Location, Location, Location: A Vintage 3-Bedroom On Lincoln Park For Under $475K: 2440 N. Lakeview
We’ve been chattering about large pre-war vintage units like this 3-bedroom at 2440 N. Lakeview in Lincoln Park.
The building is a co-op building built in 1927 and there are 2-units per floor.
The listing says this building has an east and west views- including views of Lincoln Park.
At 2200 square feet, it has 3 bedrooms, including 2 with ensuite bathrooms.
The kitchen has white cabinets and a stainless steel refrigerator.
While there appears to be 1-car parking with the unit, it doesn’t have central air or in-unit washer/dryer.
The building allows 80% financing.
On the market since March 2012, it has been reduced $25,000 to $475,000.
Is this a deal for the location?
Jill Peet Saponaro at Coldwell Banker has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #3E: 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2200 square feet
- It’s a co-op so I couldn’t find a prior sales price
- Originally listed in March 2012 for $500,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $475,000
- Assessments of $2200 a month (includes heat, doorman, cable)
- Taxes of $3030
- No central air
- No washer/dryer in the unit
- Parking appears to be included
- Bedroom #1: 18×14
- Bedroom #2: 19×14
- Bedroom #3: 11×9
- Dining room: 20×14
Only $2200 in monthly assmnts. That seems to be having a negative drag on this properties value.
Much prefer the Marine Drive apartment to this, though 2440 Lakeview is a better location. This apartment is too dark and needs too much work.
Is this an 800k condo with $500 a month assessments?
hell no
Too geezery
The assessments seem reasonable to me but the taxes seem very low. This unit is great with a top notch location. Seems like a deal though some $$$ would need to be invested for minor cosmetic upgrades.
Would rather have the Marine Drive one regardless of location. It’s sunnier and has a better view. Much lower assessment as well.
I think this is a decent place and it seems like a great price at first but you have to come up with nearly $100k for a down payment plus the money you want to update it and then have to be able to afford the mortgage AND nearly a second one each month in assessments. On top of that the current owners have to like you enough to let you live with them.
Much easier to buy a similarly priced home….you can put down 10% which gives you more money to do work, don’t have to pay assessments and no board to approve you. I think the hassle/financial issues has to affect the price even if this is a great location.
“then have to be able to afford the mortgage AND nearly a second one each month in assessments”
*nearly*?? a ~$400k mortgage (30-year fixed) will cost under $1800/month right now. The assessment on this place is *20% more* than the mortgage, at asking.
I live in the building – taxes are included in the assessment, as are parking, internet, satellite TV. Only utility you pay is electricity. Taxes are low because of historical status.
Where is Marine Drive?
Guess.
It’s a $475,000 property and the realtor cant’ be bothered to take professional photographs? There are two pics of the photographer (probably the realtor) standing in bathroom doorways capturing pictures of herself. How absurd.
The problem I see going forward with all these ridiculously priced city units is that most of the northside requires a fresh influx of new grads every year to replace the older population that leaves. I don’t know if that’s still happening and I imagine it’s slowing down. Most younger (30’s younger) couples with kids I meet in my suburban area are all city transplants that used to own in the city before having kids. Additionally, all of my college roommates from out of state have moved from Chicago. A handful of associates in my office with kids are all looking in the west and northern burbs for homes, no more wrigleyville for them, and sfh east of western are unattainable.
Sure these are all anecdotal stories from my personal experience, and maybe it correlates to the real world, maybe it doesn’t, I don’t know, but it doesn’t seem sustainable, given that the newest generation of kids out there are poorer and far more indebted than even those 10 years older than them. The suburbs grew out of the post-war baby boomer demographic and they needed somewhere to go. SO they built houses at the time, in the cornfields as far as you could drive. These days I don’t know if the northside demographic has enough people to sustain these condos in 10 years or 15 years. Maybe LP can support this for a while longer but I can’t imagine how long this will go on for.
I love this apartment and love this building. I’ve been in a few units in this great old building ,and every unit I’ve entered has been beautiful. I absolutely promise you that this is a much, much better building with better architecture, more beautiful vintage details, larger rooms, and more amenity than the building at 4300 N Marine. There is no comparison between the two places. .
The views out the east-facing windows are some of the most beautiful in the city- you get the lake, the prettiest area of Lincoln Park, and the downtown skyline. The city looks like a fairy-tale city from this place.
