The Renovated 3-Bedroom Albany Park Bungalow: 4437 N. Christiana
This 3-bedroom bungalow at 4437 N. Christiana in Albany Park came back on the market in June 2012, just 6 months after its last sale.
It sold in January 2012 in an estate sale for just $140,000.
The rehabber kept some of its original features like the fireplace and built-ins as well as stained glass which was previously in the dining room.
The floorplan was opened up to suit today’s buyers who want a kitchen exposed to the living areas.
2 bedrooms are on the second floor with the third on the main level.
There is also a finished basement which one public realtor site lists as having 2 more bedrooms but Coldwell Banker’s own site does not. (It says only 3 bedrooms, not 5.)
At 3500 square feet, it is on a standard Chicago lot of 25×125 and sports a two-car garage.
This house is just a couple of blocks south of the Kedzie Brown Line stop.
Originally listed at $420,000 in June, it has been reduced $31,000.
Is this a good starter home?
Nicoll Garry at Coldwell Banker has the listing. See the pictures here.
4437 N. Christiana: 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, 3500 square feet, 2 car garage
- No prior sale
- Sold in an estate sale in January 2012 for $140,000
- Originally listed in June 2012 for $420,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $389,000
- Taxes of $618
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 17×11 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 17×12 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 11×10 (main floor)
- Bedroom #4: 11×7 (basement)
- Bedroom #5: 8×10 (basement)
Nice taxes.
I’m sure the taxes are with the senior exemption that the prior owners once had before it was an estate sale. They will definitely go up.
Very nice house overall, looks to be a decent rehab. I’m just not sure I’d pick Albany Park as the place to buy my newly rehabbed home although there aren’t many other neighborhoods where you can get this home at this price rehabbed either. Maybe I’m just willing to do a little work to be in a more appealing neighborhood to me.
I would scrutinize the basement moistureproofing and groundwater controls VERY carefully…. This area is notorious for flooded basements.
Slightly OT but from variously listing descriptions, Is there any difference between an office, a study and a den ?
“Slightly OT but from variously listing descriptions, Is there any difference between an office, a study and a den ?”
I think they are interchangable, especially in real estate listings although I picture an office as a more separate room that perhaps has built in shelving or something similar and a den I would think is more open and may be connected to a kitchen or open to a kitchen more for watching TV. I’m not quite sure what I picture for a study.
Great looking house. I agree, Albany Park gets some serious flooding, so i’d want to know what type of sump pump or other basement protection exists.
Enjoy the gang turf war at ground zero? um, NO.
Good looking rehab and a nice street near the CTA, but I wouldn’t buy in this neighborhood. The price seems to be realistic for someone who would want to take a chance on an edgy area.
how does it compare to this place
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/4253-N-Saint-Louis-Ave-60618/home/13483562
Can you open any of the windows in the front of this house, or on a beautiful day are you only able to open the kitchen window in the entire living/dining/kitchen?
Good question on the windows – the ones in the dining room look like the original art glass, and should probably be openable (not a word, I know). The living room ones in the front, not so sure – that would be a major bummer.
I would rather live about a 1.5 miles north in North Park, safer area, nice parks. Is this near the end of the Brown line? That area always seemed seedy and depressing to me.
“how does it compare to this place
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/4253-N-Saint-Louis-Ave-60618/home/13483562”
I generally prefer the style of the St. Louis home, but really dislike that the first floor is not raised and that fence in front is hideous. On curb appeal alone, I think I would choose Christiana. In general I know the areas but not well enough to debate one versus the other very well.
Benj — i agree with your comment about the curb appeal. The St Louis prop is also across the street from a school so that might be an issue. Christiana is one of those streets that gets cut off for various reasons so it’s not an ancelory (sp?) street. Meaning no one uses it as a short cut to avoid Kimball Traffic.
Arterial.
“Christiana is one of those streets that gets cut off for various reasons so it’s not an ancelory (sp?) street. Meaning no one uses it as a short cut to avoid Kimball Traffic.”
That’s not true. I only drove down it once and I couldn’t believe the number of cars turning down it off of Montrose. I had to pull off to the side to let them pass (as I tend to go pretty slowly down the street when looking for a property.) It wasn’t a main drag or anything- but I was surprised at the number of cars.
Paint that fireplace ASAP! Dreadful.
Regarding the flooding comment…. Albany Park is a big neighborhood, and the areas that flood are located near the North Branch of the Chicago River, which this house is not located near. While it is always good practice to check for water in basement, not all of Albany Park has serious flooding issues.
The river doesn’t flood that often. Only in the last few years. Not with the drought this summer.
I think the bigger flooding concern is not the river but the city sewers backing up into basements during large storms. I know several people this has happened to throughout the city although some neighborhoods seem to be more prone to it than others.
Basement flooding happens even in GZ neighborhoods like Lakeview, Lincoln Park and Wicker Park. And I doubt even the half century in the making TARP project will fix this: flooding occurs because the pipes aren’t big enough to transport all the water in time, not because there’s no place to put the water.
And especially if there’s a sewer nearby your below grade area, you’re screwed. It just comes up through that.
But they say TARP will be done in 2029. It was started in 1972. Talk about some real accountability with that government project when Boston was able to do their Big Dig project in 16 years from groundbreaking to completion.
It has to be part of the reason ground and below grade units sell at such a discount to above grade.
Illinois Tunnel And Reservoir Program: providing friends & family high paying government jobs for 57 years is what that project should read at it’s end.
Except during the boom there wasn’t much of a discount, especially in the GZ
“It has to be part of the reason ground and below grade units sell at such a discount to above grade.”