Loft-Like Townhouse With 4 Bedrooms in West Lincoln Park Reduces: 2222 N. Racine
This 4-bedroom loft-like townhouse at 2222 N. Racine in West Lincoln Park came on the market in March.
If this property looks familiar, that’s because we chattered about it in 2015 which was the last time it came on the market.
See our chatter here.
This is a brick and timber loft building with 16 units which were converted into townhouse like units.
This unit has a wall of windows and sliding glass doors looking out on a private 350 square foot terrace.
There are stone floors on the main floor.
The kitchen has white cabinets and what looks like white and stainless steel appliances.
There are two bedrooms on the second floor along with 2 bathrooms and 2 more bedrooms on the third floor with just one bath.
There’s no basement.
This is the only unit in this complex with an attached garage.
Originally listed in March for $885,000, it has been reduced $46,000 to $839,000.
Price reductions have been rare in 2018.
Should buyers be focusing exclusively on properties with reductions to find the best deals?
Pamela Rueve at Coldwell Banker has the listing. See the pictures and floor plan here.
Unit #5: 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 2500 square feet
- Sold in February 2000 for $374,000
- Sold in August 2002 for $629,000
- Sold in August 2005 for $825,000
- Sold in August 2008 for $865,000
- Sold in September 2011 for $742,500
- Originally listed in June 2015 for $999,900
- Withdrawn
- Re-listed in March 2018 for $885,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $839,000
- Assessments are now $391 a month (they were $359 a month in 2015) (includes exterior maintenance, snow removal, scavenger and lawn care)
- Taxes are now $9520 (they were $8835 in 2015)
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Includes the only attached garage in the building
- Bedroom #1: 16×15 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 10×9 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 12×11 (third floor)
- Bedroom #4: 13×10 (third floor)
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
OLD STYLE FAIL! GO CUBS.
Below ’08 price and prob closing below ’05 price.
Would by for 2017 Assessor’s Value + 20% ($475,330 + 20% = $570k).
Why does it move every 3 years? Seems like a family-friendly condo.
Since it last sold for 742,000 in 2011, the roof deck was converted into an additional bedroom and another bath by adding additional SF…
They also painted what appeared to be fairly timeless stained kitchen cabinets (that matched the adjacent built-ins in the dining room)… that was a huge mistake…
“Since it last sold for 742,000 in 2011, the roof deck was converted into an additional bedroom and another bath by adding additional SF…”
OK, so it is *way* below ’05 price already. And taxes are likely to go up by at least 50%.
“Why does it move every 3 years? Seems like a family-friendly condo“
Steps to everything even the kitchen. That’s not at all family friendly. Especially families with really little kids that are likely attracted to this address.
Cool place!
It was cooler before they made the two useless moves Jack cited.
The more bathrooms, the merrier!
Also, kids can learn to navigate stairs. My friends live in a three story townhouse and their 18-month-old is a whiz at going up and down those stairs. It freaked me out to see at first, but she was navigating those stairs like a pro.
“Steps to everything even the kitchen. That’s not at all family friendly.”
Guess if you have the pad-every-corner sort of family.
Toughens up the urchins. Plus, always a place for a kid to sit.
Jenny – You are correct that once they are good with stairs the issues die down quickly. But in that transition things are a pain in the ass. Add in a dog that knocks over toddlers and it makes it even worse.
But think of it from your own perspective of returning from shopping, plain old cooking, and serving people food. Those two kitchen stairs are always gonna be a pita. I’m sure they are there for a reason but if it was done as a design statement the architect should never be hired again. Dumb with a capital D.
I would have kept the roof deck, personally. Then again, I would never want to buy this in the first place. I’m not a loft-style person.
Ever increasing taxes and interest rates means recently inflated RE prices will have to gravitate back towards their 2000 prices, not further away from them.
There aren’t enough high paying jobs to cover all of the inflated RE values in the GZ. And the increased carry costs will preclude more fakers from pretending to be makers.
OK, “Bob”, and vaccines cause autism!
“Ever increasing taxes and interest rates means recently inflated RE prices will have to gravitate back towards their 2000 prices, not further away from them.”
Baby boomer home owners have no real memory of what it was like when rates were over 10% (which occurred for the entire decade of the 1980s.) GenX and the Millennials only have experience with falling mortgage rates, not rising.
