Get a 4-Bedroom Vintage Tudor for Under the 2002 Price in Edison Park: 7329 W. Greenleaf
This 4-bedroom tudor single family home at 7329 W. Greenleaf in Edison Park just came on the market.
The listing says it was completely renovated in 2001.
The kitchen has newer cabinets, stainless steel appliances and stone counter tops.
It has a full basement with a 12×19 family room.
Some of the vintage features include a stone fireplace in the living room and beamed ceilings.
The 4 bedrooms are split, with 2 on the second floor and 2 on the main level.
Built in 1932 on a 25×125 lot, the house has a 2 car garage and central air.
It appears, from the listing, that it is in the Ebinger school district, not Edison Park.
The house is listed for $6,000 under the 2002 purchase price.
Is this a deal?
Mary-Beth Balearcel at Century 21 McMullen has the listing. See the pictures here.
7329 W. Greenleaf: 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, no square footage listed, 2 car garage
- Sold in August 2001 for $262,000
- Sold in June 2002 for $485,000
- Currently listed for $479,000
- Taxes of $7942
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 18×12 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 19×10 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 13×11 (main floor)
- Bedroom #4: 14×12 (main floor)
- Family room: 12×19 (basement)
groovy is this calling your name or what?
Head a mile or so SW and escape Chicago for Park Ridge at a price the same price (actually relisted today at $395,000 not $485,000!)
http://www.dreamtown.com/properties/1528-s-courtland.html
“Head a mile or so SW and escape Chicago for Park Ridge at a price the same price”
I had the same thought–if you’re going that close to the edge, and you have no *need* to be in the city, you could find something similar for the same or less money in Park Ridge and have basically the same accessibility to everything.
Some of us do “need” to live in Chicago due to working in the city as a teacher, firefighter, police officer, or other city employee. However, I do know SEVERAL people that break that rule. However, they are at risk of having to move if the city decided to go after them or loose their job. I wouldn’t want to have to suddenly sell my house in Park Ridge to keep my job…
“It appears, from the listing, that it is in the Ebinger school district, not Edison Park.”
Edison was a gifted school until moved now its pulling from ebinger and oriole.
Nice looking home, the outside is vintage and nice, the inside is also well done but nothing architecturally spectacular to make me want to pay a premium. It was overpriced in 2002 and it’s just as overpriced today. I could go a few blocks west and live in Park Ridge for about the same money. Why do CPS if you don’t have to? This place isn’t really even walking distance to the Metra. Sure it can be done but it’s not ideal by any stretch of the imagination. The school is Ebinger which is a decent school. I’ve got my eyes on this area but at this price in this location I’m not too interested. The three full baths are nice you don’t see that every often. The main floor living room is very small, which is probably why there is no tv there (there is a small TV in the basement which might be the ‘living quarters’). The owner will take a bath on this.
Its a beautiful home but the reason edison is great is the schools, parks, shopping and dinning, park ridge’s amenites, and cheap home prices.
479k just passes up the “cheap home prices”. not saying this wonderful home is to much, just saying it defeats one of the great things about edison park
Edison is now in Albany Park. One owner appears to be a CPS teacher, and in a trib article about edison gifted from 2008 the owner commented that they a have a 9 year old; that 9 year old today is probably high school bound very soon. I wonder if that has anything to do with moving. They will probably have to stay in the city. It’s always difficult to speculate in situations like these what they owners intentions are, (unless of course it was a HELOC crazy bubble purchaser), but I would like to know what the high schooling situation is like around here.
and the crazy thing is that at $479,000 that’s crazy talk for 2002. They obviously paid a premium for the rehabbed character of the home. I wonder what it looked like prior to that
In the pictures for the Park Ridge place that homedelete posted…. picture 12 cracks me up. It reminds me of those inkblot tests where each side is exactly the same. At first I thought it was photoshopped…but looking closer it isn’t! I agree I would rather do PR place over this place if I had the option.
Why buy that when you can have this house in Beverly? Walk to Metra.
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/9145-S-Leavitt-St-60643/home/13101772
“One owner appears to be a CPS teacher”
Exactly why not Park Ridge as I said….
Great comp HD,
and as always right by 90, its uncanny how you get them so close 🙂
But why parkridge? taxes are higher, more fake azzz folk and snobs.
i would take the edison park over PR as your neighbors would be better but if i had a choice between the two homes i would choose the PR home.
opps hit submit before finished
the reason i would take the PR home is i will not pay over 400k to live in edison park.
