“The Best Deal in Roscoe Village” Finally Sells: A 3-Bedroom SFH at 3134 N. Oakley
We last chattered about this 3-bedroom single family home at 3134 N. Oakley in North Center in September 2011.
See our prior chatter here.
This is one of those “renovation/flips”.
If you remember, this house had been bank owned earlier in 2011 and sold in July 2011 for $285,000.
Just weeks later it returned to the market listed for $134,000 more than the previous sale at $419,000.
But it had been reduced numerous times.
It finally sold in January 2012 for just $325,000.
It didn’t appear, however, that this was a full rehab as we’ve seen with many other bank owned homes.
The listing just said: “Fresh paint throughout. Refinished hardwood flooring.”
It also mentioned “updated electric” and that the “interior feels and smells new.”
The kitchen had the same cherry cabinets, stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops as when it was bank owned.
The living room curtains even appeared to be the same ones from when the house was previously on the market.
The house was built in 1902 and was on a smaller than standard 26×120 lot (per the prior listing.)
It had central air but only a one car garage.
2 of the 3 bedrooms were on the second floor with the third one on the main level.
Did this renovator make any money off this deal?
You can see the prior pictures when it was bank owned here.
Tom Witt of Executive Realty Consultants had the listing. You can still see interior pictures here.
3134 N. Oakley: 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 1861 square feet
- Sold in June 2001 for $220,000
- Sold in March 2003 for $390,500
- Sold in April 2006 for $583,000
- Lis pendens foreclosure filed in January 2010
- Bank owned in March 2011
- Listed in June 2011 for $245,000
- Sold in June/July 2011 for $285,000 (I can’t tell which month for sure it sold in)
- Re-listed on Aug 2, 2011 for $419,000
- Reduced
- Was listed in August 2011 for $399,000
- Reduced
- Was listed in September 2011 for $379,000
- Sold in January 2012 for $325,000
- Taxes of $6767
- Central Air
- 1-car garage
- Bedroom #1: 13×12 (second level)
- Bedroom #2: 13×12 (second level)
- Bedroom #3: 12×10 (main level)
- Living room: 15×12
- Dining room: 19×15
- Kitchen: 13×12
- Family room: 20×15 (lower level)
Looks like this flipper was lucky to get out near break even. Guess it’s not as easy as it seems.
Flip>Flop. LOL.
Wow what an absolute steal. The buyer got a great deal. Real estate prices have now hit their lows and prices can now only go in one direction. Up.
That is just gold. 48k.
“It also mentioned … that the “interior feels and smells new.”
I don’t see any evidence of rehab. They even kept the living room curtains. After holding costs, taxes and broker’s fees, I don’t see much , if any, profit.
This was a real estate house purchace of genius
Please add your favorites as I can only think of a few cliches:
Buy now or be priced out forever
Prices can only go up
Instant Equity
What you lose on the Sell Side, you make up for on the Buy Side
Don’t wait to buy, buy to wait
Suzanne researched it
Saw this place before the rehab. The whole front entrance area smelled like mold and there were holes punched in the drywall everywhere, presumably by someone looking for the mold. The kitchen cabinets were badly fitted and flimsy and the whole thing felt like a builder’s special. I highly doubt anyone did any mold remediation. Also there’s a boarded up teardown across the street. I wouldn’t have paid 300k for it. If the flipper didn’t find a way to make a profit, then this was a fail for everyone but the realtors.
But don’t you understand the importance of that new car smell? That’s just killing me, as for a house that can only refer to some kind of lingering odor of toxic fumes. A house shouldn’t smell like anything but what’s in it!
“I don’t see any evidence of rehab.”
“Please add your favorites…”
How about “I did my taxes today, and for the first time, I itemized, which provided more than triple the standard deduction.”
“Wow what an absolute steal.”
Given the imo crap location within a nice broader hood (two blocks east or two blocks north would makea big diff), this is about what this sort of house *should* sell for, and that assumes that the mold issue was dealt with. Maybe a bit high anyway, but that’s related to the lack of livable SFHs in the price range east of the River and south of Rogers Park; def too high if the mold was just VOC’d/febreezed into smelling “new”.
It’s a great time to buy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17Z3SDSBBBc
Anyone look at the satellite view? Clybourn Ave. is right behind this home. No idea what businesses are on that stretch of Clybourn. Hopefully nothing that would cause trucks to be going in and out of your alley all day.
I’ll admit I’m not ultra-familiar with the area, but it seems like a stretch to call something south of Belmont “Roscoe Village.” Belmont has gotten much nicer, however, since 30 years ago, and actually wouldn’t be a bad street to have nearby.
