Foreclosure Alert: 5-Bedroom Vintage Home in Logan Square: 2536 N. Bernard
Looking for space?
This 1920 vintage home at 2546 N. Bernard in Logan Square has 5 bedrooms and 3 baths.
It is bank owned and is now listed for $75,100 under the 2005 purchase price.
The house is only four blocks from Logan Circle and appears to have its kitchen and baths still intact. It also has central air and a 2-car garage.
Will buyers be jumping on this foreclosure?
Richard Wolnik at Riklin Realty has the listing. See the pictures here.
2536 N. Bernard: 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2 car garage, no square footage listed
- Sold in March 1995 for $183,500
- Sold in March 2005 for $675,000
- Lis pendens in February 2008
- Bank owned as of January 2009
- Recently listed for $599,900
- Taxes of $7929
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 16×14
- Bedroom #2: 14×12
- Bedroom #3: 14×11
- Bedroom #4: 22×10
- Bedroom #5: 20×14
A 5 year old could have taken better photos. I can’t tell if this place is nice or not… I’m leaning toward not.
600k for THAT? LOL right!
And mow the frickin lawn Mr. Realtor! It would look about a million times better… Although for Logan Square it might fit in just fine.
Has potential but way overpriced given the insane amount of work that needs to be done. Hipsters got the time but no income to buy the house; Yupsters have the income but no money to pay for the renovation. Either way this house might have some problems but hey there’s always the cribchatter effect: properties seem to sell quicker after being featured on CC. could go contingent Sunday afternoon for all I know.
meh, west of kedzie is not ideal. 600k right on Palmer Square would be one thing, but this is ridiculous.
I used to live on St Louis, one block over, and that block of Bernard has some really nice, well-kept houses. I agree with cc though, I can’t tell a thing about the inside of the house by the pictures.
What yupster in their right mind would want to live in Logan Square?
Damn this house looks ugly. You can tell what a deadbeat the seller is from the unkempt yard/weeds.
Sorry seller no 600k retirement for you for sitting on a POS in Logan Square.
You would think someone trying to sell an asset that they think is worth over half a million dollars would have the common sense to at least clean up their yard and make it look presentable.
This green turd doesn’t go for north of 290k is my prediction.
10 years ago, the damen stop the blue line were the same people who now get off at the Logan stop; and now the damen stop is hardly distinguishable from the Paulina stop on the brown line. crazier things have been known to happen especially when there are ‘deals’
That little abandonded rocking horse in the living room almost made me cry. Nice metaphor for our times.
LOL, while I agree this particular price is insane (that was a radiator in the one room, right? updating to central is a big project…), there are LOADS of yups moving in Logan Square.
“crazier things have been known to happen especially when there are ‘deals’”
Yeah, but who’s getting a jumbo for this place?
$400k might get it sold reasonably quickly, but the lender’s trying to get out even, which is dumb. The first lien was for $560,000. The 2d for $140k. Refi’d 5 months after closing.
If I’m gonna buy a POS house that needs a ton of work for 600k its going to be in Lakeview not some POS location like Logan Square.
Real Estate Fail?
What stupid bank(s) allowed them to finance this for 700k?
It boggles my mind how stupid these banks were and how our government threw money at them to keep them alive. This nation truly is a corrupt plutocracy.
I also love how because its a foreclosure the realtor doesn’t even feel the need to pick up the horsey toy to not have it in the picture.
Hey Realtor(tm), you’re still trying to sell a 600k asset! Drop the cell phone camera, get a real one, mow the lawn and for pete’s sake pick up the damn horsey toy!
Either the real estate agent is two feet tall or s/he really likes the floors/baseboards….
Fourth picture is just plain creepy.
You guys make me crack up. I love the horsey…wonder if you moved it during a walk-through if the realtor would even notice.
“Matt the Coffeeman on July 24th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Either the real estate agent is two feet tall or s/he really likes the floors/baseboards….”
