Trying to Sell a 5-Bedroom Single Family Home in Lincoln Square: 2027 W. Leland
This 5-bedroom single family home at 2027 W. Leland in Lincoln Square has been on the market since April 2011.
In that time, it has beenreduced $54,001 to $674,999.
The house is on an oversized 37.5×122 lot.
It has a front porch and a back porch as well as a rare 3-car garage.
The kitchen has stainless steel appliances and skylights.
There are hardwood floors throughout the main level and a fireplace.
2 of the bedrooms are on the second floor, 2 are on the third and the fifth is in the lower level along with a family room.
Yes, that’s the El running along the back side of the house but that hasn’t stopped 2124 W. Eastwood, a 3-bedroom single family home just steps away listed at $519,000 from going under contract in less than a month. See that listing here.
What price will it take to sell this house?
John Robinson at Conlon has the listing. See the pictures here.
2027 W. Leland: 5 bedrooms, 4 baths, no square footage listed, 3 car garage
- Sold in June 2000 for $312,000
- Sold in March 2002 for $545,000
- Originally listed in April 2011 for $729,000
- Reduced several times
- Currently listed at $674,999
- Taxes of $9202
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 12×14 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 10×12 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 13×15 (third floor)
- Bedroom #4: 10×10 (third floor)
- Bedroom #5: 11×15 (lower level)
- Family room: 19×28 (lower level)
El in backyard, hohum Home Depot-quality remodeling, and a weak market: $550,000 max, despite owner’s expectations. If that’s vinyl siding, and thorough home inspection reveal any problems, price may be lower yet. That basement bedroom is illegal, and shouldn’t even be shown in listing. Nothing here motivates an offer unless pricing drops another $100,000.
Mortgage appraisal may come in around $500,000 – I’m hearing stories of incredibly low-ball appraisals shorting properties by as much as 20% realistic market value.
What I don’t understand is why both sellers have children and still want to move. They have a larger sfh house in the city, they also have children, they have plenty of space, it’s supposedly a good area, so why are they leaving, and why are they trying to sell, in this terrible market? Are they leaving for the suburbs? Job loss/transfer? Bad schools? It’s difficult to speculate but it always makes me suspicious when I see children’s bedrooms in the pictures and I can’t figure out why they want to sell. Often such things as bunk beds, or a small house, or a known terrible school, all are valid reasons but this one I don’t understand.
This house is so big, yet so small. Slanted ceilings on the 2nd floor, and really short ceilings in the basement… 675k? bahahaha in your dreams! I don’t understand why people want enormous and expensive maintenance headache frame houses like this, are you kidding me with this price? I would expect a price on a house like this in Roscoe village, lakeview, WLP, etc. but while Lincoln Square is nice, I don’t get the crazy premiums they are trying to sell there.
and HD… who cares why they are selling, its none of your damn business
I want to ask a question, but I’m afraid Sonies et al might not approve.
“and HD… who cares why they are selling, its none of your damn business”
maybe they moved to another city for a better job? maybe they got divorced? Who knows. Hopefully they moved to something better.
Not suprised at all about the Eastwood place. It was priced right, showed well, had some nice upgrades etc… so it sold quickly.
Comp killer for this one.
agree with Sonies…who cares why they are selling.
I hope they are selling to go hunt for that last monkey in ohio
“Mortgage appraisal may come in around $500,000 – I’m hearing stories of incredibly low-ball appraisals shorting properties by as much as 20% realistic market value.”
So true, I’ve seen this happen multiple times. The appraisers are ultra conservative.
Death and divorce are the top 2 reasons people sell a house.
They are definitely selling because of the cracks in the foundation wall, and the radon levels in the basement, and the asbestos in the insulation, and the lack of sunlight, and the gangbangers next door, and the leaky faucets, and the loud neighbors in the section 8 building….
The appraisal on the home we are buying basically indicated that we underpaid for our new home!