Looking at the history, that April 2006 sale sticks out like a sore thumb. What were people thinking then? I remember buying our house in 2002 and thinking the market was too inflated and that we’d paid too much. Then people looked at me as if I were lucky when they hear what I paid, because they bought after the bubble got worse.
“No idea what businesses are on that stretch of Clybourn.”
Backing onto this alley are a computer gaming place, with a taxi dispatch above, *two* animal hospitals, a dance studio, a dry cleaner and 90 Miles Cuban cafe. Oh, and parking for taxis, and a body shop/repair garage. Belmont side is a mishmash that I don’t know w/o streetviewing and drilling down by googling the hell out of it.
Then there’s the soon-to-be-closed cop shop (with court rooms!) right up Clybourn and the too-far-to-walk (aka, half a mile) Roscoe Village Center (fka Riverview Plaza) with the overly popular Mariano’s.
So, really, everything you need!
“what were people thinking then”
Everyone was thinking that some day their house was going to be worth a million dollars. No joke, that’s what most people thought. They never bothered to asked themselves, where all the millionaires would come from.
Anon,
Off topic question.
I just found out that my tax lawyer significantly lowered the assessed value of my building. ( by more than 20%, to actual market value.) Of course this is not yet reflected in the 2011 first installment. (which is estimated) When do they actually figure out the equalization factor for CC?
” that April 2006 sale sticks out like a sore thumb. What were people thinking then?”
Wanna know what’s *really* crazy? The folks who bought it for $583: (1) put ~20% down, (2) took out a second, (3) refi’d to ~95% of purchase, (4) *still* ended up with a $60k+ mechanics lien filed, and (5) all of which implies they put some money and a *bunch* of work into the place–that is, they paid $583 for it, but it wasn’t this nice when they bought it. Ouch. The bubble created some serious magical thinking.
There are numerous antique stores on the stretch of Belmont from Western to Ravenswood. Much better than what’s on Clybourn.
This place could serve as a perfect poster child for the bubble.
And I love that there’s taxi parking, an auto body shop, two animal hospitals and a dance studio right behind it. That just seals it as perfect.
” When do they actually figure out the equalization factor for CC?”
Fall. Your second installment will reflect the lower taxes. Nothing to be done about the 55% of last year you need to pay in three weeks.
Oh, wait. Too vague. And I have a fairly precise, two part, answer:
The equalization rate will be released sometime in August, possibly early September. I would anticipate it being quite close to 3.3.
The tax extensions, tho, won’t be available until the day after election day, if the results would be painful for incumbents (more likely), or early the week before the election, if it would be beneficial for incumbents (ie, taxes on most residential properties would go down, which is quite unlikely).
Thanks!!!!
“I would anticipate it being quite close to 3.3.”
Based on what? Yes AVs are supposed to be 10% MV and 3.3 grosses EAV up to the statutory requirement, but it’s no surprise AVs are stickier than market values right now.
“Nothing to be done about the 55%”
Nothing? How about vote the bums out in the legislature who passed it in the first place, ostensibly because they were worried about a heavy back end bill from a then-anticipated homeowners exemption expiring. Between stretching AP and grabbing AR earlier, IL government has shown how incredibly f’d and desparate it is.
“Nothing? How about vote the bums out in the legislature who passed it in the first place”
You gonna make that happen in the next 20 days? Hail Caesar!
“Based on what?”
The past two years and, now, you challenging my prediction.
btw, you challenge that prediction based on what?
“Wanna know what’s *really* crazy? The folks who bought it for $583…”
Maybe dig into CCRD a little more, there is a lot more going on there with that correction and some other stuff. 2003 sale price may actually be $583 as well. I started to cross-ref the names and then I realized it’s scotch o’clock, so maybe someone else wants to dig in.
“Then there’s the soon-to-be-closed cop shop (with court rooms!)”
I didn’t know that was closing – I have to wonder if that means bad things for much of that area around there in terms of crime. With the huge overpass and streets and alleys around there, it’s always felt to me like an area that would feel a lot cruddier if there weren’t a police station right there.
That’s a pretty busy courthouse at belmont/\western. where are they sending those cases?
Interest rates will never be lower.
Renting is just throwing money away and buying helps you build equity.
Deduct your taxes and interest.
You ain’t a man unless you own some land.
I haven’t heard anything about the courthouse closing. The police district is being closed/consolidated with Town Hall (Addison/Halsted), but AFAIK, that’s all. I think the police area (detectives) is still going to be there, as will the courthouse.
