Live Without Someone Above or Below You For Under $330K: 2052 N. Larrabee in Lincoln Park
This 2-bedroom two story townhouse at 2052 N. Larrabee in Lincoln Park came on the market in February 2011.
It is an end unit with its own private patio.
The 2-bedrooms are on the second floor with the living areas on the main floor.
The listing says the townhouse has been renovated.
The kitchen has stainless steel appliances, granite counter tops and a tile backsplash.
It has central air and a private parking space.
This townhouse is listed $10,100 under the 2008 purchase price.
Is this a good alternative to a condo?
Andrew Glatz at Crown Heights Realty has the listing. See more pictures here.
2052 N. Larrabee: 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, 1000 square feet
- Sold in December 2004 for $302,500
- Sold in October 2008 for $340,000
- Originally listed in February 2011
- Was listed in March 2011 for $345,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed for $329,900
- Assessments of $180 a month (includes cable)
- Taxes of $4463
- Central Air
- Parking
- Bedroom #1: 14×10
- Bedroom #2: 14×9
less than 500sqft a floor?
pass
Oct 28, 2008 Sold (Public Records) $340,000
didn’t take them long to make a baby eh
looks like public housing from the outside but the inside seems nice.
Sonies, it was 3 years ago…lol…you know how the process works right? A year is ample time : )
I think this will sell soon. 300K should move it.
Only having one bath kills it. It will go less than 300K.
i like it.
I think this is a decent condo alternative. Although it may be a little more expensive, your total cost would be the same as a condo building with higher assessments. So, more of your total living expenses would be building equity. Plus, no upstairs or downstairs neighbors is certainly a plus.
With regard to the title “Live Without Someone Above or Below You”, I’m assuming that’s alluding to possible noise transmission issues.
depending on the type of construction, I think it could actually be worse to share walls horizontally with your neighbors than to share floors/ceilings above and below.
At least with some newer 2 or 3 flats I’ve seen, some have concrete, or more substantial materials between the units’ floors and ceilings.
Concrete actually carries certain noises worse than anything! Like our neighbors above w/ wood floors. When the woman walks w/ heels… we also hear our building’s party room when they drag furniture, even though it’s 2 floors below us (but we don’t hear music & 100 people in there).
These units would be so much better w/ a 2nd bathroom. The location is good and it’s in our price range, but there’s no way we’d buy a 2/1.
” location is good and it’s in our price range, but there’s no way we’d buy a 2/1″
Benjy – totally agree but find it funny as I grew up in a 3/1.5 and we all shared a shower. Somehow it was not ideal but it was also not that big a deal back then. We Americans sure have become spoiled in our housing preferences over the years.
Interesting choice of words for your title there Sabrina…
The outside is pretty depressing. You could easily live here with a child, I guess they’re just choosing not to. We live in a townhouse and we still get a lot of noise from the neighbors. I guess our street attracts guitar players because the last 3 neighbors on one side have played. The latest one works at Best Buy and used his employee discount to buy a massive surround sound system. Guess how I found this out.
I would think it’s be easier to install sound insulation in a wall than in a ceiling/floor.
“I would think it’s be easier to install sound insulation in a wall than in a ceiling/floor”
In regards to soundproofing a wall or ceiling I can tell you that it is not easy or cheap. To do it right on a wall you need to install separate channels and/or zig zag the studs so that the drywall is not touching the same stud on both sides. Then you can cross weave with dampening insulation. That makes it pretty good but not perfect.
“In regards to soundproofing a wall or ceiling I can tell you that it is not easy or cheap.”
In addition to the cost and ease, I’d be curious how much it reduces the square footage as well. (however I don’t see myself getting into a situation where I’ve already bought a place that is lacking in proper insulation)
This is a subject that I’m very interested in, however information on the internet seems to be really lacking.
Also, info on something as basic as determining the degree of sound insulation between units on a unit that you’re considering buying.
Is just best to introduce yourself to the neighbors as a potential buyer, ask them to turn on their stereo to a decent volume (or otherwise make some noise), and then go into the unit your considering buying, and determine if you can hear it?
“depending on the type of construction, I think it could actually be worse to share walls horizontally with your neighbors than to share floors/ceilings above and below. ”
Have experienced this ourselves. Having the wrong horizontal neighbors can be a nightmare in condo politics and QOL. (You can fine them, but you can’t evict.) We looked into soundproofing and reached the same conclusion as jp3chicago. Fortunately, the offenders moved out and decided to rent to the loveliest neighbors in the world. Oh, the ironies.
“Have experienced this ourselves. Having the wrong horizontal neighbors can be a nightmare in condo politics and QOL.”
Exactly, which is why I’m amazed the subject doesn’t seem to get much attention, at least from what I can tell based on my recent searches on the internet. Especially in a city like Chicago where so many of the residences are shared buildings…
So in your case, were you neighbors really being unreasonably loud? (try to be objective here), For example, were they having a party with 150 people and absolutely *blasting* their music?
Or, was it just a case where there was simply insufficient insulation between units, so even normal things like watching a movie or listening to music at a normal volume came through to your unit?
I don’t care how cheap–too ugly!
Personally, I can’t get over the ugly outside. However, for someone who doesn’t mind it, this is a great, safe location close to Oz Park, Armitage shopping, the lakefront, etc. The inside looks pretty good and the outside space is very nice to have.
If my mother in law’s home-buying budget were a little higher, I’d advise her to look into this one since she wants a 2BR place with outdoor space but no tiny balcony clinging to the side of a highrise. Other potential buyers would be single parents of one child who prefer to be in Lincoln school district, or maybe empty nesters or couples planning no children.
The Larrabee address is tinged due to the less desireable parts of that street closer to North Avenue. Too bad the street name doesn’t turn into the much ritzier sounding “Geneva Terrace” until a couple blocks north, at Webster.
These places are TINY. I mean unusable tiny.
I actually like these…alot…for the pricepoint….we could work with this. BUT I CAN NOT work with 1 bathroom. For that reason this will sell for 250ish…at most. And for that price, no one is expecting perfect sound proofing.
“This townhouse is listed $10,100 under the 2008 purchase price.”
Personally, this amazes me more than anything about the unit. At a minimum, it should be $30,000 under. Will probably sell for $50,000 under. But I bet they get very few lookers because they seem to be priced so high.
This townhouse was just reduced today to $324,900.
There’s a reason behind this listing price. 2058 N. Larrabee just sold last month- with similar finishes and also the first floor patio- for $325,000.
Anyone with a redfin account can put in the address and take a look at that one.
It’s nearly identical (in finishes and feel) to this one.
Doesn’t seem to me that they’re very far off on price based on that comp.
Some dog-lover might pay more than $300k for this place, despite the ugly exterior. Nothing like riding 30 floors up and down an elevator to try to get fido to go on the “dog run” in the winter to make you want a ground-floor place. And with Oz Park right there…I think they’re pretty good with parking included in this location.