Price Reductions Further North: 1353 W. Wilson in Sheridan Park
While we’re waiting for Lincoln Park and Lakeview prices to decline, the price reductions are happening in other neighborhoods- sometimes quite dramatically.
Take the case of this lovely unit in a 1906 vintage building at 1353 W. Wilson in Sheridan Park (or is that Ravenswood?) on the North Side.
The listing indicates that lender approval is now required.
The property was first listed for sale in February 2008. Its been reduced several times since. A lis pendens was recently filed.
Here’s the listing:
HUGE PRICE REDUCTION! LENDER SAYS SELL! MAGNIFICENT VINTAGE OPULENCE. 3 BED/2 BATH HOME W/ GRANITE SS KIT/NEW BATHS. HIGH FIRST FLOOR.
SPECTACULAR AND ORIG OAK INT WOODWRK, LG DR W/OAK HUTCH AND BEAMS, ORIG POCKET DRS, FIREPLACE, W/D, 2 PORCHES, STORAGE & PRKG INCL. CLOSE TO TRANSP AND SHOPS. LENDER APPROVAL REQUIRED.
Jeffrey Walter at Baird & Warner has the listing (see more pictures here).
Unit #1: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed
- Sold in February 2006 for $366,000
- Originally listed in February 2008 for $389,000
- Reduced several times
- Currently listed for $295,000 (includes one parking spot)
- Lis pendens filed in August 2008
- Assessments of $220 a month
- Taxes of $5,620
- Two porches
- In-unit w/d
- Central air
Is this a deal? The room sizes are fairly large:
- Living room: 16×15
- Dining room: 17×13
- Kitchen: 17×9
- Bedroom #1: 14×12
- Bedroom #2: 13×12
- Bedroom #3: 10×8
What’s the catch? This looks like a solid deal to me.
i have a friend in that building. the unit’s are pretty nice and the porch’s are great. the neighborhood is so-so.
The neighborhood is definitely so-so (but really b/c it’s near the border b/t not quite so-so and decent ‘hoods), and has some recent backsliding, as pointed out in a Trib article Thursday(?).
My question about is–what’s with the taxes. That seems absurdly high.
The main downside for me is the fact that you’d have to use the Wilson red line stop…which is only nice if you like Popeye’s with a side of stray bullets. But it is close to Andersonville and I’ve heard people say that things are much better in this part of Uptown if you’re west of Broadway, which this unit is.
Your link to the listing doesn’t work. Try this instead:
http://www.bairdwarner.com/content/PropertyDetail.asp?listingNumber=06806183
I think we should try to secede from Uptown (Those of us that live West of Broadway…)
This place seems cheap to me.
“cheap” might be stretching it, but it does seem pretty reasonable.
But what about the taxes? It’s basically $700/month for taxes and assessment.
Those do seem high, I wonder if they take the homeowner’s exemption.
borderline ghetto location, ugly block, and to far north from the city. what’s the point ?
If you don’t mind living in in ghetto like conditions, than you’d find better values in south chicago.
The taxes are high because there is no homeowner’s exemption.
I am sure this short sale will be a waste of time. Better to wait for the REO. The 2/06 purchase was financed for all but $100 of the price: 1st mort of $290,800 and 2nd of $75,100 with MERS.
I looked up a few of the other units in this 16-unit conversion and this type of loan was not uncommon. The eventual disposition of this unit will probably put everyone underwater in this building.
Now I thought I heard back in 2006 that it was “a great time to buy” or you would be “priced out forever?” I guess that was wrong.
“If you don’t mind living in in ghetto like conditions, than you’d find better values in south chicago.”
It’s not where I’d buy, but it’s a lot better than anything south of 31st–the adjacent neighborhoods to the south, north and west are all much nicer and it’s quite close to the lake. Uptown is really a block-by-block problem, rather than a general problem.
Also, to be pendantic for a moment, it’s technically the least “ghetto” neighborhood in the city, being the most mixed official neighborhood. Can’t really have a ghetto when there’s not even a majority ethnic group.
