This 4-Bedroom Bungalow Has Been Listed for 23 Months: 4043 N. Kenneth in Irving Park
This 4-bedroom single family home at 4043 N. Kenneth has been on the market nearly 2 years.
First listed in January 2010 for $450,000, it has been reduced $75,000 and is now listed as a “short sale.”
Built in 1920 on a larger than normal 33×125 Chicago lot, the bungalow has some vintage features like wainscotting.
The 4-bedrooms are split with 2 bedrooms on the second floor and 2 bedrooms on the main floor.
There is no bathroom on the second floor, however, as the the 2 baths are on the main floor and in the basement.
There is an eat-in kitchen with white cabinets, stainless steel appliances and butcher block counter tops.
The house has the other features buyers look for including central air and a 2-car garage.
After nearly 2 years on the market, is this house an example of the gridlock between sellers and buyers?
Scott Graden at @Properties has the listing. See the pictures here.
Or you can watch the YouTube video here. (warning- music!)
4043 N. Kenneth: 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed, 2 car garage
- Sold in August 1987 (no price listed in the public records but Zillow says it sold for $70,000)
- Sold in August 2001 for $292,000
- Sold in September 2006 for $375,000
- Originally listed in January 2010 for $450,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed as a “short sale” for $375,000
- Taxes of $3639
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 16×13 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 11×10 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 12×11 (main level)
- Bedroom #4: 12×11 (main level)
- Family room: 25×18 (lower level)
Not a bad looking place but being a bungalow it has an odd layout. And it’s again the living large in the basement. and it’s priced a bit high although a rehab of a similar bungalow just sold for $350,000 a few blocks away. yeah it was basically a no money down FHA buyer but so what. that’s the only way they can get these rehabs to sell nowadays anyways is to no money down, move in ready buyers.
Bungalow living isn’t for everyone, especially with the cramped second floors bungalows always seem to have. Seems like this one is priced too high. It needs to move down to $325,000 to $350,000. Maybe even lower.
The listing photos are quite telling.
They let us know that this house has been on the market a long, long time (note the pictures showing the yard covered with snow). They also communicate that while this may be a “great place to call home,” as the listing language says, the family that lives there now had a second child recently and decided it was too small, or that the local school option wasn’t ideal, and they need to get out.
The lack of a bathroom on the 2nd floor is likely why many buyers aren’t considering the property. It makes for an awkward floor plan. Nice looking home though, but not really functional for the average buyer.
Loving the “warning MUSIC!” additions, thanks Sabrina!
Not sure why RE agents are doing the Ken Burns things with photos… doesn’t seem to me to add much beyond static photos except annoying me with the music choices. I would love a well-produced actual video walkthrough and wonder why more agents aren’t doing this to set their properties apart in such a tough market? Too expensive, perhaps — but I am sure there are a lot of ‘wedding shooters’ or similar out there feeling the pinch of the economy and willing to do it for a good rate.
End the off-topic comment.
I hope it goes foreclosure to prevent this owner from buying real estate for awhile. Owned for four years and not a penny of equity to show for it.
A lot of these older homes, bungalows, craftsmans, victorians, have the most terrible floor plans. I’ve seen three bedroom homes in Old Irving with the only shower in the expanded pantry off the kitchen, or no bathroom on the main floor at all (a 2000 sq ft house and only one tiny bathroom upstairs?), or upstairs bathrooms that look like outhouses with no sink. Buyers during the boom overlook these things but in today’s market they’re far less tolerant.
“I would love a well-produced actual video walkthrough and wonder why more agents aren’t doing this to set their properties apart in such a tough market?”
Hahaha. That would require agents to actually do some work. Go the extra mile to set their listings apart? Hahahaha. Very funny.
This house did not have an awkward layout when it was originally a 2 bedroom/1 bath bungalow. Most likely whoever turned the attic into two bedrooms didn’t have the foresight to also add a bath and someone later tried to make up for it while they finished the basement by adding a bath down there. This would be a far more desirable home if the (probably 1987) owner had just spent a little more in redoing the attic into bedrooms and done the bath then. Too bad it haunts the current buyer. Otherwise, the place is really nice.
It is pretty nice for what it is and there price is not way off or anything. But hey it is CC so we have to complain about everything : )
““I would love a well-produced actual video walkthrough and wonder why more agents aren’t doing this to set their properties apart in such a tough market?””
give Joe Zekas a call! Oh wait, you said well produced…
They should have put a bath upstairs but I bet it was too costly to do so or prohibitive because moving the piping etc. This house was designed as a 2/1 with a basement and attic, not a 4/2 with a finished basement.
this shouldn’t be more than 225k
“Sonies (December 1, 2011, 12:57 pm)
this shouldn’t be more than 225k”
Except that it would sell at $300 in a new york minute.
HD, would you be interested in low balling this?
Nope. I have my heart set elsewhere.