No. His head must be permanently held in shame, as he realizes he will never sell this place at 600k. It’s hard to look up when you are spiraling down…
Well said Jacob. $600k? A 75k discount off the bubble nonforeclosure price? This is a bad joke. This thing is priced to sell… in spring of 2011, when the pipes have long since burst, saplings have taken hold of the front lawn, and vagrants have returned the upstairs to a state of nature.
Steve Tyler can’t reach this octave of Dream On.
The place TRIPLED in price between 1998-2005, and the bank is trying to fetch the bubble price for this dull, badly-cared for house on the edge of a dodgy neighborhood. And they wont’ even be bothered to cut the lawn.
The pictures don’t tell you much about the overall condition, but if the exterior and grounds are any indication, the place probably is uninhabitable as it is. Note it is being sold As Is.
Logan Square has worse crime than Rogers Park and isn’t anywhere near a decent beach. Where’s the nearest full-service grocery store?
$350K max for this, because you are probably going to have to spend $150K to bring it up to code and make it attractive and livable.
But what buyer ultimately wants to spend $500,000 for an updated home on the edge of a dodgy area without access to any amenities?
The March ’05 sale was 100% financed and in September ’05 there was another refi totalling $700,000, $25k cash out a property bought 6 months earlier. amazing!
The 2500 block of Bernard is straight out of {fill in the blank desired homogeneous suburb}. The posters here are revealing how little they know about the neighborhood and/or relying on a reputation that is 10+ yrs old.
I don’t mind that reputation, as it prevents some of chicago’s finest douche-bags from invading the area and infecting it with their refined doucheocity. The neighborhood enjoys/suffers from pretty much the same things as every other Chicago residential neighborhood.
All that said, this realtor’s effort is laughable and the price will need to be slashed by 25+% before it garners any serious interest.
The taxes are insane for this caliber of neighborhood as well.
Carpentersville?
“The 2500 block of Bernard is straight out of {fill in the blank desired homogeneous suburb}. “
Carpentersville, home of the Turkey Testicle Festival. To each his own I guess.
“All that said, this realtor’s effort is laughable and the price will need to be slashed by 25+% before it garners any serious interest.”
Actually 50+%. We’re not buidling neighborhoods with mortgage frauds and house as ATM strategy JohnnyQ. The new buyer will need to have an income to be able to support the interest payments over the long term.
dump
“The 2500 block of Bernard is straight out of {fill in the blank desired homogeneous suburb}. “
Really? Then it should be discounted another $100K. Who wants to live in a “homogeneous suburb”?
>>>Really? Then it should be discounted another $100K. Who wants to live in a “homogeneous suburb”?
Probably people that eat turkey nutz. Just some good old ‘mericans that buy their tube socks in bulk.
Regarding discount at 50%: totally agree. I believe some slick moneyman will start sniffing around when the price moves south of $420K…but I would love to see more aggressive pricing. unfortunately there does not appear to be much incentive to sell it given the half-assed (quarter-assed?) attempt to market it.
“Logan Square has worse crime than Rogers Park and isn’t anywhere near a decent beach. Where’s the nearest full-service grocery store?”
Could you please elaborate on the “worse crime” statement here. From what I can see from Police Stats, both Rogers Park and Logan Square are not Edison Park, nor are they Austin. That particular Beat, 1413, happens to be one of 5 in the 14th district that have very low crime rates. What Rogers Park beats can we compare stats with?
And, regarding grocers, there’s a Jewel at Pulaski and Belmont, a Tony’s just down the block at Fullerton, as well as 2 full service Hispanic Grocery stores, one that has a restaurant inside. And frankly, these independent grocers are more full-service than any Jewel or Dominicks, since they actually have real butchers on duty that you can have help you, and a full meat counter where you can buy as much or as little as you’d like. The produce there is generally superior in variety, price and flavor than that argribusiness crap they sell at Jewel/Dominicks. Finally, the prices overall are WAY better. Jeeze. It may be a tad rough over there, but it’s not the ghetto! When was the last time you ventured out past Western Avenue on Fullerton?
