Forget The Townhouse, Get a 3-Bedroom SFH In Lakeview For $500,000 Instead: 3721 N. Racine
This 3-bedroom single family home at 3721 N. Racine in Lakeview has been on the market since February 2012.
It’s a short sale and has been reduced about $100,000 to $500,000 in that time.
Built in 1904 on a smaller than standard lot of 25×58, it has 1-car parking which appears to be a pull-in onto the yard (according to the Redfin agents’ comments.)
It has upscale finishes in the kitchen and bathrooms including white Brookhaven cabinets and white carrera marble counter tops in the kitchen. There are flat panel televisions in both the kitchen and bathrooms.
All 3 bedrooms are on the second floor and there is a partially finished basement with a wine cellar.
It is currently listed $255,000 under the 2007 purchase price.
But it is still listed $8,000 above the 2005 price.
Will a price around $500,000 get this sold?
Colin Hebson at Dream Town Realty has the listing. See the pictures here.
3721 N. Racine: 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, no square footage listed, 1 car parking
- Sold in May 1994 for $208,000
- Sold in June 1997 for $251,000
- Sold in August 1998 for $284,000
- Sold in December 1999 for $339,000
- Sold in July 2005 for $492,000
- Sold in June 2007 for $755,000
- Listed in February 2012 for $599,900
- Lis pendens filed in June 2012
- Reduced
- Currently listed as a “short sale” at $500,000
- Taxes of $11,083
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 14×12 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 11×8 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 9×9 (second floor)
$425k. The aesthetics of this place are going to appeal to an unmarried professional woman. That person is not going to buy a house at this location unless she is a RABID Cubs fan. Also two minor quibbles – no powder room on the main level is not good, and anyone who installs carrera marble as the main kitchen countertop does not cook or drink red wine / coffee.
Where do we even start?
1) Marble countertops = bad idea. Yes they sell them and they look nice but one spill, even when sealed, and OOOOOOPS!!!!
2) Small lot
3) Busy street
4) Family room in basement – living large in the basement
5) My apartment has changed tenants fewer times than this home has changed owners since 1994.
6) No garage, only parking pad for one car?
7) Did I mention Racine street, a busy street? With Clark on the other side ?
8) Black floors, is that for realz?
9) No one mentioned this is a short sale?
10 ) $600,000 first mortgage plus a $117,250 second mortgage = 5% down payment of $37,750!!! Amazing times we live in!
11) This appears to be a strategic default.
no powder room on the main floor is not that big a deal (I don’t have one and have survived) – but what is more of a deal killer is the fact that its right next door to the Metro’s load-in area (so imagine the buses and roadies smoking right outside your door at all hours) and the fact that it shares an alley with clark street bars, with the smell and rats that come with that.
They have made the most of this small home and lot. As for the feminine decor I think that a credit for paint at closing can change the look. This will make a decent home for a single working professional or couple who’s “kids” only say meow. The tradeoff is that they do not need tons of room and have limited need for closets or storage. (note the lack of a coat closet on the main floor) The lack of a two car garage will likely stop many couples due to game day and weekend parking issues. Think of this as an exceptional alternative to living in a $450K 1200 sq. foot condo where you have to deal with neighbors and associations that do not share similar goals. I’d bet that the construction here is far superior to most condos in the area built between 1995 and 2008!
Red G – good call on the load out issues from Metro. On the plus side maybe Billy Corrigan would become your best friend and play your kids bar mitzvah or post prom party. Except that the kids would not know who he or the Smashing Pumpkins were.
Rats are not that big of an issue. They are everywhere in the city. I used to live right near Sheffield and Clark backing up to an alley that had many bars along Clark and never had an issue.
killer taxes
Racine is one of those streets like Central Park: Tree lined and residential in some parts of the city, busy thoroughfare in other places. The lack of parking spaces and the load zone issue will make this a tough sell.
Are marble counter tops really that big of a problem to maintain?
I would imagine there is quite a stale beer stench from the trash behind those bars during baseball season. I’ll bet there’s also some noise from the Metro.
In my opinion, living in Wrigley is a selling point, not something to be worried about! If I lived here I would have to get a Henry Rowengartner jersey. I bet I could get a lot of funky buttloving here!
It’s the perfect location for an unlicensed and unadvertised den of unsavory activities. The satellite view even appears to show a gangway between the Metro and the house – band members and their entourages could come and go unnoticed. The din of idling tour buses, the music venue and all the bars lining the alley ensure nobody will identify the house as the source of any particular noises or smells…
“But it is still listed $8,000 above the 2005 price.”
