Rent v. Own: Modern Mansion in Logan Square
Thanks to the tipster who directed me to this modern single family home at 3150 W. Schubert in Logan Square.
The house is 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths with a three car garage. It is 4,500 square feet. I’m assuming it is newer construction as I couldn’t find a prior sale price for it.
From the listing:
Rare opportunity to own a spectacular 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath contemporary home in Logan Square. Sunny oversized corner lot with Traco floor-to-ceiling windows. Solid brick construction with limestone accents. A six foot high solid masonry wall surrounds the property with lush vegetation and privacy. Open floor plan with custom steel and maple stairway. Maple flooring and custom solid maple doors throughout. Elegant.
You can buy it for $1,450,000.
Karen Peterson at Coldwell Banker has the listing.
Or you can also rent it.
From Craigslist:
This home is perfect for the individual or couple who appreciate high design and quality.
* Unbelievable kitchen with Viking, Subzero, granite, cherry cabinets, etc.
* Open floorplan–great for entertaining.
* Huge glass entryways and windows and Southern exposure equate to great natural light.
* Two master bedroom suites.
* Huge home office with two built-in workstations.
* 8′ tall solid maple interior doors.
* Maple floors, slate and designer carpeting throughout.
* Full three car garage.
Rental price? $3750 a month
Yes- there is a difference between owning a home and renting one. But just from a financial perspective, this seems like a pretty darn good rental deal to me.
Those are some of the loveliest interiors I’ve ever seen…
Wow! If the photo quality was better this would qualify as real estate porn! As someone who used to live in San Francisco, I am suprised that we don’t see more of the professional photography and staging that is common in listings out in that city usually in this price range and higher. That rent is CHEAP! I am sending this to a friend in San Francisco who pays this rent on a 2bd Soma no view unit in a not so prime part of San Francisco. If you move here from California, this city feels like an incredible bargain.
This is way overpriced! One and a half million dollars in Logan Square? Are you kidding me? I just MapQuested the location and the surroundings are a lot suspect.
I am amazed at what is being peddled for a million dollars. One million dollar is a lot of money and I damn would not spend it in Logan Square where I can get shot or mugged. Properties over a half a million are going to get killed in these marginal areas because of the tighter lender standards and elimination of no-doc loans. For these prices, you can buy in a premium neighborhood like Bucktown, Wicker Park, Lincoln Park or Lakeview. I just don’t see anyone with that kind of loot buying a place in gang territory. Of course, if someone bought this cheap awhile ago, congrats, but not at these prices.
What happened to the old real estate adage, location, location, location?
Mike, I agree with you. It will be interesting to see what happens to the more expensive properties in the gentrifying neighborhoods. I’ve thought the same thing with the South Loop. It used to be cheaper than the north side, but not anymore. How many people are going to spend a million dollars to buy at, say, 17th and Michigan or 17th and State, when you can get a similar property in a more prestige location (River North, LP, Lakeview, Streeterville) for a similar price?
We’ll see.
I still believe “location, location, location” matters and that prices will drop in many of the gentrifying locations.
What do you think Bucktown and Wicker Park were like a few years back? You can still get a lot of value in Logan Square right now and the area is improving quickly. This place is overpriced in my opinion but, I think it will be a reasonable price in a few years. You can still find SFR’s on a standard lot in the $550-700K range. The same places would sell for a million plus in the neighborhoods you listed.
You are more likely to have a yuppie spill Starbucks on you than have a run in with a gang member where that place is located.
“You are more likely to have a yuppie spill Starbucks on you than have a run in with a gang member where that place is located.”
That’s a bit of an overstatement, but there isn’t anything affiramtively bad about that immediate area. Everyone seems to agree it’s overpriced, anyway. But, what did that cost to build (looks like new construction, rather than a gut job)? 4500 sq ft at probably $150 per (given the finishes, appliances, etc., that may be conservative) is $675k in building costs, if they (foolishly, I think) paid $600k+ for the lot (including demolition), then that’s not a crazy asking price, based on what the house cost to build.
Also, nothing in River North, LP, Lakeview, Streeterville is 4500 sq ft with those finishes for $1mm.
Logan Square is a big place. The violence is mostly to the west and north and is as far from Logan Bouevard as the Water Tower is from Cabrina Green. And as relevant to a person buying a $1MM house.
“Location, location, location” matters, but locations change. I had an old high society lady living next to me on Logan and she told me about her bridge which met once a week in the 50’s and 60’s. One of the ladies lived on Astor and they kept trying to get her to move out of “that slum” and move to a “good neighborhood.”
My house’s assessd market evaluation went from $325,000 to $650,000 in the last 3 year assessment. I hate the taxes, but the appreciation has been a lot better than mostneighborhoods. And as to the future crash, condo sales have fallen off a cliff here, but there are very few for sale signs on the houses and 2 flats.
Yes, this was new construction — 2003/4?. The old typical 8? flat building was demolished in 1997?. It had been abandoned for a while, but not properly boarded up by the Ohio bank that then owned it; used for drug dealing and such, the homeless had scavenged the metal and such. The city assumed the demolition cost after a judge was stabbed by a junkie outside the building while walking to the el in the morning.
I hate that wall and personally call it the Schubert fortress. It is out of character for the neighborhood. The price, too is out of character for the immediate area of condos and two-flats.