I love it and wish I could afford it. All of that said, though, this is one very expensive building to maintain, thus the high monthly assessment. Worse, the common area mechanical elements really need work, or so I hear from people (designers and contractors) who’ve done work in this place. This unit may need extensive mechanical work in addition to improvements you may want to make for comfort and amenity (like Space Pak C/A).
Taxes seem awfully low. They’re lower than many much smaller units worth far less money up here in Rogers Park and Edgewater. I wonder why. I would expect a big tax increase when the places changes hands.
Laura,
I generally agree with you, but somehow I doubt there are “fairy tale” views of the city from the third floor.
Yes, Dan, the fairy tale views are from the 8th floor.
But the 3rd floor tree-top view is lovely.
You have the prettiest part of LP for your front yard. No such a thing as a bad view.
Is there an 8th floor unit for sale in this bldg? I’d definitely be interested in a unit here if it were higher up and if assessments included property taxes.
I don’t think there is, Dan, but I see them come available from time to time. Had a friend a couple of decades back who had a unit on the 8th or 9th floor, and the views from his front windows were some of the most beautiful in the city.
Hilarious that the realtor or whoever is in those bathroom pictures. I wonder if that is the dumb b on the treadmill in the last picture! With so few properties on the market (from what I have observed anyways), how hard is it to do a marginally adequate job? It baffles me that real estate is a career where “professionals” work on commission, yet most do a total dump job at it. Sadly, owner put up with it, so they deserve whatever low offers they get. This has been on the market since March 2012, and the owner hasn’t called up the [] realtor to say, “listen, you are doing a sh!t job and the pictures are ridic…” – I would have called on day one. Stoopid sellers, lazy realtors.
“Most younger (30?s younger) couples with kids I meet in my suburban area are all city transplants that used to own in the city before having kids. Additionally, all of my college roommates from out of state have moved from Chicago. A handful of associates in my office with kids are all looking in the west and northern burbs for homes, no more wrigleyville for them, and sfh east of western are unattainable.”
Nearly everyone but the 1% are priced out of Lakeview and North Center if you want a single family home. (although there are a smattering of smaller houses west of Western in North Center that are priced under $500,000 from time to time.) Ditto for Lincoln Square. Andersonville is fast becoming 1% land as well.
There’s really no point in trying to stay in the city with kids then. Might as well buy a nice house in an inner suburb near the metra with better schools.
Strongly agree, Sabrina.
By the way, Laura is right about the views. I used to live down the street on Lakeview Ave. in another building facing the lake, and the views were wonderful indeed. Plus, unlike living on LSD, you’re set back from the noise of the highway.
“There’s really no point in trying to stay in the city with kids then. Might as well buy a nice house in an inner suburb near the metra with better schools.”
You and I agree, but some people on this site call us losers for this mentality. Living in a SFH in the GZ is ridiculously expensive. Most of the smaller SFH have been torn down and replaced with 2/2’s which are not ideal for raising families.
“You and I agree, but some people on this site call us losers for this mentality. Living in a SFH in the GZ is ridiculously expensive. Most of the smaller SFH have been torn down and replaced with 2/2?s which are not ideal for raising families.”
If you’re rich- then fine. If you’re middle class or upper middle class, the city just doesn’t work with those schools. And besides, when your kids are in endless soccer games, volleyball games, basketball games, baseball games etc. you’re not riding your bike to Wrigley Field or going to the Lincoln Park Zoo. You’re simply doing what all the parents in Park Ridge, Evanston, Oak Park are doing: Sitting next to a field with your folding chair cheering your child. Why not buy a bigger home with better schools and less crime and sometimes a SHORTER commute?
“when your kids are in endless soccer games, volleyball games, basketball games, baseball games etc. you’re not riding your bike to Wrigley Field or going to the Lincoln Park Zoo. You’re simply doing what all the parents in Park Ridge, Evanston, Oak Park are doing: Sitting next to a field with your folding chair cheering your child. Why not buy a bigger home with better schools and less crime and sometimes a SHORTER commute?”
First, I’ve never been to, and know nothing about, Park Ridge. But I would submit that Evanston and Oak Park don’t really come within the “moving to the burbs is a no brainer” mantra espoused by some folks on here. I’d love to live in Evanston, but it doesn’t do much more to solve the public high school issue faced by parents in northside city hoods – despite the fact that its taxes surpass those paid by New Trier parents. And while I like some aspects of Oak Park, it’s just such a bubble, immediately outside of which (and, even inside, in some parts) the environment strikes me as a not entirely fortunate one. And the nicer houses (not the very nicest, just upper middle class homes) in Oak Park and Evanston, most of which are very old, aren’t that much cheaper than on the northside of the city. So, if it’s to be the burbs, so be it – but go all the way.