Think you’re right, Nonya. They’re confusing it with Town Hall. No reason why the Area station would close. That’s a big one, and relatively new (dates from the 1960s or 1970s, unlike the 100-year old Town Hall).
“Please add your favorites…”
They aren’t making any more land.
so wait, anon(tfo) is wrong? holy shit, this is a first!!!!!
My favorite is that it’s a great time to buy, or sell, real estate.
“IL government has shown how incredibly f’d and desparate it is.”
Two former governors ago the guy is in prison. And one former governor ago is about to report to prison. And the current governor is Mike Madigan’s chimpanzee. These must have already been facts you knew.
“Think you’re right, Nonya. They’re confusing it with Town Hall. No reason why the Area station would close. That’s a big one, and relatively new (dates from the 1960s or 1970s, unlike the 100-year old Town Hall).”
Um, I think I know what’s going on in MY police district better than you do up in Lake County. I’ve actually talked to a couple of officers from the district about it–have you?
Yes, I was exagerrating a bit, but also vague–the 19th *station* most certainly is going to be closed, as it affects the public. The local busybody worriers act as if there is a wave of crime about to surge across the river when they consolidate 24-hour operations into the new (and already open! For at least six months!!) Town Hall station.
No idea what they’re doing about the court. Cant imagine it will be as active when the station no longer has anyone working the desk.
re: the viaduct–its coming down. Just a matter of whether its 2012, 2013, 2014. The related construction may have played into the district consolidation decision, as the station will have seriously compromised access during the construction.
“so wait, anon(tfo) is wrong? holy shit, this is a first!!!!!”
Hardly. But youre really going to agree with a dude in Lake County about whats going on in my neighborhood? Amazing things they hand out on the north shore, letting people have a better view of Chicago than those living down the block.
“The past two years and, now, you challenging my prediction.”
Direct observation and betting the don’t on JMM’s bloviations is a winner every time.
“btw, you challenge that prediction based on what?”
His apparent inability to get anything right, regardless of the attempted education that his daddy purchased for him.
I could absolutely be wrong, it just seems odd. But if it’s true, than I stand corrected.
Glad to hear the viaduct is coming down. It’s an ugly scab on that area.
I like the viaduct and I predict the viaduct will stay. The city can have all kinds of plans but when push comes to shove they likely won’t have the money to pay for them.
“It’s an ugly scab on that area.”
I think people like you from Ohio or Schaumburg are an ugly scab on the area.
The problem with the viaduct is that it’s aging and difficult to repair at the best of times. It was originally built to alleviate traffic issues with River View to give you an idea of how old it is.
The IDOT portion of the funds is earmarked and is there, waiting for the day the city comes up with their portion of the funds to take it down. So it’s going away, some day.
Anon – I think the courthouse is staying open. Staffing the courtrooms with security is Cook County’s problem, not Chicago’s. Not having a CPD presence on the property wouldn’t affect operations.
lmao…talks the dude from Cincinnati who lived at Schaumburg.
“I think people like you from Ohio or Schaumburg are an ugly scab on the area.”
they’re not fixing bridges here because they’re too busy blowing them up and rebuilding them in Iraq. At least when Iran gets bombed we won’t be paying to fix anything.
Speaking of infrastructure, I saw a woman jogging on the above-grade train ROW in Bucktown just north of Wabansia near Leavitt (I think). Has some railroad abandoned that? Could you imagine if the got rid of many of the railtracks and turned them into green paths? How cool would that be? One never gets caught at a train X in the city limits, because all train tracks were forced into grade separation in the early 20th century.
“One never gets caught at a train X in the city limits”
Yeah you do. Get out of the green zone all over the south side you can get caught at train crossings.
HH/Dan –
Was it on Bloomingdale?
It’s an abandoned freight line currently owned by Canadian Pacific.
If you read the review on Yelp, people point out various places where you can access it.
Check this out.
There’s interest in turning it into a park.
The created something similar in NY called the High Line:
http://www.bloomingdaletrail.org/
Btw, thank you to whomever recommended “City of the Century” a few weeks back.
It’s amazing how many things were invented in Chicago and how Chicago became what it is because of rail lines and its geographical position in the country.
Link to the Yelp reviews:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/bloomingdale-trail-chicago
I think it would be cool to check out in its current state before it’s transformed.
Once it is built up I think it will have a positive impact on real estate in the areas it cuts through.
