Priced at the 2002 Purchase Price in Lincoln Park: 1350 W. Fullerton
This 2-bedroom unit at 1350 W. Fullerton in Lincoln Park has been on and off the market since July 2009.
In that time, the unit has been reduced $69,910.
It is now listed for $400 above the 2002 purchase price (when the parking space is included.)
The listing says the owner spent $65,000 in upgrades including 2 new bathrooms.
The unit is wired for sound and 3 flat panel televisions.
The kitchen has black appliances (and I can’t tell what kind of counter tops.)
Will this finally sell below even the 2000 purchase price?
Scott Berg at Berg Properties has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #410: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1350 square feet
- Sold in May 1998 for $235,000
- Sold in November 2000 for $350,000
- Sold in July 2002 for $389,500
- Originally listed in July 2009 for $419,900
- Reduced several times and then Delisted
- Listed in October 2010 for $359,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed for $349,990 (plus $40,000 for heated garage parking)
- Assessment of $369 a month (includes cable, gas)
- Taxes of $4487
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer
- Bedroom #1: 16×12
- Bedroom #2: 12×12
Well I live in this building and know the owner. Good people, but obviously going to take a huge bath on this one… Hard to comp because the last skyline view 2BR that sold in the building was back in 2008 for $405,000 incl pkg, one floor lower and with lesser finishes.
Joe, could your friend rent out the unit? They probably could get 2000-2400/month which really should cover a significant amount of their costs.
Nice finishes. And you gotta love the side-by-side w/d.
I have no idea if he’s contemplated renting or not. I know he has a lot of equity in the unit so he may need to get at the cash to buy a house – which is what they want to do.
Is Berg Properties one of the places where you can list your property on the MLS for a flat fee provided you pay a commission to the buyer’s agent? If so, could that be holding back the sale of this property? Does anyone know if these types of properties get avoided by realtors and are harder to sell?
“Does anyone know if these types of properties get avoided by realtors and are harder to sell?”
If the buyers agent/company gets the standard 2.5%, they don’t really give a crap about what the seller’s agent gets. This shouldn’t be an issue at all. It is only when the listing states a 2% or lower commission for the buyer’s agent that I think some unscrupulous realtors may avoid showing clients the unit. However, in this day and age, who needs a realtor to find a house/condo? Most savvy buyers are looking on the internet on their own and picking out the places that they might want to see. Realtors are losing control….
It appears that he’s offering 2.25% from the listing. Honestly, having been in this unit a few times as the owner’s dog and my dog are friends – I don’t know why it hasn’t sold except that the 2BR mkt is completely dead.
“Most savvy buyers are looking on the internet on their own and picking out the places that they might want to see. Realtors are losing control….”
Very true. So even if you know what you want you might still want an outside opinion. Realtors will be able to give you that to some extent, but if there were say a CribChatter section for buyers looking for unbiased opinions from the crowd that would be perfect. In fact a lot of the opinions you get here are things an agent cannot actually say like pointing out low income housing.
Am I mistaken or the kid’s room does not have a window? I just find it weird that a room with no windows is counted as a bedroom to me it is a storage room.
That being said rest of the place looks quite nice. I hope they can sell.
“So even if you know what you want you might still want an outside opinion. Realtors will be able to give you that to some extent, but ”
Their “honest opinion” is hardly EVER an honest opinion. Come on, they are not your family/friends – this is their business. The goal is to sell something to you with the least amount of time spent. Are there seriously people that uninformed out there that need a VERY BIASED view about a unit from a realtor? At best, they will just puppet back what you say. At worse, they will make all the negatives of a property into a “positive”.
You are right though – the best, most honest opinions are sometimes obtained from this site. For that reason, I really appreciate and value everyone’s opinion/posts.
“Does anyone know if these types of properties get avoided by realtors and are harder to sell?”
