The Edgewater 1-Bedroom for $75K: 1062 W. Granville
This 1-bedroom unit in a vintage courtyard building at 1062 W. Granville in Edgewater just came on the market as a short sale.
It is currently listed for $125,000 under the 2005 sales price.
The unit has no central air, no in-unit washer/dryer and no parking. But it has hardwood floors throughout and an updated eat-in kitchen with granite countertops and maple cabinets.
Jason Finn at Baird & Warner has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #18: 1 bedroom, 1 bath, no square footage listed
- Sold in September 2003 for $89,500
- Sold in October 2005 for $120,000
- Sold in November 2005 for $200,000
- Listed as a “short sale”
- Currently listed for $75,000
- Assessments of $265 a month
- Taxes of $1819
- No central air
- No in-unit washer/dryer
- Bedroom: 12×11
- Livingroom: 16×11
- Kitchen: 16×8
STAY CLEAR OF THIS BUILDING! You don’t want this place for a gift.
This bldg has had many problems- was at first an illegal conversion. Now, after much work and unbelievable hassle and hardship, that has all been worked out. I’m not sure they are totally solved, though, and you will want a really thorough title search (something else that went by the board during the bubble years) and thorough inspection of the whole building.
But the apartments were badly rehabbed by the developer and the building looks to be in very poor condition overall. Old plumbing and old wiring are still there.
Good thing is the location- next to the Soveriegn with its great health club and swimming pool, a block from Berger Park, right across the street from the el, around the corner from Dominick’s and other retail.
Oh my God, who in their right mind would’ve have paid $200k for this?
Sold in October 2005 for $120,000
Sold in November 2005 for $200,000
Something isn’t right here… No wonder it’s a short sell, and not much of a bargain at that apparently.
I know nothing about the area other than driving through it a few times, but at $75K, it seems like this could cash flow on a rental basis. Unless rents are dirt cheap in the area…
“Oh my God, who in their right mind would’ve have paid $200k for this?”
Apparently a straw buyer involved in some sort of fraud it appears.
on MJ’s note, this seems like a good rental i aintz goodz at the math but wouldnt the mortgage be like $900 and you might get rent in that area for $1100?
$1,800 52″ TV but they want a short sale? Two $1,000 mountain bikes in the living room but they want a short sale? Maybe they’re not paying the credit cards either.
To elaborate, this building was a fraudulent conversion, done sometime in the early 2000s. You better bet there was fraud involved in those year 2005 transactions.
The ownership “converted” the building right around year 2K without bothering to get the legal work done, including applicable permits. Buyers, mostly moderate income first time buyers looking for something affordable, were offered “one stop” shopping- get your condo, your title search, your closing all from the developer. The apartments were NOT legally converted, as innocent buyers discovered to their woe sometime later, like when they got tax bills. One man received a tax bill for $11000 for his little unit, because the building was still on the city rolls as a rental apt building.
Most of the units were never legitimately sold to anybody. There were maybe 8 legitimate buyers, who have been through 30 kinds of hell getting the building platted out as condos and being credited with their ownership of their units. I talked to one of the owners a few years ago.
And their troubles did not end with the legal imbroglio. The developer went broke, and owned most of the units. He paid no assessments on those units, so the gas and water bills could not be paid. Water and heat were shut off in the middle of the winter a couple of years back.
I don’t know exactly what the status of this building is right this minute, but you really need to know its financial standing- like how much it still owes for gas, water, and sewer.
Also, there was a three room for sale in this place for $40K up until a few weeks ago. I think $75K might be high given that, and given that the place probably needs to be rehabbed completely, and the building is in every way a mess.
Love the location, though.
Based on the info Laura provided, I agree that this is one of those places that all need to pass by without any consideration whatsoever.
Over the past six months +, I have come across so many of these units…short sales, as is properties and foreclosures. ANY place that falls into the above categories, no matter how attractive the deal/location/amentities, will end up being more trouble than it is worth. Compounding this troubling fact is the number of realtors and agencies who will do just about anything to regain some of the $$ they lost over the past year.
