Nearly 2 Years Later and Still Trying to Sell This Bucktown Custom Home: 1934 N. Wood
This 6000 square foot new construction million dollar single family home at 1934 N. Wood in Bucktown has been on the market for nearly 2 years.
One set of pictures shows it with furniture and/or staged. See those here.
The other set does not.
The listing says it has a kitchen that you can put on a “cooking demonstration show” in and the master suite is “resort caliber.” It also says it’s on a larger than normal city lot.
It has an open living concept and what looks to be a two story water feature near the living room.
The home has been reduced by $640,000 since it was first listed in October 2007.
Is this property priced to sell now?
Anthony Zaskowski at Property Consultant Realty has the listing.
1934 N. Wood: 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 6000 square feet, 3+ car garage
- Sold in February 2005 for $850,000 (prior home that was torn down)
- Originally listed in October 2007 for $2.989 million
- Reduced many, many times
- Currently listed for $2.349 million
- Lis pendens foreclosure filed in July 2009
- Taxes are “new”
They went too uniquely custom. 99.9% of potential buyers in that price range are going to find this flat out ugly. You’re aiming for a very, very specific and limited pool of buyers here and I’m sorry but that just wont work in this economy. Plus the neighborhood, 2-3 million for Bucktown?
Cool place, but its still a house in Sucktown.
I bet it finally sells after another year on the market for 1.8 milly.
It looks like a kid’s treehouse is floating over the kitchen. I agree that this home is too design taste specific and for that much money, you could go and customize a home to your exact liking. The fireplace with the wooden shakes bother me a lot as well…too hansel and gretel looking.
I bet if they moved this to Michigan and put it on a lake it would sell. I like some of it, but when you start on a wood shingle mantle, you’ve taken the rustic theme too far. And those stairs are killer (and I don’t mean killer in a good way).
I have a new drinking game – every time an idiot says they hate Bucktown on here, I’m doing a shot.
I do think it’s beautiful, but I agree with whoever said that it’s a very small buyer pool that would be enticed by its style. I do wish I had the kind of coin to be shopping in that price range tho…
Um, and I must now beg for forgiveness for slightly hijacking this post, but (hopefully) we have a showing tomorrow morning. Anyone want to give me any tips, suggestions, things you like to see at an open house/showing, etc. that I should be doing? Thanks in advance.
Who the hell finishes a *SPEC* home like this? WTF
Not sure it’s quite my taste either, but at least it’s vaguely in the $2+ million ballpark. Again, compare this to the “Lincoln Park” $2 million condo — I know which one I’d choose.
I’d at least take a look at it in person if my MegaMillions numbers come in tonight.
Everybody built homes in off neighborhoods for the jet setting millionaires; it’s just that the bonafide millionaires cannot be everywhere at once. 20 years from how this home will be 7 x 800 sq ft section 8 apartments.
They are very screwed on this one because:
1) Potential buyers would have to like the neighborhood.
2) Potential buyers would have to like this house which is tailored to very specific tastes.
3) Potential buyers would have to be able to purchase a multi million dollar property.
4) Potential buyers would have to be willing to purchase a multi million dollar in this economy.
Looks like a mountain lodge and I agre with nsarch. I hope whatever bank gave this genius developer the loan goes into FDIC receivership as well and all the idiot bankers are canned.
I’ve driven past this place a couple of times and it’s nice from the outside – lots of curb appeal. Now I know what’s going on inside… I do like the tub!
MrsB – saw you came down another $5, maybe that will help. In terms of advice, your place is perfectly staged – can’t say I have any suggestions (because you already said you aren’t changing out the kid’s room). Best of luck to you!
Check the price change history on the redfin link (the “with furniture” pic link).
HI-larious!
Also, do we *know* that this was spec, and not a custom build for someone who backed out/went bankrupt/died?
Thank you Jon. I probably can’t change little B’s room by tomorrow, but I probably will change it soon. It’ll pain me to do it, but let’s face it – he’s 2! I’ll give him a Lightning McQueen car and he’ll be over it 😛
Last question(s):
I’m a stage-aholic. Even my closets, cabinets, and refrigerator are in order, so…in CC’ers opinions, is it cheesy to take that “extra step” an provide some sort of homey touch? Like, for an afternoon showing, leave out fresh baked brownies/cookies (so the house smells nice) & lemondade? I remember my mother baking a pot roast in the winter, fresh brownies in the summer every time we had a showing growing up. I don’t mind doing it, I’m just afraid it’s overkill…?
https://www.metropolitanbank.com/ is the lender. They’ve got a special now: 1.75% 12 -month CD’s. At least with this bank you know your money is going to improve the community through building multi-million dollar spec homes in gentrifying neighborhoods.
“I have a new drinking game – every time an idiot says they hate Bucktown on here, I’m doing a shot.”