Maybe Eric Rojas mentioning he can bike to Wrigley faster than a speeding neutrino from here will sell this house.
Oh yeah that and a 250k price cut.
“Death and divorce are the top 2 reasons people sell a house.”
You forgot the other “D” that is the biggest reason today: Debt.
“The appraisal on the home we are buying basically indicated that we underpaid for our new home!”
Instant equity! Try to refi and see what that one says…
Vlajos is buying a home these days. Heh Heh Heh..
It looks like they priced it in anticipation of this
http://www.cnbc.com/id/44976426
I have a family and both my wife and I have good jobs. Rates are low, prices good, we’re not moving anytime soon, great time to buy a house.
“The appraisal on the home we are buying basically indicated that we underpaid for our new home!”
newsflash, they always over-appraise so that the bank will write the loan, the bank won’t write a loan on if you are overpaying for your property (anymore)… coincidentally, my place appraised for 10k more than I bought it for, I’m sure yours has too. But if I refinance, I’m pretty sure my value would appraise for far less than I paid for it.
“newsflash, they always over-appraise so that the bank will write the loan, the bank won’t write a loan on if you are overpaying for your property (anymore)… coincidentally, my place appraised for 10k more than I bought it for, I’m sure yours has too. But if I refinance, I’m pretty sure my value would appraise for far less than I paid for it.”
Not in my experience. The appraisal either comes in at purchase price or below.
Would you care to know if they’re moving bc of the section 8 neighbors next door? The reasons for selling are very pertinent to a purchase. Gawd.
“Slanted ceilings on the 2nd floor”
Here in America, we call that the *THIRD* floor. Take your damn euro ways back to euro-town, euro.
um… right
“I want to ask a question, but I’m afraid Sonies et al might not approve.”
Okay, in most cases I mostly agree with the “who cares” set, but does it change anyone’s view that they did an interview with Timeout Chicago about why they moved (yes, past tense)?
Also, HD, you obv. didn’t try very hard if you couldn’t figure this one out.
do you have the link?
“do you have the link?”
duh:
http://timeoutchicagokids.com/guides-resources/family-life/51011/we-wanted-more-bang-for-our-lifestyle-buck
ha. sorry, should have asked to see it.
thanks.
seems like a no brainer for them to move if he works by midway. though i dont know how his commute was 3hrs unless he pedaled with eric rojas
Rutledge is the owner of the Leland home or the Eastwood one that sold?
Thanks for the link anon(tfo), it was a move to the suburbs. And money. And the el (which they mentioned was right behind their house).
So it does make sense to wonder why they’re selling.
and for ANYONE who’s been to an open house, nearly always the realtor tells the prospective buyers, usually unsolicited, why the sellers are selling. I’ve heard it all, estate sales, suburbs, more space, hassily commute, etc. You’d be a naive fool not to take into consideration why the seller is selling.
“seems like a no brainer for them to move if he works by midway. though i dont know how his commute was 3hrs unless he pedaled with eric rojas”
Had to be an exageration.
Anon(tfo), I didn’t try very hard, I was in meetings all morning and then I went to court and received an absolutely spectacular court ruling in favor of my client this morning. I’m still gloating about that. I hope it turns out to be a good day for me. It started off really shitty, then got good, we’ll see where it goes from here in my afternoon depositions…
“seems like a no brainer for them to move if he works by midway. though i dont know how his commute was 3hrs unless he pedaled with eric rojas”
Sounds like he took LSD to 55 which can be a long time in traffic. It might have been faster to take Irving Park to Cicero and then head south…but for realtor that doesn’t know how to price his listing, what can you really expect.
Whoops, I’ve become as judgemental as the rest of the cribarati 😀 …must get away from the website for an hour or so
LSD to 55 on a shitty day could easily be an hour and a half. On a saturday afternoon I’ve taken 55 from near midway through downtown to my house and it’s about an hour, so yeah, i could see an hour and a half some days. Hell, traffic in inbound 90 at night is brutal, gettingn through the tollbooth can take 25 minutes at 6:00 p.m. traffic is a nightmare in this city, it’s consistently ranked as some of the worst in the country.
