Looking for a Penthouse in the South Loop? 1235 S. Prairie
This 2-bedroom penthouse unit at Museum Park Tower IV, at 1235 S. Prairie in the South Loop has been on the market about a month and has already been reduced once.
The building was constructed in 2006. This unit is a corner unit with views to the north and west.
The unit is now listed for $94,500 under the 2006 purchase price (if you include the parking.)
The property has a split floor plan and hardwood floors throughout.
The kitchen has stainless steel appliances, granite counter tops and a double oven. There is a marble bath in the master suite.
Is this a steal for a penthouse in this location?
Katarzyna Sak at American Realtors & Associates has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #3609: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1501 square feet
- Sold in October 2006 for $600,500 (with the parking space)
- Lis pendens filed in March 2009
- Listed in March 2010 for $494,000 (parking extra)
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $475,000 (parking is $31,000 “when purchased with the unit.”)
- Assessments of $938 a month (includes heat, A/C, pool, doorman)
- Taxes are $10966
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 15×12
- Bedroom #2: 12×11
I live in this building and have seen the unit. First, I like the building, the construction appears to be done well and while the treatments are not super high end, it has a luxury feel. Positives are: well-managed with excellent staff, excellent location (5 min to Roosevelt el stop), dry cleaner and cafe on first floor, easy parking access(same elevator as units). Negatives: very small parking spaces and tight garage layout, outdoor pool only and on the north side of the building so little sun until late in the day, very limited gym facility, severe wind tunnel effect in front of the building (this has to be one of the windiest spots in Chicago). Regarding this unit in particular, this layout is a bit inefficient, there is a lot of hallway space and the den/office is really tiny and basically an alcove. The unit will be nice and quiet being on the 36th and the views are spectacular. A steal at this price? Who knows, I’m sure the Criberati will chime in on that. If I were seriously interested in buying this, I would make sure to check out which garage space is assigned, some are quite tiny and realistically should be priced differently from other, larger spaces.
Assessments and taxes are likely what makes this equally outrageous. Just another unit setting comps on the way down.
Those are some CRAZY assessments and taxes. Just think you can have a $420k mortgage for the amount of their assessments and taxes.
They paid 600k for this LOL! I can only imagine the gimmicky financing used on that purchase.
$2k monthly nut before even looking at the mortgage? That pegs this place at like $180k. LMAO!
I agree, the assesement too high was such a new building. Think what it’s going to be in 10 years….I am guessing close $1,500
But when you factor in the steep “discount” for the parking space (Parking “discounted” to $31000 when purchased with unit), you’re practically making money by buying this place.
This is a REO:
https://w3.courtlink.lexisnexis.com/cookcounty/FindDock.asp?NCase=&SearchType=2&Database=3&case_no=&Year=&div=&caseno=&PLtype=2&sname=+%09WHITAKER+WENDY+L&CDate=
This unit has been bank owned as of January 2010.
$570,000 (spread among two mortgages) the $600,000 mortgage was financed on 10/23/2006.
The no-name realtors, the Lis Pendens along with the big price reduction on a 2006 purchase price should have tipped the average cribchatterer that this was probably a bank owned property.
Yikes on the taxes and assessments! Kinda reminds me of a (perhaps the only) great line in Vegas Vacation:
Dealer: “You don’t know when to quit, do ya Griswold? Here’s an idea: Why don’t you give me half the money you were gonna bet, we’ll go out back, I’ll kick you in the nuts, and we’ll call it a day!”
Replace “Griswold” with “buyer” and “bet” with “spend on this place”
you’re really gonna hate this one
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1235-S-Prairie-Ave-60605/unit-3601/home/21885382
This looks like a nice place, but given the massive overbuilding of the South Loop, it may go lower.
The only other places as overbuilt as SoLo are Miami and Las Vegas. It will take years to work through the inventory there.
i live down the street in one of the older museum park developments.
honestly, compared to the supertowers built up next door, this unit is relatively cheap for a high floor condo. the assesments are definitely ridiculous though.
this is probably the most desirable portion of the south loop, it’s pretty well removed from the grunginess of the roosevelt red line, but still has access to it. it’s close to the lake and also offers easy access onto 55 and 90/94.
i say 400k minimum, won’t go any lower than that.