I’m with you on the latino grocery stores logansquarean. great alternative to domnicks/jewel dullness. though rogers park has El Mexicano Grocery and Supermercado Chapala on clark. might be a tie so far in this neighborhood pissing match!
whatever happened to Jimenez on western/webster?
Here’s your Jewel at Pulaski & Belmont. It’s been vacant for years.
“And, regarding grocers, there’s a Jewel at Pulaski and Belmont”
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=belmont+and+pulaski,+chicago&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=31.509065,56.513672&ie=UTF8&ll=41.93868,-87.727032&spn=0,359.972405&z=15&layer=c&cbll=41.938592,-87.727032&panoid=KO17wTROA2fe-mfWb616Zg&cbp=12,227.58,,0,3.32
“When was the last time you ventured out past Western Avenue on Fullerton?”
Apparently that Jewel has been empty for years. Your same question could be posed to you.
There is an Aldi that will be completed in a few months at Kimble and Belmont that is right next door to a brand new Best Buy and down the street from a brand new Walgreens. Also there is a huge plaza at addison & Kimball with a Jewel and other large retailers. There is also a Target & Kmart on Addision.
Or you can go 5 minutes down logan to Elston, there you have a Taget, Starck & van Till, Petsmart, Circuit City, Home Depot,etc. etc. etc. Elston & Logan is one of the largest commercial strip in chicago.
So, with 1.5 miles there are numerous large national chain big-box store. Do you need more? Is there more in LV or LP? No & No.
Can we knock off the Logan Square is the 5th-level-of-hell BS. If it makes certain people on this site happy, let me say it and then maybe we can stop bashing every other neighborhood: “LP and LV are the only decent neighborhoods in Chicago, anyone who does not live there, or does not want to, is a lower level of human”, happy?
Might it be a fine neighborhood? Yes indeed. Should homes like this go for anywhere near 600/700k? Absolutely not.
An ALDI is not a positive thing to be built in your neighborhood.
Just wait for all the bad elements to start arriving en masse now that an Aldi is popping up at 1800 clybourn. Watch out Lincoln Park doucheoids!!!
“I’m with you on the latino grocery stores logansquarean. great alternative to domnicks/jewel dullness.”
Dullness? Here we go, another person brainwashed by diversity propaganda.
The average Dominick’s/Jewel in Chicago has been renovated and they offer far more diverse product choices than a “latino grocery” does. Don’t let that tidbit get in the way of your hipster “anti” worldview.
…well if Lincoln Park is getting an Aldi, then Aldi’s must be cool.
That’s not really lincoln park over there… that’s no-man’s land, and now that there’s going to be an Aldi there… watch out, there goes the neighborhood!
““When was the last time you ventured out past Western Avenue on Fullerton?”
Apparently that Jewel has been empty for years. Your same question could be posed to you.”
Belmont and Pulaski is not “west on Fullerton”. I live further east of there. Nonetheless, there are 3 FULL SERVICE supermarkets on Fullerton, nearest to where this overpriced monster is. THAT was my point, as well as the fact that Jewel and Dominicks are not the Gold Standard, unless you’ve got more money than brains.
And I haven’t seen that the Aldi at Clybourn and Webster has been a detriment to that area, anymore than the one at Milwaukee and Leavitt has. And, for all you grocery snobs, what oh what will Aldi do to the neighborhood when they go in UNDER the Trader Joe’s on Clybourn!?
“Aldi at Clybourn and Webster”
Wrightwood.
“Aldi … Trader Joe’s”
Same owners.
“There is an Aldi that will be completed in a few months at Kimble and Belmont that is right next door to a brand new Best Buy and down the street from a brand new Walgreens.”
I’ve been watching this with interest, as the Best Buy used to be a Dominicks (well, half of a Dominicks), albeit possibly the worst Dominick’s I had ever visited.
Any idea if the Aldi will be taking the current Walgreens space in that plaza? Or will that be available when they move west of Kimball to the new space?
skeptic,
From the size of the space it looks like the Aldi will take up the former Walgreens space. I take the Kimbal entrance ramp every day so I’ve been witnessing the construction for a while. The empty space between the new Best Buy and the outgoing walgreens just seems way to small for a gracery store.
