Nearly 2 Years on the Market in Lincoln Park: 2127 N. Sheffield
We’ve chattered about this 3-bedroom vintage greystone unit at 2127 N. Sheffield in Lincoln Park several times.
In April 2009, it was re-listed with a brand new kitchen with stainless steel appliances and white cabinets.
See our April 2009 chatter and pictures of the kitchens here.
Since then, it has been reduced several times and is now listed for $17,000 under the 2004 purchase price.
It has parking and central air but no in-unit washer/dryer.
The unit has also come on the market as a rental available for $2100 a month.
Mary Haight at @Properties now has the listing. See more pictures here.
Unit #3: 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, 1400 square feet
- Sold in June 2002 for $288,000
- Sold in August 2004 for $325,000
- Was listed in March 2008 for $369,900
- Withdrawn
- Renovated with new kitchen
- Re-listed in April 2009 for $369,900
- Reduced
- Was listed in April 2009 for $349,900
- Reduced
- Was listed in July 2009 for $327,900
- Reduced
- Currently listed for $308,000
- Assessments of $200 a month
- Taxes of $4662
- OR available to rent for $2100 a month
- Central Air
- Parking included
- No washer/dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 13×11
- Bedroom #2: 12×10
- Bedroom #3: 10×8
“How often does that train come by?”
“Often enough to make you not notice!” – Blues Brothers
Nice looking rental.
Don’t you know the real estate market is hot? Prices like these won’t last forever!
Damn the exposed brick in the living room. What would it cost to correct that?
And the kitchen is severely cabinet-deficient.
Oh this place… what a waste of money rehabbing this place, would have probably sold faster if they just dropped the price and left it in its early 90’s glorious rental state…
“And the kitchen is severely cabinet-deficient.”
There’s room for more right over the range, wonder why they wouldn’t have put them there in the first place…
Train tracks in your backyard, laundry in the basement, 3 bed/1 bath, (assumed) no sound proofing between floors- I agree that this sounds more like a rental.
i would have loved to rent this place when i got out of high school 🙂
is it me or os there no place to put a fridge?
and what is with the exposed brick of the chimney below? its out of place when all the other walls are plastered?
I’d buy along the tracks since the noise drives prices down and doesn’t bother me. I wouldn’t want it rehabbed though, since the point would be to have the cheapest place in the best location.
“I’d buy along the tracks since the noise drives prices down and doesn’t bother me.”
There were a few REO’s if I remember correctly on Bissell. Fairly big multi’s. Looked like money pits to me but a great location if you have the time and money (and like El noise). Not sure if they are still there or not.
Just read this in the tribune regarding upcoming FHA rule changes:
“In order to make a down payment of just 3.5 percent on an FHA-insured loan, homebuyers would have to have a minimum FICO credit score of 580, as opposed to 500 now. New borrowers with less than a 580 score would have to put down 10 percent on a home purchase.”
I didn’t realize that up to now you could get away with a 500 credit score. I run about 5-7 credit check a year for apartment rentals. I’ve only seen a score around 500 once. There was a recent bancruptcy, 2 repo’d car, multiple unpaid, over limit credit cards, civil judgements, etc. Needless to say I passed on that tenant. I can’t believe the fed will back 97% of a loan to a person I wouldnt’ rent a crappy basement studio too. Why is my 5 minutes of risk management better than an entire government agency.
Tom:
Proof the govie has no clue what they doing. There hasn’t been a lender for about a year that will touch an FHA loan with a FICO score less than 620 even though FHA technically still allows it. Raising it to 580 from 500 isn’t doing squat as no one even lends to people with 580 anymore. In fact, many lenders have already bumped the requirement to 640. It really should be 680 unless there are some serious compensating factors.
It is relatively difficult to get a score under 680 unless you have some pretty consistent bad payment habits. There are always some exceptions we see where a person has a low score and it doesn’t make any sense, but typically if you pay your bills on time always, you will have a 720 or higher FICO score.
Also, the widest room is 11 feet, I’m sure someone noticed that in previous discussion, but yeah… this place is super narrow.
