Get a Victorian 3-Bedroom Home for Under $240K in Berwyn: 3233 Cuyler
Continuing our look at some properties outside the city limits…
This vintage 3-bedroom Victorian at 3233 Cuyler in Berwyn is located in South Berwyn, which is the original development for Berwyn.
Berwyn has the largest collection of bungalows in the nation, but it also sports a wide diversity of housing designs such as this 1903 Victorian with its front porch.
Located just a few blocks from the metra stop, the listing for this home says it has been restored.
It has crown molding and little details like its original doorknobs.
There are also hardwood floors throughout.
Built on a 37.5×125 lot, it has a 2 car garage and central air.
There is, however, just 1 bathroom.
It is listed $26,000 under the 2006 purchase price.
Is this an attractive alternative to a city condo?
Aaron Airhart at Re/Max Properties has the listing. See the pictures here.
3233 Cuyler: 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, no square footage listed, 2 car garage
- Sold in August 2003 for $184,000
- Sold in October 2006 for $265,000
- Currently listed for $239,000
- Taxes of $5298
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 15×12
- Bedroom #2: 15×8
- Bedroom #3: 13×12
Berwyn?!??!
WTF.
“Berwyn?!??!
WTF.”
Haven’t you heard? It’s the center of it all.
Berrrrrrrrrrwyyynnnnnnnnnnnnn.
http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/resources/2008/04/Berwyn_Spindle.jpg
I’m sorry. It’s actually:
At the center of life in Chicago.
My apologies for not getting their slogan right.
“My apologies for not getting their slogan right.”
Its okay it’s a common faux pas from folk who live in the satellite cities (Cicero, Oak Park, Chicago, La Grange Park, etc.)
Sabrina possibly pointing out the lunacy of $400k in McKinley Park vs. 239k in a ‘hood with arguably better demographics, despite everyone’s initial thoughts of Berwyn?
“Sabrina possibly pointing out the lunacy of $400k in McKinley Park vs. 239k in a ‘hood with arguably better demographics, despite everyone’s initial thoughts of Berwyn?”
If you are a yuppie from Iowa or Arlington Heights accepting a non-city address would admit defeat back to your small town friends back home and you would lose a lot of street cred that you have hit the big time in the big “citaaaayyy”, which seems to outweigh practical lifestyle considerations. These yups would rather move into the McK Pk crapshack eight days a week because its in the “citaaaayyy” and the “citaaaayyy” is exciting.
Same thing with tight as hell jeans: practical lifestyle considerations like comfort must be put aside in the name of looking cool.
Okay the yups aren’t moving to McKP, but they were moving into 500k McCrapboxes on the north side which likely impacts McKP land valuations in some underwriter’s model (who likely still lives back in Iowa).
The idiots using credit basically wrecked the RE valuations of every Chicago hood that is even marginally livable. And property owners in Chicago proper will be damned if they aren’t going to try to capitalize on some transplants ignorance and gullibility with regard to city neighborhoods and pass of the crap shacks as 400k homes due to the “exciting neighborhood” and “city experience”..
Beautiful! I really like this. For this price you could totally make your dream kitchen and and another bath. But I know nothing about Berwyn…
If you’re going to live out this way, you had better be walking distance to Freddy’s. Otherwise there’s no exercise to offset the gelato calories.
Very poor kitchen layout, though easily (not necessarily cheaply) rectified. 1 bath hurts.
I think everyone here needs to visit
http://whyberwyn.com/
Same thing with tight as hell jeans: practical lifestyle considerations like comfort must be put aside in the name of looking cool.
LMAO BOB! You know I will never understand why anyone would voluntaily smash their ballsack in the name of “cool”
But skinny jeans don’t even look cool so I just don’t get it
Haha, I went to Burlington Coat Factory at the Cermak Plaza shopping mall, a 5 minute drive from this house, last year looking for winter coats when my boyfriend was living in DuPage County. They had a niiiiiiiice selection of Coogi and Apple Bottoms. Much better than in NYC. The area was heavily Spanish and working class. I didn’t think it was bad at all, but it probably wouldn’t be your cup of tea if you are used to living on the Northside close to the lake. The mall had an abundance of check cashing outlets and empty storefronts.
I assume the area around the house is more residential than around the mall. It’s not super convenient if you don’t have a car, but I see it’s close to the metra. I have to say I love this house. It is gorgeous. But it would have to be cheaper for me to consider actually buying it. And yeah, only 1 bath is tough.
“Sabrina possibly pointing out the lunacy of $400k in McKinley Park vs. 239k in a ‘hood with arguably better demographics, despite everyone’s initial thoughts of Berwyn?”
Thank you for catching this. Yes, that’s exactly what I was pointing out.
Berwyn has become quite the haven for musicians and artists who have been priced out of Oak Park. Great historical houses in many (but not all) of its neighborhoods. Quick commute to the city for gigs on the Ike.
