Crib Chatter

There are lofts and then there is this loft at 2436 W. Bloomingdale in Humboldt Park.

You would never know from the non-descript building what lurks behind these walls.

How about a year round pool underneath a sheet of glass in a center courtyard?

Here’s the listing:

SPECTACULAR ART LOVERS LOFT-STYLE HOME ON A DOUBLE LOT W/23 FT HIGH BOW-TRUSS CEIL,EXPOSED SANDBLASTED HEAVY TIMBER TRUSSES,RADIANT HEATED CONCRETE FLRS, FAB CHEFS KIT W/ SCAVOLINI CABS,THERMADOR,SUB-ZERO, GRANITE TOPS&BRKFST ISLAND.

PRIVATE,LANDSCAPED GLASS ENCLOSED OUTDOOR COURTYARD W ENDLESS SWIMMING POOL & RADIANT HEATED PATIO.PNTHSE W/BAR & ROOFDECK. ATTACHED 4-CAR GARAGE.

The house is massive- 7,640 square feet

2436 W. Bloomingdale: 6 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, 4 car parking

• I couldn’t find an original price- but I don’t think it has sold before
• Currently listed for $2.495 million
• Rubloff has the listing (worth checking out as it has a better picture of the pool than the one above)

Roscoe Village used to be “hot” around 2000-2003. It was considered “affordable” compared to the eastern part of Lakeview.

And now?

This two bedroom unit at 1955 W. Melrose has sold three times since 2005.

There is no square footage listed but it doesn’t appear to be that large.

• Bedroom #1: 13 x 11
• Bedroom #2: 11 x 11
• Livingroom: 18 x 17

Unit #2: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths

• Sold in January 2005 for $300,000
• Sold in June 2005 for $344,000
• Currently listed for $374,500 (parking included)
• Assessments of $107 a month
• Rubloff has the listing

We chattered about this foreclosure, Unit #1208, in The Lancaster,  at 201 N. Westshore in Lakeshore East, in March 2008. Many of you thought it was overpriced then.

It is two months later and it is still on the market.

With NO price reduction.

Maybe its problem is that it isn’t even the cheapest two bedroom in the building. Two units are now listed for less, including one from the developer of the building.

201 N. Westshore was the first condo building in Lakeshore East and was completed in 2005.

Unit #1208: 2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths

• I still can’t locate an original sales price
• Foreclosure auction price of $516,000 in October 2007
• Bank-owned
• Was listed in March 2008 at $540,900 (parking extra)
• Currently listed at $540,900
• Assessments of $409 a month
• Arc Realtors, Inc. has the listing

These other two units are for sale at less than Unit #1208. 

Unit #505: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1235 square feet

• Originally listed in March 2008 for $549,000
• Reduced
• Currently listed at $535,000 (parking extra)
• Also available to rent for $2700 a month
• Assessments are $488 a month
• Magellan Realty, the original developer, has the listing (I don’t believe it ever sold from the developer)

Unit #707: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1446 square feet

• Sold in August 2005 for $560,000
• Currently listed for $510,000 plus $35k for parking
• Under Contract
• Assessment of $497 a month
• ABA National Realty LLC

There are unique and interesting properties and then there is Penthouse #01 at 6030 N. Sheridan in Edgewater/Rogers Park.

What would you pay to have your own cedar-lined year round sunroom with jacuzzi tub AND lakeviews?

Here’s the listing:

STUNNING 3 BED 3.5 BATH PH UNIT WITH A PRIVATE 1000 SQ FT DECK OVER LOOKING THE LAKE! OVER 2600 SQ FT FLOOR PLAN WITH LUXURIOUS FINISHES THROUGHOUT, INCLUDING 2 MASTER SUITES.

THE UNIT IS COMPLETELY UPGRADED WITH NEW MARVIN WINDOWS AND DOORS, YEAR ROUND LINED CEDAR SUNROOM WITH JACUZZI TUB, STUNNING LAKE & CITY VIEWS. 2 CAR GARAGE PARKING INCLUDED. AN INCREDIBLE SPACE, MUST SEE!

Unfortunately, there are no pictures of the 1000 square foot terrace with the listing.

