Huge 1-Bedroom Duplex Loft Sold in the West Loop: 1000 W. Washington
We spent a lot of time chattering about this brick and timber authentic duplex loft at 1000 W. Washington in the West Loop last July.
See our prior chatter and pictures here.
While we were chattering, the loft was selling.
It closed in late August 2009 for $6500 under the May 2005 purchase price.
Matt Garrison at Coldwell Banker had the listing.
Unit #144: 1 bedroom, 1.5 baths, 1400 square feet
- Sold in July 1996 for $195,000
- Sold in April 2000 for $240,000
- Sold in May 2005 for $291,500
- Originally listed in January 2009 for $309,900
- Reduced several times
- Was listed in July 2009 at $294,900 (plus $25k for parking)
- Sold in August 2009 for $285,000 (included the parking)
- Assessments of $503 a month (includes water, cable, parking)
- Taxes of $3510
- Listing said seller would “pay half of first years assessments”
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
Based on what one former owner in this building had to say:
“The reason that I no longer live in the building (as well as couple of the other plaintiffs) is because our units are 100% uninhabitable!”
I would say this person overpaid by about $285,000.
Was there any mention as to whether the mold and asbestos (see prior chatter for discussion) were included in the purchase price?
Question for Matt Garrison (if you are reading and if you know) — Was the buyer aware of all of the building issues/litigation and bought anyways?
I wonder who inspected this place, hope he did a good job.
Was this an FHA special so a 20-something bachelor ‘baller’ can live the urban dream? Dying to know financing on this one.
Maybe included with the six months assessments they could’ve also thrown in some Blockbuster coupons for some free DVD rentals?
$800/month in taxes and assessments before gas and electricity are taken into account? LOL.
For anyone that hasn’t seen the prior thread on this place, I found it EXTREMELY entertaining and informative. The last few posts beween Marc and Wells were great reads. I highly recommend it.
Bob, 80% financing with MERS.
Looking at other units in the building for sale: there’s some mold/mildew/schmutz in the bathroom photo – http://tours2.vht.com/Viewer/PhotoGallery.aspx?ListingID=1203798&Style=IDX.
Unit 421 is listed as well and mentions “Building has over a million dollars in reserves” Seems like they would have been able to make some repairs to the building with that much in reserves
I’d be curious to know why someone would buy into this building, given the enormous legal “black cloud” and potential liabilities one opens themselves up to. Did this buyer know the extent of what’s going on in the building?
Could someone in the know respond?
All building issues aside and in a vacuum, this buyer got an alright deal. This unit is a notch above the typical cookie-cutter “soft lofts”. However, those assessments + taxes are killer for a 1 bedroom.
Agree with the poster who stated that the buyer overpaid by the amount of the purchase price.
A mold problem ought to be sufficient to make a lender back away. But what do the lenders care- they can just offload it on the taxpayers if it doesn’t work out. 95% of extant home loans these days are one way or the other backed by a government or government-chartered agency, which is the only reason anybody’s being written for less than 50% down these days. Only 50% of all loans were so insured at the bubble peak.
A few more fuel price hikes and constriction of supply, and places like this will be virtually unsalable. Watch how fast the fad for edgy living dies when things start getting really uncomfortable for us all. The heat is not included in the monster assessment, and I wonder what that must be. Whatever it is, it’s a lot cheaper than it will be in ten years.
I could add that this particular building, converted to lofts ten years ago, became known immediately for massive construction problems.
I don’t see why anyone would buy into such a situation, especially now when there is such a big supply of condos and lofts on the market that don’t have these issues.
Great location, though.
I signed my purchase agreement for Unit 541 in 1994 and closed on the unit in 1996 thus I am intimately aware of the Building’s history. However, as the unit has never had a mortgage and has always been owned “free and clear”, I find it curious as to how many people on this site (and others) claim that my unit is “sold”, “bank owned” or “repossessed”.
Regarding the on-going lawsuits, the fact is that besides myself, I believe that there are another 15+ individual unit owners that have pending litigation against the Association. This is in addition to the City of Chicago’s own lawsuit against the Association (and all individual homeowners) in Municipal Court (case# 08M1 401621).
However, the main reason that most of the homeowners of 1000 W. Washington Lofts do NOT know of these pending lawsuits or the financial issues is, quite simply, because the Board routinely denies, both verbally and in writing, that they (or the code violations) even exist. What makes it even more unbelievable is that the City’s lawsuit is asking for fines of $4,000 A DAY for the innumerable code violations which were FIRST filed against the Association in May 2006 (over 3.5 years ago)!!!
As to “due diligence”, I recommend that such is done extremely carefully no matter where one is interested in purchasing. For example, in early 2006, Unit 433 was foreclosed upon and was purchased, at a very low price, by a young gentleman in May. Imagine his surprise when, after his closing, that he then learned that he was a named party in the City’s building code violation lawsuit and had to go to Court. He had no idea that any of these issues / liabilities even existed yet, at the very next hearing date after he had closed, the bank that sold him the unit was in court with a motion to have them removed from any liablitity / responsibility in the City’s lawsuit as they were no longer the owner.
Regarding the Association’s reserves, per the Board’s own signed “Minutes of Meeting” dated 6.8.09 it states under the Treasurer’s Report “Ms. Mocco (Board Treasurer) reported that the common area hallway paint and carpet project would be revisited after completion of the atrium balcony repairs, citing concerns of a depletion of the Association’s reserves.” Then, if one reviews the Association’s Balance Sheet of 9/30/09, it clearly shows that the “Total Reserve Equity” is NEGATIVE ($264,761) and while the “Total Operating Equity” is NEGATIVE ($920,863.00). I guess that some still believe in using the “Enron Accounting” method as I just don’t see how those facts and figures translate into someone claiming the “Building has over a million dollars in reserves” when although it is almost a “million” it is a “million” NEGATIVE.
However, the Board is very aware of the issues / challenges with closings in this building as, in the same 6.8.09 Board Minutes, the Board is very “proud” that “There were two unit closing in May (unit 203 and 433). Both were financed witout problems. Guaranteed Rates handled the financing for both closings”.
Finally, as I have been in this building, literally, from the beginning, there were no “massive construction problems” – poor initial tuckpointing yes and a few other developer caused issues – but since 1997 ALL the issues are the SOLE RESULT of the Board’s own actions and inactions. In fact, the reason for the massive rot, structural issues (beams and walls) and water damages in the atrium is the direct result of the Association NOT installing the skylights in 2001 despite ALREADY being “paid” to do the work (as required / recommended by the Association’s structural engineers in 1998 and 1999) via the “1999 Special Assessments”.
Finally, as to the assessments, I recently learned that, yet again, those are rising again next year. Which, despite not being able to live / repair my unit I still have to pay (almost $30,000 so far for myself alone).
It is a great location however.
Brad Wells
Owner Unit 541
a typo correction – Unit 433 was foreclosed in early 2009 (not 2006) and then purchased from the bank in May 2009.