@Groove, whadda you think of this one
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/4138-N-Lawndale-Ave-60618/home/13484504
Icarus, that is noce, maybe I’m a scared GZ’er but I was not a big fan of the IP area E of Pulaski…
Another profligate boomer hoping to fund their retirement off of outsized appreciation. What a joke.
Sorry boomer you don’t automatically get rich off of merely owning a place and eating doritos for nine years.
Icarus, the lawndale house is the wrong side of elston actually. That house in IP or Independence (or the villa even though it’s not arts & crafts) would be $100k more.
Bob I don’t think these people are boomers, I think they just wanted a nice house in teh city and overpaid i feel bad for them actually.
but it does go to disproving my meme of ‘own for 8/9/10 years and you’ll be OK’.
“But why parkridge? taxes are higher, more fake azzz folk and snobs.”
I used to work with a “fake azz folk” guy from PR. He was once recounting to me over lunch how one of his neighbors and longtime residents hated another new transplant there due to their ethnicity/faith (you can guess) and I started laughing.
He was very perplexed and offended by my laughing and I had to point out to him not everyone had the same suburban vanilla upbringing where they are told to hold political correctness above all else. I had to point out to him longtime residents are allowed to have their own opinions and that HE and that lady were the ones that moved there recently (within the past decade).
After that conversation I knew there were real people in PR like his neighbor who hated the other transplant.
“Sorry boomer you don’t automatically get rich off of merely owning a place and eating doritos for nine years.”
It’s listed for less than they paid for it, so I doubt they expect to get rich, unless by “rich” you mean “poor”.
“Icarus, that is noce, maybe I’m a scared GZ’er but I was not a big fan of the IP area E of Pulaski…”
Those few block on ridgeway and lawndale are actually pretty nice. Schools are an issue and I’d be bummed to not have one of the bigger lots (tho this one is a full std lot).
HD, I know it would be priced $100K more, but would it be worth $100K more? Is it even worth the $379K it’s at now, from the price drops it looks like it’s chasing the market.
I agree with anon(tfo) the school is an issue but a few blocks here and there are nice, but it’s still called albany park.
“This place isn’t really even walking distance to the Metra. Sure it can be done but it’s not ideal by any stretch of the imagination.”
What you do here is use your CTA bustracker, hop the 90N Harlem bus, and 5 minutes later you are at the Harlem blue line stop. Unless you work inside 2 N. Riverside plaza(or elsewhere within a 1 block radius to Ogilvie), your door-to-door commute is practically identical to that of the Metra when you factor in all of the walking.
As for this house here, it seems nice, but kinda crazy at this price. Although I saw another house in our hood listed at $425K a couple weeks back, so what do I know.
It’s not worth the 379,000 now, look at this one just a few blocks away that sold on the other side of montrose
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/4520-N-Harding-Ave-60625/home/13485494
$115 p sq ft, nice deal for a large house if you want to live here. Put that in a little east in lincoln sq and it’s a $800,000 listing price.
“It appears, from the listing, that it is in the Ebinger school district, not Edison Park.”
Ebinger school is in Edison Park on Pratt Ave. I can make the dubious claim to being an alum of this esteemed institution.
park ridge is no more fake ass than anywhere else. it’s got decent schools, close to the I-90 and taxes are similar to that off edison park.
“@Groove, whadda you think of this one”
sweeeeeet house, location iffy. crafty beaver is a short walk (sorry i just like saying crafty beaver)
I have fam in that area for yearssssssss and it never changes over there. its not bad but not great either.
i was friends with a kid who’s parents owned the two way grill, and dated a girl who was on the bowling team that would give me a bj in the bathroom at drake bowling, my mom used to schlep me on a bus to go to mom and tots at independcance park….
…oh wait you asked about the house not the groove hood stories.
Its a raised wood frame house built in 1912, get a good inspector please, i own a wood frame and can attest to the issues and headaches that come with it.
also have the inspector check those gutters and down spouts i have reservations on the drainage
“It’s listed for less than they paid for it, so I doubt they expect to get rich, unless by “rich” you mean “poor”.”
