Forget the Single Family Home, Buy a Condo Instead: 1707 N. Larrabee in Lincoln Park
This 3-bedroom duplex up condo at 1707 N. Larrabee in Lincoln Park lives like a single family home but will have less maintenance.
Obviously, there is no grass to cut in the backyard.
The unit has a 2-story living room with cathedral ceilings and a second level family room.
There are skyline views from 2-decks.
The kitchen has 42 inch cherry cabinets, stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops.
The unit is also listed for $16,000 under the 2005 purchase price.
Is this a good single family home alternative in Lincoln Park?
Eudice Fogel at Prudential Rubloff has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #3S: 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, duplex up, no square footage listed, parking included
- Sold in May 2003 for $728,500
- Sold in November 2005 for $765,000
- Originally listed in August 2010 for $769,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $749,000
- Assessments of $292 a month
- Taxes of $10,489
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 16×12 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 13×12 (main floor)
- Bedroom #3: 12×12 (main floor)
- Family room: 16×16 (second floor)
Didn’t MG have a similarly sized and located place for sale that was featured on CC? Clear recollection, but can’t locate it.
Nice looking place and, yes, to have a somewhat unique (given the ceilings/windows) 3/3, with a family room and a garage, on two levels with nobody above you, in the Lincoln Elem district, it’s a great SFH alternative. But the location is not so hot (too far from the park and a bit far from Oz, and too close to a less-than-pleasant stretch of North Ave).
http://cribchatter.com/?p=8024
Are there comps for this? I looked at lots of these places and they were all under 700K and most were under 600K. Maybe the school district makes the difference.
Anon,
You may be talking about 1821 N Larrabee at a 4050 sq/ft three level unit (below grade lower floor, then two more floors up) sold for $985K this summer. A two unit building. The original ask for that place was $1,200,000 plus with the first listing agent.
This place at 1707 N Larrabee is not nearly as tripped out and in a six unit building. However, the light is superior. I think a family buys the duplex down and a couple (no kids yet) buys the duplex up. So, a bit different markets.
The duplex up should have been priced under what the owners paid for it from the start… and it would have had buyer with these interest rates and pretty favorable lending environment for solid buildings. It may take a little while now, but not a crazy price for the area… looks in great shape.
Anon, are you talking about this place:
http://cribchatter.com/?p=8327
“I think a family buys the duplex down and a couple (no kids yet) buys the duplex up.”
I agree – third/fourth floor in a non-elevator building is a tough sell for families with kids. The agent did a great job here with pictures/floorplans. Then again, I am biased because she was my agent in 2001 and showed me about 40 places before I found my place. Very professional and nice to work with.
Wow – I think this place seems kind of expensive. Why wouldn’t someone spend a little more and buy a SFH – in the long run, they may end up saving money and they wouldn’t have to deal w/ an association? If a SFH is too expensive, surely there have to be cheaper condo alternatives in the area.
Question,
1825 N Mohawk, built in 1998 (older), 3 bed, 3 bath garage, duplex up closed for $825K, may have had a better roof deck/view.
1952 N Hudson, built 1998, same stuff 3, 3 garage, duplex up at $720K. Real similar, nice view as well.
So, 1707 N Larrabee is right there at $749K according to comps in last 6 months. We shall see how it goes.
The virtual tour of 1707 N Larrabee has great shots of what your view will be, but the agent did not select those view photos for the 16 MLS pictures that show up on a regular search. The views of downtown also look way further away than the actual views.
“You may be talking about 1821 N Larrabee”
Yep. Thanks, ER.
“The original ask for that place was $1,200,000 plus”
Very +; $1.399mm.
do not like… I especially hate the giant fireplace taking up at least 30sqft of the living room… this isn’t the 1900’s, WE DONT NEED FIREPLACES ANYMORE
I mean seriously with space at a premium why even bother
“Why wouldn’t someone spend a little more and buy a SFH”
What do you consider “a little”? 15%? There just aren’t a lot of SFHs (in live-in-at-closing condition) for under $900k in the neighborhood (defined as “Lincoln Elem attendance area”).
Do these folks not watch television? I’d keep it up on that family room/loft, personally. But I’m not seeing any t.v. here.
that family room has a less than ideal design if you want to relax in the living room and not listen to the racket your kids are making upstairs. or vice versa.
There’s a tv in the family room/loft. Which is awesome because you can watch tv while someone is cooking in the kitchen and be subjected to all the banging of pots and pans *and* soak up the cooking smells! Also, you can probably hear the person who is listening to music in the living room. Living room person can hear your tv show, and the person cooking in the kitchen. Kitchen person can be driven insane by the cacophony of the tv and stereo. There’s really nothing like an open floor plan.
But it’s totally worth it for those 2 times per month that you have people over for dinner/cocktails.
I hate this layout and this place is cookie-cutter boring as far as finishes. The only positive thing about it is that, unlike the majority of duplexes, none of it is below grade.
I pretty well agree, Madeline. I think the next time I look for real estate one of my criteria will be “not built from 2000-2009” or similar.
