How “Good” Is The 2012 Market? A 2-Bedroom With Parking At 511 W. Aldine In Lakeview
This top floor 2-bedroom vintage unit in the courtyard building at 511 W. Aldine in East Lakeview just came on the market.
If the building looks familiar, that’s because it is. We last chattered about a different 2-bedroom in the same building in April 2011.
That unit took 3 years to sell and ultimately became a bank owned unit.
See our final chatter with the unit’s price history here.
Originally listed for $410,000 including the parking, it finally sold for $255,000.
It was also a 2/2 with a dining room and the parking space was included.
It also had in-unit washer/dryer and an upgraded kitchen.
This latest unit has white cabinets, granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances in its kitchen.
It doesn’t have central air, but window units only.
It has a wood burning fireplace.
The listing says it is “designer owned and decorated” but as we know- the furniture isn’t going to be there when you move in.
The unit has come on the market priced at $389,000 or just $5,000 under the 2008 price.
Has the 2012 market changed enough that this seller will be able to get this price?
Shiela Dietz of @Properties has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #3E: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed
- Sold in March 1995 for $160,000
- Sold in June 1999 for $249,000
- Sold in January 2002 for $310,000
- Sold in August 2008 for $394,000
- Currently listed for $389,000 (parking space included)
- Assessments of $355 a month
- Taxes of $1568
- No central air- window units only
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 17×12
- Bedroom #2: 12×10
- Dining room: 12×12
Nice place. No central air is a bummer, and those taxes seem low. (And note to agent: if there’s a microwave over the stove, it’s not a chef’s kitchen or high end or whatever. Which isn’t to say that it’s not an otherwise nice kitchen.) Assuming the 10 percent rule of many decent listings, I imagine they’re hoping to close at around $350k. Somewhere between that and $325k wouldn’t be unreasonable.
If something sold within a year for $255K, what makes anyone think they can get upwards of $300, let alone almost $400K for their place?
Very nice unit in a lovely building, but priced too high. I think a price of around 300,000 is far more realistic, given that a similar unit sold for so much less.
$255k included the foreclosure price penalty so I don’t think I will go that low. Something around the 2002 price seems reasonable.
“If something sold within a year for $255K, what makes anyone think they can get upwards of $300, let alone almost $400K for their place?”
But many people on CribChatter say that a foreclosure does NOT make a comp. So which is it?
If it doesn’t, then why CAN’T they get nearly $400k?
I’d say this one is priced decently, 365k probably sells it, the no AC is the only thing going against it everything else looks good and it even has a parking space which is a huge bonus in this location.
This is the way to show your home when you want it to sell. It’s looks really nice and I can imagine what it would look like without their furnishings. But, I wouldn’t buy a 2/2 nearly anywhere for more than $350k. And I personally wouldn’t buy a place without central a/c ever.
The other unit (i) was not as nice, (ii) was not top floor (this type of vintgage building + people above = loud), (iii) was initially listed at way too high a price and thus stalled, and thus (iv) sold in a distress/bank situation. While certainly not helpful to the plight of the subject property, it’s not exactly a comp. Would the typical (i.e., likely not local, not particularly competent, under-compensated and thus lazy, and still scared from the post-crash appraiser crackdown) appraiser use that unit for comp on this place? Not likely.
“But many people on CribChatter say that a foreclosure does NOT make a comp. So which is it? ”
“This does not have a simply answer. It is highly dependant on type of property, location, etc.” Look at the successful flippers out there. Buy cash at foreclosure, upgrade and sell at a profit. What’s the comp the foreclosure or the last sale?
If you go to some of the poor areas with blocks of distressed properties different story, or look a condo buildings that a high number of foreclosures same thing.
Foreclosures are not that easy to come by, and for most buyers they don’t have the cash nor the time to deal with the process. If you want to buy now the average buyer looks at inventory and the comps within the group, which really most of the time does not include foreclosures.
“i.e., likely not local, not particularly competent, under-compensated and thus lazy, and still scared from the post-crash appraiser crackdown”
You believe these factors make it unlikely the other unit gets used as a comp?
In my experience no appraiser will use a sale from 18+ months ago unless there are zero nearby relevant comps (definitely not the case here) or possibly if it is sale of the subject unit.
“You believe these factors make it unlikely the other unit gets used as a comp?”
Ha ha. No, believe that if *even* an appraiser wouldn’t view the other unit as a comp, then no reasonable would be buyer should either.
While I think $389K is a bit of a stretch, this is a very nice 2 bedroom in a very desirable area with the bonus of a parking spot. With the way it presents itself and the shear size/quality of the unit I could fathom it ending up around $360K.
I had a nice 2/2 nearby and listed it for 349k and sold it in one week for 349k this past summer. It was much smaller than this (around 1000 sf), but it had a/c as it was a newer building. If a listing sells that quickly is it because it was priced too low or JUST right? I am currently very happy in my new sfh.