Haha OOPS! Only saw the 2001 price. The 2002 purchaser deserves to get hosed. Short of stocking the walls with bills or buillion I don’t see what could’ve justified them paying 85% more than the purchase price 10 months earlier. That’s just the holding period return. Annualized it’s 108%. Or 6.3% appreciation PER MONTH. Guess math wasn’t their strong suit and now they’re going to pay.
Also, having grown up in Edison Park and hanging out in Park Ridge as a teenager, there is no way I would spend $479K for this EP house. I would choke at the thought of $350K because your neighboring houses tend to be all over the board in terms of condition. Way too much “remuddling” has gone on in this neighborhood. I might be inclined to buy in Park Ridge now that the teardown phenomenon has abated to some degree. Unfortunately, too many “lot line to lot line” McMansions sprung up in parts of PR before the real estate collapse.
Bob, the 2002 was the rehab price + a hefty profit. Have you started drinking early today?
Groove? Did you really need to tell us stories about your escapades? Is that appropriate?
“It’s not worth the 379,000 now, look at this one just a few blocks away that sold on the other side of montrose”
Nicer, bigger house on a bigger lot in a *much* less desirable location, sharing an alley with Pulaski.
But yeah, the Lawndale house … if I were in that market piece, I’d be worried about regretting it much past $325, I think. Maybe $340k.
btw, here’s the real sold comp:
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/4245-N-Ridgeway-Ave-60618/home/13483935
with an actual sale price of $368k.
omfg
I have a friend who lives on greenleaf in Rogers park and another friend who lives on grand and Harlem, so basically this place is at the intersection of those two properties… may as well live in Minnesota IMO
also too many of “Chicago’s finest” around here for my tastes
“park ridge is no more fake ass than anywhere else. it’s got decent schools, close to the I-90 and taxes are similar to that off edison park.”
now way the homes i looked at in edison were cheaper than this place but the taxes were way lower (due to the price of the home too) but only one was touching the 6k in taxes and i would have appealed the shyte out of that one if bought.
My bias against park ridge is that the folks i encounter there irk the shyte out of me.
I used to play pick up games at the community center on touhy and western in PR since 1996 and saw the clientele get douchier and snobbier over the year to a point i stopped going.
i still patronize the pickwick and pankcake house and HATE the trader joes there so i get i vibe from the people how it would be to live there, and i dont like it (for me and my family)
They’re both comps but yours is just better than mine. I was using ppsf as a metric. some would rather have more room and share an alley with pulaski
” get a good inspector please”
well we just dropped a few grand on some new appliances, figure if I cannot sell my 2/1 might as well make it more comfortable.
“Bob, the 2002 was the rehab price + a hefty profit. Have you started drinking early today?”
It’s 2002, 9/11 just happened and the press is now touting “Home is where the heart is.” I want a turnkey property and I have a big loan! I don’t care that the flipper is making out enormously because I listened to the housing bulls that prior purchase price doesn’t matter. And math is hard and it’s just money and I just want a place to live.
http://www.561studios.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/commonsense.jpg
“They’re both comps but yours is just better than mine.”
Of course they’re both comps, it’s just that many fewer adjsutments need to be made from the ridgeway one, and it actually sold for less than the current list of the lawndlae house.
@anon (tfo) why do all these basements look alike?
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/4311-N-Marmora-Ave-60634/home/13474009
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/4245-N-Ridgeway-Ave-60618/home/13483935
As someone who bought in EP a two years ago that also considered Park Ridge,we settled on EP for a number of reasons;
1) Taxes are a lot more in Park Ridge. For a similar priced home, the extra tax payment can eat $30 – 40K of purchasing power. I understand the taxes in Park Ridge might be get you better schools, but we don’t view that as a big deal until we have high school aged kids (a long time)
2) A comment before says this isn’t walkable to the Metra. I live a similar distance and it certainly is walkable. An easy 10 minute walk, quicker if you push it. Always plenty of parking at the train station for the really cold or rainy days.
3)We found that similar priced homes in Park Ridge were a lot further from the downtown areas. EP has great restaurants, bars, etc and we enjoy being able to walk to them.
What do you think this will go for?
I’m not sure how you all missed this, but the word “Gorgeous” was used three times in the agents description. This leads me to my point that adjectives should not be allowed in listings.
High $300’s.