Jon i will have you drunk in 30 minutes then 🙂
this place, as customized as it is, is unique and in the land of boxes (oops mean modern) having a different twist is a good thing. and in that price range its all about entertaining other pompus people at your place. kind of like the cool rich kid on the block getting the best bmx bike with front and back pegs. he wanted to ride it up and down the street all day saying look at me.
that tub is a dangerous thing for alcoholics!
that listing history would make an interesting chart.
“that listing history would make an interesting chart”
I’d do it if I had any idea how to save it on-line. Would take about 2 minutes to make a chart w/ excel or any other s-sheet.
“kind of like the cool rich kid on the block getting the best bmx bike with front and back pegs.”
Ahhh, the memories. While not a BMX, I had one with the pegs AND that rotor thingie on the front, so you could spin the handlebars all the way around without getting twisted up in the brake lines. Old School. (And lest you think I’m elitist, my bike was from the flea market – and was pink!)
“Like, for an afternoon showing, leave out fresh baked brownies/cookies (so the house smells nice) & lemondade?”
Stop! That’s overkill and gross.
People won’t smell the cookies (which may or may not even be good), they will smell desperation… A pot roast? Really? What about the vegetarian potential buyer market out there? You could really alienate them…
MrsB – stage all you want, but it’s price that’s going to sell your home. You’re know going to take a kick in the shins when it sells anyway, so, you may as well get it over with and lower the price.
IIRC you have some paper equity so give it up, money ain’t nuthin’ but paper (or zero’s and one’s) so take the financial ‘hit’ and move to michigan or wherever and move on with life. You’re running for the exits like everyone else you just want to make sure you get out first.
I speak the truth yet others will disagree with me – but this is the internet and it’s only appropriate you get a full range of opinions.
The Realtor should be drummed out of the profession. Who lists a multimillion dollar house and then doesn’t provide enough pictures and/or a virtual tour? Also, that price change history is a joke – some of those drops occurred within two days of one another.
I wasn’t suggesting *I* do the crockpot thing; I’m with you Jon, I thought it wasn’t kosher either. But, it was the 70’s – crock pots and meat eaters were all the rage. I figured overkill, but you know mothers, “you know what you should do…blah blah blah?”
(But PS~ my cookies are delish!)
I don’t disagree with you HD, it’s all about the price. Of course no one wants to take a hit, but yes, I fully, truly hear what you are saying.
you make the chart then save it with a screen shot.
instructions here: http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/general/ht/winscreenshot.htm
I have friends who bought a house similar to this in 2006. Very close geographically, same lot size, modern design, same general lay out, etc. (In fact, in the surrounding blocks there are quite a few places that fit this description.) I think my friends’ house has nicer finishes. It is definitely more “neutral” and would appeal to a broader audience. In 2006 they paid just under $2m. So this one probably has a long way to fall.
When this listing turns 1,000 days old we should throw it a party.
hey jon weigh in on this;
arent there about 7 insanely customized houses on wood street? and a few left over from the 50’s that dont fit in?
This place really does look amazing in person — a luxury midcentury modern treehouse. And there are a lot of 2M+ houses in Bucktown owned by biglaw partners, etc. BUT: this house is WAAAAY to close to the expressway and a bit too far from the el. Not a charming block. Also, the “resort caliber” master bath looks really cheesy. At 1.7M (or so) I’m sure it will sell.
Groove – go on the Redfin site and you can map it, then do streetview. There are a few big ones on Wood – I think more are closer to St. Mary’s (this one is pretty close to Armitage/gas station…) Most of the older places are getting demo’ed and up goes a brick/limestone standard straight-outta-Lincoln Park home. But there are definitely some cool places in my opinion.
its been about two year since i walk down wood st.
i had to take my car to Orloff, dont ever go there, so took a nice spring time walk down wood to the damen stop. There were some uge crazy modern places and some relics from the 50’s and one or two frame two flats from the 30’s it was a sight to see that many different things on one block.
Oh wow. I just did the map and realized how close this is to the expressway. The place my friends bought that I referenced above is a little further south and two blocks further west. Big difference. I don’t see anybody paying $2m to listen to the expressway all night. Add to Bob’s list of criteria for the special buyer: person who does not like to open their windows.
“i had to take my car to Orloff, dont ever go there”
I second that.
I sued them.
Jaguars suck way worse than people who hate on Bucktown.
“Jaguars suck way worse than people who hate on Bucktown”
brand new jag’s or classic jag’s are awesome, used Jaguars are a pain in the….. and expensive upkeep (another of the groove’s stupid purchases).
i hope you won the lawsuit!!!!!
At this price, who on earth would want to deal with all the hassle of living in the city when they could get a nice quiet, private lot and an even bigger house somewhere on the north shore?
