Is Chicago the Most Affordable Big City in America? 1550 N. Lake Shore Drive
This 1-bedroom in 1550 N. Lake Shore Drive in the Gold Coast came on the market a year ago, in October 2014.
It has been under contract once, in April 2015.
The unit is on the fourth floor and faces North with Lincoln Park and Lake Michigan views.
The listing says the kitchen is “updated”. It has white cabinets, granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances.
It also says the bathroom is updated with marble
There is no washer/dryer in the unit nor central air but it has window units. There is also parking available to rent in the building.
Originally listed at $249,995 in October 2014, it has been reduced to $214,900.
In what other big city in America can you get a 1-bedroom overlooking a prestigious park and lake on a coveted road for under $225,000?
Is Chicago the most affordable big city in America?
Scott Rife at Berkshire Hathaway KoenigRubloff has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #4E: 1 bedroom, 1 bath, no square footage listed
- Sold in March 1999 for $119,000
- Sold in November 1999 for $175,000
- Sold in March 2002 for $247,000
- Sold in December 2009 for $229,500
- Originally listed in October 2014 for $249,995
- Reduced
- Under contract in April 2015
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $214,900
- Assessments of $646 a month (includes heat, water, cable, doorman, exercise room, exterior maintenance, lawn, scavenger, snow removal)
- Taxes of $3552
- No central air- window units only
- No in-unit washer/dryer
- Parking available to rent
- Bedroom: 15×13
- Living room: 15×17
- Kitchen: 10×6
Yes.
Yes.
Chicago is by far the most affordable major city.
In terms of housing, I’d say yes, but I recall reading recently that food, gas, etc… is pretty expensive in Chicago.
Also given the crap weather, heating and cooling costs here must be much worse than cities in nicer climates such as those in California or Seattle.
And then there is the poor school system, which means many families have to opt for Catholic or private schools.
Oh and wages here are not exactly high either. I had a job offer from Boston some time back and was comparing living expenses, sure, the housing is much cheaper here, but salaries are a good 20% lower too.
Houston is pretty cheap until you get to do the downtown core and look at places… omfg the properties there are horrible and just as expensive as chicago
and I wouldnt really want to live in that hellishly hot smog pit anyways
Well, I’d say its the most affordable QUALITY city. There are more affordable, dirtier, dingier cities. I’m not sure how long the affordability will last, everyone knows taxes are going to have to go u significantly to restore this city to solvency. This is a 600k unit in a good portion of areas in the West Coast.
well actually after looking again, besides new construction Houston is way cheaper… then again downtown houston fucking sucks and is pretty much like living in downtown st. louis where its a ghost town after all the suburbanites that commute down to the central business district leave
I agree on that. Anyone can afford to live in Chicago. Where do the poor people in NYC live?
Despite all the talk about “little inventory to chose from”, the for-sale downtown, near-north and LSD residential condo market seems to have many units that “aren’t selling”, whether they’re too dated, too small, too “not prestigious enough”, or what. Certainly “hot market” doesn’t pertain to all condo buildings in the aforementioned neighborhoods.
This particular building has oddity of relatively small living-dining rooms, while nearly same-size bedroom is spacious in comparison. Building itself is older, with dated lobby and exercise room, and a high percentage of these smallish one-bedroom units. Not likely to attract young “high-flier” types, more likely to attract single older women.
I’ve found that even in smaller cities, it is just as expensive in the downtown areas. Part of the reason is that the salaries for professionals tend to be similar.
Where you start seeing significant differences in cost of living is when you look at the burbs, particularly when you compare Chicago to say a Minneapolis, Atlanta, Charlotte, etc.
If you don’t have a desire to live in the urban core around trinket shops, your dollar can really go a lot farther in many of the smaller cities.
Jenny, in NYC a lot of people have roommates or live in the outer boroughs. You also have a lot of properties that have lower income units.
The problem in NYC though is that once people get into a rent controlled / stabilized unit, they don’t want to leave even after their income has increased dramatically.
For those that don’t make big bucks, NYC people kind of have a delayed adulthood imho. They live like college students. I know someone who is in their 50s living in a studio.
