Crib Chatter

All real estate is about location, location, location.  But you’d think owning a large vintage duplex for nearly 7 years in a nice Lakeview location would mean something.

The listing says this unit was a gut rehab in 2000.  The kitchen still has the, gasp, white appliances.  (Yes, some buyers will refuse to buy a condo if it doesn’t have stainless steel appliances.  Sad, but true.) 

But otherwise, it looks like a nice vintage unit only a block from the Addison red line stop and just slightly off the direct path of the Wrigley Field mobs.  And yes, it has in-unit laundry.

Why isn’t it selling? 

Just another sign of the times?  Or something else?

3619 N. Wilton #1: 3 bedrooms,  2.5 baths, duplex down

• Sold in July 2001 for $410,000
• Currently listed, with a recent price reduction, for $499,000
• Two car tandem parking included
• Assessments of $154 a month
• NOT on the El side of the street
• Rubloff has the listing

Village Pointe at 845 N. Kingsbury across from Domain in River North has been closing on units for the past six months.  The building has 102 units.

Surprise!  There are flippers trying to make money in the building.  Currently, there are 12 units either for sale or rent (or both).

But there is an interesting twist on this building.  Apparently, earlier in the year, probably just to dump the remaining one bedroom units, the developer put a bunch of them up for sale in a “fire sale”.  From Skyscraper City:

I often read through the threads on the forum here but never really post. My fiance and I have been looking into buying a condo early 2008 and fell across a listing for a unit in a new construction project River Village Point. The price for a 1 bed + den of $138,000 seems far to good to be true. Does anyone here know the reputation of the developer or anything about this building???

I had a agent friend look into this and yes, there were 7 or 8 “normal” one bedroom units that did sell for $138,000. And yes, some of those smart buyers who saw a deal and snapped it up, are now flipping them.

Here is the floorplan for the 1 bedroom plus “den” unit:

Unit #304: 1 bedroom plus “den”, 1 bath, 909 square feet

• Originally sold in July 2007 for $138,300
• Currently listed for $269,900 plus $30,000 for the parking
• This unit is under contract

Unit #304 is similar to other units that, unfortunately, other buyers paid “full-price” for.  The owner of #304 could therefore undercut the others in the asking price and still come out way ahead.

Unit #512: 1 bedroom plus “den”, 1 bath, 909 square feet

• Sold in July 2007 for $269,900
• Currently listed for $288,900 plus $30,000 for parking

The flipper below is going to actually lose quite a bit of money off of this one bedroom.

Unit #611: 1 bedroom plus “den”, 1 bath, 909 square feet

• Sold in July 2007 for $291,500
• Currently listed at $287,500 plus $30,000 for parking
• M.A.G. Realty Inc. has the listing

Several of the two bedrooms are for sale or for rent.

Unit #201: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1700 square feet

• Currently listed at $488,900 plus $30,000 for parking
• Assessments of $439 a month
• Also available to rent for $2595 a month which includes the parking
• Re/Max Edge has the listing

Unit #314: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1320 square feet

• Originally listed a few months ago for $449,000
• Then listed for $429,000
• Recently lowered to $424,000 plus $30,000 for parking
• Assessments of $384 a month
• Also available for rent for $2500 a month plus $200 for parking
• Koenig & Strey has the listing

6 E Monroe, the Mentor Building, in the Loop was an office to residential conversion that sold in 2002.  There are only 36 units in the building.  Many of the units are smaller one bedroom units that originally sold for around $130,000 to $150,000.  There are washer/dryers in the units but no parking.

The South facing windows all look into the Palmer House Hotel across the street. 

The top floor penthouse duplex recently came on the market and, according to this Craigslist ad, has now been reduced about 15%.

Unit #1601: 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2600 square feet duplex

• Sold in June 2003 for $659,000
• Sold in March 2005 for $675,000
• Originally listed for $974,000
• Price reduced $145,000 to $829,900 plus $40,000 for parking (the listing says it is deeded- is this parking at 8 W. Monroe, the Metropolis building?)
• Listing says it was gut rehabbed in the last two years with viking, subzero, miele etc.
• Skylights
• Assessments of $1,015 a month
• Len Nevin at Koenig & Strey has the listing

Thanks to the tipster who pointed me towards the real estate investment firm  Exclusive Equity Partners LLC, which is promoting Trump Tower Chicago units on its website at “below developer’s prices.”  Exclusive Equity Partners appears to be a real estate investment company.  From their website:

EEP Exclusive Equity Partners, LLC is a leading real estate wholesale buying group that focuses on turn key investment opportunities negotiating the best investor programs for its clients. EEP negotiates early on a project directly with developer to precipitate the best possible investment scenario. EEP chooses only high end pre construction and new construction projects with optimal ROI. Letters of Intent are signed to purchase in bulk quantity and lock in the lowest pricing.