As is evident from many of the listings lately, a good number of them are resorting to deceptive practices just to gain a sale. If they are lying during the writing of the ad, just think what else they know and are not disclosing during a sale!
This fact holds true especially for first time buyers and those who are now frantically searching for a place so they can receive the $8500 credit. What you MAY save in price and the gov credit will come back triple to haunt you in the first year when you discover what a horrible deal it all turned out to be.
I personally do not even consider any of these types of places whatsoever and I encourage those looking now to be especially careful during the buying process. Due diligence has never been so important.
If the deal seems just to good to be true, 99.9% of the time, it is.
“on MJ’s note, this seems like a good rental i aintz goodz at the math but wouldnt the mortgage be like $900 and you might get rent in that area for $1100?”
Doesn’t sound like it would be worth the $2400 you would make in a year (not to add that you’d have the fun job of being a landlord in what appears to be a problematic building). If I were a renter, I’d rather rent a coach house in Bucktown for $1050 like a friend of mine does.
your right jon after what laura stated it would not be worth the headaches and the probable out of pocket costs.
or laura is secretly trying to scare us away to buy it for her own 🙂 just playin laura and thank you for the heads up!
Coach houses give me a depressing vibe, i almost rented one in oak park took a tour and the vibe made me feel sad and stuff. also being in back of a SFH was something that would take some getting used to unless your Kato Kalin (brought you back with an OJ reference)
“short sales, as is properties and foreclosures. ANY place that falls into the above categories, no matter how attractive the deal/location/amentities, will end up being more trouble than it is worth. ”
Speak for yourself. You are already loaded and your time is likely at a premium, so maybe this is sage advice for your situation.
I saw a house that sold for 660k during the boom go into foreclosure for 400k. For that kind of savings its worth the headache for a lot of us. Yeah you gotta do your homework and be patient/etc, but for many of us the savings from a short sale or foreclosure definitely outweighs the hassles associated with them.
“Coach houses give me a depressing vibe, i almost rented one in oak park took a tour and the vibe made me feel sad and stuff. also being in back of a SFH was something that would take some getting used to unless your Kato Kalin (brought you back with an OJ reference)”
Groove Groove Groove…
We can’t agree on anything! You hate Bucktown and coach houses…
When I first moved to Chicago I lived with 2 girls in an awesome 3 bedroom coach house on Wolfram – didn’t mind one bit being behind another house because we didn’t share any walls with people and it was a very cool place. There’s nothing depressing about my friend’s coach house – 4 walls with windows, upstairs and downstairs are all hers. Guess we’ll have to agree to disagree!
“$1,800 52? TV but they want a short sale? Two $1,000 mountain bikes in the living room but they want a short sale? Maybe they’re not paying the credit cards either.”
Could be tenants–>and so they could have tons of disposable cash that they’re choosing to spend b/c they don’t *ever* want to buy (no need to save for DP). There’s no HO exemption on the taxes.
Great name for the current owner–last name is Graft–who has a single mortgage on the unit for $160k.
The City filed a lis pendens in July 2009 against this unit, other units and the association, so there is *defintiely* at least one unresolved issue.
Also, the October sale came with a $200k mortgage (on the $120k price; loan made by REI LP, an entity which doesn’t have much of an internet trail, altho they’ve made one other loan to the 10-05 buyer). The 2003 buyer used an $85k mortgage. there was a ’01 mortgage on this combined with another unit for $144k.
Finally, there **was** a condo declaration filed in 1997 (and separate PINs at least by 99–>multi-unit mtg for $720k from a land trust to Bank Waukegan), so while there may have been a whole bunch of issues (as laura sez), it wouldn’t have been completely evident looking at the property records.
All problems with the building aside, this is tastefully staged and fits my idea of what a vintage city apartment should look like. When I was a student I would’ve loved this.