“I’ve found that even in smaller cities, it is just as expensive in the downtown areas. Part of the reason is that the salaries for professionals tend to be similar”
I lived in Milwaukee right after grad school, and I had a large 1 bed plus den for $800 per month (I stayed for two years), including parking, utilities and an outdoor space. This was in 2005. I was downtown, less than a ten minute walk from my office, near the lake, etc. If you’re willing to be a little flexible, I think there are still better deals downtown in the smaller cities. Rent for a brand new condo/apartment would probably be similar.
“Chicago is by far the most affordable major city.”
Correct
“significant differences in cost of living is when you look at the burbs, particularly when you compare Chicago to say a Minneapolis, Atlanta, Charlotte”
The most significant difference is that there are a range of ‘acceptable’ suburbs that are basically equidistant to the professional employment centers (altho ATL Is a traffic disaster), and much closer than the comparable Chicago burbs, and those states all have school funding systems that lead to much lower property taxes than the comparable Chicago burbs (ATL area has tiny property taxes, CHA and MSP areas are lower than old Chicago city with much lower values).
“Where do the poor people in NYC live?”
Cardboard boxes.
A similar unit, also on the 4th floor, at 1555 N. Dearborn Pkwy, was asking $199,000 after several price cuts. Status is contingent so actual sale price is TBD.
“Where do the poor people in NYC live?”
“More than 400,000 New Yorkers reside in NYCHA’s 328 public housing developments across the City’s five boroughs. Another 235,000 receive subsidized rental assistance in private homes through the NYCHA-administered Section 8 Leased Housing Program.”
http://www1.nyc.gov/site/nycha/about/about-nycha.page
And that doesn’t even touch rent control.
In comparison, Chicago has 9600 senior units, 7000 family units, and 37000 section 8 vouchers. So, that’s maybe 45,000 in public housing, and 150,000 in section 8. Which is pretty comparable as a percentage, but *heavily* shifted to the section 8 vouchers.
“Anyone can afford to live in Chicago. Where do the poor people in NYC live?”
As the saying goes: “if you can’t make it here (Chicago), you’ll never make it anywhere.”
With regards to Houston, living inside Loop 610 is now comparable to living in Chicago, but with more freedom of movement in Houston, more greenery, and the summers aren’t as bad as Chicago winters. Chicago does have “the lake” though, that’s one plus for us.
“if you can’t make it here (Chicago), you’ll never make it anywhere.”
never heard that saying before
I dunno, while Chicago winters do suck and last too long, I’m not a big fan of hurricanes or ridiculous heat and humidity
I also hear Houston kinda blows now since all the Katrina victims basically left New Orleans and are squatting in Houston now and messing it up, interestingly New Orleans is having a resurgance…
“Houston kinda blows now since all the Katrina victims basically left New Orleans and are squatting in Houston”
even if that is true (dunno, but clearly in dispute), I don’t think that the ex-NO’ers are populating the inner loop hoods that are being compared to other “center city’ areas.
“well actually after looking again, besides new construction Houston is way cheaper… then again downtown houston fucking sucks and is pretty much like living in downtown st. louis where its a ghost town after all the suburbanites that commute down to the central business district leave”
The pricy part of Houston is university village, where folks from MD Anderson, Texas Heart, and Rice faculty live. Not the down town.
BTW, have you seen this nonsense:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-chicago-expensive-city-0918-biz-20150917-story.html
It certainly could be a lot worse:
http://www.geekwire.com/2015/this-google-employee-lives-in-a-truck-in-the-companys-parking-lot-to-save-money-on-rent/
Yes! Chicago is indeed the most affordable big city in America. When I say “big city” I mean the big three- New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. We have a huge housing stock for just about everyone. A person can buy a house for 220K to 350K in a good working class neighborhoods. If you want to spend more in posh neighborhoods then we have that also. If you add Houston to the equation then hands down Houston is the most affordable city. But I just don’t think Houston is in the same league as the top three cities.
My chiropractor moved from southern California to Chicago. He bought a four bedroom, two bath, two car garage house in Skokie for 230K. He added 50K in updating the kitchen and bath. Eat your heart out L.A. or New York.
My only concern is that we have a lot of deferred bills coming due. Nothing will stop these Statists from making all of us their serfs.
“And then there is the poor school system, which means many families have to opt for Catholic or private schools.”
