There Are Still Foreclosures Available: A Vintage 2/2 at 5646 N. Kenmore in Edgewater
This 2-bedroom in Kenmore Court at 5646 N. Kenmore in Edgewater came on the market in November 2015.
The building is in the Bryn Mawr Historic District and was built in 1927. It has 28 units.
It is a Fannie Mae HomePath property.
It’s been under contract once but came back on the market.
It has wood floors in the main living room along with a wall of windows.
The kitchen has white cabinets, granite counter tops and white appliances (which appear intact in the pictures.)
There’s an in-unit washer/dryer.
While there is no central air, you can use window units and the unit has ceiling fans. There also is no deeded parking, but leased parking is available (there’s a picture in the listing.)
Fannie Mae keeps cutting the price. It is now listed at $184,500, which is $45,500 under the 2005 purchase price.
Is this a deal?
Stanislaw Krozel at Royal Service Realty Metro Properties has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #3A: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1000 square feet
- Sold in August 2000 for $143,000
- Sold in March 2005 for $230,000
- Lis pendens foreclosure filed in July 2012
- Bank owned in February 2015
- Originally listed in November 2015 for $257,000
- Under contract in December 2015
- Re-listed
- Reduced several times
- Currently listed for $184,500
- Assessments of $396 a month (includes heat, exterior maintenance, lawn care, scavenger, snow removal)
- Taxes of $3392
- No central air- but window units
- In-unit washer/dryer
- Leased parking available
- Bedroom #1: 17×11
- Bedroom #2: 10×10
Not a deal given how dated the finishes are, not even after the price drops. The HOA is reasonable, perhaps too reasonable; I’d be concerned about possible future specials and would look at the reserves and maintenance projections carefully. I’m surprised this place sold for as much as it did in ’05, were those days a group hallucination or what?
Ahhh good old parquet floors, reminds me of my childhood.
I used to like them, but they look so unappealing in these pictures.
Wouldn’t buy anything on that street in that area even if I had the funds. I hate parquet floors too although I heard they’re quiet and never squeak. The washer/dryer deal in the kitchen I could never get accustomed to either but it beats getting mugged or bed bugs in the laundry room.
Please delete the above post as its talking about the floor and floors can be changed and in accordance to Bri Bri house rule no.3 this is not a design blog, thou shall not speak of the decor.
Hmm so waht can i chatter about?
Well it has been sold in 2000 and in 2005. Those were years on the calendar.
Too close to two “income restricted” communities:
http://www.holstenchicago.com/holstenproperties/brynmawr/index.htm
…and…
http://www.holstenchicago.com/holstenproperties/belleshore/index.htm
The high crime rate on Kenmore reflects this.
I looked at this place with an eye to buy, but was disgusted with the way this fine old building was DE-habbed. Most of the units look worse than this. I would want a $75,000 break in the price so I could completely redo this place from the studs out, to restore the vintage character of the unit, with decent appointments and surfaces.
That said, I love the street, and the neighborhood. There are a few troublesome rentals left in Edgewater, but not many. The beach is a few blocks away, the el a block away, and there is a lot of retail offering the things people need, including a Whole Foods a few blocks north, and a public library branch. It’s a very friendly area with a nice vibe overall, though there are still those few “problem” buildings.
Without the links…
Too close to two “income restricted” communities:
The Bryn Mawr, 5550 North Kenmore
… and …
The Belle Shore, 1062 West Bryn Mawr
The high crime rate on Kenmore reflects this.
I would only live on the lake/east side in this neighborhood. This neighborhood is very sketchy. They should tear down the income restricted communities so that it can develop into a great area.
The assessments are way too low for a historic building of this age. I would be extremely wary of purchasing this unit.
vb, the crime there is not coming from either the Bryn Mawr or the Belle Shore, where tenants are very well screened, and which are well-kept and well-behaved buildings.
It is coming from two or three very badly-run corridor buildings on Winthrop, and one on Kenmore. 5860 N Kenmore, to name one, is still somewhat a problem and there is a very bad building in the 5700 block of N Winthrop, I forget the number. Edgewater residents need to lean on their alderman to discipline the landlords involved, as Mary Ann Smith did in her time. Harry Osterman is a very nice, upright man, but I fear he is a bit complacent because the neighborhood has improved so much over the past 2 decades.