“There’s a tv in the family room/loft. Which is awesome because you can watch tv while someone is cooking in the kitchen and be subjected to all the banging of pots and pans *and* soak up the cooking smells!”
WTF are you cooking Madeline that someone in a place with 20′ (min) ceilings is going to be basting in the odor from below while watching tv. Seriously, I have this floorplan and it works out great for my situation. Then again, I like who I live with and we don’t generally have the battles you describe above… Not a good place to live if you are trying to avoid the person you live with.
How can I find the sale and mortgage situation on this property? Or is that something I have to use an agent for?
CCRD.info but if you don’t know what you’re doing then it’s difficult to explain.
“Gescob on October 11th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
How can I find the sale and mortgage situation on this property? Or is that something I have to use an agent for?”
I can see both sides of the layout argument. Obviously I get along with the people I live with, but there are certainly times where we want to watch different things and would like not to be disturbed by the other party. Ex: Dancing with the Stars being on at the same time as Monday Night Football. My girlfriend and I watch this in separate rooms and prefer not to hear the others’ show while doing so. Doesn’t mean we want to avoid each other, but it’s certainly a situation where this layout wouldn’t be ideal. I do like open floorplans between the kitchen and living space, but it seems weird to have an open floorplan between two living spaces. I mean, there’s a reason why you have two, and that’s because you’re not using them together.
“CCRD.info but if you don’t know what you’re doing then it’s difficult to explain.”
Is it that hard to explain? Someone explained it to me once or I figured out some of it after getting referred to CCRD.
Get the PIN (Property/Parcel Identification Number) from the listing. It’s certainly on Redfin (so you can search by MLS number or address on Redfin). Look up by PIN on CCRD.info. Some of the more obscure entries I don’t quite understand but the deed transfers and mortgages are fairly straightforward. You can also get PIN by searching by address on cook county assessors site and you can search for records by name on CCRD.
Any suggestions on more efficient workflow appreciated. HD also posted a Firefox extension that helped with lookup, but I don’t use FF. I do find it a pain to enter the PINs.
In addition to CCRD and assessor sites, I find it helpful to search the pin on the cook county treasurer site to see the latest tax payment and whether the property looks owner occupied or an investment property (based on where the tax bill is going).
You can get PINs from Redfin (even on properties not listed for sale) and use the firefox extension.
Deeds and mortgages are pretty straight forwarded for most properties.
Madeline, shouldn’t YOU be the one in the kitchen?
You must be a real catch
I am an incredible catch! Thanks for noticing!!
Regarding who wants duplexes up or down: People planning for old age want to avoid units requiring a walk up three flights. But getting the extra space of a duplex down may be worth one flight of stairs, if one gets rooms for grandchildren visits and a lifetime of accumulation. Also, is “But the location is not so hot (too far from the park and a bit far from Oz, and too close to a less-than-pleasant stretch of North Ave)” really true in others’ opinions?
“You must be a real catch”
Yeah an asian carp or gar.
““You must be a real catch”
Yeah an asian carp or gar.”
I don’t think Sonies was talking about you, Bob, but that is illuminating.
Busting out the gar reference, I like it!
“Busting out the gar reference, I like it!”
I don’t think Bob was speaking 4chan–wasn’t aware of it either–but I try not to underestimate Bob.
Eric, thanks.
“Also, is “But the location is not so hot (too far from the park and a bit far from Oz, and too close to a less-than-pleasant stretch of North Ave)” really true in others’ opinions?”
Yes, I agree with this statement. Not only is it a bit far from from the park but larrabee can be a busy street right around here. you wont have a traffic jam but you will have cars zooming by all day. As for being less-than-pleasant…there is a lot of section 8 housing close, as someone pointed out to me before. My friend got mugged by one of the kids that lived right around the corner, well at least thats were he ran too. Also, there have been several break in of garages, condos, cars around here lately (but i guess that seems to be everywhere in the city). go hang out in the alley of this place for a night and see what kind of critters come out, might be surprised
Personally I would rather be south of North Ave and further East. This is predicated on need though of neighborhood school.
Say East of North Park between North Ave and Division than this stretch of Larrabee.
Now further up and away from North Ave, I don’t mind moving further west and its nicer.
Awesome comment Jon.
“Then again, I like who I live with and we don’t generally have the battles you describe above… Not a good place to live if you are trying to avoid the person you live with.”
I like it. If you have a true hatred for your significant other, this isn’t the place for you… but a split floor plan 2/2 should do it.
“My friend got mugged by one of the kids that lived right around the corner, well at least thats were he ran too. Also, there have been several break in of garages, condos, cars around here lately (but i guess that seems to be everywhere in the city).”
This has and always will be a feature of Lincoln Park. And, the majority of the city as well.
This closed for $687,500 earlier this month. Sort of ouch. But, not crazy ouch.
the duplex down in this building was recently put on the market. i have been there several times and it is a fantastic unit for couples with 0-2 children!