Additionally, nearly every drape, blind and shutter in the unit is closed in the pictures. Either it was night out when they took the pictures or bad weather (as it looks to be in the one picture where you can see out the windows.)

But there’s something about that jacuzzi tub…

Unit #PH01: 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 2600 square feet, terrace, two car parking

• I couldn’t find an original sales price
• Currently listed for $1.16 million (parking included)
• Assessments of $755 a month
• The listing says central air, but in the bedroom pictures you can clearly see window units- but maybe they just can’t get rid of the units even though they have installed the central air
• Century 21 Sussex & Reilly has the listing

The last unit to sell in the building was Unit #2113 in April 2008 for $210,000.

What would you pay for a unit without, um, a kitchen?

We’re about to find out.

4629 N. Magnolia is a lovely vintage building near the Wilson Red Line stop.

A first floor two bedroom unit just came on the market and is marked nearly 40% off its prior sales price. The unit has in-unit washer/dryer AND parking.

Unit #1N: 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, dining room, parking included

• Sold in March 2006 for $315,000
• Currently listed for $185,900
• Taxes of $3,431
• Assessments of $175 a month
• ARC Realtors, Inc. has the listing

I have learned that there are several offers on the property already. Stay tuned!

I’ve chattered about the sellers in distress in 1620 S. Michigan in the South Loop several times before.

So far, in 2008, only three units have sold.

Current stats on the building (out of 249 units):

• 14 for sale
• 6 for rent
• 8 motorcycle spaces for sale (for $4900 each)

In February 2008, one seller was trying a short-sale but the unit was scheduled for a foreclosure auction.  That unit is no longer listed for sale.

Unit #904: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1174 square feet

• Sold in October 2006 for $410,000
• Was listed as a short-sale for $369,900 plus $15k for parking
• Scheduled for foreclosure auction in mid-February 2008 for $344,866
• Assessment of $366 a month

Unit #522 also recently went to foreclosure auction.  It was listed for sale, but it has now also been withdrawn from the market.

Unit #522: 2 bedrooms, 1 bath

• Sold in December 2006 for $286,000
• Was listed in early May 2008 for $274,999 (parking was $35k)
• Foreclosure auction price of $305,734
• Assessments of $342 a month

Unit #314, a two bedroom/two bath with a 690 square foot terrace, was one of the three units to sell this year.

Unit #314: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths

• Sold in August 2006 for $351,500
• Sold in April 2008 for $321,500

(Not sure if parking was included in the 2008 re-sale.)

Several other units that I chattered about in February have changed their prices:

Unit #803: 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 1100 square feet

• Sold for $333,000 in September 2006
• Was listed in February 2008 for $335,000 with parking included
• Now listed for $319,900 (parking is now $25k extra)
• Listing says “never lived in”

Two years after closing, this unit is also still for sale and apparently no one has lived in it.

Unit #305: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 851 square foot terrace, 1278 square feet

• Sold in April 2006 for $450,000
• Listed in February 2008 for $479,000
• Currently listed for $460,000 (parking for $35,900)
• Assessments of $445 a month
• “Unit has never been occupied”
• Koenig & Strey has the listing

We all know the old adage, “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

And so it goes with some sellers who have been trying to sell a property for not just months, but years.

Such is the case with Unit #306 at 1200 N. Lake Shore Drive in the Gold Coast.

It has been listed for sale off and on for nearly four years.

1. Originally listed in August 2004 for $418,000
2. Reduced in 2005 to $399,900
3. Reduced in 2006 to $299,900
4. Did it sell in 2006???
5. On the market again in June 2007 for $299,900
6. Raised
7. Listed at $354,900 in July 2007
8. Reduced several times
9. Again listed at $299,900 in October 2007
10. On the market ever since at $299,900

Here’s the listing:

FANTASTIC GOLD COAST 1BDRM IN HISTORIC BENJAMIN MARSHALL BLDG! ELEGANT MOULDINGS, SOARING 10′ CEILINGS. 24 HOUR DOORMAN!! NEW GRANITE COUNTERTOPS IN KITCHEN AND STAINLESS STEEL APPLIANCES.

