On the Market for 9 Months in Lincoln Park: A 2-Bedroom at 2231 N. Seminary
This 2-bedroom in a vintage greystone at 2231 N. Seminary in Lincoln Park came on the market in February 2018.
This building was constructed in 1910 and has 6 units with assigned outdoor parking behind the building.
We chattered about a top floor unit in the building in 2015. See that chatter here.
This unit appears to be a middle unit and has high ceilings, crown molding and hardwood floors.
It has a wood burning fireplace.
There’s an office with track lighting.
The master bedroom has an en suite master bathroom.
The kitchen has white cabinets, new granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances.
The unit has the features that buyers look for including central air and side-by-side washer/dryer in the unit. It appears to have an exterior parking space as well.
The listing says it’s just a half a block to DePaul’s campus.
Originally listed in February 2018 for $595,900, it has been reduced $21,000 to $574,900 yet it still isn’t selling.
The pictures show an empty property, i.e. no furniture.
When should a seller commit the money to stage an empty property?
Would staging help here?
Robert Briant at Re/Max Action has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #2: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed
- Sold in July 1995 for $249,000
- Sold in December 2001 for $369,000
- Originally listed in February 2018 for $595,900
- Reduced in July 2018 to $574,900
- Currently still listed at $574,900
- Assessments of $165 a month (includes exterior maintenance)
- Taxes of $7768
- Central Air
- Side-by-side washer/dryer in the unit
- Exterior parking space
- Bedroom #1: 15×12
- Bedroom #2: 14×11
- Office: 8×7
- Living room: 19×12
- Dining room: 13×11
- Kitchen: 17×12
Agree on staging, from the pictures its difficult to figure out how this place lives
“The unit has the features that buyers look for including central air and side-by-side washer/dryer in the unit”
While buyers may want SbS W/D, they want ones built in a century starting with a 2.
Looks like they had the place repainted which is nice, Replacing the W/D and Master Bath Vanity would help. Being that close to DePaul isn’t a plus.
Odd that they’ve been carrying this place for 9Mo and haven’t gotten more aggressive/smart on marketing.
This is the type of place that is going to struggle long term w/ the number of apts coming on-line. $120M nut & $3500/Mo Vs a new apt at near par, is going to make this type of property (more) difficult to move
Some of the worst pictures I’ve seen. It looks like dirty lens photography or something. I would ditch that realtor.
“While buyers may want SbS W/D, they want ones built in a century starting with a 2.”
When you can upgrade by taking the appliances your neighbors are replacing, it’s probably time to by new.
If there isn’t a way to redo those doors, I would prefer full-size stacked w/d and actual access to them. That door situation looks like it sucks.
The pix are just awful. Feeling the warmth of those pendant lights, tho.
Staging and a floor plan (and as others have said, better photos!) would help.
This is another one where we have 2002 pricing: $369,000.
If it increased at about the rate of inflation (as it seemed many others in stable neighborhoods were doing over that time period), that would price it at around $516,600. Don’t know what the pricing was in 2017 (clearly over $600K for a not particularly special vintage 2/2), but in Feb the price was at 61.5% over 2002 (or around 3.8% per year).
I also think this supports the idea that the market (while I still think it’s just fine for sellers) wasn’t exactly sizzling in the winter and spring if you weren’t priced right — that’s exactly what I saw when I was looking during that period.
To clarify (I would so love a brief edit period), of course places weren’t increasing yearly at the rate of inflation, they went up faster, dropped way down, and then started going up again. I meant the average over the period.
Quick search for older (pre 1990) 2/2 with parking in Lincoln Park, and this is definitely priced high.
There are several in the high $500s and even $600K+, but they aren’t comparable. 2333 N Wayne ($600K) is a townhouse, more upgraded, 2.5 bath, 2 parking spots, one in a garage, photos are much, much better.
2723 N Dayton (yeah, a lot north of the subject) is currently listed for $599K (has also been on the market and being reduced for a while, it appears, although it’s now “hot”). It’s a duplex up with a roofdeck, and bigger and also garage parking, among other differences. That one sold for a crazy $810K in ’06, was listed for $625K in 2008, and then sold for $505K (ow) although it looks like a lot of stuff was going on as there were a bunch of subsequent sales, so more to the story. Sold for $642K in 2016, and now listed below that.
1720 N Orchard ($550K) is another 2/2.5 townhouse with garage parking.
Somewhat comparable sales from the spring:
1166 W Armitage in April, 2/2, sold for $485K.
1901 N Fremont in May, 2/2, sold for $490K.
There are issues with those places too, nothing is a complete comparable, but looking at the actual sales in the past 6 months and current listings, I think this owner is misjudging the market for 2/2s in the area.
(Also the photos are terrible!)
“increased at about the rate of inflation … that would price it at around $516,600”
$369k (Dec-01) + CPI = $526,550 in Aug-18. This would likely get some traction at $525k, especially with better pix. 01 was a solid market, but not bubbly.
Has the feel of a situation where the agent knows Seller wants too much, and is putting in minimum effort, since they’s be blamed for not selling regardless of the reason.
Owner seems to be a land trust, and it would appear that it has been a rental.
But it’s “NOCLASSIC”!
I toured a unit in this building and the FP was tight and odd. Beautiful on the outside but very blah inside, needs a bigger price cut, and an exhaust fan over that range.
Totally unrelated to real estate but is anyone planning on leaving downtown early to avoid the outcome of the Van Dyke trial verdict at 1:45 p.m. I’m getting all kinds of stuff forwarded to me from people about offices closing early or going on lock down. I don’t know how affected downtown will be. And I’m debating if I should leave early too.
Worst photos ever. Not only in quality but in subject matter. Street views? Wondering why people care about side by side washers so much? I have a stackable and it’s fine. So I do smaller loads, is that the end of the world? Staging is fine, but I prefer empty spaces to think about where I want my things. Other people’s things distract me. Now this place won’t sell all winter. Hopefully, they will change out realtors in the spring. Call Frederick from Million Dollar Listing.
Not sure where to put this, so here seemed good.
I just noticed that a place that was on the market for around a year or so before it finally sold for $580,000 in July is already back on the market (having been fixed up) for $825,000. It was on the market when I was looking and I looked at it. Place is https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1821-W-Byron-St-60613/home/13388358
If you ride the Brown line north to at least Irving Park, you might recognize it as the purple Victorian.
Problem with the place when they were trying to sell was (1) location, and (2) I don’t think the person living there really wanted to sell and it was never fixed up or uncluttered, the place felt tight, the decor choices were extremely, er, personal, and (3) some work was obviously needed, the kitchen badly needed updating, among other things, and it was hard to tell how much non cosmetic work might be needed.
That said, $580K for a house of that size, with lots of parking, good-sized lot in North Center these days might seem appealing, even with the risk, except the location has one glaring problem obvious by the address. It’s right up against the L and really close to the Metra too.
I was wondering if someone would fix it up, but with the limitation on the price due to location, am a bit surprised it was clearly a flipper who bought it. I’m kind of tempted to check it out to see a list of the work that was done. They did redo the kitchen and opened it up some.
Also curious what price they will actually get given the location.
“It’s right up against the L and really close to the Metra too.”
I live in the neighborhood and the L comes SCREAMING through that section of track and it is thunderously loud. I don’t care what anybody says, it would be extremely hard to get used to that.
Could be the lack of furniture and poor photography, but I get a negative feeling from looking at the photos. It’s a great location, but the rooms feel very constricted and narrow. Perhaps better photos or a floor plan could give more insight. Price is what I’d expect for this location, but the unit sure looks disappointing.