“miumiu (December 1, 2011, 1:14 pm)
HD, would you be interested in low balling this?”
“Low balling” short sales is usually a waste–chances are the seller will accept but who knows how the bank will respond. It’s a much better approach when bidding on an estate sale or REO.
oh yeah HD, got your finger on the bid button at 300? haha yea right
My favorite line is ” No sub $400K for this place.”
Never underestimate the clairvoyance of realtors. 😀
http://www.ericrojasblog.com/2010/02/best-single-family-home-deal-in-old.html
Bob (December 1, 2011, 12:07 pm)
I hope it goes foreclosure to prevent this owner from buying real estate for awhile. Owned for four years and not a penny of equity to show for it.
You sir are very bitter man…
Old Irving has stayed the same but I’ve changed. I’m not interested in OIP anymore. it will always be in my heart, and I have enjoyed my time here, but, like everything, it’s time to move on. Jonsburg, HERE I COME!!
haha for your sake I hope you can telecommute from johnsburg! Thats an hr and 20 minute commute with no traffic!
Johnsburg – you’d get a ton of space for your $
You’d probably visit the city every 24 months max and that would be a school field trip for your kid to the Science and Industry Museum
Where is Johnsburg?
Sounds like most suburbanites, all 6 million of them.
“Lunker (December 1, 2011, 3:27 pm)
Johnsburg – you’d get a ton of space for your $
You’d probably visit the city every 24 months max and that would be a school field trip for your kid to the Science and Industry Museum”
“
Where is Johnsburg?
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Johnsburg%2C+il
I had never heard of Johnsburg before reading this thread. I’ve been to Fox Lake many times, and it is FAR out there.
It terms of cool exurbs (or as cool as one could approximate), I would include the following: St. Charles, Geneva, Batavia, Woodstock, and Lake Bluff. There are actually young couples, bars, and live music out there. My friends out there love to boat on the Fox River and the Chain o’ Lakes.
nice find on the sub 400 quote icarus. clairvoyant fellow that roja
HD, Johnsburg? Might as well move to Milwaukee….at least they have good beer.
“4043 N Kenneth in Old Irving Park is a great value at the asking price of $450,000 considering all the important updates. Trust me, I’m a professional.”
Reads as CC-like sarcasm. I’m guessing Mr. Rojas wishes he could take that one back
I like it. What’s the ‘hood like? Is there anything to walk to? After living in Streeterville I’m afraid I’d go stir crazy living that far out in the boonies.
“Trust me, I’m a professional”
I love that quote.
I bet this place would have sold already if the upstairs was done properly with a master bath. I would bet a steak dinner the “comps” that drove the original pricing all have an upstairs bath. It seems like a minor thing on the surface, but it isn’t something picky buyers are going to over look, especially folks who can afford $400k.
It is funny how that game is over, where everyone trusted the realtors’ opinions and this pushed prices higher and higher, so much so that the bubble ended up wrecking lives when it all crashed down. This one goes for $325, but it’s more like a rental without the upstairs bath.
“4043 N Kenneth in Old Irving Park is a great value at the asking price of $450,000 considering all the important updates. Trust me, I’m a professional.”
Good catch icarus! Eric’s old post on this property is fascinating.
Some things to keep in mind:
1. He wrote that post nearly TWO years ago. That is a lifetime ago in Chicago real estate.
2. You can’t blame him for thinking it might sell fast in Feb 2010. $450k seemed more affordable then (compared to the boom years.) And there were apparently tons of people going to look at it. Usually that indicates an offer is forthcoming.
Could this house be a microcosm of what is going on in the greater market out there? Or is it simply now a stale listing and therefore won’t get any love even if it were priced much lower than its $375k list.
If they had dormered to put in a bath upstairs it would have long since sold. Cute house with fatal flaw…
THere’s like one cool part of milwaukee and the rest is just a big suburb. I’d live in teh forests of kettle moraine about an hour west of milwaukee before I’d live in milwaukee itself. I know this b/c i’ve spent a lot of time in ‘Illinois’ playground’.
OIP doesn’t have much to walk to, but it is the city , well located, not dangerous, and the upper middle class can actually afford a SFH.
Neighborhood boundaries question – is this considered Old Irving Park or just Irving Park?
@Lunker, I believe it’s considered Old Irving Park even though it’s not near the bigger Victorians on the other side of Irving Park Road.
Delisted, off market.
My guess is the broker/owner probably received an offer around $400K very early on when first listed but was not ready or willing to take it. Trust me, I’m a professional. There was a lot of activity…but we’ve also shown homes 100 times in a year (seriously) and they didn’t sell until the price dropped ENOUGH, so maybe not. Most sellers today do their best to make the first good offer work.
Russ and dahliachi are right…nice house but no bathroom upstairs was the killer, period. It would be a relitively expensive project at this asking price with more options/ alternatives in the current market. nothing like 2 years ago.