The Penthouse at 444 W. Belmont in East Lakeview is Back for Double the Price
The 2-bedroom penthouse unit at 444 W. Belmont in East Lakeview just came on the market.
I love it when “old” properties return to Crib Chatter. We have chattered about this penthouse unit 4 times before.
It first appeared on Crib Chatter in August 2008 when it was listed for $825,000.
Here are the pictures of the kitchen and terrace from that listing.
August 2008 was before Lehman blew up so the housing bubble hadn’t yet busted.
You can see that chatter here.
It never sold.
By 2010, the unit was bank owned and we chattered about it again.
The kitchen and baths are intact but as you can see in this picture, compared with the August 2008 listing, the shiny Viking stove has been replaced with a white model. There is a family room attached to the kitchen.
I’ve been informed that there are some light fixtures missing and some cosmetic touchups to a wall will need to be done due to recent tuck pointing. The roof was also, apparently, checked recently.
I’ve also been informed by the agent that all assessments are paid and there are no back taxes, liens or assessments outstanding. Unlike a short sale, the closing can be done quickly- like a “normal” closing.
Here are some pictures from that listing:
It finally sold in 2011 for $311,000 with homedelete taking home the honors for saying it would ultimately sell for less than the 2000 purchase price of $383,000.
Now, 5 years later, the unit has come back on the market for more than double what it last sold for. It is listed at $675,000.
It is also $225,000 more than #6B which is listed at $450,000 and has already gone under contract. They have the same square footage.
It looks like this unit still has the same cherry kitchen as the 2011 listing.
The rooftop deck is shared with #7A but there’s a fence that goes down the center of the deck so it IS “private.”
Just a reminder, the unit has central air and washer/dryer in the unit but there’s no parking.
The fireplace is also decorative.
Have we come full circle on this unit since the 2008 listing of $825,000?
And will this sell anywhere near this price?
Robert Nelson at Access Chicago Realty has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #7B: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1800 square feet
- Sold in July 2000 for $383,000
- Was listed in August 2008 for $825,000 (leased parking nearby)
- Reduced several times
- Delisted in April 2009
- Lis pendens foreclosure filed in June 2009
- Was bank owned in November 2010 and listed for $369,000
- Sold in January 2011 for $311,000
- Currently listed for $675,000
- Assessments now $534 a month (they were $509 a month in 2011)- includes exterior maintenance, lawn care, scavenger and snow removal
- Taxes now $8512 (they were $6,378 in 2011)
- Central air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- No parking
- Deck: 23×29
- Built-in grill on the deck
- Bedroom #1: 11×19
- Bedroom #2: 16×12
I feel nauseous. It might be because I did not get much sleep last night or this place.
Housing Bubble 2.0 is staring everyone right in the face.
Sure, this list price is just the “ask” and they might not get it, or anything close to it. But this listing is not alone in shooting for the moon.
The price increases are accelerating in the GZ. We’re at record high prices and this spring, given the inventory levels, it will push ever higher.
Here’s more from Curbed on the 17 story building that is being proposed that will be next door to this one. You can see this building in some of the renderings of the new tower.
http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2015/11/11/450454-w-belmont.php
OH MY!!!!!
if you didnt give the address or show me pictures of the outside i swear this was a home in naperville/elgin/huntley.
What is picture 6 of? Laundry room? Also, love the staged photo of the master with the champagne on the bed…really?
If I didn’t see the picture of the kids room I would have thought an retired couple lived here.
The bubble in bad realtor photos is back at least
I barely noticed the champagne on the bed. My eye went right to the dark dresser smack in the middle of the master bedroom photo. Also, the exterior views are so very, very gray. Those photos will not help marketing of this unit.
“August 2008 was before Lehman blew up so the housing bubble hadn’t yet busted“.
The insinuation that house prices in August 08 hadn’t yet rolled over—”hadn’t yet busted”—is false. By Aug 08 Chicago house prices were 10-15% below peak, achieved roughly 2 years earlier.
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/CHXRHTSA
“The insinuation that house prices in August 08 hadn’t yet rolled over—”hadn’t yet busted”—is false. By Aug 08 Chicago house prices were 10-15% below peak, achieved roughly 2 years earlier.”
The bubble was still going strong. The cracks were showing, sure. But that didn’t stop people from buying throughout all of 2008 and paying insane prices. It didn’t stop flipping. It didn’t stop all the new construction. The bubble didn’t bust until after Lehman, when the layoffs really hit the economy.
But then, at the end, the bubble doesn’t stop. It explodes and takes years to reach the bottom (as it takes years to inflate.)
We’re at the beginning of the next inflation. We’ve reached new high prices and there’s nothing stopping them from soaring even higher. New properties coming on the market in just the last week are going under contract almost instantly due to the low inventories. As a seller in the GZ, you can ask whatever you want and you’ll get it, especially if you’re in a prime school district and it’s move-in ready.
But I’m expecting Bubble 2.0 to take a while to inflate again before we see the second bust.
This property was just reduced to $659,000.
I guess they didn’t get any offers the first 2 days it was on the market then.