Love Alta Vista? Live There For Under the 2004 Price: 3814 N. Alta Vista Terrace in Lakeview
This 3-bedroom at 3814 N. Alta Vista Terrace in Lakeview, one of the 40 landmarked rowhouses on Alta Vista Terrace, just came on the market.
(I know this street is very popular so I’m posting this without a picture. I’ll try and get one over the weekend.)
It is listed $63,000 under the 2004 purchase price.
Built in 1904 on a 24×40 lot, it has all 3 bedrooms and a sunroom on the second level.
The rowhouse also has a lower level family room.
The kitchen has cherry cabinets and tile counter tops.
It has central air and the listing says it has a parking space.
This rowhouse appears to be move-in-ready and seems to have everything that buyers are looking for.
We last chattered about an Alta Vista rowhouse in October 2010.
3825 N. Alta Vista is one of the larger rowhouses at 6-bedrooms. It was listed in June 2010 for $899,000 and is still listed at $899,000 14 months later.
See our 3825 N. Alta Vista chatter here.
Given other listings on the street, is this a deal?
Karen Stierwalt at Coldwell Banker has the listing. (It is agent owned.) See the pictures here.
3814 N. Alta Vista Terrace: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2100 square feet, 1 car parking
- Sold in May 1994 for $260,000
- Sold in April 2001 for $582,500
- Sold in November 2004 for $698,000
- Just listed for $635,000
- Taxes of $9668
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 13×12 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 12×14 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 11×10 (second floor)
- Family room: 18×17 (lower level)
- Sunroom: 19×8 (second level)
Looks like it is priced correctly, based on comparable units in this area and less valuable neighborhoods. It’s beautiful, it’s much larger than the typical 3/2 townhouse, and it’s in a great setting. This pocket of homes is really exceptional. It even has one parking space.
I bet this sells close to ask. Very good deal in my opinion.
“Love Alta Vista?” it was my favorite search engine before Google.
Happy Friday Crib Chatters 😀
nice place.
I’m with you guys, I think this will sell close to ask. Very nice.
georgeous, nicely updated with remaining charm. I’d try to add back the crown in LR/DR but otherwise I really like this.
“Love Alta Vista?” it was my favorite search engine before Google.”
what no love for the lycos dog?
this is an nice house on a nice street at a nice price.
that said its too nice to be on cribchater.
“that said its too nice to be on cribchater.”
lol…we get nice properties north of GC occasionally.
I agree… This is a very pretty home and the asking price seems very fair.
The only weird thing I notice is one of the bedrooms has french doors that seem to open to another bedroom. It’s difficult to tell what’s going on with the picture. Was that room a re-purposed office? If so, I hope they aren’t counting it as a bedroom.
“lol…we get nice properties north of GC occasionally.”
yes but either its over priced or has a mortgage and 2nd totaling the outrageous price.
or its on a border of two hoods so we can argue the boundaries for two days.
or a realtor add a random incorrect fact that we can pick at.
lovely and priced right. Great for a couple or a family with one child. Only negative would be the school.
“The only weird thing I notice is one of the bedrooms has french doors that seem to open to another bedroom. It’s difficult to tell what’s going on with the picture. Was that room a re-purposed office? If so, I hope they aren’t counting it as a bedroom.”
It’s a sun room, not counted as one of the bedrooms. Feels very crowded the way it’s set up at the moment, but don’t think it has to be that way. There is a floor plan, otherwise I’d never have been able to figure out. Not a good one mind you, as there’s no door per floor plan to get into the side bedroom or the sun room, but should be grateful for what we have.
If it were practical for me, I’d buy this place in a minute. It’s in my price range, but it would be hard to uproot my family.
Babelfish was my favorite language traslator!
It’s hilarious that 3825 is still listed at $899K after all these months. When is the seller going to wake up to reality? If after 14 months you can’t sell at your price, either lower the price or take it off the market.
Although 3825 does have more rooms than 3814, It’s not worth $250K more. For one thing, it’s on the less-preferred side of the street. For another, I don’t believe the basement is finished. There’s no yard. And the finishes aren’t as nice as 3814. They need to drop the price to around 700K and see if they can move it.
Floor plan is a little odd. Looks like from the floor plan there’s no bathroom on the main floor. Full bath upstairs and one on the lower level. Weird walk in closet locations but i guess it’s better to have them than not. Also looks like you have to enter the “sun room” by going through one of the bedrooms.
I’m surprised we’ve made it this far without the typical Wrigleyville bashing.
I’ve never seen this area. At first, it sounds like someplace in LP or GC.
LOVE! I think it’ll go quickly. Too bad it’s in Greeley, not Blaine.
Marco,
It’s not weird to go through the bedroom to get to the sun room. The sun room should be considered an “extra” part of that bedroom, not a separate room of its own. Such an arrangement is quite common in older homes.