Typically EEP locks in a block of 20 select units in any one project and offer these to their investors at pre-marketing pricing. In addition we negotiate lucrative finance scenarios and guaranteed rent programs. Hassle Free management is offered as well for virtually an effortless arm chair investment.

The buildings on their website in Chicago include Trump Tower, 10 E. Ontario Place, and 30 E. Huron.

For Trump Tower, they claim they have an “exclusive private offering” that’s a “whisper campaign that very few people know about.”

Shhh. . .

Featured Unit: Condo/Hotel #1934: 684 square feet

• Exclusive’s Price: $775,000
• Trump’s (alleged) Price: $982,000
• “Close by the end of December 2007 and receive the $45,000 furnishings package FREE”

They are also selling two of the regular condo units.

Unit #76A: 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 3080 square feet for $2,745,000

Unit #76F: 2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths,  1952 square feet for $1,850,000

It’s interesting that they’re marketing the condo/hotel at “below developer’s price” because it’s likely they bought it for $500,000 or so at pre-construction prices.

But what will re-sales like this, which are supposedly below what Trump is trying to sell the other units for, do to the prices of those others units? 

Yep.

Prices are going to come down on the condo/hotel units as investors try and dump them.

Thanks to Pat for asking about 451 W. Huron in River North.  It is a new construction building with 135 units.  Their website says they are 95% sold.  Closings started in September.

It appears that only about half of the building has actually closed.

I’ve found 19 units for sale, which includes some of the unsold developers units.  There are a couple for rent as well.

The units range in size from 685 to 1295 square feet.  It’s not a “luxury” building and the initial prices reflected that it doesn’t have subzero but has a lower end stainless steel appliance package (heaven forbid!) and 9 foot ceilings (the “luxury” buildings are putting in 10 foot ceilings.)

But unfortunately, the flippers are trying to, well, make money and they are asking a lot of money for units that weren’t meant to sell for those prices.  And throw in a bad housing market and lots of inventory and you have flippers who will be lucky to make any money.

In fact some, after paying closing costs and agent fees, are going to lose money just based on their listing prices.  (And they still have to sell the unit.)

Pat mentioned in her post that Unit #501 was originally listed to flip at $449,900 (can anyone confirm this? Not that I don’t believe you Pat.)

Unit #501: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths

• Sold in September 2007 for $402,000
• Currently listed for $419,900 plus $35,000 for parking
• Christopher Pagano at Coldwell Banker has the listing

Here’s another flipper who is bolder:

Unit #512: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1100 square feet

• Sold in September 2007 for $395,000
• Currently listed for $484,000 plus $35,000 for parking
• CitySpace Realty has the listing

The one bedroom flippers are getting crushed.

Unit #503: 1 bedroom

• Sold in September 2007 for $280,000
• Currently listed for $293,000 plus parking
• Brenda Tabak at Coldwell Banker has the listing

Unit #804: 1 bedroom

• Sold in September 2007 for $287,500
• Currently listed for $294,900
• Christopher Pagano at Coldwell Banker has the listing

It doesn’t look good for the flippers in this building who are just trying to dump the units and get out.  The building doesn’t distinguish itself and the location is just so-so in River North (and certainly not at the higher price points.)

Sometimes, you don’t want to buy, you just want to rent.  And why not rent a historic single family home in the Old Town historic triangle where you get your own caretaker, full-time housekeeper and complete nanny quarters?

What is a caretaker, anyway?  From Dictionary.com:

A person who is in charge of the maintenance of a building, estate, etc.; superintendent.

Looks like you won’t need to make sure the gutters are cleared out or deal with cutting the lawn with this rental.

235 W. Menomonee: 5 bedrooms, 4.5 baths

• Sold in July 1999 for $1,135,000
• Sold in December 2002 for $1,700,000
• Massive roofdeck with cabana
• Full nanny quarters (with own bedroom and bath)
• Four car garage with parking available for 6 cars
• Currently available for rent for $16,500 a month

Rubloff has the listing.

I was driving through Pilsen the other day on 18th Street and happened by two big empty lots with signs on them for Centro 18.

Remember this development?  They had ads in the paper about six to eight months ago.  The property is on 18th Street about a block west of Halsted in the “Pilsen Arts District.”

Their website is still operational but other than having some funky music and talking about the location there is no other information about prices or floorplans. The development was supposed to include condominiums, city homes and townhomes. (Don’t ask me what the difference is between a “city home” and a “townhome”.)