RL is right about the layout. You can see it in the photos. I’ve seen a ton of units like this with a huge percentage of the SF in hallways. When my clients have compared South Loop properties like this to West Loop properties the West Loop wins out on value. And so many of these South Loop buildings have lots of renters and short sales – don’t know about this building in particular though.
Not so HD, it’s not an REO. Not all foreclosures become REO’s. I am an investor who buys at judicial sales, the point of separation between old owner and new (be it bank or 3rd party bidder) and I was at this sale. It was purchased by one of my competitors. I shall not divulge the sales price (it is however a matter of public record) since it would be unfair to the investor, but I will say I was the second bidder.
I think it is important to recognize the difference between REO and investor owned (ok…..flips) REO’s normally come as-is, 100% tax proration etc…. Investors spend time and money to clear titles and make homes into retails sales again. I am not claiming to be any kind of philanthropist, we’ve all gotta make a living but from a sales perspective it does make a difference.
Neo, thank you for pointing out that distinction, and here’s the public record. It doesn’t contain a warranty deed to the first bidder. The judicial deed may have been issued at the judicial sale but it sure hasn’t been recorded; which may be a tactic of the investor to hide the sales price; I suppose the sales price is in the OAS, but regardless:
http://www.ccrd.info/CCRD/controller?commandflag=searchByProperty&optflag=SearchCommandForIL&PIN_1=17&PIN_2=22&PIN_3=110&PIN_4=125&PIN_5=1286
The judicial sale was in December, the OAS was 1/14/2010; and the Recorder’s office is current through 03/23/2010. Unless someone was at the auction (like you) – I as a fairly sophisticated person with involvement in the foreclosure-REO, or some layman, without pulling the actual court file, wouldn’t have known that it wasn’t bank owned.
Damn it, now you make me want to pull the file. 2009-CH-06920
(interestingly enough this case was filed in Feb ’09, which means the first missed payment was likely October or November 2008 (conservatively); which means the last time the previous owner actually sent in a payment was September or October 2008; 18 or 19 months ago; just imagine how many of these properties are in the pipeline – tens of thousands – remember, foreclosures have been higher year over year since 2005 and have barely even slowed down the rate of increase…..scary, truly scary…)
https://w3.courtlink.lexisnexis.com/cookcounty/FindDock.asp?NCase=2009-ch-06924&SearchType=0&Database=3&case_no=&=&=&=&PLtype=1&sname=&CDate=
Here, for anyone who actually cares about the ‘shadow inventory’, here’s a property in foreclosure where the foreclosure lawsuit was filed 2/18/2010, the same exact day as the foreclosure for the 1235 S. Prairie property. In fact, it has a case number sequentially only four lawsuits later than the Prairie lawsuit; which means that the law clerk who filed this law suit was probably standing in line behind the guy who file the Prairie foreclosure lawsuit.
Nevertheless, I don’t know the address of the property, but the Order for Possession was entered on March 11, 2010. By default in Cook County all orders for possession in foreclosures contain a 30 day stay date. That means if the ‘owner’ not the tenant lives in the property they get to stay 30 days from the March 11, 2010 date. The new owner, either the bank or an investor, can’t take legally take possession of the property for 30 days, (April 12th); and if someone still lives there, the new owner has to file a separate eviction lawsuit on the 14th floor…which adds another couple weeks, if not months to the case…..
There are tens of thousands of these properties in Chicago, they’re everywhere, all over the county, it could be your neighbor in your trendy neighborhood for all you know – and in fact – you don’t know until they’re moved out. They tell you ‘oh yeah, we’re moving’ when in fact they’re about to be evicted in foreclosure. tens of thousands, yes they tend to be concentrated outside the ‘green zone’ but there are plenty of them.