I think that this is a pretty nice unit and with the comps around here north of $350k seems reasonable to me. The snarkiness about is being “designed” also seems silly to me – there’s a lot of fixtures and built-ins, etc. that are staying behind. If every unit in the building looks exactly like this one except for furniture, you have a point, but I doubt it.
I see this place going for around $360-370 or so. Nice unit for the area with parking. Not bad at all.
In the past 12 months, prices seem to be going up but only due to the lack of inventory. I know of a SFH in Evanston that went on the market on Friday for $500 that had an accepted offer by Saturday before there was even an open house. Same thing is happening in Park Ridge and specific neighborhoods in the city. It’s pricing more of the middle class out especially out of good school districts. However, in areas where there’s lots of distressed inventory, prices are not and should not be going up at all. If anything they will go down more as more of them come to the market in the next 12 months.
“I know of a SFH in Evanston that went on the market on Friday for $500 that had an accepted offer by Saturday before there was even an open house.”
DaveM: Why does this mean prices are “going up”?
I have still yet to see more than 2% or 3% of homeowners selling for more than they paid in the last 7 to 10 years. There is occasionally someone who bought in 2008 or 2007 who gets lucky and breaks even or makes like $10k. Everyone else is still selling for less than they previously bought for.
So why do people equate “going under contract quickly” with “prices going up.” So far- I am not seeing anything of the sort.
“I think that this is a pretty nice unit and with the comps around here north of $350k seems reasonable to me.”
It looks pretty similar to the unit that sold in foreclosure. They both had vintage features, wood burning fireplace, crown molding. Kitchen might be slightly nicer in this unit than the foreclosure (but that one was also redone.) Is it worth an extra $100k for the kitchen?
“The other unit (i) was not as nice, (ii) was not top floor (this type of vintgage building + people above = loud), (iii) was initially listed at way too high a price and thus stalled, and thus (iv) sold in a distress/bank situation.”
I disagree 100%. Same exact layout. Yes- not quite as nice (so you paint it.) Yes- kitchen not quite as upgraded (but 130k nicer????)
Being on top floor versus second floor not a big deal. I know someone who lived in this building. Built in the 1920s. Concrete everything. You hear NOTHING! Absolutely NOTHING. He used to play his electric guitar and no one ever heard anything. ha!
Bank situation meaningless. Once the bank owns it it sells like anything else. And that unit STILL didn’t sell right away- even when the bank owned it. I think it might have had some water damage by then (easily fixed.)
Yes- the bank owned unit needed some work- but it clearly didn’t need $130k worth of work. The pictures of the other unit are included here: http://cribchatter.com/?p=6332
These units simply confirm to me what we know about all buyers:
1. They can’t see beyond the paint and the “pretty” of the property- which is why if you put in stainless steel and new granite counter tops you’ll sell instantly.
2. 98% of buyers have no vision. If it’s not pretty- no matter what the price- they won’t buy it.
But given everyone’s reaction to this price being almost close to what they believe it will sell at- just tells me that, yes, the market has changed.
Or- I should say- people’s perceptions certainly have.
Our comments back in 2009 on this building were interesting. Boy- did we have it wrong!
anonny said: “The wave of mortgage defaults that began to sweep the country nearly two years ago and eventually poisoned billions of dollars in mortgage-backed-securities did not originate (and has yet to arrive) in Lincoln Park or East Lakeview.”
It finally DID arrive- in the form of the very unit we were talking about in the post (which went short sale, then was foreclosed, then the bank put it back on the market where it finally sold for well off the bubble pricing.)
When you’re this close to the lake you really don’t need central a/c except for a few really hot/humid days, and if owners in previous decades figured out to cope, so can we. Opening the windows for “natural” cross-ventilation, plus ceiling fans, usually takes care of the situation nicely.
“Our comments back in 2009 on this building were interesting. Boy- did we have it wrong!
anonny said: ‘The wave of mortgage defaults that began to sweep the country nearly two years ago and eventually poisoned billions of dollars in mortgage-backed-securities did not originate (and has yet to arrive) in Lincoln Park or East Lakeview.'”
Are you saying that a *wave* of mortgage defaults has arrived in LP and ELV? And you’re holding up the bank sale of a unit in this building as evidence?
“And you’re holding up the bank sale of a unit in this building as evidence?”
Yes, because this evidence fits the ideological narrative: (a) as long as there are foreclosures, the rest of the housing market is hosed, and the relative size and nature of the foreclosure market is inconquential; (b) real estate is a commodity and all markets have fallen because the value of real estate has fallen because real estate is a commodity and there are foreclosures; (c) there is no additional utility to be gained from owning a property instead of renting it – certainty, not having to move, independence and the ability to make improvements all have zero value; and (d) anyone who wants a nice place that they can buy in a normal process is a fool, the smart money is in buying places that are all torn apart after a six month process or so and then doing all the work yourself – renovation is easy and inexpensive and only dummies with kids who are TOO GOOD to learn how to hang drywall well take the easy way out.