Selling a Conversion in East Lakeview in 2009: 3033 N. Sheridan
I went to the opening weekend of the new conversion at 3033 N. Sheridan in the spring of 2008.
There were, literally, swarms of people there and I saw some entering into contracts before I left. (The 70+ degree weather didn’t hurt either.)
Read the prior chatter on the building and our comments here.
From the prior post- it looks like approximately 20 contracts were entered into even before I got there the second day of opening weekend.
It’s nearly a year later and the sales reflect what we’re seeing in condo buildings across the city.
Building stats (out of 143 units):
- 56 sold (including 2 in January 2009)
- 14 currently on the market
Jameson is now handling sales. See more pictures and information here.
It looks like upgrades and parking, at least on the bigger units, are now included in the price.
Will this building eventually return to an all-rental apartment building?
if it returns to rental, what happens to the people that already bought a unit?
They live with people who rent. Who tend to not care about the rules as much. Noise etc.
Are these buildings really that bad to live in (Asbestos, bad plumbing, etc)? For 1st time homebuyers 2930 and 3033 n Sheridan seem like a pretty good deal. For one they are priced decently enough where you can break even renting them out, god forbid you lose your job. And where else in East Lincoln Park can you get a brand new 2 BD + den in the 300s?
“they are priced decently enough where you can break even renting them out”
Really? These are rental equivalent prices? Even w/o the mortgage interest deduction and paying full boat on RE taxes? Seems improbable. Can someone do the math?
I wonder who cares less about a property, renters or zero-down option-ARM “buyers”.
Its in lakeview Lauren, and 2300 a month in a building that “may” have problems in the future is not rent equivalent in price. MAYBE if you get seriously lucky.
One thing I don’t get about this post:
“Will this building eventually return to an all-rental apartment building?”
Is this really a concern? The figures you quote put the building at 80% sold. Assuming all of those sale result in occupied units (a big “if”, I guess), the building’s finances wouldn’t seem that shaky to me. This is, of course, assuming there isn’t a big skeleton waiting in this building’s closets.
The only way I can see this building getting in real trouble (as opposed to the general troubles of a depressed market) is if the developer went under and was unable to pay the 4200 a month in assessments on the unsold units ($300 * 14 unsold units). If that happened, I’d assume prices in the building would plummet and the assessments on the other units would have to go up to cover operating expenses.
So, again I ask: is this building going rental a real concern?
“The figures you quote put the building at 80% sold.”
Maybe using the “new math”.
Using what I learned in school, 56/143 = 39.1% sold. 87 * $3600 /year = $313,200 + real estate taxes, which would be substantial b/c this was an existing building.
But I do think that it’s highly unlikely to return to all rental. Could conceivably split it b/t rental and condo, with lower floors rental–sort of like 55 E Monroe.
Lauren,
If you’re willing to spend $2,300/month in Lakeview you can get far better places than this, yes even 2BRs. I’ve already let my thoughts be known what I think of this building by my post on 2930 because this is essentially it’s twin.
But at least this is the silver lining to Sabrina curtailing her use of photos for the properties! I don’t want to see either as they upset my stomach.
My girlfriend used to live in this building, keep in mind this is the second or third “opening” for it. After the first one, they tried unsuccessfully to re-sell the building as a rentals, my guess is they overpaid and the model they used was based on signigigantly higher prices (my gf’s apt was listed for $450K). For rents, when she lived here in 2007 a 1 bedroom corner on the 10th floor rented for $1250, I suppose if you fancy it up you could get more but probably not much this corner of Lakeview is starter central, and the young’n’s that live here probably dont have a lot of money
the concern about this developer is probably the fact that they bought this building, and the one dow nthe street in 2006 and havent been able to sell them out
I went to an open house here and the model units were nice looking in terms of style and finish, however, the workmanship was really shoddy. that’s in the MODEL units they want the public to see. imagine what lurks behind the walls, etc.
Count us among owners who lived in a building where the renters were better behaved than some of the owners.
On the related topic of renting vs buying, how would y’all suggest approaching a seller to rent their property instead of buying it? We’re a professional couple whose stay in Chicago is of undetermined length, and we’re leery of the risks of buying now, but tired of the rental market machinery that is geared toward the younger crowd. We’ve viewed several properties for sale that we would rather “risk renting” than “risk buying.”
If you’re interested in renting something that is for sale- simply contact the agent and see if the seller is interested. I’ve been hearing of this being done all the time right now.
It never hurts to ask.