Live in a 3-Bedroom SFH in the Heart of Wicker Park for Under the 2006 Price: 1926 W. Potomac
This 3-bedroom single family home at 1926 W. Potomac in Wicker Park came on the market a year ago- in July 2010.
It has been reduced $20,000 in that time.
It is now listed $100,100 under the 2006 purchase price.
Built in 1990, the house has 2564 square feet on a 24×132 lot.
All 3 bedrooms are on the second floor with a den and a 300 square foot rooftop deck on the third floor.
It doesn’t appear to have a basement but instead has a family room on the main level.
There are skylights and a 2-story atrium.
The kitchen has stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops.
The house has central air and a 2-car garage.
Is this a deal for the location and square footage?
Eric Newman at @Properties has the listing. See the pictures here.
1926 W. Potomac: 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2 car garage, 2564 square feet
- Sold in August 2004 for $685,000
- Sold in April 2006 for $900,000
- Originally listed in July 2010 for $819,900
- Reduced
- Currently listed for $799,900
- Taxes of $12,108
- Central Air
- Roof top deck: 300 square feet
- Bedroom #1: 18×13 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 13×13 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 13×13 (second floor)
- Den: 17×15 (third floor)
- Family room: 15×14 (main floor)
they love their flat screens for sure : )
“they love their flat screens for sure : )”
Love the one over the crib. Indoctrinate them early.
There’s a bunch of very similar layout homes on this block of Potomac, same architect Marcel Friedes. I like the layout of these homes a lot (don’t love the look of them as much), but definitely for a smaller family. There’s no basement, so storage is an issue. There’s a decent sized master bed and front bed. Other room is the one shown with interior window, pretty small and some of the homes have it open to the atrium. Covered walkway to garage!!
“Is this a deal for the location and square footage?”
I’m going to go with $745K.
I am so jealous of all the built-ins along the bedroom wall! Every girls dream….
I went to Wicker Park’s Green Fest last weekend with the kiddo and was suprised by the nice family vibe. All the kids seemed really happy and were “allowed” to be kids. I was wondering if anyone knows what it might be like for kids to live in this hood ie friends, places to play etc.. Thanks!
“I was wondering if anyone knows what it might be like for kids to live in this hood ie friends, places to play etc.. Thanks!”
Wicker park is close by. Holstein is v nice but a hike from here. I haven’t spent time right around here as much, but lots of families with kids in btown, imagine it is similar here.
What always strikes my about bucktown and wicker park is that there a million little kids…under 5, but then everyone seems to move out once they hit 5. At least that is the case with most of my friends (and they are not moving to the burbs, but other city neighborhoods, North Center, Ravenswood). Obviously a lot of that has to do with schools I imagine, but these are parents who are sending their kids to privates anyway.
“these are parents who are sending their kids to privates anyway.”
Know a few ex-BTowners who moved to NC and sending kids to public.
Great looking house. Great deal. I totally love it.
“Great looking house. Great deal. I totally love it.”
Yeah, I think it’s nice. This would be a great house for you. Close-ish to blue line and expressway. Maybe Pritzker will be good by the time your baby is ready for school.
HD—
OK…its time for a little cynicism. We miss u!
It seems quite cramped (is that why they didn’t list the sq ft) – and yes what’s with the flat screen over the crib?!
That front facade has bad 90s architecture plastered all over it, and unfortunately the interior doesn’t offer any surprises after that.
BARF-O-RAMA.
Yeah, Bradford, agreed. If that’s “Great curb appeal” I’d hate to see what the agent thought was bad curb appeal.
Whatever, this a great place. I’d buy it myself but I don’t have a liquid $160,000 for a down payment 🙁 The monthly mortgage payment would also push the boundaries of my DTI ratios. Oh but we can dream! There will be a lucky buyer for this place.
ps this is far far far better looking than the cinderblock condos or nondescript regular condo buildings that went up during the 2000s in the near vicinity, and it’s better looking than most 2000’s standard brick rectangle sfh that went up in the area. This is a great deal.
I don’t think this is great curb appeal, but it certainly isn’t that ugly. I was surprised that the interior doesn’t look so 1990. It is nice to see it has been updated, even with all of the flatscreens. I don’t know that it’ll get asking, but I’d agree with DZ, it should go for more than the 2004 price for sure. It is a nice house, and decent space if not huge.
Look at street view and look at the monstrosity condo building across the street and tell me that this isn’t a better more suitable structure for the street scape. boo-yah.
HD – why not do an FHA loan wtih 3.5% down? And with FHA you can go up to 50% DTI or possibly even higher…I think the max is 55%. You can make your dream a reality!
Perhaps Clio can loan you the $160k, HD. 🙂
I saw this house and was not impressed for too many reasons to list here. No basement is a killer I think – that’s the playroom for the kids for most families buying a house. I think under $750K.
“it should go for more than the 2004 price for sure”
I’d guess that’s before the reno, which was probably non-trivial. Saw one place that hadn’t had much done to it that was a mess. Whatever one thinks of the curb appeal of this place, it’s better than the other Friedes houses on the same block with the round metal tubular railings.
“decent space if not huge”
Space is the major challenge. Hard to see buying this if you have (or might have) two+ kids, and still a challenge even with one.