They’ve got room on the mortgage to move on the price.
nice looking house,bad price.looks like you can get something a lot cheaper over there from the looks of the redfin comps.i don’t get those high EP taxes,almost triple what mine are(long time homeowner exemption).i’m maybe 14 blocks SE of there.
the price almost seems like a redfin glitch,looks like it was listed on the same day for 100k cheaper.
not a big fan of park ridge but that courtland house is nice.love that street with the parkway in the middle.
House is a Schorsh Village transplant; many of these mock-tudor houses are also located in far NW-side, in and around Montclare neighborhood, for far less cash. True “tudor” it’s not; this is a typical bungalow layout with a slightly more contemporary (1930s) facade. Interior photos convincingly reveal its small bungalow character.
Anyone considering EP should check “Second City Cop” blog site for EP references. EP has been a long favorite home location for north-side CPD and CFD employees. SCC posters aren’t happy with EP anymore.
I second Groove’s concern regarding older wood-frame and aluminum/vinyl-sided houses; buyers need a reputable home-inspector’s thorough report prior to purchase decision. Recently I spoke to a realtor who noted that an “aggressive” home-inspector torpedoed his most recent sales contract when he discovered a number of inspections items for an otherwise very nicely decorated home. Realtors often steer their clients to home-inspectors who gingerly inspect homes for fear of jeopardizing sale and losing realtors’ future referrals. Inspectors’ contracts indemnify them from errors and ommissions in their inspection reports. Some reports aren’t worth paper they’re printed on.
The high school situation? I think it would be Taft for public, Resurrection for Catholic girls, don’t know what’s available out that way for Cathoic boys.
Based on the typical household income of the neighborhood, this one should be selling for $375,000. This price is still a bubble-era type price.
HomeDelete,
considering what other crazy things some people here type i feel its fully appropriate and a breath of fresh air. plus the drake bowl is long gone, but it will be last “direct” reference to that type of sorts
“Groove? Did you really need to tell us stories about your escapades? Is that appropriate?”
@Groove, your reference was fine. I posted too many links and my post was flagged for moderation.
I asked why these basements looked alike in two rehabbed homes.
“House is a Schorsh Village transplant; many of these mock-tudor houses are also located in far NW-side, in and around Montclare neighborhood”
I love schorsh village when i was i kid playing t-ball or pony league at shaBoner park (thats twhat we called it) its the *cutest* hood in our city. Back then it was heavily italian and polish and the lawns and homes were over-maintained to the point the residents would pay the city to replace thier sidewalk like ever 3-5 years, no joke!
galewood (next to montclare) also is another area with the “cute” tudors and some big ones too.
“The high school situation? I think it would be Taft for public, Resurrection for Catholic girls, don’t know what’s available out that way for Cathoic boys.”
notre dame for boys was alsways the staple and loyola for some too. and the one over on belmont 3 blocks east of cumberland which i think went co-ed. in my day it was webber and st. pats if the kid played sports.
“I asked why these basements looked alike in two rehabbed homes.”
easy if you look at any basement, if you build no partition walls and just drywall the cement foundation enclose the mechanical room and build basement where the original sewage drain exists you will have the same basement in many homes throughout Chicago.
remember its always cheaper=easier to build around/with what you have in place already, any time you want to move something it will be WAY more $$$.
Venting the mechanical will be a pain if you want them moved from the original spot (i.e. usually rear-left of center with chimney exhaust)
It looks to me like the living quarters are in the basement anyways. No TV in the formal dining room.
Architect, what specifically about EP do the current residents dislike? It’s still one of the better neighborhoods for families and schools in the city.
How much is tuition at Loyola these days for H.S.?
Tuition at Loyola Academy is a paltry $12,500 exclusive of books and transportation. Figure $8,000 in property taxes, $12,500 tuition, $1,500 for books/transportation. No problems, right? even for those with incomes in the low $100,000’s, right?
Oh wait.
“The high school situation? I think it would be Taft for public, Resurrection for Catholic girls, don’t know what’s available out that way for Cathoic boys.”
Notre Dame, and St. Pat’s.
Here’s your comp:
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/6747-N-Octavia-Ave-60631/home/13635696
This is 3 blocks away and about the same size.
479 is high but I think it will sell in the low 4’s.
Edison Park as 3 distinct pockets.