Go ahead, be a knife catcher, I dare you…..qualify for that loan at 45% with 3% down, and you think you’re getting a deal. just wait until next year…there is no bottom in sight, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. It’s nearly unending.
2/18/2010 = 2/18/2009!
“There are tens of thousands of these properties in Chicago, they’re everywhere, all over the county, it could be your neighbor in your trendy neighborhood for all you know – and in fact – you don’t know until they’re moved out. They tell you ‘oh yeah, we’re moving’ when in fact they’re about to be evicted in foreclosure. tens of thousands, yes they tend to be concentrated outside the ‘green zone’ but there are plenty of them.”
The friend I’ve mentioned before, who was approved for a $400k loan on a secretary’s salary had lis pendens filed last fall. Her lawyer, for some unknown reason, is somehow getting the case continued. All it seems he’s doing is buying her time, but time for what? She is unemployed for a year+ now, and even if she does find a job today, she’s so far behind she’ll never catch up, so why the continuances? Pull the band-aid off, FAST, and get the pain over with already…
My boyfriend’s neighbor in Kane County recently “moved out”. I had noted the property was in foreclosure, gleaned from Crain’s foreclosure search tool thing. That dragged on for almost a year. So now he’s got a vacant foreclosure next door as a comparable. 🙁 Frankly, we’d like to buy it, but first we’d have to go to their clerk’s office and pull files to figure out who’s got the property now, and so on. They have a very rudimentary online document system, so it means some real legwork. I’m very worried for him how low it might sell for.
It’s a rotten place to be in when you want to buy, but have to sell your own place as well, and the comps are dropping your value every day.
“homedelete on April 1st, 2010 at 9:55 pm
just wait until next year…there is no bottom in sight, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. It’s nearly unending.”
LMMFAO
You forgot your lithium again.
Bradford, I’m sure you won’t be laughing so hard when you try to find comps for your bubblicious 4,000 sq loft.
Oh great that douchebag Bradford is back.
Hey Bradford are real estate values higher these days than when you signed off of cribchatter a few months ago?
Just wondering..
logansquarean, it’s all about buying time. If the homeowner has no income, no job, no prospects, it’s in the client’s best interest to live there for free, for as long as possible. Of course it’s not in the bank’s best interest….or is it? It all depends on which side you represent.
The shadow inventory story is pretty huge. It’s artificially constraining supply at a time when demand is also high (due to low interest rates, perceived lower prices and tax credits).
http://news.google.com/news/search?aq=0&pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=%22shadow+inventory%22
Oooooh, the Bob/HD Twatter Tag-Team.
Just checked Redfin. 2 comps in the last six months.
Please link me to where I said that it would all be over by April. okthxbye.
I agree with HD on the shadow inventory issue. I also think there is a greater than 50% chance that the US is currently in a Japanese style deflationary spiral. There is an insane number of old people in Japan right now and there aren’t enough working age people to take care of them financially. The US will hit that same point in less than a decade. The Japanese banks are also zombie banks, still reluctant to lend after getting burned extremely badly in their RE bubble. The US banks are in that phase right now. The only entity willing to bear credit risk in the mortgage market now in the US is Uncle Sugar through FHA, Fannie and Freddie. Let’s face facts, the average prole in the US hasn’t seen a real raise in wages in decades, yet somehow the standard of living has miraculously increased. How come? Because it’s all funny money debt. You cannot borrow forever, eventually you’ve gotta pay the piper. With this current deleveraging and deflationary spiral, that time is now.
Given the financial condition and unfunded liabilities of the City of Chicago, Cook County, and the State of Illinois, I wouldn’t purchase real estate in Chicago unless the price was almost zero because I expect the tax burden in Chicago to rival that of an Eastern bloc country within the next 10 years and I want to be able to pack up and leave when that happens. And to all the knife catchers out there comparing today’s prices to 2006’s prices and claiming something’s a great bargain, I’ve got 1000 shares of Citibank in my Schwab account that I’ll sell you for 20% off their average 2006 sale price. Let me know if you’re interested.
