Crib Chatter

This 2-bedroom unit at 3535 N. Wilton in Lakeview is currently listed as a short sale.

On the market since September 2009, the price has recently been cut again.

Don’t expect to finance the deal as the listing says: “cash only buyers.”

It also describes “anticipated” future special assessments between $25,000 and $50,000. Oh, and $2500 is due for past specials.

The unit is just a block south of Wrigley Field (you can probably hear the crowds on game day.)

Built in 2003, it also has the newer kitchen with granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances.

Ginger Menne at Baird & Warner has the listing. See the pictures here.

Unit #3: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1520 square feet

• Sold in September 2004 for $435,000
• Originally listed in September 2009 for $395,000
• Reduced several times
• Lis pendens foreclosure filed in December 2009
• Currently listed as a “short sale” for $280,000 (parking included)
• Assessments of $124 a month
• Taxes of $6124
• Central Air
• Washer/Dryer in the unit

This 2-bedroom unit in 3300 N. Lake Shore Drive is in one of the elegant 1920s high rise buildings that line the lake shore.

It has been renovated to its original vintage grandeur with modern updates. I don’t mean that the kitchen has been “updated” with cherry cabinets and granite counter tops.

Instead, in keeping with the era of the property, the kitchen cabinets have been restored while replacing the appliances with modern SubZero and Wolf appliances.  Subway tiles line the walls to the ceiling.

There is also a butlers pantry for extra storage.

The room sizes are generous, as is common with vintage units of that era, and there is a full-sized dining room.

Like many vintage buildings that line Lake Shore Drive, the unit doesn’t have in-unit laundry, central air or parking. Rental parking is available in the area.

Ed Jelinek at Coldwell Banker has the listing. See more pictures, a virtual tour, and the floor plan here.

Unit #15D: 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, dining room, no square footage listed

• Sold in December 2004 for $240,000
• Originally listed in March 2009 for $362,500
• Reduced and then withdrawn
• Currently listed for $299,000
• Assessments of $718 per month (includes heat and cable)
• Taxes of $3569
• No washer/dryer in the unit
• No central air
• Rental parking available nearby
• South exposure
• Bedroom #1: 17×11
• Bedroom #2: 17×10

We’ve already chattered about what happens to original owners in a high rise condo building after an auction when units sell at  lowered prices which then sets the bar for prices in the entire building.

Original owners in 222 E. Pearson, otherwise known as Pearson on the Park, in Streeterville are also about to find out what happens when prices are simply slashed.

Crain’s reports that new investors have bought the 30 remaining condo units in the Streeterville conversion high rise after the original developer failed to pay of part of the original loan. The developer handed the units over to the bank in November 2009 which has now sold them.

The group paid about $5.2 million for the unsold condos, or about $173,000 apiece, a price low enough that it can put them back on the market at discounted prices and still turn a profit.

The transaction is a positive sign for the overbuilt downtown condo market, part of what could be a long, painful but necessary process as prices fall after the overexuberance of the last decade. Some downtown developers have unloaded excess inventory by slashing prices or auctioning off condos, and developer foreclosures will play another key role in clearing the market.

For the other unit owners, all 189 of them, who paid higher prices, the situation isn’t as pleasant.

The development group is offering its condos for 25% to 40% below their original prices, says Ted Guarnero, a Baird & Warner agent who has a listing in the tower.

He also lives in a rented two-bedroom condo that the owner bought from Dr. Vish [the original developer] for $421,000 in 2006; he says the new developers are offering a comparable unit for about $320,000.

“I really do believe at these prices that somebody who’s going to live in it two to three years is going to make some money,” Mr. Guarnero says.

But the cuts will hurt existing owners who paid inflated prices for their condos a few years ago only to see their home equity eaten away by falling values. Mr. Guarnero is offering his client’s two-bedroom unit in a so-called short sale, meaning the owner owes more on the property than its $249,900 list price and the lender has agreed to accept less than full payment on the loan.

New investors buy failed condo conversion from PrivateBank [Crain’s Chicago Business, Alby Gallun, Feb 3, 2010]

This is the first time I’ve seen the bank actually try and rent out a unit it now owns at the same time they’re apparently going to try and sell it.

This 1-bedroom unit at 400 W. Deming, in the historic Marlborough, which is literally right on Lincoln Park, recently came on the market as a rental.