You need to remember that a good portion of the major streets in Logan Square are historic boulevards so there will never be parge, big box realtors there: Logan, Kedzie, Palmer, Humbolt. Because fo this any large realtors will be on the outskirts. Which is fine, I’d rather drive 5-10 minutes and get everything done in one trip than have all these stores within walking distance and have to deal with the congestion.
correction:
there will never be large, big box retail stores
logansquarean,
hahaha you mentioned Tony’s on fulerton, dude that is still considered the “hood”! you are correct the quality of produce at tony’s, jimenz, and the other around there is really great and at dirt cheap prices, same as the polish places on belmont and around jeff park, you get amazing fruits and veggies at half the cost of the evil Jewel.
but come the whole area around the historic and beautiful part of logan square is ghetto. why cant people who live there just say it?
all of you stop talking smack about Aldi, where esle can you get a bag of frozen chicken breasts for $4.00? but serioulsy the can goods their are like a third of what jewel charges and same quality.
also tony’s on fullerton, i dated a girl that worked there back in the day, i hated picking her up when after closing time, i felt like i was just waiting to get stabbed 🙂
The reason why Jewel and Dominicks are ‘expensive’ is because the employees are unionized, are provided health care and are paid a living wage.
The illegal immigrants who stack the produce at the Mexican and Polish stores are probably being paid minimum wage using fake social security numbers, have no health insurance and are being exploited so that you can save a buck or on your tomatoes and lettuce.
Think about that next time you shop for produce.
“The empty space between the new Best Buy and the outgoing walgreens just seems way to small for a gracery store.”
Aldi uses a ~10k footprint–much, much smaller even the smallest Jewel/Dominicks store. Smaller than many Walgreen’s, for that matter.
“Think about that next time you shop for produce.”
No I am going to think of unicorns and butterflies. But whatever floats your boat to make your shopping experience the most enjoyable while getting the best deal.
HD,
You make a good point,
but if you dig deeper, jewel buys those tomatoes from some one who uses illegal’s, slave labor, or childern to grow and pick the lettuce, and tomatoes, and oranges.
it all relative man
this has to be the first chatter that has gone all the way from a SFH to the labor practices of vegetables.
“The empty space between the new Best Buy and the outgoing walgreens just seems way to small for a gracery store.”
I’ve been thinking the same thing, but the drawings/materials seem to suggest that Aldi will be open before the Walgreens even moves.
definitely an interesting development, I can’t understand why Aldi didn’t just take the old Belmont Produce space.
sorry tom,
back to the SFH, This is the HOOD and 600k to spend another 150k for the remodel? even though this house is nice sized and the i would love a nice big front porch. but come on at that price to live in the hood?
ok thought about it over night, and its still the “HOOD”. i stand by my previous comments for one more day.
HOOD proclaimers are doing a great job of promoting themselves as insular, paranoid, and comfortable only in the presence of fellow fearmongers.
JohnnyQ,
dude i grew up in the “hood”, went to school in the “hood”, hung out in the “hood”, and guess what own a home in the “hood”.
call me a paranoid fearmonger or what ever. i am just calling it as i have experianced/witness too.
wow – I’ll say it again, I lived in a house that was basically across the alley from this place. I don’t know the particular house, but I can say that Bernard & a couple of the surrounding streets have huge, gracious, well kept houses with interesting people who are very neighborhood oriented. As a single girl living alone, I never felt unsafe or threatened. South of Fullerton, or even further west, is a different story, but right here is a stretch of beautiful vintage houses. I agree that the price is too high – but I don’t think it’s not as overvalued as some people seem to think.
hi rah,
its not that the neighborhood is not safe, it is safer than some but not as safe as others.
The house is large with large bedrooms, and some house’s around it are beautiful and well maintained.
but for 600k and add 150k to update/remodel, now your paying 750k to live in a nicer “hood”. my mind cant get past that at all.
Cribchatterazzi: listing price has been slashed (!) and is now down to $570k…the listing agent must be getting really serious now. Only $150k more in concessions to go, this baby ~might~ sell by 2011!
good times
Apparently reduced to $549 and apparently it’s now contingent. . .