“didn’t mind one bit being behind another house because we didn’t share any walls with people and it was a very cool place. There’s nothing depressing about my friend’s coach house – 4 walls with windows, upstairs and downstairs”
And, so long as there isn’t another coachhouse next door, yuo get more light that you would if you were in the house in front. Also rented a coachhouse before buying and it was *great*.
“Groove Groove Groove…We can’t agree on anything”
i know its fun to disagree with you jon 🙂
no but seriously it not that coach houses are bad or bucktown sucks big hairy…its just my personal experience the one coach house i looked at was 100 times better than the place i actually ended up renting. the coach house inside had a depressing vibe goin on and i walked past one in the gold coast that looked nicer than my own house but got that vibe again as i walked past. Becasue i hate bucktwon doesnt mean it sucks i personally dont like it 🙂
anonymous,
i agree the place is wonderfuly decorated/staged, which will help it sell quickly to someone that didnt do thier homework. (come on that tv is way to big for that place)
Jon,
Where was the coach-house on Wolfram? I just moved into one on that street with 2 room mates and we’re loving it so far. All of the advantages of a SFH (we have a porch, courtyard area, no shared walls, etc.) without the cost. Sure, my bedroom may be small, but my rent is half of my last place (where I was getting a deal) and I have all of the rest of the space in the house to use.
Stephen,
It was 1107 W. Wolfram – I drove past it a while back and it’s been knocked down and there’s a SFH/garage there now 🙁
I think it was truly a carriage house/park your horses in there back in the day. Had 3 nice bedrooms upstairs, 2 full baths upstairs and the downstairs was a decent kitchen and a large open living space. The outside looked like a vineyard because the owner had a wood structure built against the house that was covered in vines. Ah. Loved that place. Except for no laundry…
interesting that laura says the location is great b/c i used to do my teenage booze purchasing at Sun Liquors, which was near this place. And back then this stretch of granville was total $hit . But they’d sell us 2 ltr bottles of wine cooler, and 40oz bottles of oldstyle no questions asked.
No more liquor sales on Granville. The 2 stores there, including SUN, lost their licenses and the precinct was taken dry, because of the problems their stores were causing, with noisy drunk scum hanging out in front of their stores all the time.
This is one of the many things Mary Ann Smith has done to clean up Edgewater and transform in from a mangy, blighted, scary semi-slum to a great, safe, friendly middle-income neighborhood where I can, and do, walk the streets at any hour I please. That woman has her faults, but she has almost single-handedly cleaned up the crime in her ward. She rides herd on bad landlords, and even maintains a Bad Building list online, and is working on a long term plan to make Broadway into an inviting and walkable streetscape.
Groove,
I don’t think you’ll get $1100/mo. rent, but kudos to you if you can. I have a rehabbed one bedroom rental a block or two away in a decent highrise with a really nice view of downtown, on a high floor. Rents for one bedrooms here are going for 1100 and less.
SUN liquors! Wow that brings back memories. What ’bout that liquor store on Sheridan across from Loyola that used to sell booze to 12 year olds? is that the same ward?
there used to be a bar called Pump and Company on broadway that would let in 17 year olds. is that still there?
dave,
wow rents in that area havent gone up that much? i would have thought with all the good stuff laura talked about rents would be a bit higher.
Pumping co is still there, and so is Gino’s North-but they won’t let kids in anymore, sorr.
LAURA is dead on on this. I had “the developer” in court for years. He was a really piece of shit. I felt sorry for the owners. STAY AWAY.
are you talking about Bruno’s HD? the bar/store combo. That’s still there, great place.
“Speak for yourself. You are already loaded and your time is likely at a premium, so maybe this is sage advice for your situation.
I saw a house that sold for 660k during the boom go into foreclosure for 400k. For that kind of savings its worth the headache for a lot of us. Yeah you gotta do your homework and be patient/etc, but for many of us the savings from a short sale or foreclosure definitely outweighs the hassles associated with them.”