But the unit is bank owned.

The listing states, “for sale by bank throughout the lease. Tenant will have 48 hour notice before showing and 120 days notice to vacate once sold.”

Has anyone ever seen anything like this before?

Why even bother with the tenant at all?

And what tenant would want to rent under these conditions?

There are no pictures of the interior of the unit but it is one of the larger 1-bedrooms in the building with a 12×11 dining room.

There is no central air or washer/dryers in the unit. Parking is rental in the neighborhood.

Rosie Russ at Baird & Warner has the rental listing. It’s not yet listed for sale on the MLS. See the listing here.

Unit #9N: 1 bedroom, 1 bath

• Sold in March 2001 for $172,000
• Sold in March 2004 for $209,000
• Currently listed as bank owned and for rent for $1100 a month
• No central air
• No in-unit washer/dryer
• Bedroom: 16×10
• Living room: 18×12
• Dining room: 12×11
• Kitchen: 12×6

We’ve chattered about this 3-bedroom unit at 2015 W. Fullerton in Bucktown with its own private elevator several times in the last year.

See our October 2009 chatter and pictures here.

Originally called “renaissance interiors” in the original listing and then in “pre-foreclosure”, in 2010 the price cuts are getting more aggressive.

It has been reduced $309,100 since its original listing in December 2008 and has been cut $10,000 each of the last several weeks.

The unit has its own private elevator and rooftop deck where a hot tub is enclosed in a glass gazebo. There are finally pictures of the hot tub with the listing.

Remember, the furniture and wall coverings will not be there once you buy it.

At 3,420 square feet, is this getting close to a steal?

Mark Glusker at Mark Allen Realty has the listing. See more pictures here.

Unit #2: 2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 3420 square feet, 2 car garage, 1500 square foot rooftop deck

• I couldn’t find a prior sales price but records go back to 1986
• Originally listed in December 2008 for $849,900
• Reduced
• Was listed in February 2009 at $749,900
• Reduced
• Was listed in March 2009 for $699,900
• Reduced
• Was listed in October 2009 for $644,900– listing says “pre-foreclosure”
• Reduced numerous times
• Currently listed at $539,900
• Assessments of $327 a month
• Taxes of $10,612
• Private elevator
• Hot tub
• Parking included
• Central Air
• Bedroom #1: 18×25
• Bedroom #2: 10×15
• Bedroom #3: 16×12

This 2-bedroom at 3222 W. Eastwood in Albany Park has all the bells and whistles that buyers look for in a condo.

The unit has central air, in-unit washer/dryer, two bathrooms, a deeded parking space, and even a large deck off the back.

The top floor unit is also a short sale and is now listed for $37,100 under the 2005 purchase price.

The vintage unit isn’t small. It has a sun-room off the living room as well as a separate full sized dining room.

The kitchen has maple cabinets and white appliances.

The condo is located just a short stroll to the renovated Kedzie El station, shops and restaurants.

Mary Haight at @Properties has the listing. See the pictures here.

Unit #3W: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed

• Sold in April 2001 for $180,000
• Sold in March 2005 for $257,000
• Currently on the market as a “short sale” for $219,900 (parking included)
• Assessments of $146 a month
• Taxes of $2683
• Central Air
• Washer/Dryer in the unit
• Sun-room
• Dining room: 15×10

This 2-bedroom unit at 4327 N. Damen in North Center (or is this Lincoln Square?) was part of the condo conversion mania that swept the north side in 2006.

It has the kitchen of that era: cherry cabinets, granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances.

The unit also has all the amenities buyers look for including central air, in-unit washer/dryer and a parking space.

The unit was on the market for a year before a nearly $20,000 price reduction seemed to do the trick.

It is now under contract.

Is this considered a “deal” because it is now listed for under the 2006 price?

Peter McGahan at Ready Real Estate has the listing. See the pictures here.

Unit #1: 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, 938 square feet

• Sold in April 2006 for $329,000
• Originally listed in January 2009 for $329,000
• Reduced to $324,500 by September 2009
• Reduced to $305,000 in late January 2010 and listed as a “short sale”
• Under contract
• Assessments of $125 a month
• Taxes of $4028
• Central Air
• In-unit washer/dryer
• Parking included
• Bedroom #1: 14×9
• Bedroom #2: 11×9

We last chattered about this huge 4-bedroom new construction duplex at 3500 W. Irving Park in Irving Park in August 2009.