“The IDOT portion of the funds is earmarked and is there, waiting for the day the city comes up with their portion of the funds to take it down. So it’s going away, some day.”
Yep, and taking it down is cheaper than rebuilding it to current standards. Even with land acquisition to improve the intersection.
“Anon – I think the courthouse is staying open. Staffing the courtrooms with security is Cook County’s problem, not Chicago’s. Not having a CPD presence on the property wouldn’t affect operations.”
Yeah, after ranting about it, I checked on my don’t knows–court remains, area 3 detectives remain, and the maintenance garage seems it will still be used.
Milkster
Have you been on the High Line?
Hi Dahlia –
I really like reading about your renovation projects.
Yes, I’ve been on the High Line.
It’s amazing what they did with it.
It’s such a great place to hang out.
They have these large wooden chairs you can sit on and watch the sun set over the Hudson River.
http://www.thehighline.org/
I lived in that area in 1996 when it was still a working meat packing district.
It’s become all fancy and trendy now.
Too trendy for my taste, but most people like it and property values are stratospheric.
I remember the Bloomingdale line when it still had active trains (90s).
danny, are you sure? I remember being up there in the early 90’s and I remember it as being overgrown and abandoned.
“There’s interest in turning it into a park.”
This was in the news again recently as I heard that they got the federal funding for part of it. Is that right? It would be the longest park in the city or something if they do it.
It would also be great for that neighborhood (and all the bike riders and joggers.) It’s a really cool concept.
Milkster – that was me who recommended City of the Century. Talk about jam packed with information. There’s also a three part series, based on the book, that aired on PBS some years back.
Here’s another time killer – http://forgottenchicago.com/
On the Bloomingdale Trail – I seem to recall looking at it on Google Maps and seeing rail cars sitting on it. It may have been used to store rail cars at some point.
Anonemoose, thank you!
And please keep those recommendations coming.
I found the brief accounts of women’s lives in City of the Century so interesting.
There weren’t many options in the late 1800s.
You could have been married to some drunken brute who beat you and kept you constantly knocked up.
You could have been a poorly paid abused store clerk or a typist or a canner in the stockyards with the toxic paint making your sputum blue.
If you lived in Back of the Yards you and your children would have lived with the inescapable stench from the slaughterhouses and been consumed by flies and mosquitoes because your windows would not have had screens. And your water would have been polluted by stockyard waste and offal.
Or you could have had some degree of autonomy as a prostitute if you were lucky enough to land in one of the fancy $5 bordellos with good food and medical care and making 3 times as much for half the working hours of a clerk at Marshall Fields as long as you were okay with selling your soul. And then it turned out that a lot of shopgirls from Fields were moonlighting as prostitutes as well because they couldn’t afford the very plumage, perfume and finery they were selling on their salaries alone.
re: Bloomingdale trail
I suppose you also run the risk of jogging up there and disturbing some feral/wild dogs.
It’s also great that we don’t abuse workers in the USA, today’s there’s Foxconn suicides. Go but your Ipad, hipsters!!! (there’s even a wikipedia page about it)….so Milkster get off your high horse.
Milkster – then you have the exact opposite in Bertha Palmer, who vacationed in Paris and bought Monets by the dozen. To be fair, she was a champion for women’s rights, and was very aware that she married a man whose only saving social grace was that he was a hell of a businessman. I don’t recall if I read this in CotC or another book, but my favorite quote of hers when she was winding up a speech about art was:
“And as for art, my husband can spit clear over a railcar.”
Some more books:
“The Wicked City – From Kenna to Capone” It has a police bribery schedule from a brothel listed in it.
“The Outfit” by Gus Russo. Follows Outfit lawyer Sidney Korshak’s life. You will never look at The Pump Room in quite the same way after reading it. Korshak, IIRC, was Robert Evans’ lawyer.
“Return to the Scene of the Crime” Richard Lindberg revisits famous Chicago crime scenes.
“Lords of the Levee” written by Wendt and Kogan, two newpaper writers who were contemporaries of Royko.
And finally for now, if you haven’t read it yet, “Devil and the White City” by Erik Larsen. My friend’s nightclub is near the site of the Murder Castle in Engelwood. I asked her if she knew about being so close to it. She was aware and wouldn’t say more.
“There weren’t many options in the late 1800s.”
What about the 1920s? Milkster, are you watching Downton Abbey? That wasn’t even 100 years ago. Women’s options were limited whether or not you were a “Lady” (with that title) or a maid. The aristocratic women had to get married as they rarely inherited anything themselves. Thank goodness we live in this era where there are more options for women (at least in our country.)