Even LSD to 55 doesn’t take 3 hours. Maybe an hour on the worst day.
” i dont know how his commute was 3hrs unless ”
… he took the Brown to the Orange??
Totally would take 90 minutes, all in, to take the El from Lincoln Sq to Midway.
“Even LSD to 55 doesn’t take 3 hours”
That’s total commuting time; 3 hours *round trip*, 90 minutes each way (or, 105 in the AM, 75 in the PM, whatever).
say hi to groove
that was meant for icarus.
It’s the hour ten minute commute on a Friday morning and the hour and fifty minute commute on a summer friday evening that he remembers the most as a 3 hour commute. most days it’s probably closer to two.
funny thing–per Google, the “expected” driving time is *exactly* the same (26 min), but new place is 5 miles further from office.
you’ve got too much time on your hands if you can use google maps to figure out the differences in commute times between this seller’s two homes. and people say I’m a weirdo for looking up the size of the debt securing the property; and you’re figuring out their gas mileage..
“you’ve got too much time on your hands if you can use google maps to figure out the differences in commute times between this seller’s two homes”
5 minutes, man. Couting figuring out the new house and the office.
The internet is a scary thing, especially for a semi-public figure.
I think we posters on this blog are all guilty of the “we got too much time on our hands” crime.
“The internet is a scary thing, especially for a semi-public figure.”
People knowing your commute times is scary?
I say no way he took the el before. And, while Stevenson can be a mess around the bend at La Grange as well as Midway, I’d still take the new commute over the old one. It is a non trivial commute though–don’t know how mcuh they paid, but why not buy in La Grange or LG Park instead. Waterfall glen is nice I suppose.
Will someone email this guy and get him to answer some of these questions.
vlajos when you say you’re not moving soon what is your horizon on that? are you buying in the city and are kids on the near future (within 5yrs)?
reason I ask is we’ve seen this story before..
My kids are in school in the City already. We’re not moving soon.
“People knowing your commute times is scary?”
Scary how fast you can find out stuff about an individual that would have taken hours, if even possible, at a library 20 years ago.
“don’t know how mcuh they paid”
jeez, just ask. $448k. Not quite an acre of land.
“Scary how fast you can find out stuff about an individual that would have taken hours, if even possible, at a library 20 years ago.”
Sure, but not like driving on western scary.
“jeez, just ask. $448k. Not quite an acre of land.”
Well, I threw that in there in case they bought a $200K place or something you’d be hard pressed to find in LG (maybe you can in LG park). You can get a decent house in LG for $448K. Not going to get that much land. All about tradeoffs I guess.
Driving on Clybourn scares me.
” You can get a decent house in LG for $448K. Not going to get that much land. All about tradeoffs I guess.”
Yep, and if he’s a golfer, then Lemont would be a big draw.
Also, escaping Cook COunty has real value.
Be careful of what you read on the internet – it is full of misinformation and lies. Life was better when we didn’t know so much – imagination, patience and critical thinking/plotting are qualities that are dying fast…..
“Sure, but not like driving on western scary.”
Terrifying, I tell ya.
Lemont is in Cook County.
Its the horse culture of the southwest suburbs that draws them out there. Daughters probably the trails in palos all weekend. Damn I miss mountain biking, no time to frolic at bullfrog lake all afternoon now that I gots a little baby at home. I’ve considerd moving sw just to be near the trails out there but then id have to live on the southside sk I gave up on that idea.
Lagrange is not cheap for a decent place.
“Lemont is in Cook County.”
Oh, yeah, right. Shows what I know about those ‘burbs.
Then golf, and perhaps a need to stay in the county.
I can’t respect someone who names their child Bunny – unless that is a nickname or a family name – and even then I would have properly selected it as the middle name.