“At this price, who on earth would want to deal with all the hassle of living in the city when they could get a nice quiet, private lot and an even bigger house somewhere on the north shore?”
I’m pretty sure there are at least a few hundred of them. One could really ask the same thing in reverse, or about condos in either direction. Diff strokes and all.
[Groove- Never buy a car that was built w the same parts as its cheaper cousin, just buy the cheaper cousin. Jags have ford parts in them and Orloff has greed in them. Imagine the look on my coworkers face when I told him his Bentley is a 200k audi. My ex fiance got a Rover from Daddy Warbucks for graduation and Rover has the same Expensive british packaging with cheap American (cough Mexican) parts on the inside like jaguar. There’s nothing like standing on the shoulder of the Dan Ryan w a british luxury SUV waiting for luxury AAA while all the cheaper cars zoom right past you lol]
As far as the house; if we were living in Lake Geneva this place would be pretty cool. It looks out of place. I don’t know much about the luxury market but something tells me 2.4M in this market goes pretty darn far.
“#
anon (tfo) on August 28th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Check the price change history on the redfin link (the “with furniture” pic link).
HI-larious!
”
Wow, for those who haven’t looked at it, do yourself a favor and check it out! And make sure to look at the details–I counted 6 price INCREASES (some quite large) among the dozens of decreases. Hahahahahahaha!
I would love to have recorded the conversations between seller and agent.
Sabrina, you are magnificent!
“Is this property priced to sell now?”
”
# Originally listed in October 2007 for $2.989 million
# Reduced many, many times
# Currently listed for $2.349 million
”
…Probably is, now that it’s been raised from the $2.17 million price of June.
“#
anon (tfo) on August 28th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Check the price change history on the redfin link (the “with furniture” pic link).
HI-larious!
”
Talk about chasing the market instead of setting it. I wonder what would have happened if they had listed the house at $2.349m in 2007…
I agree that this realtor should have their license revoked. Terrible listing complete with spelling/grammar errors, small pictures and no virtual tour or floorplan not to mention the price change debacle. Pretty bad reflection of the owner’s common sense level as well.
These idiots probably raised the price from June now that “the market has improved”. They truly rode the market down; all the way to the foreclosure filing. Of course, they probably don’t have the cash required to sell for market price which is no doubt less than the mortgage payoff.
Lauren, the only Jaguar that shared parts with any Ford branded products was the short-lived X-Type, which was a rebodied Euro market only Ford Mondeo. The 2000-2008 S-Type was on the same platform as the Lincoln LS and the 02-05 Ford Thunderbird, making it the only Jag that shared parts with US market Ford group products.
Jags as a whole got quite a bit more reliable under Ford. There used to be an old joke about how the big V12 Mercedes sedans cost so much, you could buy 2 V12 Jaguar XJs; one to drive while the other was in the shop. Land Rovers that weren’t the Defender have always been horribly unreliable, and achieving Ford reliability levels would be a massive step up for Land Rover (even for the post-2002 BMW designed Range Rover).
Check out 1738 N Winchester, I’ve been meaning to submit that to Sabrina, mainly due to the hilarity of the price changes, also found on Redfin.
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1738-N-Winchester-Ave-60622/home/13354962
Beju.. Defender.. very impressed you know that one… I can’t stand Rovers but that may be the best car ever. The 110 of course.
Jags were pretty but are garbage.
I hope the American public abandons Government Motors and Chrysler. If you purchase a one you are basically a welfare supporter and indirectly responsible for a lot of the problems with society today.
Don’t think they will get above 1.4mm for this real estate is locaton location location- I would go northshore before paying 2.4mm fr this one
the seller knew not to take a picture of the bedsheet screen.
“Check out 1738 N Winchester, I’ve been meaning to submit that to Sabrina, mainly due to the hilarity of the price changes, also found on Redfin.
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1738-N-Winchester-Ave-60622/home/13354962“
1738 N. Winchester:
1) METROPOLITAN B&T CO is the lender and it’s in foreclosure;
2) The castle theme has got to be the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s not cool, it’s creepy; it’s a scary dungeon that h tries to cover up with a wet bar and hot tub. That room probably scares the hell out of women; I’m a man and I’d hate to be alone in there with anyone.
Looks as if those price changes are a trademarked strategy of one Mr. Anthony Zaskowski.
In the immortal words of Larry David’s George Steinbrenner, “Hire this man!”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but is the Realtor for the Winchester property comparing the house/neighborhood (“surge into the ‘Red Zone'”) with the Red Zone in Baghdad? If so, can we forcibly sterilize him or her? Anyone that stupid should not be allowed to breed.
Re: “The castle theme has got to be the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Hey, this seller is obviously catering to the rich and successful live action role playing buyer! I know I don’t have a good weekend until I get to dress up in my Elf costume and speak a la Renaissance.