Second, as for parents sitting on folding chairs and watching the kids participate in various sporting and other activities: that is actually at the heart of my single biggest reason *to avoid* moving to the burbs – the commute. Unless one’s kid packs all school activities into a Saturday, many are going to occur on weekdays (just as many activities occur on weekdays during breaks and over the summer). So, if I’d like to make a kid’s piano or Jeet Kune Do event, attend a book signing by a kid’s favorite author, see part of a game, or, under less optimal circumstances, pick up a sick or hurt kid, deal with a behavioral incident, or whatever…and I’m going to either leave work early for the day or return for a few hours, I’d certainly rather it involve a commute from the Loop to LP than the Loop to the northshore. (Note: And this mainly concerns middle through high school age kids. As for toddlers through early elementary age kids, the “no brainer” tilts heavily in favor of the city. Not just for the free zoo and the many excellent playgrounds (valuable, unless you envision your kid developing on a backyard swingset), and not just for the many excellent preschool and elementary schools that are within a pleasant walking distance, but the half dozen or so places along the lakefront at which family memberships are fairly affordable and where many hours can be spent on especially hot or cold days, rainy days, or no-school days. I see the frazzled, stressed, bored dads at the Children’s Museum, Shedd, etc., just as I do at the zoo (especially at the hyper-frazzling zoo lights), who are there from the burbs for their semi-annual visit, which, given the infrequency and hassles involved, is necessarily a multi-hour endeavor. I’m a big fan of the 20 minute zoo visit, 1 hour Nature Museum visit, etc.) And heck, all of this is just me thinking about *my* commute, i.e., how many hours over the next 20-30 years I’ll expend on a train and going to and from train stations at home and in the city, how that commute will limit my flexibility, how that commute will reduce the time I spend with my family, and how that commute will reduce what little time I have for myself (say, to exercise). Once you account for the other parent pursuing career opportunities in the city, that just compounds all of my commuting concerns by an order of magnitude.
“Second, as for parents sitting on folding chairs and watching the kids participate in various sporting and other activities: that is actually at the heart of my single biggest reason *to avoid* moving to the burbs – the commute.”
The commute is longer from most of the “affordable” parts of the city than it is from Oak Park, for example. Or LaGrange. Or Western Springs. You can be at Union Station within 20-25 minutes. It’s 45 minutes on the brown line from Lincoln Square.
All the kids I know started doing soccer and other activities at age 5. They weren’t going to any of the zoos on a daily basis after that (and let the Brookfield Zoo memberships lapse because they only went once a year.)
Five years isn’t long enough for me to buy in the city or stay crammed in a 2 bedroom condo and then hope and pray I don’t lose my entire downpayment when I want to move.
For someone who is looking in the $350,000 to $500,000 price point- the city makes no sense with school age kids.
By the way- suburbanites aren’t limited to Oak Park or Evanston. Why not Flossmoor or some of the south suburbs? Good schools down there. Great housing stock and metra just the same. There’s a reason these communities were built 100 years ago.
Having grown up in both the city and suburbs.. Found it better being a kid in the suburbs… felt safer and more separate from the adult world. Lots of parks, open spaces, playgrounds, beaches, just simply biked everywhere.
“Why not Flossmoor or some of the south suburbs? ”
If you live in Orland Park and have to commute to the city, its 1 hour 10 minutes each way…
That adds up to over 606 hours a year, or 3.6 WEEKS a year you are spending on the bleeping metra, which yeah its a lot nicer than the CTA, but it still SUCKS, and the rates are going through the roof lately.
Compare that to a 30 minute commute which equals about 260 hours or 1.55 weeks a year
Wouldn’t you like to spend that extra two weeks a year with your kids and family rather than on a fricking metra train?
Yeah, you obviously have no brain!
“As for toddlers through early elementary age kids, the “no brainer” tilts heavily in favor of the city. Not just for the free zoo and the many excellent playgrounds (valuable, unless you envision your kid developing on a backyard swingset), and not just for the many excellent preschool and elementary schools that are within a pleasant walking distance, but the half dozen or so places along the lakefront at which family memberships are fairly affordable and where many hours can be spent on especially hot or cold days, rainy days, or no-school days.”