Unit #3, so it is probably 3rd floor, immedietly adjacent to the train tracks, terrible narrow, only a single bathroom. It clearly has a laundry list of problems, many unfixable, that are dragging the price down.
just throwing this out there, but do you really want someone with a 700 or lower only putting 3.5% down? it would seem the opposite 750 or higher gets 3.5% and the lower the bigger the percent?
hey but what do i know i am just a simple pawn paying taxes feeding the system.
Russ
I disagree with your assessment of FICO scores. I currently have a FICO around 645, which pisses me off. I have not been late on any payment in over 4 years. I have a mortgage, installment loan for my car and 2-3 credit cards, which I rarely use and pay in full if I do. My FICO will not budge. I have a hard time getting any type of financing and I make over 150k a year. It is very frustrating to be treated like a deadbeat because of my score.
You may be asking why my score is so low. Well I went off to college and got some credit card debt. I was a broke college kid. I ended up paying them off, but not until it seriously hurt my credit.
I’ve seen plenty of reports in the low 500’s and 400’s.
All of them have multiple negative entries and not a single satisfactory account.
Along these same lines, my favorite land baron client filed BK in 05 and after paying his bills on time for two years (and with a little of my help challenging the negative items on his report) and raised his score to 680. Two years out of BK to the day he bought 4 properties in Pullman and elsewhere. All 4 are in foreclosure today.
Not that credit scores are everything but that’s insane that banks could lend to some idiot with a 500 FICO before… should be 700 minimum to get a FHA loan, that’s insane!
Groove77, that would make too much sense.
FHA came along prior to FICO scores and they are just now figuring out FICO scores do matter (not always, but a very decent predictor of performance).
You really shouldn’t be able to purchase a home with less than a 680 FICO imho because you clearly have not demonstrated sound financial management unless there are significant compensating factors. As I always tell borrower with lower FICO scores, if you can’t pay your $50 cell phone bill on time what makes you think a bank thinks you will pay a $1500 mortgage on time?
FHA’s big problem is if they raise the guidelines to high, the liberal community groups will start screaming racism and discrimination again.
If you really want to know what sound lending practices look like, get rid of Fannie and Freddie altogether and you really see the true mortgage market. In some cases the guidelines will be more lax than Fannie/Freddie/FHA and in some cases they are going to be much more strict.
Using Stevo’s calc, this is a DEAL! (for an o/o), if the asking rent is real market rent:
(12*(2100-200))-4662/.055/.8=$416,772
More realistically:
(12*(1850-200))-4662/.055=$275k
Which actually makes $308k seem not-too-bad, if you have a mid-range time horizon for liveing there and/or are wanting/willing to be a landlord after you move into a bigger/better place in a few years.
“Along these same lines, my favorite land baron client filed BK in 05 and after paying his bills on time for two years (and with a little of my help challenging the negative items on his report) and raised his score to 680. Two years out of BK to the day he bought 4 properties in Pullman and elsewhere. All 4 are in foreclosure today.”
What the hell must go through this person’s head?
The issue with fico as with anything is that past performance does not guarantee future performance. Its a predictive indicator but its nowhere near fool-proof.
Russ, that cell phone example is good. I’m going to start using it. I get plenty of clients that want to buý foreclosures and they don’t understand why they can’t borrow.
“What the hell must go through this person’s head?”
He only had a negative impact on his credit score for two years–I know that’s a trade-off several regulars here would at least consider. He’s all out trying to get rich without working hard; not that hard to understand, imo.
HD and Russ,
You guys must see some crazy WTF things come across your desks. One day i need to take you guys to dinner to hear some of the stories!
It’s not like he put any money down. I didn’t do the loan apps or even the closings; I wouldn’t touch that with a ten foot pole. I do have open foreclosure files though, I haven’t done a damn thing on any of them and I don’t think he expect me to.
He truly thought that he would be a south side land baron, one property at a time. He made a number of bad tenant decisions, the properties are significantly underwater, there were some city ordinance violations and at the end of the day he made the decision to just walk away.
The four foreclosures is a scarlet letter whereas the bankruptcy is merely a roadbump to credit. It’ll be 10 or more years before a bank will ever give him another mortgage and he’ll probably be retired by then.