Berwyn’s Historic House Tour is coming up in September. I’ll post on it as it gets closer but those who aren’t familiar with the suburb will be surprised. There actually was a House Hunters about a year ago or so with a younger couple trading in their North Side rental for a vintage bungalow home for LESS than they were paying in rent and more space. Paid something like $200k for the house.
Thanks for showing this one Sabrina, Berwyn is an interesting place. People seem to share some of the same views of Berwyn and it’s neighbor to the East, but you never here it mentioned in the same breadth as many of the great places in any other direction. That’s really a huge discrepancy in pricing vs all of those locales.
Wait, I don’t get it. I’m not from Chicago so forgive me if I’m confused… Is Berwyn an old neighborhood that has made a comeback, or some kind of manufactured urban sprawl?
The pics on the website made it look very Main Street USA from Disney World – is that cartoonish on purpose, or just coming off that way?
Seems kind of like a midwest Levittown for the 21st century?
Berwyn is a an old, established first-rung suburb on the western edge of the city that is working class, friendly, and cheap. There are a few really beautiful houses, like this one. It’s safe, and close to the Blue Line and Metra, though it lacks interesting retail, which you can find next door in Oak Park.
This is a beautiful house, and the interior is much more interesting than the exterior would lead you to believe. I wonder if there is room to build a second bath on the 2nd floor, or at least a powder room on the first.
It looks well-cared for. A good deal for the money for a young family.
If I am in Berwyn, I’m at Fitzgeralds listening to music. Long time ago for me, but I hear it still a great music venue.
attractive living room. best part of Berwyn is around Proska Park.
poor Berwyn was whacked by the subprime implosion. if anyone is interested in the area check out the Real Estate section of BerwynTalk.com
http://www.berwyntalk.com/smf/index.php?PHPSESSID=8fb1a3cb90b60daccc1a48d459f2b313&board=18.0
a local realtor there keeps statistics on the area market
I was always under the impression (?false) that if you weren’t originally from Berwyn or don’t have family/friends there, you were not very welcome. It also had (?has) the reputation for being full of incredibly ignorant racists. I hope that this is a misconception and people only say this because Berwynites try to keep the riff-raff from the very dangerous surrounding areas from coming into their town.
The thing I would worry about is that if more houses in Berwyn go into short sale/ foreclosure status, the neighborhood/town WILL go down fast (because of the terrible surrounding areas).
Discussion of Berwyn should include socio-demographic changes, as estate sales and elderly white sellers are frequently replaced by large hispanic blue-collar families moving from Cicero and west-side Chicago. Berwyn targetted itself to as a “artsy alternative”, even installing billboard advertisements in Boys Town section of Lakeview. It has beautiful blocks of “jumbo bungalow” quality housing. But on-going demographic changes are likely to keep Berwyn’s majority demographic blue-collar, and now trending towards predominantly hispanic composition. Overcrowding is an issue, both in housing units and in schools. Schools have experienced a surge in enrollment; school scores are weak. Some hispanic families have members with gang-membership and organized-crime activity backgrounds, enough to influence neighborhood ambience. News coverage of a recent large heroin drug-bust in area again noted Mexican drug cartel ties.
Riverside is Berwyn’s west neighbor. Given that housing prices have dropped dramatically, Riverside still remains a better choice for a college-educated dual income couple looking for relatively affordable inner-ring suburb with solid school districts.
This house is beautiful, but how is this immediate area? I think of the southwest part of Berwyn to be the best (different school district?).
Berwyn is an interesting spot. Close and convenient to the city. Definitely has its share of low income, blue-collar, but my impression even of those areas is that they’re predominantly hard working family folks, not gang-bangers. As to neighboring communities, yes, Cicero (bad) is to the east, but Riverside (good) is to the west. Riverside is nicer to live in, but is much more expensive, just crossing Harlem Ave.
To weigh in on Sabrina’s thesis: I’ll take Berwyn over McKinley Park. And that’s coming from the guy who would do almost anything to avoid moving to the suburbs.
Although when I think Berwyn I think cool old brick bungalo’s (not this), there’s really no comparison on value.
Heck this place has better public transit that the McKinley park spot, and I’d hazard the school is better (though I agree w/Architect, not great, and trending down a bit, I also know a lot of the core community of Berwyn is not going anywhere).
clio- that sounds like Beverly more than Berwyn
Here is a comparison of neighborhood demographics of yesterday’s McKinley Park property and the one here in Berwyn from Redfin:
Berwyn, Zip 60402:
– 10.1% vacancy rate
– A good, even mix of ages across the board
– Crime is slightly below the national average in all categoriess
– Murder, Rape, Robbery and Assault are significantly lower than in McKinley Park
– Fair market rent for a 4 BR is $1,365/mo
– 33.3% of residents are high school grads
– 8.4% of residents have no high school education
– 78% of residents portray themselves as white collar and 22% blue collar
– Median household income: $54,454
McKinley Park, Zip 60608:
– 17% vacancy rate
– High percentage of residents under the age of 24
– Crime in all categories is higher than the national average except for Burglary and Larceny which are slightly lower
– Fair market rent for a 4 BR is $1,226/mo
– 28.6% of residents are high school grads
– 21.8% of neighborhood residents have no high school education.