See our prior chatter and pictures here.

It is still available and has been reduced only $5,000.

It has all the bells and whistles of new construction, with 10 foot ceilings and a new kitchen with granite counter tops and maple cabinets.

The unit actually has 2 wood-burning fireplaces.

The listing says tandem parking is extra.

Similarly sized units nearby have sold near this asking price in the last several months.

Matt Garrison at Coldwell Banker still has the listing. See more pictures here.

Unit #1N: 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2600 square feet

• Listing calls it a “bank approved short sale”
• Was listed in August 2009 for $349,900 (parking extra)
• Reduced
• Currently listed for $344,900 (parking extra)
• Assessments of $225 a month
• Taxes are “new”
• Central Air
• Washer/Dryer in the unit
• Bedroom #1: (main level): 12×13
• Bedroom #2: (main level): 11×11
• Bedroom #3: (lower level): 13×19
• Bedroom #4: (lower level): 9×11

Crain’s must be reading our minds (or this blog) because this week it covers the very topic you all have been debating: when the Chicago housing market will bottom and/or recover.

Chicago-area existing-home sales will begin rising again in 2011, hitting about 95,000 units in 2013, according to a forecast by Irvine, Calif.-based John Burns Real Estate Consulting. That’s well short of the levels seen during the housing boom from the late 1990s to 2005, the boom’s peak, when 146,082 homes sold. And while a tax credit and foreclosure sales have breathed some life into the market, the firm projects new-home sales will fall even further this year and next.

“We’re not at all optimistic,” says Perry Bigelow, CEO of Aurora-based developer Bigelow Homes. “There are just too many difficult things that have piled up on us.”

As for how much further prices have to fall, it seems that some experts believe we haven’t hit a bottom yet in the entire Chicago area market.

With sales sluggish, home prices will continue a decline that began in 2006, according to Brookfield,Wis.-based Fiserv Inc., which calculates the widely followed S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index. An index of Chicago-area single-family home prices will fall 5.7% from third-quarter 2009 to third-quarter 2010 and edge up 1.2% over the following year, Fiserv Chief Economist David Stiff says.

Chicago housing market won’t recover until 2013 [Crain’s Chicago Business, Alby Gallun, Feb 1, 2010]

Meanwhile, new home sales in the city continue to be abysmal. In fact, if you exclude those condo high rises that did auctions and price cuts to sell units, the number of sales would be even more shocking.

“We see normalcy in the Chicago market probably being established in 2013,” says Tracy Cross, president of the Schaumburg-based consulting firm. Normalcy, he says, “will more or less look like ’93 to ’98 or ’99,” not the boom of the last decade.

Sales in the city fell 12.5% in the fourth quarter, to 21 units, while suburban sales rose 4.6%, to 563 units. For the year, city builders sold 848 homes, a 42.7% decline from 2008, and suburban sales totaled 2,905, a 40.5% drop.

New-home sales: ‘The industry has been basically obliterated’ [Crain’s Chicago Business, Alby Gallun, Feb 1, 2010]

This 3-bedroom single family home at 1657 W. Carmen is only a few blocks away from the shops and restaurants of Andersonville.

Originally listed last October, it has recently returned to the market.

The vintage Victorian home has a renovated kitchen with stainless steel appliances and granite countertops.

Two of the three bedrooms are on the second floor with the third (in the attic?) on the third floor.

The listing says the basement is “semi-finished” and being used as a den/tv room.

The house does have a 2-car garage but no central air.

The home is listed for $49,900 more than the 2005 purchase price.

Is it possible to sell for more than a 2005 price in Andersonville?

Mairan Nixon at Prudential Rubloff has the listing. See the pictures and the virtual tour here.

1657 W. Carmen: 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, 2 car garage, no square footage listed

• Sold in November 1997 for $100,000
• Sold in January 1999 for $265,000
• Sold in April 2004 for $450,000
• Originally listed in October 2009
• Lis pendens filed in December 2009
• Currently listed for $499,900
• Taxes of $5092
• No central air
• Bedroom #1: 15×11 (second floor)
• Bedroom #2: 13×9 (second floor)
• Bedroom #3: 20×14 (third floor)