1. North of Touhy to Howard OK – (Not walkable to anything!, No Parks over there)
2. North of Devon, South of NW Hwy Good – Very Walkable, lower priced housing stock
3. North of NW Hwy, South of Touhy Great – Better housing stock thatn #2, extremely walkable, near Ebinger. Commands a premium
This house is located in pocket 3. Overall there is not much inventory in Edison Park. Most of what is for sale is on the N side of Touhy and frankly there is nothing over there. Plus its all 50’s ranches over there or 50’s ranches with 2nd story additions.
Park Ridge is nice, if you weren’t a city employee I think you’ll do better in Park Ridge right now. But the taxes are higher as there is no base of income in Park Ridge besides a few Star Bucks etc. They rely on the Property Taxes to pay for everything.
Octavia before:
http://www.urbanrealestate.com/property/6747-N-Octavia-CHICAGO-IL-60631-6MQPUUTE7PID4.html
Octavia after:
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/6747-N-Octavia-Ave-60631/home/13635696/mred-07635714
“SCC posters aren’t happy with EP anymore.”
Is there anything–other than the departure of Weis–that the SCC poster *are* happy about?
They bit… complain like us here at the CC, but about *every*thing.
Ahhh the P.R. vs. Edison Park debate is one of my future home purchase issues. I grew up in EP and still like some aspects of the area but the homes are in general a bit smaller than many in PR. The school issue is an easy call for PR but that leads to higher taxes. Finding great neighbors is truly an unknown until you actually live in the exact home you purchase for at least a year. Our EP neighbors were awesome but that is not a guarantee. I knew plenty of idiots as well the good news is that they did not live that close to our house.
The big upside to Chicago is that we have a new mayor! I am sure that he will cure all of the issues in the next 90 days and return the city to great prosperity! Park ridge has defecit issues as well and those costs will have to be assessed to a much smaller pool of homeowners and businesses. That could be scary over the next decade.
haha, how awesome. I actually went to the edison selective enrollment CPS elementary school that was out there. Not sure what the previous post was talking about with the owner working at edison. Looks like the owner works at Sauganash elementary as a special ed teacher, not sure about the husband
Edison Park is a good area from what I’ve seen when I’ve been there.
Your still going to pay to get into a decent sized house in a decent area of Park Ridge…you can’t get much in Park Ridge in the 4’s unless your OK with living in an area that is unwalkable to anything or is some kind of 50’s ranch.
Its still Location, Location, Location
Edison Park has a ton of amenenties from the Metra, Parks, Restaurants, Acces to Expressways. Plus it doesn’t hurt there is a ton of cops that live there so rif raff is few and far between.
“Plus it doesn’t hurt there is a ton of cops that live there so rif raff is few and far between.”
and stop home during their patrols too. or random detectives following a lead on their own block.
That’s pretty true which is why when you move to the suburbs it’s a commitment to the car lifestyle, for whatever that’s worth. life is full of compromises. Like I said, I would love to live in Bucktown for less than half a million, not have to worry about sketchy riff raff on the other side of western, and have good public schools from K to HS..but that doesn’t exist. It exists in LP but homes there are just ridiculous and out of my league (and I’m OK with that). Most of the population of the United States is car dependent and someday I’ll have to make that jump too. Oh well
“Your still going to pay to get into a decent sized house in a decent area of Park Ridge…you can’t get much in Park Ridge in the 4’s unless your OK with living in an area that is unwalkable to anything or is some kind of 50’s ranch. “
The other thing about EP is that it is sort of isolated – north of 90; no el lines and only a metra, surrounded by nice surburbs. Where is the riff raff going ot come from? how are they going to get there?
The other thing about EP is that it is sort of isolated – north of 90; no el lines and only a metra, surrounded by nice surburbs. Where is the riff raff going ot come from? how are they going to get there?
Yup, I agree. Its nice that the EL is 1.5 miles or so away in that respect.
Good Hood. I wouldn’t mind moving there. I like Park Ridge too though.
I’m going to take the EP, Sag, Edgebrook or Park Ridge route in the next few years for sure; Im waiting for shiller’s predicted 25% price drop though – and a few other things. Edgebrook/Sag have better access to 94 which is important for the other-half, and 90 is better for me. PR is just a bit too far down 90 – that inbound portion between cumberland and montrose is a 6 minute drive with no traffic and a 30 minute drive with traffic. Which significantly adds to the commute where the other half needs to be everyday by 9 am. Edgebrook is just another 10 minutes up 94 even with traffic. I’d like to stay in Old Irving but, like many others in my hood right now they bought 10 years ago with small children and now they’re trying sell near high school time and they’re having trouble. If I overpay today it’s realistic that I’ll be taking a loss in 10 years when I try to sell for HS. I may as well just make 20 year move instead of the 10 year and get it over with. Oh well. Enough ramblings for me today.
