Housing Boom Era Foreclosures Still Happening: A 3-Bedroom at 31 E. Elm in the Gold Coast
This 3-bedroom top floor vintage unit at 31 E Elm in the Gold Coast came on the market in November 2018.
It’s bank owned.
This building was constructed in 1916 and has 12 units but no parking.
This unit has some of its vintage features including hardwood floors and crown molding.
The listing says it is 1599 square feet.
The kitchen has white cabinets and still has the stainless steel appliances (according to the pictures).
The bathrooms also still appear to be intact.
The listing says the “home will need some updates.”
It has a separate dining room, a balcony and skylights.
The unit has central air.
We last chattered about this building in 2015 when another 3-bedroom top floor unit, Unit #3A, was on the market. It had in-unit washer/dryer and was renovated.
See our chatter here.
If you recall, it was 1800 square feet and had a new kitchen and marble baths.
You can see the interior pictures here.
It sold for $845,000.
This unit, #3B, was listed at $728,000 in November 2018, went under contract in December 2018, but came back on the market reduced to $684,800.
Is a renovator getting this property cheap enough to make money on it at the current list price?
Andrea Butcher-Thomas at owners.com has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #3B: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, listing says 1599 square feet
- Last sold prior to 1989
- Lis pendens filed in September 2005
- Lis pendens filed in November 2007
- Bank owned in March 2016
- Originally listed in November 2018 for $728,000
- Under contract in December 2018
- Re-listed at $684,800
- Assessments of $737 a month (includes heat, gas, exterior maintenance, lawn care, scavenger, snow removal)
- Taxes of $14,241
- Central Air
- It doesn’t say anything about the w/d but #3A has one in the unit
- No parking- it’s rental in the neighborhood
- Fireplace
- Bedroom #1: 14×14
- Bedroom #2: 13×15
- Bedroom #3: 13×14
looks like a nice unit, minimal work needed – refinish the hardwood floors, paint, and maybe change out the countertops/appliances. easy flip.
ive always loved this building. the no parking is killer. having to walk a half a block in 10 degree weather with a kid in tow makes this a tough sell.
Really nice unit. Dirt cheap. What am I missing?
“Really nice unit. Dirt cheap. What am I missing?”
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Parking. You’re missing parking.
Well, it is also a no dog building which turns off a lot of buyers. I also don’t think rentals are allowed in the building but not certain. No elevator is an issue for many as well
You can rent a garage space. If my kids were out of the house, I would buy this in a minute.
“You can rent a garage space. ”
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If I’m paying that kind of money, I don’t want to rent a garage space on top of it all.
Forget about the car and Uber yourself around.
You can’t take Uber everywhere. You can’t use Uber to visit your friends in the distant burbs. Or take a weekend trip to Wisconsin or Michigan.
The location and price seem to be directed at an older demographic that would likely have a car.
The bigger problem to me is paying nearly $700K for a third floor walk-up. No thanks.
“You can’t use Uber to visit your friends in the distant burbs.”
Which “distant burb”? And why not?
If you can take Uber to the airport, you can take it other places. In fact, I’ve asked Uber drivers about this. They’ve told me they drive constantly out to the suburbs. I recently had an uber driver in Naperville. I asked him if he was busy and he said yes, but he didn’t yet have a Naperville to downtown Chicago ride that day yet. Once he gets downtown, he said it wasn’t a problem to find someone else to take back out to the burbs. But all of that ate up a lot of his time (depending on traffic.)
“Or take a weekend trip to Wisconsin or Michigan.”
Sorry- I can’t resist.
You can:
1. Rent a Zipcar (you can also do this to visit the friends in the distant suburbs. There are Zipcars within a block of this building. They rent by the day or the hour.)
2. Rent an actual rental car to take a weekend trip to Wisconsin or Michigan (gasp!)
3. Take the train to Wisconsin or Michigan. Yes- it does go to some lovely parts of both states.
4. Take the bus! The Megabus leaves from Union Station to both Wisconsin and Michigan.
Life goes on without owning a car. In fact, there are more options than ever before. Take the train to one of those states and hop in an uber from the station to your final destination.
I would be worried about resale if buying a place without parking. I wouldn’t care personally if I could rent it or lived in River North (I lived in 1/1 and 2/1 apts in Lincoln Park and East Lakeview without parking and rented out my own 2 spot parking at a 2/1 condo (with 2 parking spots, one indoors) in West Lakeview). But as with a 1/1 condo or a garden I’d worry about resale without parking. So it would be a negative but not deal killer, especially if I were an old person planning to keep it for life.
Having lived in a 4th floor walk up (top floor in most of the northside, most of which aren’t elevator buildings), I find the idea that a 3rd floor walk up is a big problem weird.
(My 4th floor walkup with 1 space outdoor parking in Southport sold fast.)
I said River North, but should have added Gold Coast, Old Town, or Lincoln Park or even E Lake View (where parking is impossible — I rented my spaces so found parking unbearable when I rented a car).
“Rent an actual rental car to take a weekend trip to Wisconsin or Michigan (gasp!)”
For probably less than one month’s car insurance, nevermind depreciation and parking costs.
But it’s the same as with suburbanites buying a condo instead of just staying at the four seasons the 15 times a year they actually come down for the weekend.
This one finally closed from the bank for 499K yest.
sold for 740K