Moot point, but is that pre-rehab or post rehab? I imagine there were people buying $450k+ tear downs around here back then.
I lived next door during the rehab in my mid-20’s. I’ve lived everywhere and would never consider living here past my 20’s.
– The rats are HUGE and the bar smells are intense – a combo of stale beer and grease.
– People who live here party. My neighbors and I threw many parties, some outdoor and I know some of my friends would loiter in front of this house while playing bags.
– Some of the more popular metro shows have lines that extend to right in front of this house for hours at a time. Forget about opening your window unless u want the latest high school gossip.
– The street is crazy busy with cars because its right off clark.
– You could feel the bass walking next to the metro, I bet you get residual noise inside of the house.
– Homeless people love sleeping in that alley
This is just off the top of my head, I bet there are more I could think of as well!
We consistently had
The couple has moved to the North Shore, little one is starting school soon. I am pretty sure the husband is partner at a law firm.
Yeah but it’s still is a pending foreclosure.
“Steve (June 20, 2012, 4:41 pm)
The couple has moved to the North Shore, little one is starting school soon. I am pretty sure the husband is partner at a law firm.”
Hold on, so the last owner is basically walking away form $717,250 in mortgages (according to homedelete’s post) and already has a new place on the North Shore? Tell me that is a rental, right? No way can you walk away from that big of a disaster and re-up at the same level, if not more. Right?
Who would want to get legal advice from a law firm who has a partner who lost the place to foreclosure?
Do you really think the owner is coming to the table with 200,000$ to cover his loss? No way.
I agree he may not be bringing $200k to the table, but then no one in their right mind should give him another $700k to go buy another place. And if they do, they better not receive anything from the public if/when he goes broke again.
“Who would want to get legal advice from a law firm who has a partner who lost the place to foreclosure?”
Hmm, I don’t know, maybe a client who doesn’t so much think that this unfortunately located house was “lost” to foreclosure so much as the previous occupant has prudently placed the property in the rearview mirrow on his way up to the North Shore?
Just spit-balling here (having neither the time nor the inclination to stalk/further investigate, let alone the shift-key-intensive energy to use semi-colons for the remainder of this sentence), but perhaps: they purchased this place “on their way up,” they had kids, continued to make more and save more money, the market totally tanked and selling the house would only be a money loser, they had the income and the down necessary to buy another house, then basically gave up on this place, and will happily wait for the banks/real estate industry to semi-competently market and sell the place, at which point he’ll pay (eventually) the deficiency.
Do you think that rich people and companies *always* engage counsel for the exclusive purpose of “doing the right thing/paying their bills/paying as much as possible in taxes/paying whatever a plaintiff asks,” or might they, from time to time, seek to do otherwise? Go ask some conservatives (see, e.g., R. Posner) about efficient/economical breach. While you’re at it, go ask the state bar why defaulting on student loans results in dis-barment, while defaulting on a home loan may, worst case (i.e., if the borrower resists paying the deficiency), result in a letter or the like being placed in the borrower’s bar file (which would only be an issue, if at all, if he or she seeks to gain admission to another state).
Don’t worry about paying back all those pesky school loans. give him another 4 years and the man will wipe them out and put that tab on the backs of (the few) American taxpayers! Maybe I should not be aggressively paying down the wife’s law school debts!
God I would vote democrat for the rest of my life if Obama gave us all a student loan jubilee. That would be totally awesome.
“I would vote democrat for the rest of my life if Obama gave us all a student loan jubilee”
How about he’ll promise it but know he can’t deliver it.
I’ve always been in favor of allowing student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy court. iirc anon(tfo) said I’d change my mind the day I made my last payment. Nope. There is no compelling reason for that debt to be non-dischargable. George W Bush was just an asshole plain and simple.
It wasn’t just bush, it was all of congress that overwhelming voted for the new bankruptcy bill. That bill only made private loans nondischargable. Federal loans were made nondischargable in the 1990’s so blame Clinton if you really want to blame somebody.
“God I would vote democrat for the rest of my life if Obama gave us all a student loan jubilee. That would be totally awesome.”
The government is backing all the student loans. How can they make it dischargable? If they do- I’m NOT paying for everyone to go to DeVry for a year and then drop out and then declare bankruptcy. The whole student loan issue is one big mess. If they don’t make the credit available, then maybe Northwestern Law School won’t be able to charge about $80,000 a year to go there (yes- that’s how much it costs to go there for one year now.)
