They Built It and You Bought It: 3935 N. Paulina in Lakeview
We last chattered about this new construction 4-bedroom single family home at 3935 N. Paulina in Lakeview in June 2011.
See our prior chatter here.
The house had only been on the market since May 2011 and had a $50,000 price reduction to $1.295 million.
Some of you thought the sellers would be waiting a long time as there are simply too many $1 million+ homes on the market. Others thought that it being in the Blaine school district and being “new” would get the deal done more quickly.
The house recently sold for $1.25 million.
If you recall, the property/lot had an interesting history.
A 3-bedroom, 1 bath small frame house was originally on the property.
In 2007, it came on the market and was being marketed as a “development opportunity.”
It had been in the “same family for 90 years” and was being sold “as-is.”
It sold for the asking price of $539,000 but 3 years later, it was bank owned and came back on the market for 50% under the 2007 purchase price.
In 2010, it was marketed for its location but the listing warned it “needed complete rehab.”
It went under contract within a week and sold for $20,100 above the asking price at $275,000.
Less than one year later, the frame house was no more and this brand new home stood in its place.
Built on a standard Chicago lot of 25×125, the 4300 square foot home had all the luxury features you would expect at this price point.
It had 3 fireplaces and custom built ins.
The kitchen had white cabinets (white is “in” again!) and even the custom matching appliance fronts.
3 out of the 4 bedrooms were on the second floor with the 4th in the lower level.
There was a main floor family room and also a lower level recreation room.
Tricia Ponicki at Coldwell Banker had the listing. You can still see interior pictures here.
3935 N. Paulina: 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 4300 square feet, 2 car garage
- In the same family for 90 years
- Sold in June 2007 for $539,000
- Lis pendens foreclosure filed in February 2009
- Bank owned
- Listed in May 2010 for $254,900
- Sold in June 2010 for $275,000
- Originally listed in May 2011 for $1.345 million
- Reduced
- Was listed in June 2011 for $1.295 million
- Sold in July 2011 for $1.25 million
- Taxes of $7493
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 18×16 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 12×18 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 11×13 (second floor)
- Bedroom #4: 11×13 (lower level)
- Family room: 16×16 (main level)
- Recreation room: 16×18 (lower level)
Its too traditional for my taste and some of the finishes don’t make sense to me…the greenish siding on the garage, white mirror in bath next to all creme/beige tile. But again, this is priced far less than a few years ago. All around a decent deal. This probably went to a family that will stay in it awhile and they have the benefit of one the best public elementaries… I don’t think they will lose in the long run.
“(white is “in” again!)”
Enough already with this.
1.25m – 275k = 975k
What would it cost to build a home of this type? Surely less than a million. 500k-600k? I don’t know, just throwing out numbers.
Not surprised at all.
RE_novice What would it cost to build a home of this type? Surely less than a million. 500k-600k? I don’t know, just throwing out numbers.
No, unless you are a contractor, it costs more to build these days than to buy…we’ve been looking into building for the last year and have given up…its definately cheaper to buy. Materials and labor costs are not down that much.
you pretty much have to be in some sort of finance related business to come up with the $400,000 down payment necessary to buy a home like this. It’s very difficult to save $400,000 every paycheck even with a high salary; in my opinion it’s bonus type money that gives you the kind of dough necessary for large down payments, or inheritances.
this is one of the properties that I mentioned on another thread last week that moved quickly. Three properities all sold within weeks and blocks of one another for more than 1 million. All on the market less than 60 days.
You need more than 20% down for something like this?
I hear these super jumbos want more than 20% down. This one has an $800k mortgage so do the math, it’s roughly a 1/3rd down payment. whether that was necessary or the buyer’s choice is unknown at this point, but i do know that superjumbo underwriting standards want huge down payments.
um HD, there are many other ways to obtain 400k than to save it paycheck to paycheck…
inheritance, life insurance, sale of a business, equity from a home purchased a long time ago, “loan/gift” from wealthy parents, etc.
In fact I would bet that a HUGE percentage of people putting 400k down on a property obtained it this way as opposed to saving it in a bank account for 10+ years and renting in the mean time
That’s what I said Sonies, it’s very difficult to sve via a paycheck, but a lot easier via bonus, or inheritance. I purposely left outt equity from a previous (although that is likely);
yeah I re-read your post after I posted and you are right, which is why posting incomes needed to afford million dollar + houses is kind of silly and usually doesn’t adhere to the rules of cheaper more affordable housing
I never heard of having to have more than 20%. That is hard enough!!
Hey Bob – I guess I wasn’t so crazy on this..see prior thread comments.
whitecity on June 10th, 2011 at 4:57 pm
however, i do want to say – take a look at what’s on the market in 60613 right now in the $1M-$1.5M price range. I’d say this is one of the nicest ones in that range. Now that could simply be because there isn’t anything ON the market because it’s so slow, but perhaps not.
