Get The “Yellow House” in Old Town for Under the 2007 Price: 304 W. Willow
This 4-bedroom single family home at 304 W. Willow in Old Town can’t be missed when driving or walking down the street with its bright yellow facade.
On the market since October 2010, it has been reduced $50,000.
It is now listed $110,000 under the 2007 purchase price.
Built in 1874 on a 30×78 lot, the house is located in the “real” Old Town triangle neighborhood.
It also has the rare feature in the triangle of off street parking. And not just for 1 car- but for 3 cars- in the side driveway.
3 out of the 4 bedrooms are on the second level with the 4th in the lower level – along with a den.
The kitchen has stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops as well as woodmode maple cabinets and a farm sink.
The master bathroom has marble and tile.
At 2700 square feet and WITH the 3-car parking, is this a deal for the heart of Old Town?
Phyllis Hall at Koenig & Strey Real Living has the listing. See the pictures here.
304 W. Willow: 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 2700 square feet, 3 car parking on the side drive
- Sold in December 1989 for $475,000 (but I think this is a typo when you see the mortgage amount. Was probably $275,000)
- Sold in December 2000 for $425,000
- Sold in May 2001 for $565,000
- Sold in April 2007 for $1.44 million
- Originally listed in October 2010 for $1.38 million
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $1.33 million
- Taxes of $20129
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 17×14 (second level)
- Bedroom #2: 17×9 (second level)
- Bedroom #3: 10×10 (second level)
- Bedroom #4: 15×11 (lower level)
- Den: 17×20 (lower level)
Just to get it out of the way–after the 2001 purchase, the house was enlarged substantially–on the order of 2x the SF.
Love this street and neighborhood. Not my style, but works with the context of the house. Parking is major bonus here. Maybe something closer to $1.2 does it. Taxes are a killer!!!
“Taxes are a killer!!!”
Based on the $1.44m recent-ish sale price, that’s what one should expect in the City.
“Based on the $1.44m recent-ish sale price, that’s what one should expect in the City.”
I own a 1.4 million property and pay under 10k.
We looked at this in autumn. Very charming, but has a very small and weird living room/dining room layout, and kitchen was pretty small too.
It’s nice, but that stretch of Willow has a little bit of an alley feel to it, due to the condo building across the street blocking the sunlight.
Here’s the “real” little yellow house in Old Town Triangle:
http://tinyurl.com/4yc5ol3
“I own a 1.4 million property and pay under 10k.”
Did you *pay* $1.4 for it in or after 2007, without the property having any historic or renovation-based tax abatements?
$1.4 mv [should] = 140,000 AV. x3.37 EqF = 471,800 EAV less o/o exemption of 20,000 = taxable EAV of 451,800 x 09 tax rate of .04627 = $20,904 tax. And a first half 2010 bill of $11,497.
“I own a 1.4 million property and pay under 10k.”
If you are in the city and only have a homeowner’s exemption, you are currently underassessed by about 40%.
I would prefer a 2 car garage over the 3 car tandem drive. Unfortunately a SFH w/garage in Old Town is rare. This place would suit me better…
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1740-N-Sedgwick-St-60614/home/13346699
“I would prefer a 2 car garage over the 3 car tandem drive. Unfortunately a SFH w/garage in Old Town is rare. This place would suit me better…”
Agreed, but do note that it’s 3 cars off street plus one in front of your driveway, which is pretty sweet in the city. I too would prefer to be less hemmed in, but this place has an attic and a basement more than the Sedgwick house, so it’s trade-offs.
since i found the rat on street view, i street view every property now.
check how a car parked can block your three car drive way!!! love google 🙂
is that sedgwick hosue the one owned by pampered chef founder (or something like that)? i recall that discussion. what did it list for orig?
“check how a car parked can block your three car drive way!!!”
“plus one in front of your driveway”
As anon suggests, good chance the car is theirs, no? Is it clearly permissible (as in you won’t get tickets even if permitted) to park in front of own driveway? How do you indicate it’s your car to the ticketers?
When I think of $1.3MM+ properties beautiful yellow aluminum siding like this always comes to mind. LOL.
“is that sedgwick hosue the one owned by pampered chef founder”
Yes. Chef’s Catalog.
http://cribchatter.com/?p=7169
Apparently original list was $1.85 in Jan-06.
“yellow aluminum siding”
Not aluminum. Paint on wood.
“Is it clearly permissible (as in you won’t get tickets even if permitted) to park in front of own driveway? How do you indicate it’s your car to the ticketers?”
Usually, non-public driveway blocking only draws a ticket if the driveway owner calls. It may be, especially in these lean revenue times, that the ticketers are less circumspect and ticket anything parked in any “no parking” zone. I kinds doubt it, but you never know. Commonly permissible in EsEff, at least in certain areas.
Don’t block the sidewalk, tho.
thanks tfo. wow-that chatter was 2yrs ago, time flies.
“As anon suggests, good chance the car is theirs, no? Is it clearly permissible (as in you won’t get tickets even if permitted) to park in front of own driveway? How do you indicate it’s your car to the ticketers?”
good call DZ.
i can attest to pricks blocking a drive way when late for work. its happened to me twice, and both times there were MANY other street parking options for the pricks.
and getting a cop to come give a ticket or tow away wont get me to work on time and by the time the cop gets there (after more important calls) the guy is already gone.