” If I overpay today it’s realistic that I’ll be taking a loss in 10 years when I try to sell for HS.”
Do you really believe that? The only way i see that happening is if chicago as a city fails and goes the Detroit route… but to suggest in 2021 that we will have 2001 pricing… that just seems far fetched.
Look over in the Wildwood section of Edgebrook. Thats a great area but if your a walker for entertainment you’ll be disappointed. In that respect your better off in Edison Park as its more walkable for entertainment. Even downtown Park Ridge is walkable. As long as you don’t go on the N side of Touhy.
Property taxes on an accurately assessed $450,000 owner occupied house:
Chicago $6092
Park Ridge $7769-8363
given the school variable – that isn’t bad
WHen owners in 2002 in my neighborhood bought a house they never thought they would be selling in 2011 for less than what they paid 9 years earlier. If prices fall another 20 or 25% like shiller predicts (and he’s the guy who designed the index) then its totally possible that if I buy tomorrow and prices fall, it could take 10 years to recover where we are today. Sounds crazy, I know, but in 2006 most people thought we had a permanent plateau; I read one respected economist (i dno’t remember his name) but he thought that low interest rates for so many years ensured that housing prices would stay high because it was sort of baked into the cake, so to speak as a result of the low rates. Look how wrong he was.
Unfortunately, I can’t afford that kind of hit 10 years from now. not when I have college to pay for and $8,000 a year taxes on a house in Park Ridge. I’ll rent as long as I have to so as to try and avoid an additional 25% decline in prices. I’m more about avoid significant depreciation than I am trying to capture appreciation. I see 2002 and 2003 prices all over the place and even those prices seem too high – like on this house here, this EP house.
Wildwood is OK but the school is nowhere near as good as edgebrook from what I understand. edgebrook is the place to be. but suposedly the teacher to student ratio is over 30 even in teh K class becuase the school is so popular. these are all issues I hve to deal with, soon.
“gesc on March 2nd, 2011 at 3:09 pm
” If I overpay today it’s realistic that I’ll be taking a loss in 10 years when I try to sell for HS.”
Do you really believe that? The only way i see that happening is if chicago as a city fails and goes the Detroit route… but to suggest in 2021 that we will have 2001 pricing… that just seems far fetched.”
Thanks for the stats G. It’s roughly an extra $150 to $200 a month.
“That’s pretty true which is why when you move to the suburbs it’s a commitment to the car lifestyle, for whatever that’s worth.”
HD, I know you’ve indicated a preference for the NW side, but if you’re considering suburbs are Evanston or Oak Park that out of the way for you? If I was visiting Chicago and someone took me through either of these suburbs I wouldn’t know the difference. Based on your interest in OIP and the properties of interest that you’ve shared, it seems like you would be far happier in Evanston or Oak Park than Park Ridge. To me, the lifestyle in these suburbs is as urban or possible even more so than OIP.
Edison Park as 3 distinct pockets.
1. North of Touhy to Howard OK – (Not walkable to anything!, No Parks over there)
……………………………
you’re absolutely right about that…i grew up right over there,it’s more like niles than chicago.not walkable to anything.totally different that the *old* part south of touhy.
Chris M:
I am familiar with both those places but I cannot live there for various reasonings, including that they would make my and my other half’s commute far more painful than Park Ridge; I need to be off 90 or 94. The closer the better (without being on the On Ramp!). Secondly those towns are more left leaning than I’d like, Park Ridge tends to be a little bit more conservative in nature. More towards the middle than the people’s republic of evanston. Other than those factors I would consider it. I’m really kind of stuck on this corridor. My other half works along the lake in lakeview so you can imagine that commute from anywhere other than the red line. Bucktown would be an easy bus ride (or drive) for the other half; I work downtown so the metra train or el w/ less than 30 minute ride is ideal; Obviously lakeview would be a decent place to live in a SFH but my goodness that’s out of my price range and I’m OK to admit that. I do OK for myself but I don’t live in a BigLaw household which is what it takes to get the SFH (or family money) in lakeview. The modest homes were mostly replaced with 3-flats and other condos during the boom making it all that much more difficult to get a SFH. I don’t want a condo, maybe later in life, but not at 34, I’m just not that interseted in it.