” besides, when your kids are in endless soccer games, volleyball games, basketball games, baseball games etc.”
Ah, the organized-sports=life attitude. Lots of kids hate that stuff.
“Why not buy a bigger home ”
Very often, it’s just a bigger yard.
I also laughed watching the NIU FSU game last night and heard Matt Millen talk about (man on man action quite a bit) and how NIU’s QB was from the south side of Chicago, and “thats the worst part of town, blah blah blah”… turns out the kid is from Mt. Greenwood… yeah real rough
But anyway there is a stigma associated with the south side that isn’t very positive. Thats why you don’t see it develop like it should have, because whether or not it makes sense financially, people would rather live in a exurb than the south side of Chicago
“[Evanston] doesn’t do much more to solve the public high school issue faced by parents in northside city hoods”
You really are an unbelieveable snob (or you’re incredibly ill-informed; Sonies may be right–you may be a caricature created by me). ETHS is much, much better than the neighborhood program at LPHS, which is the best attendance area HS in the city. Does it have issues? Sure. So do New Trier, HC and any other HS you want to claim “solves” an issue. But implying that ETHS is comparably an ‘issue’ to attendance area CPS HS is just dumb.
“felt safer and more separate from the adult world”
And you hoped to re-claim that feeling by moving to Rio.
HNY–hope you managed to stay out of trouble.
Good to know a roaming band of crackheads didn’t kill ze
“Good to know a roaming band of crackheads didn’t kill ze”
i thought it was a missed monthly pay-off to the local po-po and he got shackeled for a 3 month stint for the hash farm on his land?
either that or this;
Ze is a champion gymnast. In the tiny, yet savage, country of Parmistan. For the US to get this site, they must compete in the brutal “Game”. The government calls on Ze, the son of a former operative, to win the game. Ze must combine his gymnastics skills of the west with fighting secrets of the east to win
Actually on New Years I was leaving my building and 2 favela kids on a motorcycle almost robbed the wife and I at gunpoint. The wife saw them moving and took off before the one on the back of the bike could get off the bike. Did see him reaching into the back of his shirt for a gun. 10 minutes later we were on the beach swimming (last week we put up a 109.8 F print)…. Just another day in Rio..
Groove.. Ahh.. Parmistan known for its cheese and dried pork products.
Anon.. escaped by miracles.. someone up there likes me, and further confirmation of better to be lucky than smart.
glad you’re safe Z. wonder if calling them favela kids will ever become politically incorrect the way “thugs” has here. more red bull mountain bike races through their hoods can only help.
“become politically incorrect the way “thugs” has here”
??? Weird librulz you know.
what no love for the 80’s movie Gymkata reference?
“politically incorrect”
here everyone calls them “marginals”
“no love for the 80?s movie Gymkata reference”
Sorry, had you moved 1 yr forward…maintaining post Olympic Gymnast theme… any reference from American Anthem I would have most certainly picked up on..
On another note. After my 1 year battle.. As of yesterday my wife officially became building administrator. Groove brush up on references from Sliver.
“Groove brush up on references from Sliver.”
oddly never seen that movie but it is on the list, sadly old grooves list grows and never shrinks. maybe really old groove will find the time.
I wouldn’t watch i groovet. The dude keeps squeezing his eyes thinking it is sexy or something but he looks like he needs glasses real bad.
Maybe the rich 1%’ers you know move from the city to the burbs and only gain a larger yard, but the vast majority of people going leaving the city are cramped in tiny apartments, tiny vertical townhomes or 2/2 condos. The yard is just the bonus to the bigger house.
” anon (tfo) (January 2, 2013, 9:26 am)
“Why not buy a bigger home ”
Very often, it’s just a bigger yard.”
What difference does it make any more. We’re all poorer now with the increase in the payroll tax; and some of us like Brad F in the over $400k and single range are going to pay upwards of $40,000 more a year; and most importantly, the capital gains tax ‘loophole’ for rich people goes up from 15% to 23.8%. The federal government can find a way to give it back to their corporate buddies, like Disney, NASCAR and to their voters, through extended unemployment and other goodies etc. We’re the only ones who pay!
“The dude keeps squeezing his eyes thinking it is sexy or something”
that was the 90’s mysterious look. Dont laugh but i think most guys tried that a few times back in the day to look cool, and yes i was one of them. and yes it was one of many trial and horrible error things i tired.