If you prefer the Holstein Park area your $800k goes a bit further as well…
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/2131-W-Dickens-Ave-60647/home/13357135
“Space is the major challenge. Hard to see buying this if you have (or might have) two+ kids, and still a challenge even with one.”
DZ: How big of a house did you grow up in when you were a kid? 2500 sq ft is plenty for two kids. What would not be ‘challenging’ for one kid by your criteria?
“DZ: How big of a house did you grow up in when you were a kid?”
DZ is Ricky Stratton.
Oh, crap. Sorry about that DZ; didn’t mean to out you.
“DZ: How big of a house did you grow up in when you were a kid? 2500 sq ft is plenty for two kids. What would not be ‘challenging’ for one kid by your criteria?”
cook county assessor says my house is 870sqft and i we have plenty of room with one kid and all the plastic clown colored stuff that comes with the kid during the sign on package.
DZ, could you hook me up with alfonzo’s email?
Hey, HD, haven’t you been calling for homes to sell like it’s 1999?
Per Calculated Risk today: “Real prices are back to 1999/2000 levels, and the price-to-rent ratio is also back to 1999/2000 levels.”
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2011/06/update-real-house-prices-and-price-to.html
Maybe you’re on to something despite the obvious sarcasm of your new persona.
Even though this home is far nicer and move-in ready, I think that the January sale of a very similar home at 1932 W. Potomac for $635,000 will present some issues. At least for me it would. http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1934-W-Potomac-Ave-60622/home/14107886
“Ricky Stratton”
Shhhhh. I have actually lived in *very* small homes at times.
“could you hook me up with alfonzo’s email”
We haven’t talked in a while (it’s always “will smith, will smith, will smith”).
“2500 sq ft is plenty for two kids. What would not be ‘challenging’ for one kid by your criteria?”
The challenge in these houses is partly the lack of storage (they did put in all the storage in the master bed in this place) and hte layout (even though I like the way the layout lives). While the master and front beds are reasonably sized, the side bed felt very small in the ones I’ve been in (I’m not sure if the listed measurements are right). Maybe ok as guest room in a pinch.
The third floor room does not work well as a guest room. Doesn’t work great for younger kids as playroom either as it’s two floors up from main level and open to the roofdeck. Where do you put the kid’s play stuff? If you put it in the side bed, you don’t really have a guest room
Again, none of these are necessarily dealbreakers but they’re not ideal. We would have thought about it more seriously if the neighborhood school were any good. Also, there are other houses in the price range that work better.
And this is coming from someone that likes these houses.
“It seems quite cramped (is that why they didn’t list the sq ft) – and yes what’s with the flat screen over the crib?!”
simple answer: it didn’t make it into storage with the rest of the decluttering at the time of the photo shoot and with no basement to hide it in, this was the best out of the way spot.
complex answer: studies* have shown that babies response to pleasant faces and gentle noises at a young age, so perhaps they play videos of bunnies, unicorns and happy lincoln parkers. 😀
* studies I made up that do not exist
“HD – why not do an FHA loan wtih 3.5% down? And with FHA you can go up to 50% DTI or possibly even higher…I think the max is 55%. You can make your dream a reality!”
FHA capped at 410k for single-unit dwellings currently. I think I read somewhere it’s set to drop to 365k come October 1st, 2011. Look out below.
“FHA capped at 410k for single-unit dwellings currently. I think I read somewhere it’s set to drop to 365k come October 1st, 2011. Look out below.”
Dang…forgot about loan limits! Keep dreaming, HD!
Yup dropping to $365,700 on 10/1/2011, a decline of $44,300 if Congress doesn’t act (and it’s unlikely they will, I voted for the tea party candidates for a reason).
In the past I would talk about the tale of two markets: with properties under 525k and properties above 525k where it was much harder to get gimmicky financing, and how you could likely get a much, much better house at the 600-800k pricepoint as you weren’t competing with over-leveraged idiots.
Now, given jumbo mortgage spreads have dropped significantly, I think the tale of two markets will ratchet down the scale to 430k or so. The howmuchamonth monkeys are about to be priced out of the 420k+ segment they had easy access to via the FHA/FNM/FRE.
Pretty soon a 450k property in Chicago is going to look like what a 450k property should be. 2/2 McCrapBox condos will be serving the FHA loan set below 365k, not the 450k+ set.
PI = $3,100 and Taxes = $1,000
raise your hand if you can afford $4,100 per month to live here
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Oh wait, not I can’t!!!!
Jon, your find definitely makes me think $685k-700k is reasonable for this place, especially since most people have no vision and refuse to do any work.
DZ, I understand that a guest room and a play room are ideal, but if you want this neighborhood, or love the house, they are fixable issues…have the toys in the kids room or living room, don’t have guests often or have the kids share a bunkbed when guests do come…. 2500 sq. ft. is bigger than the 4 bedroom/2 bath home I grew up in with two sunrooms that had large rooms. Now that place had a better layout, but you could make this work, especially for the right price.
HD – that hand signal looks like the deaf person’s sign for “love.”
Now if you would have had a digit other than the index finger extended…
Is Pritzger School really all that dysfunctional? I knew a lady who taught music there, as well as some other WP/BT/LS schools and she was always pretty positive.