So when you break it down it’s pretty much the 90 corridor up from about bucktown to about park ridge, or, 94 up to the city limits in edgebrook. it’s not so much about me as it is the other half. oak park to lakeview is long; evanston isn’t so bad but for me whenI need to get onto teh highway (which is farily often) would be a nightmare.
Oak Park is pretty sweet but its an absolute bear to get to anything North. Try going up Harlem sometime.
Lurker: Oak Park Ave is the way to get up north.
I’ve taken Harlem to get from Oak Park to O’Hare and wasn’t too bad. Next time I’ll try Oak Park Ave and see how that works.
HD:
Personally, if I had your requirements I would go with Evanston. I’ve glanced at Park Ridge listings on a couple occasions and have always found them to be very overpriced in light of the community’s architecture, walkability, and proximity to O’Hare (in a bad way).
Are schools and proximity the main draw of Park Ridge? Seems to me that it should be a lower priced alternative to Evanston or Oak Park.
“I’ve taken Harlem to get from Oak Park to O’Hare and wasn’t too bad. Next time I’ll try Oak Park Ave and see how that works.”
Depending on time of day, hopping over to River Road can be another good option.
Speaking of Evanston, if anyone is looking there check out http://www.redfin.com/IL/Evanston/722-South-Blvd-60202/home/13577815
This house has potential and the location is pretty good…Lincoln school district, close to Purple Line, and walking distance to the lake. From a brief look at the tax records, looks like the seller has a lot of room to negotiate price…looks like mortgage is in low $100s. I bet this one could be negotiated down close to $300k.
Too far from 90. I need to be near 90. I commute to teh nw burbs for family and friends and work quite regularly.
Actually, on second glance, I bet that Evanston house could be had in the upper $200s.
i think that evanston house was actually featured on here a coupla months ago.or i might just be getting senile.looks like a nice enough place,though.
You might be getting senile…I clicked on the Evanston link on the top right and only two properties there have been featured on Cribchatter.
HD, sounds like you could get a SFH in Edgebrook and use the CPS school too, that would seem to work for you. Some good deals there now.
I get the sense that CribChatter will come to an end once homedelete buys a house.
“I get the sense that CribChatter will come to an end once homedelete buys a house.”
i sense the world as we no it will come to an end once HD buy a house 🙂 its all love HomeDelete
“I’ve taken Harlem to get from Oak Park to O’Hare and wasn’t too bad. Next time I’ll try Oak Park Ave and see how that works.”
Oak Park Ave is the scenic route and only good for going from oak park to diversey
the real route is 1st ave (cumberland) will have you flying from Oak Park to Park ridge in no time. you will catch traffic at grand but any street you take grand ave is the bottle neck.
HD,
the only two houses in edgebrook that were *affordable one was on caldwell and the other on central next to the daycare. bot of those streets at main traffic streets.
now if you go into that little 60’s subdivision next to the movie theater you can get a 60’s bi-level cheap.
But if you hate the look and flow of bi-levels it will be a problem as its all thats in that area.
“the real route is 1st ave (cumberland) will have you flying from Oak Park to Park ridge in no time.”
You don’t swing west to River Road if going to ORD? Obv, it’s Cumberland if you’re heading to DT Park Ridge, but …?
oops didnt see the original question was OP to ORD, river rd to Lawrence is the best if its not heavy rains.
cumberland for general north destinations.
Get stuck on a railroad crossing on 1st ave and you’re totally screwed for like 20 mins…
“Get stuck on a railroad crossing on 1st ave and you’re totally screwed for like 20 mins”
its the same for harlem or oak park ave
the only underpass for that train is austin ave
Yeah cumberland is the way to go out of Oak Park but its still a good few miles West of Harlem just to get to Cumberland
Oak Park is sweet but its close proximity to Austin has always been a troublesome point for me.
This home is currently under contract
I noticed yesterday its been updated at Contingent. Great news for the neighborhood.
6/27/11 $457,000
Executed Recorded Document Type Amount
06/27/2011 07/13/2011 MORTGAGE $175,000.00
Impressive.
Ha!
457K !