“The whole student loan issue is one big mess. If they don’t make the credit available, then maybe Northwestern Law School won’t be able to charge about $80,000 a year to go there (yes- that’s how much it costs to go there for one year now.)”
Exactly. The private market is pretty good at assessing risk and charging an appropriate rate. Get the government out of providing financing for everything and watch the cost of education, healthcare and housing plummet.
“he’ll pay (eventually) the deficiency”
Well, it’s a short sale now. You think he’s planning on paying? I raise again the question I ask periodically of whether in today’s world a lender could successfully pursue someone who clearly has assets.
Isn’t this basically the only thing that hd has any useful information about? Weren’t you telling us before that the banks never actually go after anyone for the deficiency? Does that change if they obviously have assets and income?
“I raise again the question I ask periodically of whether in today’s world a lender could successfully pursue someone who clearly has assets.”
I know someone who did a short sale out in the far west suburbs. He had to move to another state for job reasons. He had other assets.
The bank took a $125,000 loss on the house. He had to pay the bank $25,000 in order to get out of it (that was the settlement they agreed to.) In his opinion, he got the WAY better end of the deal.
He recently bought a house (just 2 years later) in the new state (even though he has the short sale on his credit report.)
Northwestern Law costs $53K a year, not $80.
“Northwestern Law costs $53K a year, not $80.”
They’re probably taking the total amount of loans you can qualify for without a special exemption (for more), which is a bit of a joke.
In b-school I knew people living in 340 OTP. Yes that was a preferred building for 20-somethings in b-school living the student loan debt dream. At least four people I knew lived there. Hilarious.
Whatever happened to Miumiu? Haven’t seen her on here in months.
“Isn’t this basically the only thing that hd has any useful information about?”
You are a huge fool if you think the only thing I have any useful information about is deficiencies. I’m a practicing lawyer and I’ve been dealing with real estate related legal issues since I was a law clerk during my years in undergrad.
The owner of this property has to worry about his second mortgage more than the first. Second mortgages are no different than credit cards – stop paying and they’re going to sue you (there are lots of exceptions to this rule BTW). There’s a $100k+ 2nd mortgage on this property.
The foreclosure was just filed on June 12th and hasn’t even had the first CMC date yet, so it’s brand new.
“Whatever happened to Miumiu? Haven’t seen her on here in months.”
having a kid shocked her social system, so to relive it or get the feeling back she went full on uppity nose up in the air type. few of us called her on it, and the back and forth got rough so she split.
i do miss the old miumiu.
“The couple has moved to the North Shore, little one is starting school soon. I am pretty sure the husband is partner at a law firm.”
Something is not right, or the PIN is wrong. I dont see any record of a second house on the north shore being bought.
It also may be my google fu, as i dont use the pin thing often but this statement angered me and had to check.
“I dont see any record of a second house on the north shore being bought.”
Maybe they’re in HP?
“i do miss the old miumiu.”
I miss all the miumius.
The cost of Northwestern Law is irrelevant. Any grad that is unemployed or underemployed will have their student loan payments made for them, courtesy of the Northwestern Law Alumni Association.
That is the promise the the top schools can make. The ridiculousness starts when some kid goes to John Marshall or Chicago Kent @ $50,000 a year. You get no backstop there.
Trust me, the alumni association DOES NOT PAY FOR ONE’S NW LAW TUITION!!! LOL!
“God I would vote democrat for the rest of my life if Obama gave us all a student loan jubilee. That would be totally awesome.”
And that right there is what is wrong with America. The old I’ll vote for you if you do this and that for me will never go away but politicians will gladly vote for something completely insane just to stay in elected office. Who cares what the cost will be down the line. Not my problem…. I will be retired by then living off the excess of my giant campaign funds generated from dumb votes.
Do you know why IL can not make it’s anticipated pension obligations. It’s because jackasses used those funds for years as “LOANS” to plug defects in spending. Loans I might add that they never intended to pay back. They basically stole from the funds. In the private sector that would get you time behind bars. In the public sector you got re-elected by the idiot machines and union workers who the money was stolen from!
“Trust me, the alumni association DOES NOT PAY FOR ONE’S NW LAW TUITION!!! LOL!”
he means by connecting you with a well paying job when you graduate, as opposed to someone who threw down 200k for a Juan marshall degree
“he means by connecting you with a well paying job when you graduate, as opposed to someone who threw down 200k for a Juan marshall degree”
He means some kinda loan forgiveness program, which some/many of the top schools have. I take if from sarahs that northwestern doesn’t have one or it operates in some way that is unpleasing to her.