“but it’s a lot better than anything south of 31st”
*cringe* I hope you didn’t really mean that. There’s Hyde Park and parts of Kenwood and Woodlawn that are nice.
““but it’s a lot better than anything south of 31st”
*cringe* I hope you didn’t really mean that. There’s Hyde Park and parts of Kenwood and Woodlawn that are nice.”
In response to calling uptown “ghetto like”, yeah, I do. There’s so much more that I like within a mile. No doubt, Hyde Park (and most of Kenwood, and JP Highlands) and Beverly are nicer immediate neighborhoods than this, but they’re simply oases in the southside desert. This is on the edge of the trouble spot–which will likely change quickly once Helen retires, even (or perhaps especially) in the current troubled real estate cycle.
That said, forced to decide b/t this and something for the same price in Hyde Park, I’d probably buy in Hyde Park, but I’d second guess myself a lot.
Looks like this place is a block away from the July 15th gang shootout at Wilson and Malden that took place in front of a “two-bedroom, two-bath condo for sale with a fireplace, whirlpool bath, in-unit laundry and gated parking space. A woman pushing a stroller nearby had to throw herself on top of her infant and shout for the assailants to stop” (Chicago Tribune)
Border or not, I would be moving too.
on the plus side there’s a gigio’s pizzeria within walking distance.
…and you can walk to the new chicken (El Polo Loco) place at the corner of Wilson and Sheridan (during the day)..really good price if you’re into a bit of urban (stationary) pioneering.
I used to live in Woodlawn. There are no parts of Woodlawn that are ‘nice’ outside of the UC property parcels between 6000-6100. Woodlawn is completely ghetto. There are nice parts of Hyde Park and Kenwood, but if you think there are parts of Woodlawn that are nice, purchase RE there as you can get a house for under 200k and cheap condos are abundant.
Better get a parking spot with your property though because your car will get broken into and your stereo expropriated within a month of moving there.
G – not to sound like I am questioning your auth., how sure are you about, “1st mort of $290,800 and 2nd of $75,100 with MERS”?
This is Uptown, and, it’s seen some increased crime issues according to http://www.uptownupdate.com. Market times can be high in this specific location even when prices actually do look good.
Isn’t crime increasing everywhere in the city?
There were recently shootings in Old Town/Lincoln Park (in the middle of the day) and today they’re talking about armed robbery on the Blue Line at the Jackson station (also in the middle of the day.)
I just moved to the South Loop from Uptown a couple weeks ago. I still maintain an office in Uptown and have friends there as well. The major reason for moving was because my girlfriend didn’t feel safe and I can’t blame her.
Thanks to gentrification Uptown is quite a bit better than say 10 years ago, but there’s still plenty of gang violence. This summer alone we had two young black men shot dead, and regular non fatal shootings happen on a weekly basis, sometimes several a week. When there’s a shooting in Lincoln Park it’ll be in the papers, when it’s in Uptown it’s just life and nobody cares.
Maybe crime is getting worse everywhere, but Old Town/Lincoln Park is absolutely nothing like Uptown. Uptown has a lot of potential due to its historic architecture and location, but I wouldn’t buy here as long as Shiller is still alderman.
The prices are absurd here right now anyways for what this hood is…
Just for reference, a couple months ago there was a drive by shooting involving two cars and several people just up the road from this property at Leland and Dover.
And besides violent crime there’s also bums everywhere. They are mostly peaceful, but still a major eyesore and creep out most people.
Anyone know what happened to this place? It was under contract, and presumably now closed, but transaction hasn’t shown up in the records yet.
Btw, the unit above it (#2) is for rent for 1950…
The unit went under contract on 9/30/08 and closed on 1/29/09 for $298,000.
Maybe it’s still for sale because the owners won’t show the place after 5:30 or 6:00 because they put their kids to bed. I was really interested in seeing it but when our Realtor told us they weren’t flexible I said forget it, let’s move on. There’s too much inventory out there…. sellers need to be accomodating, even if it disrupts the baby’s bedtime.