No doubt one of the worst looking listings in the history of r.e.. . . .but we shouldn’t confuse bad listings with bad properties.
This one closed for $561k in Oct., after reducing down to $549k in Sept.
To Sabrina’s question of houses closing above ask. . . I’m not a believer, but it makes me wonder a bit.
Sometimes the current owner will bring money to pay for closing costs and the buyers will finance that… that’s where you get the above ask stuff, usually.
So the new owner doesn’t have the cash to buy down the points but we’re supposed to expect them to be able to maintain payments on a 561k mortgage because the seller provided for that?
I definitely called this property wrong and continue to be amazed. Can someone please check the financing on this one? Please tell me I am wildly off base and they brought a substantial downpayment.
“This one closed for $561k in Oct”
why would someone do that? why?
CCRD hasn’t posted the info online yet.
“Sometimes the current owner will bring money to pay for closing costs and the buyers will finance that… that’s where you get the above ask stuff, usually.”
But it was bank owned. . .
“why would someone do that? why?”
Groove, brother, it ain’t that much of a shame! (Those pics were awful but the property isn’t). They did get 1000 sq feet– OF BEDROOMS–on one of the purdiest blocks in all of Logan.
“But it was bank owned. . .”
I dunno, maybe the bank brought money to closing so that the buyers could buy down their mortgage rate?
Square,
its a 561k “as is” fixer upper. by the former gang hang out Duks (closed now).
i know i am the biggest downer when it comes to logan, humbolt, west wicker park. and some of my bias is from things in the past.
but i feel 561k can take you very very far in chicago if you are looking for a marginal hood.
IMO the only reason Logan Square started gentrifying is young teachers and other college educated professionals making working class wages were priced out of hoods like LP/LV/WP/BT.
I consider it preposterous that a house like this fetches 561k.
This is definitely a huge win for the RE bulls and a definite missed call from us bears.
Hah. . . The photos were fixer uppers.
The property really wasn’t that– if you squint at those photos, you can actually see a pretty nice kitchen (granite, new appliances, etc.). I saw it, and it can’t be more than $15, 20k away from looking almost luxurious (y’know, relatively).
Re: Duks, I know. But like you say, “former.” That was then, they’re fighting over Ridgeway now. . . all that awfulness seems to be going north and west from there (and I do apologize cuz it sounds like you live N or W from there). I was just surprised how nice this place was when I checked it out.
“and I do apologize cuz it sounds like you live N or W from there”
yep i am west, up by Riss park now. grew up close to here
squareD, you can probably clarify this since you been in the place. from the pictures it looks like original plaster walls (or chinese dry wall 🙂 LOL) and the electrical outlets look dated. Bathrooms fixtures look late 80’s dated, On the pluses floor look good, kitchen looks new. Siding on the garage looks new matches the house and looks wood not vinyl.
a good lawn mower and 15k-20k for a DYI, 30k if your brother in-law is a contractor, 50k for a contractor and you got your self a big house.
i will stand buy my previous comment “but i feel 561k can take you very very far in chicago if you are looking for a marginal hood”
I’d guess a tear down on Bernard for this block would cost $400k because of where you are at. If you haven’t walked down this particular stretch of Bernard in the spring or summer you should. These houses are very very large and most have been restored. This isn’t an up and coming neighborhood, more like an old money neighborhood. Yes, there are parts of Logan Square that are rough, but this neighborhood stretches over a pretty huge area and like most of Chicago includes some really nice areas and some really bad areas.
$560 seems steep. Looking at the place you’d probably need to gut some rooms. This isn’t a place that you could steal and then flip in two years. But if you’re going to stick around for another 5 years and you got a nice rate on the mortgage (and you’re putting in a lot of sweat equity) I bet they come out a bit ahead. There’s also a big plus of living in a nice neighborhood right off the square (and the Blue Line) for that time.
You also need to factor in parking in front of your house or in your garage basically for free (how much does that cost per year in Lincoln Park?).