Is This 3/2 Duplex Down Short Sale for $264K a Deal? 754 W. California Terrace in Lakeview

This 3-bedroom duplex down in Victorian Lane, a gated complext at 754 W. California Terrace in Lakeview came on the market in April 2012.

It is a short sale.

Two of the bedrooms are on the main floor with the third, and a family room, on the lower level.

The listing says the spiral staircase to the lower level has been replaced with a regular staircase.

The kitchen has maple cabinets and a mix of black and white appliances.

The listing doesn’t say anything about parking nor a washer/dryer in the unit.

This unit is listed $14,000 under the 2004 price.

Is this even a deal?

Jared Dunn at Dream Town has the listing. See the pictures here.

Unit #1: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, duplex down, 1450 square feet

  • Sold in April 1994 for $113,500
  • Sold in September 1997 for $154,000
  • Sold in July 2004 for $277,000
  • Sold in September 2006 for $330,000
  • Lis pendens foreclosure filed in April 2012
  • Originally listed in April 2012 for $299,000
  • Reduced
  • Currently listed as a “short sale” for $264,000
  • Assessments of $435 a month
  • Taxes of $4194
  • Central Air
  • Not sure about washer/dryer
  • Parking not listed
  • Bedroom #1: 12×11 (main level)
  • Bedroom #2: 17×11 (lower level)
  • Bedroom #3: 9×7 (main level)
  • Family room: 18×12 (lower level)

 

18 Responses to “Is This 3/2 Duplex Down Short Sale for $264K a Deal? 754 W. California Terrace in Lakeview”

  1. Gated complex? More like projects! Although you guys will probably all fawn over the exposed brick.

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  2. Terrible. Especially the prison-esque patio.

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  3. decent. that patio could use an update…..

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  4. the brick walk in gate locked door is a great place to flash jenny

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  5. I used to walk by those places all the time and I always wondered what they looked like – I expected something much nicer. That kitchen is TIGHT and not well laid out, and the patio is just depressing. They should have tried to stage it with cheery plants or something. Haven’t lived there in a long time so I really have no opinion on the price, but it seems pretty reasonable to me.

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  6. Like mh, I have always loved this building from the outside. When I’ve seen listings though, the interiors seem very small. This one isn’t as bad as it is a duplex but still nothing overly amazing.

    How is it they had the money to replace the spiral staircase with a regular one since the pictures were taken but don’t have any money to bring to closing to prevent a short sale? Is it instead that the realtor doesn’t care about his/her short sale listing and recycled age old pictures rather than taking 5 minutes to take new ones?

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  7. The little gated, pedestrian entrance is a good place for bums to slumber.

    Perhaps this place looks better in real life? The exterior photo looks rather depressing.

    They should have at least tried to match the brick wall to the bricks of the building. The difference in brick color says to me that they had a crime problem and had to hastily erect a wall to protect themselves without concern to how it looked. The building screams “prison” to me.

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  8. The proximity to Clark Dog alone shoul dbe enough to sell this place.

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  9. “How is it they had the money to replace the spiral staircase with a regular one since the pictures were taken but don’t have any money to bring to closing to prevent a short sale?”

    Staircases ain’t cheap. Great question.

    P.S. 9×7 = closet. Not bedroom.

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  10. I love that bed – I would totally play Oregon Trail all the time if I had it.

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  11. Look out for the cholera, PB

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  12. “Look out for the cholera, PB”

    Thanks for the warning. In a duplex down, I would be more worried about typhoid or a snake bite than cholera.

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  13. I remember when they renovated this place and put up the gates back in the 70s. Obviously that was a long time ago so I’m not surprised the apartments look dated. Never thought this was a good location, so close the busy intersection of Clark and Halsted. It’s just plain ugly right there. I’d much rather be on a side street like Briar, which is shaded and pretty.

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  14. Shamalamadingdong on May 24th, 2012 at 9:05 pm

    CCers – please pick this place apart for me… pros, cons, price? THANKS!

    http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3038-N-Leavitt-St-3-Chicago-IL-60618/54534944_zpid/

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  15. Shama, seems nice enough although those baths need some serious help. Also, PLEASE get rid of the vertical blinds!!!

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  16. “CCers – please pick this place apart for me… pros, cons, price? THANKS!”

    If you really want to see a property- just send me an e-mail with the address (use the contact form on this site.)

    I’ll cover this next week- when everyone is back from the beach.

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  17. Local Lassie on May 25th, 2012 at 5:08 am

    Potentially dangerous neighborhood for women due to the all-too-tempting “urban mall” across the street, plus all those cute little emporia along Clark and Belmont. They can empty a gal’s wallet far more likely than any mere thief – lol!

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  18. benjamin, it could be that they don’t have the money to bring to a short sale because they borrowed against the place to replace the spiral stair, as well as for other purposes.

    Most of the people in this country forced into foreclosure and short sales don’t have money to bring to the sale and have been living on debt for the past decade. The amount of HELOC abuse that took place, in all income brackets, but especially the middle income group, is absolutely staggering. It is something I never expected to see. It amazes me that lenders even encouraged people to do it. Remember the ABN AMRO ads from the mid-00s showing the couple in their glossy kitchen with an ATM machine installed over the counter? For shame.

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