– 77% of residents claim they are white collar workers vs. 23% blue collar.
– Median household income: $34,198
Also note that 61% of Berwyn residents own their homes vs. 32.3% in McKinley Park.
While I do not know enough about southside living to comment on that aspect, I do know Victorians (and bungalows) rather well and this seems to be a solid, well maintained example. While it is not a classic painted lady version, it would be a good deal for someone interested in living in this area.
The only thing that does bother me from a ‘stay true to the period’ perspective is the painted woodwork. I wonder if it was in such a poor state that the only option was to paint it or if it was just an inexperienced renovator who committed this traversty?
The kitchen could be easily updated as the layout seems to be usable as is and adding a bath (or two) should not be that much of a hassle. I would also add some color to the exterior to highlight the lines and would invest in some landscaping to make it all that much more appealing.
As far as they go, a very nice place.
“Someone would be lucky to call it home” … LOL can’t get that phrase out of my mind!!
*Note to sellers attempting staging of their unit*
Unless you have a living room, or any room, that is greatly oversized, do not place any major piece of furniture in a diagonal position as it cuts the size of the room in half. The couch is not attractive and the placement greatly diminishes the room as it is an aestically pleasing space.
And at second glance, I love all of that woodwork…it must have been beautiful when it was original. Very hard and somewhat expensive to replicate arches like those.
the folks I know tend to buy their first home in Berwyn and then upgrade to Riverside when the kids get to be school age. But they’re those artsy types. I know a number of former Wicker Park artists who have follwed this route. Riverside has great housing stock in addition to its very interesting street lay out.
“The only thing that does bother me from a ’stay true to the period’ perspective is the painted woodwork.”
I am sure that the person who buys this is probably not that concerned about staying “true to the period”. That is more an issue with more “sophisticated” buyers (ie snobs).
‘Sophisticated’ buyers (cut the crap name calling) are definately NOT snobs and they usually do look for period details such as original woodwork.
“cut the crap name calling”
you started it….actually, I don’t personally attack you, so YOU why don’t YOU stop.
I actually lived in Berwyn from 98-01. Per Architect’s comments – its changed a lot, even since then. It was a lot of younger people/familes who kept up their houses and yards, but not so much anymore. It was great to be close to the Metra, not far from the el and near Oak Park, but nothing great other then being really cheap for the quality of home you could get.
Ever notice how the Mexicans followed the Bohemians? First 18th St., then 26th St. and then Cicero and Berwyn. How long before Riverside, Willow Springs and LaGrange have lots of Mexicans?
What’s a Bohemian air conditioner? A rocking chair in the gangway. What’s Bohemian matched luggage? Two shopping bags from Goldblatt’s.
Anyone care to talk Beverly or a rehab project? MLS 07472442. It’s been on the market forever, recently came down 50k. Obviously with something on the market this long there’s probably issues, unless the previous pricing was way out of line. Listing talks about beamed ceilings and built-ins, yet there’s no pictures of either. I think with some work this is a beauty at a good price but wanted to get some thoughts.
Must-dos would be a new kitchen, baths, carpet tear out and floor refinishing, and the same with wallpaper and painting. After that I think you’re livable but could also think about a few projects. You could tear down a wall on the main floor if there’s a bedroom next to the kitchen, moving the kitchen that direction and opening up the other side by the door to the dining room for a built in corner bench and table facing a new big window out back.
Obviously I know nothing of the possibility of anything without a floorplan, but it seems like a good space. While I question the listing as a true prairie-style, I’d love to restore some of the classic touches.
What would it run to do the basics before move-in? Anyone see major issues that stick out without seeing the house?
I’ve been obsessed with Berwyn since Sabrina posted this profile yesterday. And I was happy to discover how close it is to Midway. However I just realized that also means it’s close to “Stink-ney” which has to be one of the fugliest, depressing places on earth.
Well considering that like 50% of the land area of Stickney is a water reclimation plant… there’s a reason it stinks and only 6000 people live there
I was in awe one of the first and only times I’ve been to Stickney: you can actually buy beer at a gas station.
Brought me back to days in a smaller midwest city where you could actually do that. Seriously whats wrong with Chicago and other burbs where you can buy liquor at a 7-11 but not beer at a gas station? Too many MADD mommies running the roost around here.
OK – these comments are starting to get a little threatening and inappropriate. There is no point in wasting my time posting here. I should have realized that long ago. I wish all of you the best of luck in your real estate adventures.
Sold for 184K on 3/2/2011.