Crib Chatter

It used to be, even ten years ago, that there was no way people wanted to live on the Chicago River.  With that smell and pollution?  Get outta here.

Now the river is “hot.”  From the South Branch, to downtown with all of its townhouses and condo towers with their riverwalks, to the North Branch and the kayakers, the river is being “rediscovered.”

This is great for Chicago.  The river is an untapped resource.

Now that’s it’s hot, how much would you pay for direct access to it?

Apparently, at least one realtor in Ravenswood believes you’ll pay over a million for a non-descript bungalow house. 

4520 N. Virginia: 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 1800 square feet, 2 car garage

• Currently listed for $1.250 million
• Deborah-Hess Flocco at New Chicago Real Estate has the listing

The house has 66 feet of river frontage.  Rare indeed.

But what about the house?  It looks like it could use some work.  Here is the back deck that is on the river:

Ho-hum.  Does that look like you’re really enjoying the water to you?  Me neither.

Look at the rest of the backyard:

Right.  Not very impressive.  Neither is the front yard.  Not much curb appeal- even though the home is one of those classic larger bungalows.

Yeah- it needs some work on the landscaping.  The Craigslist ad doesn’t show any pictures of the kitchen or baths (and neither does the MLS listing.) 

Would you pay over $1 million for only 1800 square feet in an older Chicago bungalow that likely hasn’t been renovated?  That’s the question.  How much is the river frontage really worth?