I love the caveman castle theme and I love the italian modern kitchen (not in that color though). But mixing those themes seems like a design faux-pas. This place was obviously designed by a straight man lol….jk
(Beju- I still don’t trust any car maker that makes Luxury and Middle class cars. VW AG admitted that the Bentley coupe is basically an Audi with a bad attitude but how many other car makers will be that honest? IMO luxury cars are built like crap bc car makers know that rich jackasses will buy them, despite how lemon-esque they are just so they can be seen)
does that mean you don’t trust toyota and lexus?
“red zone” football reference 20 yard line(to score); green zone is in Baghdad, (and loop)
Many of the luxury cars on the road today are a combination of different models from what used to be independant companies. I am sure you know Toyota=Lexus, Honda=Acura, Nissan=Infiniti. Parts of Jaguar are produced by Ford, Audi parts and platforms are used in a couple of different makes and models.
Before being acquired by Ford, the Jaguar brand had deteriorated to a point where parts were actually falling off as you drove down the road and the brand had lost most of it’s status. Had it not been for Fords intervention, Jag would have been a thing of the past.
IMO, there is no reason to not trust Luxury models as they represent the combined efforts of companies who have proven their reliability and dependability on less expensive models.
Back to this place. I am sure it will eventually find a buyer who will appreciate all the unique features it possesses….but not before it drops its price by several hundred thousand dollars.
As was said above several times, it is simply TOO customized to a single person to be appreciated by the masses.
Whenever you do any type of custom work on a house that reflects your personality and what you THINK you need in a house, you run the risk of eliminating the appeal it had before your ‘made for you renovation’.
As much as I usually like ‘far out’ homes, this one does not do it for me.
“Groove- Never buy a car that was built w the same parts as its cheaper cousin, just buy the cheaper cousin”
Lauren,
valid points you make, but most cars nowadays share parts and platforms across the board and to rival car companies. Thats how they save money (the whole law of diminishing returns thing). look at FedEx and UPS the most famous business example, the by thier trucks together in bulk to save $$$.
now the x-type is a ford mondeo, S-type has the same platform as the lincoln, XK is a aston vantage and so on.
but Jags are alot prettier than the fords 🙂
yeah my old S-type was a Lincoln, but it looked so much better, plus it went like stink with 400 horseys under the bonnet 🙂 🙂 🙂
4.2L suppercharged gas guzzling beast that dented the savings on repair costs. ahh i miss the girl 🙁
“Parts of Jaguar are produced by Ford”
Were. Jaguar is now an Indian car company, a division of Tata Motors–>also producer of the world’s cheapest car. I expect the build quality to improve even more.
“I still don’t trust any car maker that makes Luxury and Middle class cars”
So, Ferrari is no good either, being a cousin of Chrysler, under the Fiat umbrella? BMW is out, based on Mini if nothing else. Porsche might qualify, I guess. And GM, too, as it doesn’t make any luxury cars.
All the mfg share platforms to some degree across their brands and other mfgs.
VW Touareg = Audi q7 = Porsche Cayenne
Honda Accord = Acura TL
Honda Civic = Acura TSX
Toyota Camry = Lexus ES300
Corvette = Cadillac (Whatever it is called… the convertible)
LandRover lr2 = Ford Escape
GMC Yukon = Cadillac Escalade
anon – GREAT shout out on the listing history. I love the upticks. It’s good thinking. If we raise the price 150k and wait a week, we can advertise a huge 200k price reduction and no one will notice! Brilliant!
I hate the fireplace. The next owner will be lucky if those shingles catch on fire and they get the insurance compnay to replace them with something else. But then again, with the shingles gone, how will they protect the fireplace from rain?
I track the listing prices of single family homes in Bucktown, LP, and LV in a spreadsheet on a daily basis (new and price changes). At first it was b/c I was in the market for a SF, but seeing how the dates go back to 2006 and I still live in the same condo, I must just like recording random numbers. Here’s what I have for 1934 N Wood:
10/24/2007 3,250,000
4/5/2008 3,199,000
5/3/2008 2,999,000
6/14/2008 2,989,000
6/21/2008 2,949,000
7/15/2008 2,899,000
10/4/2008 2,875,000
10/28/2008 2,850,000
11/12/2008 2,825,000
11/15/2008 2,799,900
12/4/2008 2,749,000
12/21/2008 2,725,000
4/7/2009 2,725,000
4/28/2009 2,499,000
1934 N Wood 2,725,000 4/7/2009
1934 N Wood 2,499,000 4/28/2009
Okay this is my favorite MLS pricechange of genius. MLS# 06987157.
Price Reduced: 10/22/08 — $399,000 to $159,000
Price Increased: 07/22/09 — $159,000 to $349,000