1979. This house was for sale when we moved in due to the owner’s passing. She left it to her children and the sale price was $25,000 in 1970. How do you like them apples? This house was a rental income for 1st floor and garden apt. We probably could have bought this property for $3,000 down & mortgaged the bal. Didn’t have the money or the smarts to do so at that time. What a tremedous mistake!
This is a gut-rehab that I have been following for quite some time. When I spoke to the rehabber, he was selling it for $1.9K but that was a few years ago.
Just had to add my 2 cents worth to all of the above interested or not-so-interested folks!
Much success whoever the new buyer will be!