Paging Anthony Rizzo…come in Tony…your new home in Wrigleyville is waiting…
Northwestern Law has a loan repayment assistance program if you work for the government or in public interest. It’s based on a sliding scale corresponding to what you owe and how much you make.
Do we know for a fact that the couple selling this house already purchased another in the suburbs?
“Do we know for a fact that the couple selling this house already purchased another in the suburbs?”
There’s nothing in the cook county public records about another home purchase.
“Whatever happened to Miumiu? Haven’t seen her on here in months.”
In about 11 or 12 months? That is when she & I both had babies… no time when cc when you can be SLEEPING!
“Northwestern Law costs $53K a year, not $80.”
GG: You are wrong. TUITION is $53,000 a year. When you add in living expenses the university estimates it is about $78,000 or thereabouts. So not quite $80,000 but it depends on how you live, right? (what you eat, what kind of housing you have.)
If Northwestern is around $80k- what is it at NYU and Columbia where the cost of living is even more? $90k a year?
Absurd.
I used to joke that it would soon cost $100k a year to go to law school- and we’re not far off. That will probably happen by 2016 or so.
“So not quite $80,000 but it depends on how you live, right? (what you eat, what kind of housing you have.)”
What I’ve observed from a lot is that if it’s under the pre-set limit for an exemption (for a higher amount) many _live it up_! It’s the ol’ you can live like a CEO/partner when you’re a student and live like a student when you’re a CEO/partner.
Low interest right? Who doesn’t love zero percent these days? And 8 or 9 for private loans who cares? Live now worry later it’s the American & Western European paradigm!
Err 8 or 9 percent.
Fewer partners being made these days since the recession and those that are made junior partners. Junior partner is just a title with no real identifiable or financial benefits. And the track to junior or equity partner has increased significantly. It’s even more difficult to lateral between firms. I work at a midsize and we have some good quality candidates but lately the quality has jumped significantly. Law review, law clerks for judges, former summer associates etc. which is scary bc this firm is not anything to get excited about. Executive partnership committee is short sighted and more concerned about returning to 2007 profit levels than promoting long term growth. This is a common complaint among most other associates I speak with at
Other comparable midsize firms. Larger institutional clients have engaged in a race to the bottom for hourly rates and competitively shop attorneys. Partners continue to try and live the partner lifestyle ie large home 2 new imported cars, private schools for all childrren, long vacations to exotic locales but they havent yet gotten the memo that those days are waning now that there are 90,000 licensed lawyers in the state.
One lawyer I know at a midsize trial firm with national billion dollar clients recently lamented that his group hasn’t hired a new attorney in over five years and it’s been 6 years since anyone has been elevated to junior partner. No new equity partners in the same time period. Too few partners have the assets to retire and refuse to retire and open equity positions for junior partners. I understand these are tangential issues to real estate but these days attorneys are not quite the financial drivers of high priced real estate like they used to be.
“GG: You are wrong. TUITION is $53,000 a year. When you add in living expenses the university estimates it is about $78,000 or thereabouts. So not quite $80,000 but it depends on how you live, right? (what you eat, what kind of housing you have.)…Absurd.”
Why is it absurd? Northwestern has very little to do with the local cost of living. I won’t say that $53k a year is cheap, but they’re overflowing with quality applicants who are willing and able to pay that much. Competition for top faculty members is intense, and giving at most large institutions is down. What basis do you have for saying that a not even market clearing rate is absurd?
JJJ – the school is overflowing with students willing to borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars to attend. Price is practically irrelevant to most 22 yo with a blank check from aunt sallie. Remove The ability to finance 53k a year and watch the price drop to prebubble levels.
JJJ, I think tuition prices reflect availability of student loans, not really the true market price. Sure, schools like NU, Chicago, and other comparable or better schools could probably charge the $53k/yr and still get takers even if the student loans were severly limited, but in general tuition at universities just reflects the fact that anyone can get a loan to attend. There is no other reason third and fourth tier schools can demand so much in tuition with very little real return on career prospects.
Student loans aren’t going anywhere; there will always be ways to borrow money at schools like Northwestern Law. I’m not sure that the price of tuition at NU Law is that high above the “market price” and I question whether the right areas for reform in student loan availability and cost are with respect to elite professional schools.
I also don’t have sympathy for someone smart and accomplished enough to get into NU Law but unable to understand the consequences of their student loans. I reserve that sort of sympathy for undergrads and people who aren’t able to get into great schools.