Historic “Race House” Tries Again in Old Irving Park: 3945 N. Tripp
This 5-bedroom Victorian Italianate single family home at 3945 N. Tripp in Old Irving Park came on the market in May 2014.
But it may look familiar to many of you. It has been on and off the market since August 2007.
We last chattered about it in June 2011. You can see that chatter here.
Built for Stephen Race, one of the members of the founding family of Irving Park, the house was designated a Chicago landmark in 1988.
According to Wikipedia, the house originally cost $12,000 to build in 1873.
It has been fully renovated and now has a chef’s kitchen with double oven, stainless steel appliances, a farmhouse sink and custom white cabinets.
It has also retained many of its original features including arched doorways, thick moldings, pocket doors, stained glass windows and 4 fireplaces.
There is a full english basement and a 3000 bottle wine cellar.
It has a large master bath with custom walk in shower.
There are also numerous skylights.
Built on a 50×75 lot, it has central air and 2-car parking on a side driveway.
Back in 2011, it was pulled from the market while listed at $779,000.
But that was a completely different housing market.
It returned to the market in May 2014 at $839,000.
It has since been reduced to $799,000.
Old Irving Park is considered to be one of the hottest neighborhoods in the city. There is little on the market below $1 million (or above it, for that matter.)
Will the Race House finally sell in 2014?
Heather Lange at @Properties has the listing once again. See the pictures here.
3945 N. Tripp: 5 bedrooms, 4 baths, 2 half baths, 5800 square feet, 2 car parking
- Sold in November 1997 for $285,000
- Sold in January 2002 for $639,500
- Originally listed in August 2007
- Was listed in January 2009 for $1.199 million
- Reduced
- Was listed in October 2010 for $947,000
- Reduced
- Was listed in June 2011 at $799,000
- Reduced to $779,000
- Withdrawn in September 2011
- Re-listed in May 2014 for $839,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $799,000
- Taxes now $9371 (they were $3881 in June 2011)
- Central Air
- 4 fireplaces
- Bedroom #1: 30×18 (third floor)
- Bedroom #2: 16×15 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 17×14 (second floor)
- Bedroom #4: 17×10 (second floor)
- Bedroom #5: 13×11 (second floor)
- Library: 22×12 (main floor)
I’m really surprised that this house still isn’t selling. Rates are even way lower than the last time this was on the market in 2011 making it even cheaper.
And there’s absolutely nothing for sale in the neighborhood.
“I’m really surprised that this house still isn’t selling.”
Click on “street view” – shouldn’t be too much of a surprise given the Golden Nugget pancake house parking on one side of the house and the YMCA across the street. It is also very close to Irving Park and the Kennedy… Nice house, not much of a location.
“Click on “street view” – shouldn’t be too much of a surprise given the Golden Nugget pancake house parking on one side of the house and the YMCA across the street. It is also very close to Irving Park and the Kennedy… Nice house, not much of a location.”
Have you been over there? Walked by it?
The Golden Nugget was there in 2010 and 2011 and has been forever. Nothing new there. Nothing on Irving Park Road in this area (or the Kennedy) stops people from buying right here.
People in 2011 thought that it would sell around $750,000 and that it’d be a deal at that price. That’s with mortgage rates much higher.
So I’m surprised it’s not selling.
“People in 2011 thought that it would sell around $750,000”
“Steve” (not heitman, nor “Steve A”) said he’d pay $750k, not anyone else.
HD said:
“The Race home should sell in the low $700’s or maybe even the $600’s – and at the end of the day, that’s still a tremendous amount of money”
There was a lot of “not at any price” and joking about the ’97 price, or the original construction cost.
Still a big ‘No’, in that location, with that lot, and those neighbors. Put it at Tripp/Byron, on a standard-depth lot, and it would’ve sold for 900+.
“Nothing on Irving Park Road in this area (or the Kennedy) stops people from buying right here.”
Right there, in that very location? This house seems particularly location-challenged, for the reasons others have noted. I think that it took a special buyer to pay $640k in 2002, and it’s going to take another special buyer now for it to close in the low to mid $700’s. Really awesome house (how about those pocket doors?), and arguably more stately than most of the new McMansions in the “nice” areas of OIP. I can see more people (people with $75k and income to qualify for a good jumbo) willing to look past things like a parking lot, pancake house, YMCA and an expressway if it were located on the fringe of some other hoods, but I’d venture that most folks in the $700k+ range looking in OIP expect to be bordered on all sides by McMansions (or something nice).
Maybe if it had a full depth lot in back and it were somewhat private that would have helped some. I dunno. Do know people who use the Y for after school care (if this is the right Irving Park Y), so maybe that would be convenient for someone.
“Right there, in that very location?”
Yes. I’ve covered many houses on this street- some just a few doors down and I’ve covered some on the street just to the east- which is even CLOSER to the Kennedy. You’re practically ON the Kennedy.
I’ve walked all over this neighborhood. Have you? Have you stood there and heard the traffic from the Kennedy even five blocks to the west of this very location? Irving Park Road isn’t the problem. Not in the least. In this area, Irving Park Road is like Ashland in Lincoln Park or Lakeview. It’s not a big deal. But the Kennedy? I don’t understand why anyone would want to live ANYWHERE in Old Irving Park because you can hear the hum of the traffic for quite a large distance (and smell the pollution from hundreds of thousands of cars and trucks.) But that doesn’t stop everything else from selling.
Heck- houses right ON the Kennedy (just down the cliff from the actual expressway) even sell.
“Have you been over there? Walked by it?”
“I’ve walked all over this neighborhood. Have you? Have you stood there and heard the traffic from the Kennedy even five blocks to the west of this very location?”
Quite a bit of protesting over legitimate location concerns. As a matter of fact, I have been over there; I have walked by it. I buy paint at the paint store on the corner. It isn’t a desirable part of OIP or even Chicago for that matter. Nobody is saying this isn’t a nice (even very nice) house – it just takes someone willing to ignore the mantra, location, location, location.
Anyone who is convinced that a busy street, a pancake house, a vacant building, a YMCA, a couple parking lots and the Kennedy make for nice surroundings should totally buy this house! I, on the other hand, might be able to handle one of those neighbors. Maybe.
“I’ve seen people remain bearish on AMZN as it went from 8 to 400”
Heh, just had a convo about my negative sentiment on AMZN from ’98 to ’01, but that I would have needed to sell a kidney to not go broke 10x over in the first 30 months of that.
That the adjusted starting point is 8 bucks makes it harder for the AMZN perma-bears to be right even in the long term, but if they turned bearish at 300+, that’s still in play.
F! Wrong thread.
A half lot in this location is worth what? $75k?, so they want $725 for the structure, which actually seems about right to me. The problem is that people who can spend $800k on a house that will be expensive to maintain don’t want to live *in this precise location*.
Can you really get a 50 X 75 lot around there for $75k? If so I will take 2.
“Can you really get a 50 X 75 lot around there for $75k?”
Dunno that there are any vacant ones. Probably not.
Here’s the marker for nearby dirt value:
https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/3816-N-Tripp-Ave-60641/home/13457892
$525 for a full lot, in a much better location. If this house were on that lot, it would sell easily for $1m, and quite probably more.
Compared to the full lot, I think the half lot is a ~60% deduction (to ~$200-$225), and the relative location another probably 50% deduction, leaving it at about $100-150k for the dirt. So, $650-675 for the house?? Still seems justifiable, but doubt they’ll get it.