Groove: why not call a towing company?
“i can attest to pricks blocking a drive way when late for work.”
1) leave a note, but unsigned with no indication who left it warning not to do it again.
2) buy epoxy
3) if it happens again epoxy lock(s)
Also while parking in front of a driveway or garage is illegal, it appears parking in front of a curbcut isn’t or isn’t enforced.
I sometimes park near an area with a garage with a curbcut 2x the side of the actual garage openings, people park on the street in the space with no garage opening all the time.
Looked at this house as well – if you’re over 6ft tall you can’t function on the lower level. Fantastic location, beautiful house, owners just need to be under 6ft.
Problem is the comp – the purple house sold for $1.575 I think and this house has one less floor, and is not remotely as nice (but it does have the parking). I think this one needs to be about $400,000 less than the purple house.
Those taxes are incredible for an 1800 SF frame house w/o garage. Realtor’s probably counting full basement in her total SF to bump number to 2700 SF.
“Those taxes are incredible for an 1800 SF frame house”
Footprint is ~1200 SF, so I don’t have a clue why you think it’s only 1800 total.
Old Town Triangle. Sabrina clearly knows what I’m interested in.
I’ve been in both the purple house and this yellow house.
The purple house has significantly higher end finishes. Again a lot lot lot higher. I also think that the interior was completely redone so room sizes, layout et. al are all modern. It even has a mud room place for kids and a dog. Still it doesn’t have parking.
The yellow house feels more narrow and has an older style layout. I feel that the finishes are nice, just not at the purple house level.
A bigger questions is why has there been so much turnover for this SFH in Old Town Triangle?
I would like to own a house in this area someday, but the only ones affordable enough are right next to the PJs or el tracks there is 1 SFH in old town below 650k, a 3/3.5 (1516 n weiland)
if you want 4 bedrooms you have to pay minimum 750k
thats crazy to me
actuallly thats just old town… the triangle is even more expensive…575k for a 3br crap shack and for 4br better bring 1.14 million to the table at a minimum
“thats crazy to me”
You are restricting your search to “Old Town” which is a very small area. Recently I’ve seen a 4 bedroom 3.5ba recent construction SFH listed for 600 or 650k near Larrabee & Divsiion. But that was too close to the old Cabrini for the CC regulars so got a ton of criticism when I posted it. Oh noes! They see ***** people.
I don’t really empathize with most CC regulars who have the complaint they can’t afford a SFH in Old Town: they don’t realize or are able to make even the slightest of compromises before complaining.
You can get a helluva lot more for your money for making even slight compromises. And even more for greater ones. You aren’t going to get a turnkey SFH in Old Town for 650k any time soon.
I’ll happily watch those willing to pay premiums for areas like these do so. When you consider how much bigger LP and especially LV are you realize deals are going to be found there, not in historic district relatively small areas like this.
Makes me wonder how much bigger Lakeview is actually vs. the Old Town and especially OTT. Is it 20x and 40x, respectively? Not sure but I’m guessing that has to be around the magnitude.
Sonies,
I’ve never been a fan of Wieland. Its always been higher priced than North Park, N. Orleans and Sedgwick. I think it was higher priced due to its proximity to Wells which is a blessing and a curse. Yes you walk a block over and you’re there, but you also get the noise and restaurant smells. And frankly the street itself is not that nice.
But that place looks ok. I wonder how it is on the inside.
—
@Sonies. How do you come up with 1.14m for OTT? Just curious as to why 1.14m or 1.13m or 1.12m?
Old Town Triangle. Talk about a place where its either pony up or make some compromises.
“Groove: why not call a towing company?”
good idea, that would be $50 well spent! (unless the rate is higher now)
“1) leave a note, but unsigned with no indication who left it warning not to do it again.
2) buy epoxy
3) if it happens again epoxy lock(s)”
you would think the groove (third person i love it) wouldnt be that mean.
but catch me on a bad day i will do what you said.
shoot catch me on a silly day i will do it too!
“good idea, that would be $50 well spent! ”
damn…didn’t know they charged on both ends…
Just a note that I have been in that house on Wieland and it’s a mess. The people have just let that place fall apart. Part of the roof was ripped off in the blizzard and they have just left it that way. The inside is dirty and looks as if they haven’t dusted the entire time they have lived there. The entire back deck is covered in dog poop. They have apparently let their dog poop all over the deck for years without ever cleaning it up. Sorry for the gross details but it’s worth mentioning.
The basement and everything else is a total disaster. On top of this, everything is obviously dated. The house needs a great deal of investment to make it nice or even livable. However, I have no experience with this type of thing so I couldn’t even begin to say whether the issues are mostly cosmetic and could be fixed relatively inexpensively, or whether there is deeper damage that would cost a fortune to fix up. That said, the facade is beautiful and with a face lift the house would be amazing. It’s very spacious inside, and all the bedrooms have their own baths.
lol every time I see that house now I will think of its dog poop finished deck
and man that sucks because on the outside it looks like it could be a nice home
Finally under contract
sold on 4/23/12 for 1.1 mil