Who isn’t opting for this in most other big cities as well? After all, there are all those books written about how desperate parents are in Manhattan to get little 8 month old Timmy into the proper pre-school so that he can get into the prestigious private kindergarten. And the public schools stink just as much in San Francisco and Los Angeles. In DC, the last president to send his child to public school was Jimmy Carter in the 1970s.
What is always remarkable to me is that for $200,000 a teacher can live in one of the nicest neighborhoods in Chicago just like the rich folks when in other cities, for $200,000, you’re completely priced out. You can’t even afford the crappy neighborhoods.
Similarly, we can buy 2-bedroom apartments with parking for what would be considered “affordable” for most professionals. On both coasts, that is nearly impossible now.
It seems to me we are very, very lucky- even WITH our winters.
Housing in Philadelphia was cheaper than Chicago, at least in the city proper. I don’t know much about prices in the Philadelphia suburbs.
“Housing in Philadelphia was cheaper than Chicago”
She said “big city” not “big shitty”
lol is Philadelphia so bad? We have a possibility of a move there and I was curious how the city is?
“lol is Philadelphia so bad? We have a possibility of a move there and I was curious how the city is?”
I love Philly miumiu. It reminds me of a smaller Chicago- with even older architecture. Would you live in the city or the suburbs? In my opinion, the suburbs are some of the most beautiful in the country. The main line is no joke. The train system there is phenomenal. I have friends who live in both Rittenhouse Square and in Society Hill. Great restaurants and easy to walk to everything.
The Reading Terminal market! Fantastic.
While I’ve never been to Philly, I did read an article a few ago that Philly is one of the fastest growing millennial cities and is rapidly gentrifying. Lots of cool up and coming areas.
“Philly is one of the fastest growing millennial cities”
Is that supposed to be a good thing?
I didn’t say it was a good thing. you read that into my comment!
Here is a great analysis of Millenials and where they live.
http://cityobservatory.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/YNR-Report-Final.pdf
Chicago is the most affordable big city in the U.S. in terms of real estate, but that isn’t exactly something to brag about. It means Chicago is also the least desirable major U.S. city.
NYC, LA, SF, Boston, DC, speaking generally, are more desirable cities, with better job growth, more high end jobs, more subjective allure. Chicago is a laggard in that respect.
And low real estate prices means worse returns for owners. I would much rather park a million bucks in Bay Area real estate than in Chicagoland real estate, because I’m almost certain to make considerable money in the Bay Area, while Chicagoland has terrible demographic figures, a middling economy and huge budget/tax challenges going forward. Illinois has the worst population growth and worst credit rating of all 50 states.
I’m so sick of everyone labeling people by generation. I’m a human being, not a statistic : )
“I’m so sick of everyone labeling people by generation. I’m a human being, not a statistic : )”
Spoken like a true Gen-Xer
I am part of generation “You have died of Dysentery.” If you know what this means, then you are probably part of the same generation: http://socialmediaweek.org/blog/2015/04/oregon-trail-generation/
philly is a shit hole, sans like a 2 block square
nice Jenny, thats totally me
“A Youth Untouched by Social Media” on the socialmediaweek link
I know more Gen X’ers NOT on social media THAN on social media, myself included. Boomers/Greatest Gen/Millenials/etc all LOVE social media but at least from what I’ve seen, fewer gen X’ers on facebook. That’s not to say all gen x’ers are anti-social media.
“I would much rather park a million bucks in Bay Area real estate than in Chicagoland real estate, because I’m almost certain to make considerable money in the Bay Area,”
Really? When the big quake hits you’re “certain” to make money?
By the way- if people don’t think we don’t have another housing bubble, comments like this certainly should be an eye opener.
Yes, I would be very confident of long-term price appreciation in the Bay Area, regardless of seismic activity. Probably one of the safest real estate investments on earth. No one has lost money in recent decades with real estate in the Bay Area. Stanford and Silicon Valley aren’t going anywhere. The region’s natural beauty and bounty aren’t going anywhere.
Chicago, with a fiscal situation that would make a Detroiter cringe, not so much. Downtown and the North Shore and Hinsdale may be somewhat more stable, but the rest of Chicagoland is not doing that hot, and I’m not confident the city/state fiscal crisis will resolve itself without serious pain. It took NYC 25 years to recover from the 1970’s crisis, and Chicago/Illinois are in much worse shape. And NYC was still the most important city on earth back then; an economic and wealth hegemon. Chicago, not so much.