“On the Bloomingdale Trail – I seem to recall looking at it on Google Maps and seeing rail cars sitting on it. It may have been used to store rail cars at some point.”
There’s no rail cars. It hasn’t been in use in quite some time.
I saw people walking up there today.
“There’s no rail cars. It hasn’t been in use in quite some time.”
Active line til 2001:
http://www.chicagoswitching.com/v6/articles/article.asp?articleid=97
Maybe some stored cars for a couple years after.
OK, I’m not nuts. Go to the satellite view on Google maps, zoom in at Bloomingdale and Spaulding. Six train cars are sitting on the track, and Google dates that map to 2010.
Someone walked the length of it and blogged about it. This is what he wrote (don’t know what year this is.)
So I take it back- there ARE some freight cars. But they’ve been sitting there for years. The tracks have been abandoned for over 10 years.
As I thought- the planning for the conversion has already begun. Who knows how long this will take (how many years) but the Mayor is behind it so maybe not as long as some people think.
“By that point, I already noticed a yellow freight car resting on the northern track. As I came closer, I saw that it was littered with graffiti. The inscriptions ranged from the usual (“Tommy in de house”) to bizarre (“I Fuck Your Viking”). I wondered how long the car has been sitting here. I wondered how much of the graffiti came from the neighborhood teenagers and how much of it was there for a long time. In a way, freight cars were traveling records of street culture, picking up new inscriptions everywhere it went.”
I’ve walked it a number of times — from the River to Central Park. Beware that it eventually ends at an active switchyard (around Pulaski I think), where there are rail road workers. I never saw anyone else up there, nor did I see any feral dogs.
It is quite a nice platform, despite the weeds and miscellaneous crap that has accumulated up there. Once it is cleaned up and developed, it will be outstanding.
I think you’re confusing his “Supermob” book with this one, The Outfit’s big value is tons and tons and tons of previously unknown detail related to Murray “the Camel” Humphries, I still need to read the one on Korshak.
““The Outfit” by Gus Russo. Follows Outfit lawyer Sidney Korshak’s life”
There are freight cars that move regularly/periodically, although for the life of me I can’t figure out why – our daughter takes capoeira at Quilombo. The building is directly south of the line, and their studio is eye-level with the tracks.
“So I take it back- there ARE some freight cars. But they’ve been sitting there for years. The tracks have been abandoned for over 10 years.”
“our daughter takes capoeira at Quilombo”
Now you’re just making shi…stuff up. Admit it, you’re tagging the boxcars with Groove.
hey, I gotta keep busy while she’s in class, right?
“Now you’re just making shi…stuff up. Admit it, you’re tagging the boxcars with Groove.”
Skeptic – yeah, you’re right. It’s Supermob. It’s been a while since I’ve read either book, and all I could remember is that the they were huge books, had interchangeable titles and both covered the Chicago mafia.
@ Andrew “Saw this place before the rehab. The whole front entrance area smelled like mold and there were holes punched in the drywall everywhere, presumably by someone looking for the mold. The kitchen cabinets were badly fitted and flimsy and the whole thing felt like a builder’s special. I highly doubt anyone did any mold remediation. Also there’s a boarded up teardown across the street. I wouldn’t have paid 300k for it. If the flipper didn’t find a way to make a profit, then this was a fail for everyone but the realtors.”
That boarded up teardown across the street is now an over one million dollar home that even had an open house this past weekend. http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/3137-N-Oakley-Ave-60618/home/13359675
“Now you’re just making shi…stuff up. Admit it, you’re tagging the boxcars with Groove.”
a box car i did 10 years ago showed up on a graff website about 2 years ago taken in California. it was one of my top works so it was really nice that one stayed for that long
btw, speaking of the Bloomingdale Trail, there is a fundraiser *tonite* at Revolution Brewing:
http://revbrew.com/node/198
Dahlia –
I checked out the High Line for you this weekend.
They have extended the park to 30th Street and Tenth Avenue and have plans to continue to 34th Street.
They have managed to keep it clean and beautiful, maybe because it’s only open from 7AM – 7PM.
There are even elevators at regular intervals and it is fully wheelchair accessible.
There are a lot of new businesses which have opened on Tenth Avenue.
The park is attracting a lot of people to the area.
The design of the path is really cool.
Even though you are on concrete you feel like you are walking along train tracks.
They have also planted the grasses and flowers which grew there naturally when it was abandoned.
If you like architecture, it’s a cool walk with a juxtaposition of new buildings against the old and the industrial.