Enchanting Historic 2-Bedroom Row Home in Bucktown for $849,000: 1873 N. Leavitt
This 2-bedroom vintage row home at 1873 N. Leavitt in Bucktown came on the market in April 2024. I don’t have a picture of this group of row homes but I wanted to talk about this one nevertheless.
Built in 1888 on a 16×124 lot, it has a 1.5 car garage and yard.
This is a fee simple row home.
The listing says it is old world charm meets modern comfort and convenience.
Are you in Paris or Chicago?
It has some of its vintage features including oversized windows, high ceilings, vintage trim, the original staircase and a foyer.
The main floor has the living room, dining room and kitchen. It has hardwood floors.
You would expect to find a fireplace in the living room, but there isn’t one.
The kitchen has wood cabinets and stainless steel appliances and faces east. There’s a deck off the kitchen.
The second floor has both bedrooms and one bathroom. The bedrooms are carpeted.
The lower level, which the listing says is “only steps” below grade, has a family room, a utility room and another full bathroom.
The lower level has a separate entrance.
The house has central air and the garage has party doors.
The listing says it’s steps from the 606. It’s near the Damen and Western blue line stops and the shops and restaurants of Bucktown.
Listed at $849,000, is this a deal for a row home with a garage?
Alishja Ballard at @properties Christie’s has the listing. See the pictures and floor plan here.
1873 N. Leavitt: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed, row house
- Sold in November 1981 for $38,500
- Sold in August 1986 for $73,500
- Sold in July 1992 for $157,000
- Sold in April 2003 for $492,000
- Sold in September 2015 for $550,000
- Sold in June 2022 for $775,000
- Currently listed at $849,000
- Fee simple. No assessments.
- Taxes of $13,121
- Central Air
- 1.5 car garage
- Bedroom #1: 15×21 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 15×16 (second floor)
- Living room: 15×10 (first floor)
- Dining room: 15×17 (first floor)
- Kitchen: 11×11 (first floor)
- Family room: 15×21 (lower level)
“Are you in Paris or Chicago?”
Maybe Paris Texas
I dont know if you can get any more boring. No bathroom on the main floor sucks
Theres a garage so theres that
seems a bit steep for a 16′ wide interior row home. kitchen is cramped as are the bathrooms. basement looks cold and blah.
For $850k I’d prefer an extra wide 3/2 penthouse condo with a roof deck.
Could live here as DINK/empty nest, but the finishes don’t match the price, and the upstairs bath sucks, and I’d want a powder room on the main.
Also no fence on the one side in the back is bad.
Like it ok at ~$700k, but that obviously isn’t the current market.
Finishes are cringe. This is a “Can we get back out transaction costs?” price. Only an idiot would pay anything close to the ask and the sellers way overpaid in 2022. Given the amount of interior updating and backyard landscaping / fencing I wouldn’t touch this for over $700K either. That kitchen with the microhood blows and what did they do to the fridge? Hit it with a baseball bat or buy the floor model at Home Depot? Exterior facade is nice though and it is a decent location.
“Also no fence on the one side in the back is bad.”
yeah, I’d imagine the tree is in the way?
“For $850k I’d prefer an extra wide 3/2 penthouse condo with a roof deck.”
probably won’t find that in Bucktown
“yeah, I’d imagine the tree is in the way?”
I imagine they could make a fence work with the tree, but the tree should probably just go. I regret not insisting (before our DD period ended) that the seller of our current home give us a closing credit for tree removal – we’ve spent around $5k over the past five years and need to spend another $1k soon to remove trees that should have never been allowed to grow in the locations and to the size they did.
Maybe the neighbor would chip in on a fence.
South of Armitage. Not Bucktown.
“yeah, I’d imagine the tree is in the way?”
Fence was there two sellers ago per the 2015 listing photos. Looks way better with a fence….plus fences make good neighbors.
Also the 2015 seller flip flopped the living and dining areas and that makes so much more sense than what the past two occupants have chosen to use the space…..although, given the lameness of this kitchen I am not sure a formal dining room is even needed.
Buyer’s agent’s commissions are already coming down. This one is 2-1/4%
“Fence was there two sellers ago per the 2015 listing photos. Looks way better with a fence….plus fences make good neighbors.”
A fence is a must. I’m surprised the neighbor hasn’t erected one either.
“Also the 2015 seller flip flopped the living and dining areas and that makes so much more sense than what the past two occupants have chosen to use the space…..although, given the lameness of this kitchen I am not sure a formal dining room is even needed.”