I managed to find some information about pricing. From a letter to the Sun-Times:

Henry Cisneros’ company, CityView, is a primary investor/developer behind an enormous mixed-use project called Centro 18, slated for construction in the heart of the Pilsen community. Of the 391 units in this project, 82 are designated affordable, and at sale prices ranging from $150,000 to $215,000. Market-rate units will sell for up to $699,000.

New construction has been moving south of the Metra tracks and into Pilsen for the last several years.  This would be the first large scale development in the Arts District area. Doesn’t look like much life there. Just empty lots.

That’s a bad sign.

There are a lot of stressed out homeowners in Chicago who are struggling to make their mortgage payment.  As I’ve said before, the highest number of the foreclosures have been on the South Side.  A report out by the National Training and Information Center confirms this.

Crain’s reports that the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side is getting hit the hardest.  In the first six months of this year, there were 348 foreclosures, a 58% increase over the same time period in 2006.

But, as I’ve also discussed, foreclosures are creeping into the North Side now as well. 

Lincoln Park:

• 18 foreclosures in the first six months of 2006
• 32 foreclosures in the first six months of 2007
• 106% increase

Lakeview:

• 31 foreclosures in the first six months of 2006
• 54 foreclosures in the first six months of 2007
• 74% increase

These are small numbers, indeed, compared to what we are seeing on the South Side and nationwide, but I expect the numbers on the North Side to increase.  I am seeing higher numbers in the River North, Streeterville, and Loop high rises probably because there are more investors getting into trouble there.

From the Sun-Times:

“You had a lot of upper-income people taking advantage of the low rate adjustable rate mortgages, interest only loans and other programs that were available in order to move up, to get an extra two or tree bedrooms,” said Jeff Metcalf, president and CEO of Record Information Services, which provided much of the raw data used NTIC analysis.

“And when the job loss, economic slowdown, or declining home values hits, it hits all spectrums rich and poor,” Metcalf said.

The Sun-Times uses two foreclosure examples from yesterday as examples of stress on the North Side: a single family home at 2040 N. Sheffield that went to foreclosure auction at a price of $624,907 and a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo unit in the Elysees building at 111 E. Chestnut near the Mag Mile. Unit #36A went to foreclosure auction for $542,115.

I wasn’t able to find a prior sale on the house on Sheffield. The Chestnut Street condo last sold in September 1999 for $459,000.

It seems like nearly every 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo in a prime area of the city has gone over the $400,000 price level.  But if you look around and are patient, you can even find an authentic brick loft in River North for under $400,000.

And this one comes with parking included.

300 W. Grand is a 51 unit brick loft building next to the Brown Line tracks at Grand and Franklin.  It is among the older loft conversions, having been originally converted in the 1990s.  Many of the units show their age.  Most have older white kitchens and white bathrooms.

But the units are well laid out.  All of them have at least one bedroom with a window (some have two bedrooms with windows) and the upper floors have spiral staircases leading to rooftop decks and dens.  The brick work is also unusual in many of the units, with interesting nooks and built-ins into some of the walls.  You can tell that this conversion was done in the 1990s, before they started neutralizing a lot of the natural elements during the conversion.

As an example, Unit #608 is available to rent and as you can see from the pictures it has the spiral staircase but also the older white kitchen.  They are asking $2550 a month plus $250 a month for parking.  The unit is a 2/2 with 1400 square feet.

You never know what you’re going to get in 300 W. Grand.

The unit currently on the market looks like one of the more “normal” units, however.

Unit #208: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1200 square feet

• Sold in April 2002 for $299,000
• Sold in February 2006 for $345,000
• Currently listed for $386,500 (parking included)
• Washer/dryer in the unit

This unit faces the south, which is important in 300 W. Grand because the north facing units are now going to be staring into the Silver’s parking garage (the new high rise development going up on the parking lot directly to the north of 300 W. Grand.)

While you might not have much of a view from the south side, at least it’s not the parking garage.

Covenant Realty has the listing.

Built in 1925, the 47 unit Benjamin Marshall building at 1200 N. Lake Shore Drive in the Gold Coast exudes old money.  It is actually a condominium building, not a co-op, which is unusual for a building of that period.  It went condo in 1972.

A two bedroom, three bath unit on the 4th floor recently had a price reduction.  It has been on the market for months.  The Craigslist ad touts it as an “insane deal.”

Is it?

Unit #401: 2 bedrooms, 3 baths, family room, central air, in-unit washer/dryer, 2400 square feet

• Sold in February 2000 for $825,000
• Sold in July 2001 for $1.1 million
• Was originally listed for $1,699,000
• Now listed for $1,299,000 (or 24% off the original list price)
• No parking- but rental parking nearby

It looks like it could use some updating.

Home Discovery has the listing.