I notice that Uptown, further south, is still burdened with far more bad buildings, specifically the massive number of shaggy SRO hotels and junk rooming houses there. The renovation of the Somerset House, Sheridan Plaza, and the Lawrence house are huge advancements and are getting the ball rolling nicely, but there is still 20 years work to be done. Yet that has not kept Uptown from increasing vastly in value and desirability over the past 2 decades.
Bryn Mawr/Winthrop is also known as one of the biggest drug dealing corners in the city. You can throw a theater and Starbucks in the mix but it doesn’t change anything. Too many shootings for my standards in that vicinity too.
“I’m surprised this place sold for as much as it did in ’05, were those days a group hallucination or what?”
The appraisal standards were a joke. There was no reasonable basis for this place appraising out in ’05.
No different, your information is WAY outdated. That corner USED to be known as the biggest drug-dealing corner in the city, and Kenmore and Winthrop together constituted the notorious Winthrop Corridor of drugs, crime, and vice. I remember that time well, just as I remember well when Wicker Park was such a reeking, fetid slum, that when all the artists moved there in the 80s, you could rent a 6 room apt for $300 a month.
But that time is long past, and Bryn Mawr has been one of the cleanest streets in town since the late 90s. There is NO drug dealing on that corner or street now, and hasn’t been for a long time. It’s an attractive street with many nice businesses and nice people on it, and that is something people can thank former Alderman Mary Ann Smith for. Smith did more to clean up that neighborhood in 3 short years between 1997, when it was still pretty dirty and rough, to 2001, when I found I could walk around there at night and not encounter people who made me want to quickly cross the street.
I find it highly amusing when commenters who have clearly never set foot in this part of the city (Laura Louzader excepted) claim to know the neighborhood. I have lived here for 10 years and am glad it has been slow to gentrify, and has added solid amenities while remaining incredibly diverse. We who live here hope it stays that way.
“Please delete the above post as its talking about the floor and floors can be changed and in accordance to Bri Bri house rule no.3 this is not a design blog, thou shall not speak of the decor.”
I think Bri Bri bought some shirts with patterns for Christmas gifts this year and did not appreciate us slamming them. Among all the posts on this website, it was a weird one to get deleted indeed 🙂
Are we sure this is a foreclosure? Only 17.7% below the height of the bubble?
This is still a ripoff.
@Laura Louzader – There are still far too many shootings in the 5600-5900 blocks of Kenmore. This one was Jan 2016 and I’m not sure if it’s the latest:
http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/man-shot-in-edgewater-2/
I found this one from Feb 2015:
“A second shooting happened around 12:05 a.m. in the 5800 block of North Kenmore Avenue in the Edgewater Beach neighborhood”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-two-men-hurt-in-shooting-in-edgewater-neighborhood-20150225-story.html
.. I’m not looking very hard.
There was a shooting right at the side of that Starbucks one evening not long ago too. I could have been sitting right there. Those dealers are still out on that corner whenever the cops aren’t. Furthermore, an acquaintance lives on the next block of Winthrop and I got sick of his complaining about the shootings on his block. Is it horrible there? No, but I could just imagine what it was like “back in the day when it was bad”. Another important factor of my future direct surrounds is the local businesses too. The rudeness and filth level was above my threshold too, save a few here or there.
I looked at a condo to rent around that corner 6 years ago. On the second viewing one of the earth shattering mobile bass unit cars came by and parked right out front. No dice. This was when I was naive and thought it was a desirable area because it was closer to the lake. My first instincts were correct. Furthermore, I heard straight from a long time resident around there “live in a highrise, it’s safer” (he’s on the lake).
Have your gentrified “Corridor”. Chicago is backwards. Everywhere else (probably) on earth, real estate is more desirable and more expensive the closer you get to the waterfront.
4 years ago:
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/01/10/man-found-shot-to-death-in-edgewater-alley/
“The shooting happened in the Winthrop-Kenmore corridor, which runs from the Loyola University Lake Shore campus south into the Uptown neighborhood.
While conditions on the two parallel streets have improved dramatically in recent decades, the area has long struggled with crime, poverty and low-quality housing.”
Jul-14:
http://www.edgevillebuzz.com/news/man-shot-killed-last-night-5200-block-of-kenmore
And there was just a shooting/murder right near that Sommerset House a week or two ago also which is right about where I was threatened with a knife waiting for the bus 3 years ago. Lipstick on a pig.