-PB
logansquarean: what is the “Crains foreclosure search tool thing”? I searched on Crains but cannot find anything like that.
Also, can someone please help me with the definition of “penthouse”? Does any unit on the top floor of a condo building qualify, even if it’s a 900 sf 1/1 with no parking?
“logansquarean: what is the “Crains foreclosure search tool thing”? I searched on Crains but cannot find anything like that.”
It’s here in their “Closer” section:
http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/cgi-bin/page.pl?id=2332
Regarding the Crain’s thing…my sense is that this only shows recent foreclosures. If it was filed a while ago it may not show up. Can anyone confirm?
neo & homedlete:
If there is home at the auction that is worth less than the loan, then what happens at the auctions? in reality? can someone explain this?
Let’s say the mortgage is $500K, the house was purchased in 2006 for $550K and it’s now worth $425K. How do the private investors and the bank handle their respective bidding in this scenario? and what is the ultimate sale at the auction? Thanks!
“I am an investor who buys at judicial sales, the point of separation between old owner and new (be it bank or 3rd party bidder) and I was at this sale. It was purchased by one of my competitors. I shall not divulge the sales price (it is however a matter of public record) since it would be unfair to the investor, but I will say I was the second bidder.”
Nice location, but what a moronic listing. Would it have been too much to ask for a floor plan?
Dan-
The bank sets a reserve bid of where they value the loan, based on what they have written it down to. Investors are free to bid more if they feel the value is higher. Most of the time the bank buys their own property at these judicial auctions, but sometimes there are good opportunities for investors.
MGG
Just to add to Matt’s good description……
Bank bidding can feel very random. Some houses they bid full value of the loan even if the house is clearly worth only a fraction of the value and other times they bid well below value and several investors bid against eachother to see who wants it most. There is a bit of trend from bank to bank suggesting the bank bid setters are rather more expert at some shops than others.
“The only other places as overbuilt as SoLo are Miami and Las Vegas. It will take years to work through the inventory there.”
I don’t have any interest in Vegas but I can speak with knowledge of Miami’s inventory issues.
Over the past two months, investors have been hitting and hitting hard. The overall jump in condo sales has increased by around 200%…finally. Most developers have finally accepted the fact that in order to move their surplus, the prices have to be chopped. And chopped they are…to ridiculously low levels. Most of the latest sales are cash only deals funded almost exclusively by foreign (read South American) buyers. Units not selling are being rented at hugely discounted rates as well.
A few acquiantances who invest only in RE have bought ‘packages’ in several high end buildings and they are overjoyed at the opportunity! I spent the last two weeks in Miami and it is nice to finally see the towers on Brickell lit up. Ghost towers finally are showing some life!
I knew it was bound to happen and am happy to have it come to fruition.
I predict the same strategy will be happening to the Chicago market within the next year – two years. IF they follow suit and slash prices.
Sold 5/21 for 470k
Had a laugh at all the “experts” on this, and other units in the South Loop neighborhood.
Proved to be NOT overbuilt at all, with demand 10 years later still very strong even after the pandemic.
Likewise the commentary on high assessments and taxes, with one prediction on $1500 assessments now. Funnily, not even close. This building has been exceptionally well-managed despite the massive turnover in management. This due to one singular board member who is exceptionally well-qualified to manage the finances for the owners.
“demand 10 years later still very strong even after the pandemic.”
ironically, the 11 year old post you’re commenting on is listed again. been on the market for a couple of months with a price reduction. demand?
“ironically, the 11 year old post you’re commenting on is listed again. been on the market for a couple of months with a price reduction. demand?”
Downtown demand is not there marco. This has been talked about over and over again. It’s starting to recover but it’s slow. Less inventory now than last year which is what you need.
And not every building downtown will recover in the same way. Some buildings, frankly, are just more popular with buyers. Like everything in real estate: location, location, location.
“Had a laugh at all the “experts” on this, and other units in the South Loop neighborhood.”
The Chatterati always gets it wrong Jim. Ha ha.