THIS ONE WON’T LAST!!! GET REQUIRED CONTRACT FROM OUR WEBSITE. 2% EARNEST MONEY (CERT FUNDS) ALONG WITH PROOF OF FUNDS/FINANCING REQUIRED. SELLER TO C…

Unit #306: 1 bedroom, 1 bath

• In the records I found, it mysteriously “sold” in December 2006 for $254,500. Did it????
• Currently listed for $299,900
• Assessments of $831 a month
• Apparently no central air or window units
• No parking
• Goin Realty has the listing

(Thanks to the tipster who sent me info on this unit.)

If you live in a building called “The Park Castle” that was built in 1928 in West Ridge, it seems fitting that it would have a very intriguing indoor heated pool.

The building, at 2440-2448 W. Greenleaf, bordering the Indian Boundry Park, with its own petting zoo, has 68 units. Parking is assigned rental and there is coin laundry.

Unit #3: 1 bedroom, 1 bath, dining room, balcony

• I couldn’t find an original sales price
• Currently listed for $154,900
• Parking is $55 a month
• Assessments are $308 a month
• No central air- two window units
• Prairie Shore Properties has the listing

The Wall Street Journal has an article today called, “Where Home Prices are Still Holding Up” about what neighborhoods in major cities are still hot.

Chicago is one of the cities that is highlighted:

It’s a mixed picture in Chicago’s downtown area. A flurry of condominium building has kept prices down on much new construction. At the same time, some established apartment buildings are still seeing buoyant prices, even as properties spend more time on the market. The Carlyle, a 1960s-era glass-and-concrete tower along the city’s prized Gold Coast neighborhood, recorded the highest price ever — $2.4 million — for one of its “C”-tier units earlier this year, for example.

Jim Kinney, president of Rubloff Residential Properties in Chicago, says “80% to 90% of the buildings along the Gold Coast achieved a record sales price in the last year.” The older buildings are often in blue-chip locations and are generally cheaper, per square foot, than new units.

Bargains abound in Chicago’s periphery. Seven miles south of the Carlyle is Bronzeville, a gentrifying community that during the housing boom was a favorite of buyers who couldn’t afford Chicago’s glitzier core. Just last month, a bank that owns a foreclosed duplex in Bronzeville dropped the asking price to just $85,000, from the January listing price of $129,900. The owners who lost the property originally paid $330,000 in November 2005, about a year before the Chicago market peaked.

But beware: Prices may be stagnant or worse for a long time to come. “Because of the huge inventory, it will take years to recover,” says Christina Miller, a Rubloff agent, citing periphery neighborhoods such as Wicker Park, Ukrainian Village and Bucktown.

Chicago’s desirable North Shore suburbs are, for the most part, doing well. Median prices in Evanston, Wilmette and Winnetka, all hugging Lake Michigan’s shoreline, are up over the past year to varying degrees, though sales volume is down sharply, according to a Zip Code analysis by DataQuick. Sellers are receiving about 89% of the list price, according to March data from the North Shore-Barrington Association of Realtors. That’s down from about 95% at the peak of the market.

In upscale Highland Park, about 25 miles north of downtown, prices are down more than 6%. But that average is being skewed by a high number of sales of low-end homes, some forced by foreclosure.

Where Home Prices are Holding Up [Wall Street Journal, May 20, 2008]

A lot of sellers are finding out, it’s better to price just slightly under $400,000 in this market.

There are several two bedroom units for sale in 720 N. Larrabee in River North that are trying to hit that sweet spot.

720 N. Larrabee was built in 2004 in the far western part of River North on the Chicago River.

The units were built as standard condos- not “luxury”.

Unit #906: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths

• Sold in May 2004 for $328,000
• Currently listed for $389,900 plus $35k for parking
• Urban Search has the listing

Unit #1012: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1120 square feet

• Sold in June 2004 for $320,500
• Currently listed at $399,000 plus $35k for parking
• Assessments of $465 a month
• Sudler Sotheby’s has the listing

Unit #1202: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1200 square feet, east facing

• Sold in August 2004 for $350,000
• Currently listed for $399,900 plus $45k for parking
• Assessments of $445 a month
• Prello Realty Group has the listing