“It took NYC 25 years to recover from the 1970’s crisis”
And what did NYC housing do during that time?
NYC housing generally underperformed during that time period. NYC from about 1970 to 2000 was a relative laggard in terms of residential price appreciation, largely due to economic and fiscal challenges.
Since around 2000, though, NYC has had extreme price gains and has strongly outperformed the country as a whole, both in terms of real estate appreciation and economic growth. It basically reverted to its pre fiscal-crisis outperformer status.
Chicago isn’t NYC, and it isn’t just a city crisis, it’s a state crisis (NY State had no budget issues when NYC had its 70’s-era problems). I think the whole region is in for a (relatively) rough ride. Illinois has the worst population numbers in the country.
“No one has lost money in recent decades with real estate in the Bay Area.”
I guess all those poor people who did short sales and went into foreclosure in the Bay Area over the last 8 years were morons.
Lol.
Yep- the housing bubble is back loud and clear.
But this is like arguing growth stocks versus value (with Chicago being the value stock.) Value stocks have outperformed growth over the long period.
That’s why a smart investor would really be betting on Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit and Cleveland (and that’s without even including climate change in the equation.)
“My only concern is that we have a lot of deferred bills coming due. Nothing will stop these Statists from making all of us their serfs.”
I just received a red light camera speeding ticket for $100. I was doing 41 mph on Clybourn. Wonderful Bluetopia we live in.
Clybourn and what? Need to avoid if near me, but its probably not
“Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit and Cleveland ”
Principally that all of these cities have virtually unlimited access to fresh water. The great lakes are higher this year than they’ve been in years!
Bay area real estate is insane. People buy for the appreciation. I had a client buy a place last spring for $1.7. Ignoring the fact he paid $200k above the ask price and the house looks like it was in Skokie, we refinanced a year later and value came in at $1.9.
I had another buy a run of the mill 2/1 condo in SF for maybe like $800k. They sold it for like $1.4 (all cash) not even 8 years later. Took the cash and moved to the bumblestank Ohio and basically used the equity to pay cash for pretty much a mini mansion.
I don’t think too many folks in the heart of SF / Bay Area lost much during the bust. The non-prime areas most certainly got crushed though.
““No one has lost money in recent decades with real estate in the Bay Area.””
Being expensive and having price appreciation are two different things. Not sure about the long term prospects of an area where it doesn’t rain and the mountain snow pack upon which it relies has all but disappeared. Tech can pick up and move anywhere. Heck, most of tech’s money isn’t even in the united states, it’s held overseas!
“I don’t think too many folks in the heart of SF / Bay Area lost much during the bust. The non-prime areas most certainly got crushed though.”
People with equity did not really lose, but there were plenty of people who overpaid in 2007 and didn’t see any appreciation until like 2010 or 2011. Which is a much different situation than, Skokie.
“No one has lost money in recent decades with real estate in the Bay Area.”
Didn’t Clio sell for a loss? In a “prime” San Mateo county location?
“Clybourn and what?”
About half way bt Fullerton and the Metra tracks. 2500-ish.
That’s correct anon(tfo).
I had pizza near wrigley last night, looked at my bill. The sales tax was $7.93. I had to pay the government in our wonderful Bluetopia almost $8.00 for the privilege of eating pizza.
Go ahead and vote this post down, morons.
ah ok I rarely make it that far north west
I wonder what % of the bill goes to cover the addtl. RE taxes the bluetopia gvt. gets? What % of restaurant expenses are RE taxes (for owners)?
depends on if its a triple net lease, gross lease or if they own outright
Yeah, I get that sonies. It gets added in somewhere. Just wondering what else a bluetopia government takes out of the cost of a eating out. I wonder if the total is >20%?
HH,
considering that some economists have estimated an approximately 10% ‘corruption tax’ in the state of Illinois, yeah, a good chunk of overhead goes towards bluetopia government.
They should start taxing renters. People who lease a car have to pay tax on the car. Renters should have to pay tax too. This amount can be in addition to the property tax paid by the property owner.
“They should start taxing renters. People who lease a car have to pay tax on the car. Renters should have to pay tax too. This amount can be in addition to the property tax paid by the property owner.”
For any particular reason? What they should really do is tax the implicit rent that homeowners pay themselves.
Stop giving the city more ideas on how to tax people!