“Seamless” Indoor/Outdoor Living in a Fee Simple Townhouse: 820 W. Wolfram in Lakeview
This 3-bedroom townhouse at 820 W. Wolfram in Lakeview just came on the market.
If it looks familiar, that’s because we chattered about it in 2014 when it came on the market after a complete renovation.
You can see that chatter here.
If you recall, this 6-unit complex was built in 1979.
This unit is a front, street facing unit, which was remodeled with all modern finishes.
It now has a glass wall that opens to a protected, walled landscaped garden that faces the street.
The kitchen has white modern cabinets with Wolf, Bosch and Subzero appliances and “waterfall” countertops.
There are frosted sliding room doors and walls of marble.
The third bedroom is on the third floor with the other two bedrooms on the second floor.
This floor has walls of solid glass doors that open and close depending on how you want to define the space.
There’s no basement.
The townhouse has central air and a parking space which appears to be an outdoor space.
The listing makes a big deal out of the fact that this townhouse is “fee simple” which means there’s no assessments.
But who is shoving the sidewalks and the parking area?
What happens if you tuck point the brick on your part of the building but your neighbor doesn’t and water leaks in?
What if a tree rots in your neighbor’s yard but they don’t cut it down?
Do you only replace the roof on your part of the roof and nothing else gets replaced?
Has anyone here ever lived in a fee simple unit?
This townhouse sold in 2014 for $775,000. It has come back on the market at $815,000.
Is there still a premium four years later?
Brad Lippitz at Compass Real Estate has the listing again. In 2014, he was also the owner. See the pictures here.
Or see it at the Open Houses on Saturday, April 14 from 12-2 PM or Sunday, April 15 from 12-2 PM.
Unit #F: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed (but old listings show these townhouses as 1530 square feet)
- Sold in April 1990 for $360,000
- Sold in November 1993 for $197,000
- Sold in August 2013 for $80,000 (according to public records)
- Renovated
- Originally listed in June 2014 for $799,000
- Sold in August 2014 for $775,000
- Currently listed at $815,000
- No assessments because it’s fee simple
- Taxes are now $11,220 (they were $6916 in 2014)
- Central Air
- Parking included
- Washer/dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 17×15 (third floor)
- Bedroom #2: 12×11 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 12×11 (second floor)
- Terrace: 20×15
These folks really love television.
does this person work at the sliding door company or something… sheesh
I have a hard time believing someone will pay 800k for this but whatever, lincoln park weeee
Also, what is up with these wierd sunken outdoor spaces… this is kind of a duplex down (again) like that place on wolcott from the other day
other than trapping rain water, i can’t imagine that space is very pleasant for most of the year and those separator doors have just got to be awful mid winter and would really rack up a huge heating bill!
$800M for this – LOFL
The bifold doors leading to the outside would be great in the Caribbean, not so much in Chicago. Guessing they get used like that 5 days a year. I would think that whatever they’re calling the sunken outdoor area would double as a sauna in the summer
The design is 10 years old and IMO not aging well.
JAN TERRI 2 THUMBS DOWN LOLZ!!!!
DECENT BAND SPACE IN SUMMER, OLD STYLE KEGGER STORAGE FOR WINTER LOLZ!!!
GO CUBBIES!!!!!!
“The bifold doors leading to the outside would be great in the Caribbean, not so much in Chicago.”
True, they look cool but I also can’t imagine the flies and other bugs that would be coming into the home while these are open. Even with these doors, this place looks dark.
$800k to eat dinner at the kitchen island. Nope.
As someone whose current home has a “sunken outdoor space” between the house and the sidewalk, I can confirm that it’s utterly useless. It mostly serves as a place to trap trash, collect dirt, and grow weeds through the brick pavers. So far as I can see, the only possible reason for it existing is to get more natural light into the basement.
CALL IT A PORCH-PIT AND IT REALLY IS THE PITS LOLZ!!!
GO CUBBIES GO!!!!!!!!!
This deserves some kind of real estate purple prose award: “This is one of those places you can’t believe exists: a total architectural transformation, a modern sensation, a knockout space with seamless outdoor/indoor living which maximizes light, utility and design.”
Completely not my thing, but wouldn’t shock me if location is sufficient for the price, I suppose.
I do have the same question about the fee simple townhouse/deferred maintenance that affects someone else. It’s a self-managed community, maybe they have some internal rules that address that, somewhat analogous to how you can be fined by the City for various things and some communities have much more rigorous requirements?
The “porch pit” is maybe two feet below the sidewalk level–look at the top of the wall compared to the top of the doors. Quite different from the Wolcott place, where you’re basically eye-level with people’s feet when you’re standing.
Still non-awesome.
I like this newly minted term “porch pit”
add it to the wiki icky!
“I have a hard time believing someone will pay 800k for this but whatever, lincoln park weeee”
But it’s not even Lincoln Park! It’s Lakeview, making it even harder to believe.
But it DID sell for $775,000- 4 years ago. And prices have gone up since then.
Oh right, it is! Probably one of the nicest parts of Lakeview though
I live in a fee simple townhouse. Our set all have garages in the footprint of the unit (ie ground floor is partially garage), so no parking lot or anything of that sort. Only thing to shovel is small bit of sidewalk and driveway. We’re friendly with the neighbors, so we cover each other’s shoveling when out of town, etc, same as SFH neighbors do.
Tough to say on the tuckpointing question, as my building isn’t old enough to have much in the way of problems there yet. There is a block wall between each unit.
There is no association, so no kind of bylaws, etc. There is only a declaration attached to the title of each unit that defines the shared wall, allows no exterior changes (ie one can’t change paint colors), requires maintenance, etc. There are no “rules” per se because there’s no association. I think it just gives one a very solid basis to sue if something went wrong.
I find it to be better than living in a condo association because the lack of a board and any money involved means we can just be friendly with our neighbors, we don’t have to argue about whether we want new windows or to reseal the decks this year or any of the crap I dealt with in the past with a condo association.
Really nice looking interior despite lack of curb appeal. Great location. Nice little private court. I do think it seems over-priced however. Not sure by how much.