$50K final offer on this unit assuming there are no bug, odor or direct neighbor problems.
“what it was like “back in the day when it was bad””
30 years ago, talking about when it was really bad:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-04-27/news/8601300421_1_apartment-buildings-two-residents
“mobile bass unit cars came by and parked right out front. No dice.”
You were looking for a dice game? And no one had dice? Probably for the best–someone wouldve ended up getting stabbed.
“Are we sure this is a foreclosure? Only 17.7% below the height of the bubble?”
It’s Fannie Mae HomePath. That means they have taken it back. So yes, it’s a foreclosure.
Don’t forget, when you buy a foreclosed condo, you owe 6 months of back assessments. It’s not a huge amount of money, but tack it on when you change the carpet, mirrored things, etc. Also, I recently visited a person who lives in a high rise around there. I had to give my ID to the security guard and retrieve it when I left. And of course, everything else very tightly controlled. So yes I guess that makes high rise living “safer”, but it felt very much like a prison. Just say no to that whole area.
Gonefishin’, agreed. I’m very sorry I accidentally voted down your comment. I couldn’t live in one of those high rise “prisons” either but I guess that’s what you have to do to enjoy lakefront living, hopefully with a view, in Chicago.
The only building I’d consider in that vicinity is that Renaissance building which is beautiful, obviously well taken care of, and based on pictures I’ve seen of the interior, hasn’t had all the architectural detail stripped from it and “gut rehabbed” into Pottery Barn hell like most. I could never afford it though.
” I could never afford it though.”
First rule of cribchatter is not to comment on decor. Second is to never admit that you can’t afford a property. Just don’t go overboard and start saying that you are worth millions, hang out ballers, date 18 year old college freshman.
“Uptown, further south, is still burdened with far more bad buildings, specifically the massive number of shaggy SRO hotels and junk rooming houses there.”
What’s the status on the “microapartment” conversions? Are they done? How are they doing?
“Those dealers are still out on that corner whenever the cops aren’t.”
Does anyone read the SecondCitycop website? The cops are going “fetal” and they see no upside in proactive policing because they could end up getting prosecuted in this anti-cop, Kim Foxx, black-lives-matter political world being imposed on us. So, they rather just wait until a crime occurs and then do reactive policing. The DOJ is riding with the Chicago cops now. They have that going on. I hope the DOJ a-holes really see what our city is like, and it’s not the “cops” who are the problem.
There was another shooting last night in the Winthrop-Kenmore corridor. This one was at Winona, a bit south of this property. Armed robbery on the street turned into a shootout when the victim pulled out a concealed gun. Robber dead.
It’s a foreclosure because they probably just up and fled. Similar in E. Lakeview and Andersonville (I’m shocked this listing doesn’t mention it’s East Andersonville or “just steps to” as the rental ads do). There’s good stuff in the overflowing dumpsters weekly in these hoods (no, you don’t even have to dive as these items will catch your peripheral vision). Unopened boxes of high quality cookware, obvious house warming party gifts, completed IRS tax forms, etc are the norm.
” There’s good stuff in the overflowing dumpsters weekly in these hoods”
That’s hilarious. I’m amazed that the “good stuff” is there long enough to catch your eye, because anything good, like an unopened box of new cookware, would last maybe 5 minutes in my ‘hood. Somebody dug out my old, defunct microwave within an hour of my having it placed there.. and it wasn’t even showing. Somebody had to lift the lid to see it.
“anything good, like an unopened box of new cookware, would last maybe 5 minutes in my ‘hood.”
Mine, too. And “good” includes anything made of metal.
“completed IRS tax forms, etc are the norm.”
Anyone who tosses financial docs with ss and account numbers into the trash, in readable form, is asking for identity theft. I thought everyone knew to shred personal docs before discarding, never mind cyber-security measures.
Shred that crap with a cross shredder before you toss it. Identity theft can cost you hundreds of thousand dollars and the damage can cascade for years.
Select passwords for your financial accounts that are reasonably designed to defeat simple hacking attempts. I’m amazed at how many people select really simle-simon passwords anyone could guess.
Self Protection 101
No kidding, Laura. That’s the point. They obviously don’t care and just flee asap. You can’t help but notice. The best one I noticed on a move-out day was the clear Zip-Loc bag taped to the main entrance door labeled “Free Bugs”.