We’ve discussed over the years about what would happen when rates actually rose. In the last 3 years, prices have continued to rise (while rates have fallen) so now home buyers are going to face rising rates and record high home prices.
Unless wages spike dramatically higher, something will have to give.
This is new territory for everyone. But I have a feeling it’s not going to end well.
The era of moving every 3-5 years could be coming to an end. Rising rates may force more people to stay in their homes longer, which means you had better choose wisely.
What’s the saying my mom used to recite when I was a teen?
Never pick a date that won’t make a great mate.
Didn’t always listen to mom on that one but I’ve always looked at home purchases in this light. Each property that I’ve put under contract offered something unique. They were all homes that I could live with for a long time. Often the aesthetic form won out slightly over actual function but they all were totally functional for the long haul.
And I was sad each time I closed one chapter to open another. Sabrina’s philosophy of buying places that will last served me well.
BTW Sabrina where were you on this vacation?
Did you check out any cool real estate?
I don’t even foresee rates going anywhere near double digits. I think more than likely there will be an economic downturn before they get to ~6% for mortgages.
Rising taxes will bring significant headwinds: if your property tax rate is an effective 2.2% and your getting hit with annual increases of 8% that’s an effective rate hike right there & a non-deductible one.
Speaking of non-deductible interest anyone that buys this will need at least 89k down or else they will have some of that, too. Given the buyer likely cannot get a jumbo mortgage with 90% LTV this home is at the higher end of the range for regular loans where they can deduct all their interest.
The new tax code also doesn’t bode well for RE here because of the SALT limit. They have found a workaround in other blue states but they haven’t picked up the issue here yet.
“They have found a workaround in other blue states but they haven’t picked up the issue here yet.”
Yeah, right.
https://capitolfax.com/2018/04/11/salt-work-around-picking-up-support/
Our wonderful political “leaders” simply have more important fish to fry than doing anything to help their constituents.
Also in Crain’s yesterday:
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20180522/BLOGS02/180529972/new-version-of-trump-tax-cap-workaround-goes-to-lawmakers?AllowView=VDl3UXg1TzhDUGFCa0IvREEvSHllVnlvaDB3UkNPOVVIaGc9#utm_medium=email&utm_source=ccb-politics&utm_campaign=ccb-politics-20180523
So, yeah, they have “picked up on the issue”.
“Given the buyer likely cannot get a jumbo mortgage with 90% LTV this home is at the higher end of the range for regular loans where they can deduct all their interest.”
you can get jumbos with 90% ltv, however you can’t write off the interest on the HELOC anymore, which sucks
Why can’t you write off HELOC interest? They did away with that?
You can do 90% jumbos with no MI… don’t even need to piggyback it with a HELOC.
We did a walk through of this house. It’s in absolutely terrible shape. The kitchen cabinets are cracked and falling of the walls, the rooms are not configured in a way that makes sense and I think I even remember one room that was an office not having a full wall to close it off (I think it’s the one with the futon). When we toured, there was a bicycle in the one of the bathrooms. It’s also not a working fireplace, and I think it’s currently being lived in by renters.
Someone would have to redo and rip out most of the house that isn’t the new add on to make it work. It is a lot of space, but it’s really pieced together strangely.
But the ceiling of the den is really nice. It’s also a great location right across from Oscar Meyer and blocks from the Fullerton stop.
“Did you check out any cool real estate?”
I always check out real estate wherever I go. Don’t you?
Lol.
I’ve even gone to weekend open houses while in Australia (so much fun.)
“Why can’t you write off HELOC interest? They did away with that?”
yea, they did
“I always check out real estate wherever I go. Don’t you?”
Heck yes I do. I’ve even walked into construction sites on vacations. Its fun to try and understand the basic values of a resort area or local marketplace. My only rule is that I will not waste a realtors time but I will look at an open house.
“yea, they did”
Hm, I don’t think that is correct:
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/interest-on-home-equity-loans-often-still-deductible-under-new-law
oh yeah right only if the money is spent on your main home only and not a boat or SUV or cc debt, and only if total debt is under 750k
“simplification”
“only if the money is spent on your main home only”
Well, that’s only an issue if you get audited.