Well Bob, how do you think I got to the point of where I am now? It sure as hell did not come from picking up every foreclosure/short sale and as is property that was available, then pouring the same amount of $$ into it that I spent on the initial purchase to bring it up to a livable condition.
I am sure you, like many here watch all these random real estate shows where a couple will fall in love with a place then the inspector comes in and finds a boat load of problems that are not visible during a walk through…and this is assuming that the inspector you have hired is thorough, which I would guesstimate that 80% are NOT.
I think we chatted about this before…a person loses their job, stays in the house for a year+ without paying any mortgage and is finally kicked to the curb when the papers are served. Do you think during this time the owner kept even the most basic of maintenance up to date? Not a chance in hell.
I just saw a report on foreclosures and the things people were doing to them before they were taken away. The one that stuck in my mind was pouring dry concrete throughout the plumbing system. Over a weeks time it hardened and caused the new owner to have to tear out every inch of the pipes and start over…that particular situation cost the new owners more than they paid for the house.
Of course you can examine the place closely, but IMO, the risks far outweigh the savings, especially for a neophyte home owner.
I’ve seen foreclosures in all ends of the spectrum. To seemingly completely intact all the way to obvious disaster. There are some reasonably or completely intact.
Of course you would need a very thorough inspection. And if buying one I would also try to find out as much about the previous owner as possible to see whether their move might be motivated by hiding something.
The thing about a condo you must remember is that you are not only buying your unit, you are buying a whole building- a piece of it, anyway.
A problem the building has is your problem. Never has it been so important to do really thorough due dili on the building AND on the other owners.
If 10% of the units are in foreclosure and in arrears on maintenance, you need to know about that.
If the developer is in foreclosure, and owns most of the units and hasn’t paid his share of the common utilities, you sure as hell need to know that. Do you want to pay part of the water or common area heat for 500 units of a 600-unit high rise?
If the building or house has had structural problems or has ongoing issues, you need to know that. You might as well figure every condo sale is an “as is”, because the mandatory seller disclosure is worthless. I unsuccessfully bid on a 4-room vintage in Rogers Park during the rampage, and was glad I didn’t get the place after my rental manager clued me in. He had inspected the very same building for my landlord, who had a mind to buy the whole bldg, and the place was about to fall down, with really expensive structural problems.
And don’t trust rehabs or new construction. In fact, there was so much corruption in the bldg. dept. during the fraud-fiesta that the worst places every built were being rubber-stamped through. Count on it- most rehabs are laden with defects it will be expensive- to-impossible to mitigate. Failing support beams, water seepage, plumbing and wiring not to code, hallow cinderblocks, mold- you name it, it’s lurking in much new and newly rehabbed housing stock in this city and elsewhere.
Get the most thorough inspection you can afford, an inspection for an “as is” property where no disclosure is made. The kind where they look at every brick & beam & pipe & wire. Then, if you’re a condo buyer, research your fellow owners. You can discover every bit of debt on every property at county records and can buy these for a few bucks each. It will add up for a big building and the inspection will be expensive, too, but what’s $2000 or so relative to the biggest purchase most people ever make?
Oh, yeah, it goes without saying…. but make sure everything is sqaure legally for the building. Don’t take anything for granted. Your agent doesn’t know any more than you do. And make sure you get the audited financials for the building.
Thing is, a condo can be a huge open-ended liability. No limits, really, with a really big complex.
Great info Laura!
I totally agree with what Laura is saying, but I think if we all had $2,000 inspections done on every condo we were considering, we’d wind up out 10K and still renting six months later. That’s not to say I’m advocating you just close your eyes and buy whatever looks good on paper. I’ve just sworn off condos and have vowed not to buy another place until I find my perfect little SFH or multi-unit building. I think if you really have to consider a condo, you should do everything you can to research a building before you ever call an inspector. (Which I’m sure Laura would agree with, too.) Knock on doors in the building and ask questions, dig around online, look for any little sign you can in the unit that the renovation or construction wasn’t done with great attention to detail. There are so many little things I dismissed as no big deal when I went to look at my current condo…spots where the crown molding wasn’t aligned perfectly, cracked tiles in the bathroom, a piece of the kitchen counter that was separating from the wall. All things my agent said were no big deal. Looking back, I should have known these were all signs of many more developer shortcuts I couldn’t see. I should have been a lot more picky and not even bothered to move forward on a place until I found one that met a much higher standard for the little things anyone can see with the naked eye.