“The yard is just the bonus to the bigger house. ”
and with a bigger house comes bigger utility bills and greater upkeep expenses. also greater deductible/co pay for medical consider all the meds one needs to be on to just get through the day.
unless you talking about a zero net energy or a passive solar home in the burbs?
um, hd, I think you need a refresher in how marginal tax rates work, only way your taxes go up 40k is if you make a cool million in a year.
But yeah us working stiffs got pretty boned with our SS taxes going back up 2% to 6.2%
Good thing they allowed deadbeats another year to do nothing, 99 weeks of unemployment apparently isn’t enough, they need 150 weeks to find a job…
“over $400k and single range are going to pay upwards of $40,000 more a year”
Um, huh? Non-renewal of FICA break = ~$2200. To get that other $38k in added taxes, just on the ‘over $400k’ fact, it’d be over $800k of ‘over $400k’ income.
Now, if you’re implying a boring calculus of his deduction phase-outs, that (i) starts at $250k, and (ii) I don’t believe that’s what you meant.
“99 weeks of unemployment apparently isn’t enough, they need 150 weeks”
That’s not what it’s doing, is it? It’s just allowing those who are currently beyond 26 weeks to keep collecting up to the ‘extended’ limit (99 or whatever that it has been), rather than cutting them off effective yesterday, if they were already past 26.
I agree with anon on the sport activities for kids life. Luckily, my two kids aren’t interested in organized sports, so my life doesn’t revolve around attending their events. But I know people whose life is like that, and I’m not envious, either of them or their over-scheduled children.
“Good thing they allowed deadbeats another year to do nothing, 99 weeks of unemployment apparently isn’t enough, they need 150 weeks to find a job…”
Most states are no longer at the 99 weeks anyway. The length of the extension depends on the state’s overall unemployment rate. So, for a state like North Dakota with a really low unemployment rate- can you even get an extension at all there? I don’t think it is much- if you can even get one. Otherwise it is the standard number of weeks.
And yes- getting $400 a week is just like a day at the beach. You can live so well on that Sonies. As I’ve said before- I don’t understand the jealousy about unemployment when it sucks to be on it and doesn’t pay for your life unless your life is earning about $24,000 a year and then it does. If that’s what you seek in life- then by all means bitch away.
Why aren’t more people talking about how the mortgage debt forgiveness act was extended another year? Sonies- people get a bigger benefit from the government from that than they ever do from unemployment. They are walking away from $100,000 tax bills, in some cases, with almost no financial repercussions except to wait 3 years to buy again. And not a peep out of anyone (even from conservatives.) It costs the U.S. taxpayers about $1 billion a year.
“mortgage debt forgiveness act was extended”
Thanks for the update on that.
“And not a peep out of anyone (even from conservatives.) It costs the U.S. taxpayers about $1 billion a year.”
Chances are it would cost the taxpayers that anyway as they would just declare bankruptcy if uncle sam pursued them for taxes on 100k. Only real bad outcome is they can buy again in 3 years.
“You can live so well on that Sonies. As I’ve said before- I don’t understand the jealousy about unemployment when it sucks to be on it and doesn’t pay for your life unless your life is earning about $24,000 a year and then it does.”
If you earn 24k/year you aren’t hitting the unemployment cap in Illinois. In order to earn the max $405/week you’d need to earn ~$44,500. If you’re at 24k/year you’re getting $219/week–good luck with that.
“Good thing they allowed deadbeats another year to do nothing, 99 weeks of unemployment apparently isn’t enough, they need 150 weeks to find a job…”
It restores the current cap, which for Illinois is 73 weeks. Is 73 weeks too long? Yeah probably. I know people who hit 99 weeks and one who hit 73 in November & got booted. Neither are even working yet, and after having been out of the workforce for so long, aren’t that employable for the jobs they want, or think they deserve.
People don’t realize that for white collar jobs, any prospective interviewer/boss is going to wonder what the hell you’ve been doing for the past year+ if you’ve been out for more than six months. And you’d better have a story crafted that’s better than Xbox or the bar scene.
“If you earn 24k/year you aren’t hitting the unemployment cap in Illinois. In order to earn the max $405/week you’d need to earn ~$44,500. If you’re at 24k/year you’re getting $219/week–good luck with that.”
Thank you Bob. Even MORE of a reason not to be on unemployment. It’s not the “vacation” that everyone thinks it is. Does it get abused? Sure. Do I think we need 2 years of unemployment anymore? No. Studies have shown that the closer you get to the deadline of being cut off, the more likely you are to look for work (duh…).