I represented a buyer on the purchase of a property listed by Berg Properties. I like the flat fee concept but the drawback from the buyer’s agent perspective is that you can end up hand holding the seller through the entire process because they don’t feel comfortable contacting Mr. Berg for advice or consultation on the sale process. It just ends up being more work and the process is more awkward when you’re dealing directly with the seller.
Link to property wasn’t working for me:
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1350-W-Fullerton-Ave-60614/unit-410/home/22849965
Perhaps if they found a new home for some of that colossal closet they could have a 3rd bedroom and wouldn’t ‘need’ to move.
The kid’s bedroom DOES have a window, but it’s glass brick set high in the wall. That counts as a window even if it doesn’t exactly act like one.
Unfortunately, windowless rooms can count as bedrooms now, a change in standards that sort of snuck up on us during the boom when people were mindlessly paying anything for anything and just accepted that prices were going nowhere but up, and that you’d better buy whatever you could buy for the price demanded or be priced out. I’ve looked at a dozen or so new condos at least where at least one bedroom has no window at all, and the only source of “natural” light is one wall that ends about a foot or so below the ceiling to admit light from other rooms. 4747 N Sheridan (at Leland) is one building like this, and I looked at a couple in the South Loop.
Many types of building that have been trendy, or at least acceptable, in the past 20 years of super-cheap fuel and utilities won’t make it too well if and when supplies become permanently tight and utilities become expensive. Windowless rooms, lofts with no insulation and triple-height ceilings, and old , uninsulated houses and condos, will have to be modified extensively to be livable when gas and electricity become expensive and maybe even unreliable. About half our existing housing stock will become completely obsolete and a lot of things that seem very cool now will be way out of style.
A close friend of mine did some extended house sitting in a 1 bed in this building back in 2004 (2nd floor I think.) I thought it looked better constructed than the average condo and would be a nice place to live (though it’s a shame there’s no common outdoor space to speak of.) Honestly, I feel bad for the seller, but he might have to drop another $20-30k off the price if he really wants to get some offers before Christmas (cos I think this winter is going to be brutal for sales. I’m guessing nothing will be moving in Jan and Feb at all.)
RE: Berg listing
I used Berg for the sale of my last property in 2007. I needed to keep the price of the property low because I took a bath and had to bring cash to closing.
To entice buyers agents, I offered (and paid) 3% comission. Well, it worked. But I has to convince the buer’s agent that I was for real. He was suspicious! Maybe this has changed in the last 3 years??
I think if you price the home aggressively (this is key), and offer 2.5-3% comission the home will get traffic.
Meant to say I had to keep transaction costs low, because I was underwater.
I used a flat fee broker (not Berg) to sell my condo and offered 2.5%. I was listed as the primary contact in the MLS and most brokers who contacted me assumed I was also a broker. Since we were offering the full commission, they didn’t seem to care what type of listing it was. That being said, from a novice seller’s perspective, I was very glad that I was able to consult with our “listing agent” on a number of topics as we progressed through the negotiations and closing process. From a buyer agent’s perspective, if the seller doesn’t have access to some advice on their side, I could see the process as less desireable as you’re dealing with someone who really doesn’t know all the nuances of a RE transaction. I tried to leverage my lawyer as much as possible, but they’re not the perfect resource. As much as I generally think brokers are overpaid (especially in a city like Chicago where prices are fairly high), the advice I got for my $350 listing fee was useful. If I had paid $12K for the advice, my opinion on the value would be significantly different.
“wired for sound”
Is this really necessary in 2011 and beyond? Aren’t most hip sound-systems now going wireless?
I wouldn’t invest a penny in wireless sound, nor would I use a “wired” house unless I could see the gauge and quality of the wiring. Probably Bose junk.
“Owner spent $65K in upgrades, including 2 new bathrooms..”
I believe that. This is a very tasteful unit, well decorated too, classy and understated.
Ran into the owner – told me he had 5 showings this weekend, so listing with that flat-fee MLS service doesn’t seem to have hurt him. On the rental idea – he told me he has no desire to be a landlord, but he’d have to contemplate the idea if the place doesn’t sell by next summer.
Price cut here again!