I noticed that prior owners had flipped the rooms too The Cat. My concern is that the dining room doesn’t have any windows. So you are sitting in a dark room as your living room. I wonder if there is any way to blow out the wall in between the kitchen and dining room so you can get some natural light in there?
It’s surprising, given the age of these row homes, that there isn’t a fireplace. Looks like there might have been one at some point but it was closed over.
Speaking of enchanting and historic:
https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1436-W-Foster-Ave-60640/home/13401663
I feel like this website should be a game show. For every listing, the potshot comments far outweigh the positives. And hey, I like to trash talk listings like anybody else. God knows there are plenty to trash talk. Just look at r/zillowgonewild. Anyway, what I find here is how all the trash comments frame things – but we never know what the unit(s) sell at. If units like this sell at or near the listing price – doesn’t everybody here eat crow? Or, if they are reduced by a thousand cuts, isn’t everyone here kinda right? I wish, Sabrina, you’d do follow-ups on these. We’d all like to know whether we were right or whether we should eat our (collective) hats.
^^^ Addendum to my above post. Oh, except for JohnnyU. Like Mikey, he hates everything. Love your trash talk JU.
“I wish, Sabrina, you’d do follow-ups on these. We’d all like to know whether we were right or whether we should eat our (collective) hats.”
ChicagoDog: Several commenters will often post updates when units sell. Specifically David and anon(tfo). I will often do a comment on some that have sold as well.
I used to do a whole post when they sold with the selling price, but most people blew those posts off because there’s little to say once you see the selling price.
You either got it right, or wrong. Lol.
And the rules of Cribchatter are that NO ONE eats crow. Lol.
“ ^^^ Addendum to my above post. Oh, except for JohnnyU. Like Mikey, he hates everything. Love your trash talk JU.”
Thanks, I don’t hate everything, just boring overpriced schlock
Fun fact, I’ve given leads on 2 homes on ZGW
“ I used to do a whole post when they sold with the selling price, but most people blew those posts off because there’s little to say once you see the selling price.”
Correction – you did when the sell price was greater than ask.
You blew off any thing that didn’t support your narrative. You also don’t know what if any concessions were made by the sellers
“ And the rules of Cribchatter are that Sabrina never eats crow. Lol”
FIFY
“Correction – you did when the sell price was greater than ask.”
Huh?
You weren’t even on this blog 10 years ago JohnnyU. That’s when I used to do posts that updated the sales prices afterwards. No one cared because there’s little to talk about once it sells. I’m grateful to those that post updates on properties we’ve recently chattered about so we can all see what it sold for.
Back in the day, I also did 3 posts a day because there were 4,000 units on the market in Lakeview so I could easily do so. Today, there is 190 properties.
“You blew off any thing that didn’t support your narrative. You also don’t know what if any concessions were made by the sellers”
Many who have been on this blog since the beginning in 2007, remember when I was bearish and told people not to buy any property as it was cheaper to rent. Lol. Did it fit my narrative then JohnnyU?
“Many who have been on this blog since the beginning in 2007, remember when I was bearish and told people not to buy any property as it was cheaper to rent. Lol. Did it fit my narrative then JohnnyU?”
Maybe you were a bit more sober? (Both in opinions and alcohol related)
“You weren’t even on this blog 10 years ago JohnnyU. That’s when I used to do posts that updated the sales prices afterwards. No one cared because there’s little to talk about once it sells. I’m grateful to those that post updates on properties we’ve recently chattered about so we can all see what it sold for.”
Again – not addressing the correction. Way to deflect
“Back in the day, I also did 3 posts a day because there were 4,000 units on the market in Lakeview so I could easily do so. Today, there is 190 properties.”
Congrats, let me know where to send a cookie
“Again – not addressing the correction. Way to deflect”
What correction?
Are you really this daft?
Like I said, I used to do updates on sales prices of some of the chatters. This was mostly during the bust when we had chattered about a certain property like 3 or 4 times and many people were invested in the property after a year and wanted to know what it sold for. However, those posts still didn’t do “well” on the site and got less engagement.
It works better to simply have people post on the original thread that a property has sold and for how much. I appreciate anon(tfo) and David who usually post the sales prices of many of our chatters.
“Maybe you were a bit more sober? (Both in opinions and alcohol related)”
I hope you are getting the help you need JohnnyU. You bring up alcohol FAR too much to not have it be an issue for you. There is help out there. Good luck.