“What the hell must go through this person’s head?”
I always get calls from people who have been watching too many Carlton Sheets commercials during late night television. They want to start buying foreclosures and investment properties, but their credit is in the toilet and they have zero money for down payments. In addition, they usually don’t even own their current residence.
Something like 50% of foreclosures are investment properties (I think the real number is closer to 70%) and we are all paying for it. The best thing Fannie/Freddie could do going forward is not make loans to investors.
“The best thing Fannie/Freddie could do going forward is not make loans to investors.”
It’s ABSOLUTELY absurd that they ever have. It’s outside of the purpose they were established for (whatever you think about that purpose).
I’m sure Fannie thinks if it stopped lending to investors, investors would just lie about their intentions with the home, and then they wouldn’t be able to separately risk manage the self-identified investors.
“I’m sure Fannie thinks if it stopped lending to investors, investors would just lie about their intentions with the home, and then they wouldn’t be able to separately risk manage the self-identified investors.”
Wait, they’d have to *actually* underwrite a loan? By doing some investigation of the borrower? Heaven forfend!!
Part of it would need to be federalizing mortgage fraud on GSE loans–signing a statement that the info it true subject to 5 years of federal pound-me-in-the-ass time penalty–when accompanied with actual investigation and enforcement–tends to minimize stupid fraud.
There are ways banks investigate occupancy fraud and many ways people trip themselves up, none of which I am going to reveal to prevent the stupid among us from trying. You would be surprised how otherwise honorable folks will outright lie to save another .5% on their interest rate. Mortgage fraud already is a federal offense but it isn’t enforced unless you do some massive fraud – millions of dollars of loans.
Occupancy fraud is a huge problem and was a big part of the housing bust – think American Invsco properties. I would bet a steak dinner that 80% of those 2/2/2 investor deals they were doing where underwritten and submitted as principal residences to mortgage companies.
There will always be people who try to game the system, but the first step to shoring up Fannie/Freddie portfolio is to eliminate investor loans. Those should only be done by private portfolio lenders. Heck, I wouldn’t lend on second homes.
REVEAL!!!!
“, none of which I am going to reveal to prevent the stupid among us from trying”
I guess it doesn’t matter.
1) Homeowner’s Insurance. Apply for loan as primary residence and then get renters’ insurance. The insurance companies also report this to the mortgage company when it changes
2) Claiming 2nd home when it isn’t a 2nd home market i.e., no one buys a 2nd home in some McSubdivision in the burbs.
3) The property isn’t really far enough away from your primary residence to be a second home. You live in River North, but claim you are going to buy a 2nd home on the Gold Coast.
4) You have your mortgage payment sent to another address other than the primary residence
5) Banks sometimes will send investigators out to make sure you moved in. Literally knock on front door or ask a neighbor if you live there
6) Your current home is nicer than the new home. Very few people actually downsize properties. No one goes from a 5/3.5 on North Shore to a 1/1 in Lakeview.
7) Suspicious deposits into your checking accounts. All down payment money must be sourced with a thorough paper trail. You are getting DP from other “investors”
The reality is that most banks won’t prosecute if they find out, but they can and will call the loan due. This clause is buried in your closing papers. They basically will just call you up and be like you need to pay off your mortgage within 30-60 days or you will be in default and we will foreclose. The owner then has to scramble to find legitimate investment property financing to get it refinanced.
Most of the fraud cases you hear about only come to light after a series of foreclosures start happening and then the investigators start noticing commonalities among the cases – same mortgage broker, realtors, buyers, title companies, etc keep showing up.
I showed this place yesterday. The el is pretty loud in there. I think if you put new windows in the unit, it would be as noisy. However, when your on your porch, there is no way to mask the noise! Also, there was only one decently sized water heater for the whole building. The space is nice, and its got some potential, but still a little high in my opinion.
Bleck. Agreed – a good rental place.
Bleck. I agree – this is rental written all over it.
Sellers haven’t got a prayer.
Well, it’s finally under contract as of 1/27. Laricy: your buyers, perhaps?
Sold for $292. Congratulations, Mr. Laricy.