Danny,
thank you for your post, i hope it helps others looking at condos!
it sucks your agent was a ……. well lets just say passive to be nice.
Danny said:
“There are so many little things I dismissed as no big deal when I went to look at my current condo…spots where the crown molding wasn’t aligned perfectly, cracked tiles in the bathroom, a piece of the kitchen counter that was separating from the wall. All things my agent said were no big deal. Looking back, I should have known these were all signs of many more developer shortcuts I couldn’t see. I should have been a lot more picky and not even bothered to move forward on a place until I found one that met a much higher standard for the little things anyone can see with the naked eye.”
This is partly why I was not especially successful as a Realtor, when I had a license for all of a few years, back in the late 1990’s, when the boom was just starting. I had to show houses that had crap “fit and finish”, and I couldn’t believe the list prices on real crap work. I couldn’t lie, either. And, if I had to do a listing estimate, they were always low which no one wanted to hear, either. If you have that keen eye for detail, it’s really hard to imagine paying ridiculous amounts of money for shoddy and careless work, much less what one could call “workmanship”.
In 10 years, and more, it will be interesting to see what major failures we start seeing in all the new construction from the past decade… At least in my 1890’s era old home, with the 1990’s rehab I did on it, I know where all the bodies are buried, so to speak, and don’t expect any ugly surprises down the road…
We’re already seeing the failures. We’ve heard on this forum about water-seepage problems in new South Loop mega-high-rises. The lawsuits pursuant to defective dwellings are coming in now and the courts will be tied up for years coast-to-coast. I’m hearing stories about many Rogers Park rehabs and I’ll pass along the stories and links as I verify them, but i won’t be telling you all anything you haven’t heard before.
Regarding nit-picky $1000 inspections- you do this when you are extremely serious about a property. There are some very good deals available “as is” and if you love the place and are determined to have it, you want to know what you are walking into. As it happens, there are 2 buildings that I want in Edgewater- I’ll take either one, depending on what’s available when I’m ready to spring, and the price it’s going for. So I’m now gathering all the documentation I can get on these 2 buildings, including all the loan records for all mortgages and equity extractions in the buildings. I’m getting to know these 2 places really, really well and have seen several units in each. I know how old the furnaces are, and what special assessments have been levied. When the time comes, and the place I want is available, I will make an offer contingent on many factors, mostly the results of the fine-tooth-comb inspection, and before making the offer I will want to study the building’s financials and be familiar with the building’s governance- like,how transparent is it and how much discretion does the board have over communal money and expenditures, and how are decisions made concerning major projects and repairs.
laura also credit checks all her boyfriends too 🙂
no seriously, if i ever move to a condo i will be hiring you to do what you do so well.
i am glad you are posting all these things to check, its going to help a lot of people out there. due dilli is sometime lost in all the craziness of buying
a friend did some paint work for some eastern European guys renovating apts to go condo in rogers park. he said they would stop from time to time and look at the renovations, cabinet work, bathrooms etc. their favorite comment was “it looks good, people think it is good, but it is $hit”
I think Laura makes a good point that the stakes are much higher when buying a condo vs. a single family home. At least with a detached home, you know there’s a certain value in the land and for the right price, you can afford to practically rebuild the house. With my condo, so much of my fortune is tied to other people in the building pulling their weight, paying their assessments, and taking good care of their units. It’s really a lot more like buying stock in a company than most buyers realize. So, I think Laura has the right idea in hunting down a few good buildings and accepting that it may take time and a little more money to get what you want in one of those buildings, but it’ll be worth it in the end.