I think some Alta Vista homes do have a half bath on the main floor. I wonder if there’s room to add one here off the kitchen. It would help to see the floor plan.
The lack of a second bath upstairs is rather annoying. The lacking second bath upstairs makes this a better place for a retired couple than a family. I’d hate to share a bathroom with my kids (though I kind of do even though they have their own, as they keep insisting on using the master bath shower for some reason).
Tomm – I’d really recommend taking a walk down this street. It’s a block north of Wrigley Field, but it’s like entering another world. It seems quite separated from the rest of Wrigleyville, like a quiet oasis. There’s no other street like it in Chicago. I’ve been in love with it for 30 years.
“It would help to see the floor plan”
It’s on the virtual tour link from the listing.
Also, no window in the 2nd bedroom but I guess you get some light through the french doors to the sun room. No closet in the 3rd bedroom.
Parking? Where? Based on the photo, they have a nice little landscaped back yard. I am guessing you have to literally park on the grill. The backyard on this side of Alta Vista is about as big as what you see – which is tiny. Not really room for both a backyard and garage – it is one or the other.
How much would it cost to turn one of the bedrooms into a second bath? I love the house, but hate the bathroom situation. Actually, there are a lot of houses I love but then the bathrooms truly make me sad :(.
“If after 14 months you can’t sell at your price, either lower the price or take it off the market.”
When I tried unsuccessfully to sell my place, I had to leave it on the market for six months thanks to the contract I signed with Prudential Rubloff. When no one came to see the place after the tax credit died, and I couldn’t afford to lower my price, I asked about terminating early and I would have had to pay a $400 fee. I was told “that’s they [the brokerage] makes its money.”
I found it odd that a brokerage’s business model was based on sellers changing their mind, but didn’t want to deal with the hassle, so i let it rot on the market for 3 more months until it expired.
14 months is a bit much though.
Thanks, Marco. I didn’t catch that before. I’ll check the floor plan now.
I agree it’s worth considering whether an upstairs BR can be turned into a bathroom. But I’d guess it’s not really necessary. This is
great for a retired couple who wants a bedroom, a guest bedroom and an office upstairs. Overnight guests would have their own bath in the basement, where you could put a sofa bed. What’s really missing is the first-floor bath. It would be inconvenient to tell dinner guests they have to go downstairs to use the bathroom, but it’s not a deal killer in my book.
Looking at the floor plan, I wonder if there’s room next to the pantry for a closet-like bath with just a toilet and sink.
I’m full of ideas on this one:
What if you combined the sun room with the third bedroom and made it into a full master bedroom, turning the 8X5 walk-in closet into a bathroom? The bathroom wouldn’t be a perfect master bath, because it would only have room for a shower stall, but at least you’d have privacy, and if you had kids, they could share the hall bathroom.
If it has central air, why are there air conditioners in the windows?
Maybe just sunroom gets hot? I would have looked for a different option – air conditioners look so ugly in the windows.
” It would be inconvenient to tell dinner guests they have to go downstairs to use the bathroom, but it’s not a deal killer in my book.”
Unless they are really old and walking challenged, how hard is it to take couple of steps down and up?
“Maybe just sunroom gets hot? I would have looked for a different option – air conditioners look so ugly in the windows.”
LG low profile series, i swear by them!
We had an issue with our top floor not getting enough ventilation. It was always at least 10 degrees warmer that the floor below. We thought about a window unit but the only option would be to put it in a window that was at the front of the house – which wouldn’t look so great from the street. Instead we had 2 high capacity ventilation fans installed in our ceiling to vent through roof. They look great – the grille is very low profile, white and blends right in with the ceiling.
I can see the bathroom and stairs being a concern for a lot of people. My parents worried a lot about having my grandpa over in their three story townhouse. There is no bathroom on the bottom floor, where they have a den. My grandpa struggled to get up the stairs to the main living area (where there is a powder room). Eventually, he just couldn’t come over anymore because he needed bathroom access, but couldn’t get up the stairs.
They could easily get more than the ask for this. Should have tested at $700K
Onlooker. How well is your attic insulated?
“They could easily get more than the ask for this. Should have tested at $700K.”
The owner IS the listing agent.
S
I know the owner is. Which makes it even more surprising. Id have tried it higher…
I showed my 11-year old son this listing. He dismissed it quickly, saying “it’s not the nicest house on Alta Vista.”
I’m inclined to agree – it’s not the nicest, from the outside, anyway. But it’s still handsome.
“The owner IS the listing agent.”
“I know the owner is. Which makes it even more surprising”
Interesting.
Trust me these places are ok Ive looked at them. Very very small. check out the back of these buildings not a pretty site at all. if the place has not been totally renovated then the electric plumbing ect are very very old. parking is a joke. if your looking for nice townhomes check out the ones on marine drive I believe 4200 north very nice newer and the architect was pappa George. again these places are nice but when you look at them parking is bad, the bakc of these properties look a mess and they are old!!!!!