I still will stand by my thought that this moves within $1.1-$1.2 range by end of summer. We shall see!
“I never heard of having to have more than 20%. That is hard enough!!”
HUH?!! I have never been approved for a mortgage for less than 25% down (especially since 2006).
20% is standard for most mortgages, unless you need a super jumbo.
This crap is all over Paulina going down at least 10 blocks south of here. I don’t think there are enough millionaires to be living in all of them, judging by the number of lights on at any given night.
Well at least this owner put enough cash on the line so our financial system won’t go further deep into solvency if they happen to run into financial troubles.
There are tons of these places all over Paulina. It’s amazing to me given how far it is from downtown.
“This crap is all over Paulina going down at least 10 blocks south of here. I don’t think there are enough millionaires to be living in all of them, judging by the number of lights on at any given night.”
Bob- the new houses are selling in Lakeview, North Center and Lincoln Park (even if you’d like to believe they are not.) And developers keep putting them up for that reason.
Married [or not] couples with high dual incomes also can afford these places. Not just wannabe ‘Trumps’.
“Bob- the new houses are selling in Lakeview, North Center and Lincoln Park (even if you’d like to believe they are not.) And developers keep putting them up for that reason.”
There is a huge new premium for these places. I’m curious does that premium stay when these places are 10 years old? 15?
I see lower priced places on Diversey near the river that appear to have lost their new premium and are about 15-17 years old. The construction quality is obviously not up to the level of these places but still it makes me wonder.
Not worried about the person that bought this one hitting financial distress, really. The downpayment speaks to their wealth. But I’d be worried about their neighbors that bought during the boom who needed 50-80k instead of 400k to own places like this. They could be one paycheck away from financial distress.
“There is a huge new premium for these places. I’m curious does that premium stay when these places are 10 years old? 15?”
I think it depends on the school district and how well the house has been maintained- to be honest. You still have to do upgrades to a 10 or 15 year old home (the kitchen and baths start to look “dated” by that time)- if you want to get a premium price. So it all depends.
Bob, this home is in a top CPS school area. And it’s a nice home.
also the penthouse has aerial views.
?
Why is it shocking that another fool bought one of these? Probably another trader making money on all the volatility in the markets, especially today.
I’ve known a handful of people who’ve bought million or near million dollar homes over the years in north side neighborhoods and they are generally trader types (live big); or finance types (live conservative but big); or dual income household income living life to the fullest extent on the dual income.
Living in a million dollar home on the north side is a statement about wealth, a status symbol. There are nice homes all over the Chicagoland area at all price points but purposely paying $1,000,000 or more for a home east of western and south of lawrence is one way of saying “i’ve made it” or “i’m making it”. Nobody ‘needs’ to spend a million dollars on a home, but many chose to do so, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But don’t be fooled into believing this is anything other than conspicuous consumption. this is not new york where you need to spend a million just to get a two bedroom in manhattan, this sort of conspicuous consumption does take up a chunk of money. the people I know who pay these large mortgages usually do so on arms to keep the payment down, the mortgage with taxes is usually around $5,000 a month or $6,000 a month with a total take home around $12,000 or $15,000, maybe slight more, maybe slightly less. Of course there might be some bonafide millionaires in that group; but then again there are also plenty of income rich but still building wealth in there too.
I’m not sure I understand your point homedelete.
my point is that their are neither foolish nor exclusively traders.
“this is not new york where you need to spend a million just to get a two bedroom in manhattan, this sort of conspicuous consumption does take up a chunk of money.”
Since when is living in Manhattan “necessary” and not a form of “conspicuous consumption” and a signal of “i’ve made it”?
in the alternative, is manhattan inherently a form of conspicuous consumption.
I don’t know, I think has a good bit to do with the fact that the $500-ish to $900kish range is just a bit of a no-man’s land in the city. It’s better to be a buyer just below that point or above. But if you’re going below, your SFH options – not just the location and size, but the move-in quality – are dramatically reduced, especially in a city that is so SFH-oriented.
This is one of the biggest cities with among the largest number of high earners. Buying a $1 million home in a northside neighborhood is thus not inherently conspicuous consumption. A $2 million home outside of the GG, OT, LP or the nicest parts of LV (i.e., the east)? Sure, that might be a bit flaunty. But not a mil.
If you want to live in a nice neighborhood with a family, but are limited to staying below $500k, why not accept that you’re in a big, expensive city, and find the TH you can? If you anything less than a SFH will leave some sort of void in your soul, you can either take some risks and within a couple of years perhaps be in a position to buy a place for at least $1 mil, or you can look for a nice home in a burb. Those would appear to be the two choices.