Oak Brook is the best – no taxes, free fitness centers, free vehicle stickers, free bike trails, free horse trails, free forest preserves (which are absolutely beautiful), free museums, free nature centers – very very private neighbors, and the most central location to all of chicagoland.
“Yep, and if he’s a golfer, then Lemont would be a big draw.”
That’s not going to save them any money. Golf in the city at Waveland is *much* cheaper. If you’re really an avid golfer, wouldn’t you just join a country club (if you could put up with all of the country clubness)?
“someone who names their child Bunny”
I guess they can put up with the country clubness.
@DZ…… Ha! Perfect!
Lemont is mostly in Cook, but also in DuPage and Will.
“If you’re really an avid golfer, wouldn’t you just join a country club”
But if you live more than X minutes away, how often do you get out to the club? It’s the ‘burban version of East of Clark.
Sure, but the libertarian dude’s house is in Cook.
“But if you live more than X minutes away, how often do you get out to the club? It’s the ‘burban version of East of Clark.”
I dunno, live in LG, join LGCC, not more than a 5-10 min drive from most parts of LG. With the required food/beverage spend, pool and tennis for the kids, etc., from casual observation seems like a lot of people do focus their social lives around it. I *think* most of your golf costs are fixed wrt rounds you play, so if you’re avid, then relatively free-ish golf is attractive.
“and the most central location to all of chicagoland”
I my humble opinion, I would submit that Chicago, from around the Bean to Belmont, is the most central location.
Here’s one Realtor who NEVER tells potential buyers the reason for the sellers’ moving. In fact I don’t even care to know all that much myself. I believe in the right to privacy and maybe in some cases it’s better for all concerned if we don’t know.
How would you feel about selling a house whose owners told you that they wanted to get away from a “changing” neighborhood? It happened a lot a few decades ago and many Realtors had no qualms about knowing and even exploiting that attitude. I hope that current generations have evolved beyond that, but maybe it’s better not to know.
At any rate, when anyone asks me the “reason” for a sale, I simply request that they MYOB…with a smile, of course.
“Sure”
Yes, you sure were wrong that “Lemont us in Cook County.”
The people in the article are selling the Eastwood house- not the Leland house that is featured.
Thanks for the link to the article. It’s interesting on numerous levels- many of which we have chattered about on Crib Chatter before. Frankly, it’s yet another indicator that it’s really, really hard to be middle or even upper middle class in the city. They had the nice house with 3/2 in one of the hottest neighborhoods. Had to put the kids in private school though. That’s a huge expense right there. They were already worrying about high school even though their children were still both many years away from it. (On a side note, I once heard a woman on the El on her cellphone telling a friend about how some neighbors were “moving” because their kids didn’t get into any of the magnets and it was too late to get them into the British school or some other such place.)
People underestimate the difficulties in doing family things that those in the suburbs take for granted. In the article, they mention not being able to get their daughters into swim classes at the local park district because the classes filled up immediately. There have been a bunch of newspaper articles about how hard it is to get your child into anything at the park district due to demand. I have NEVER heard the same thing from friends/family in the suburbs. In fact, some suburbs, Park Ridge in particular, are supposed to have outstanding park district programs.
All the little costs and difficulties add up for people with small children. And, as the article attests, if you have a 10 and a 7 year old, are you eating out at the “hottest” restaurants all the time? Nope. You’re going to the Potbelly’s for sandwiches on a Saturday afternoon or the local ice cream shop in the summer. All of this you can do just the same in any number of suburbs with outstanding downtowns (LaGrange, Oak Park, Highland Park, Naperville etc. etc.)
By the way- regarding Lemont- many of the homes are newer construction there and the lots are just enormous. So if that family was looking for something cheaper than the house they were selling in Chicago (which the Lemont house was), had land, was newer- then it was a no brainer.
There’s another article in the same series in TimeOut about a family that moved from Edgewater to Morton Grove. Schools continue to be a HUGE issue for many parents. Another article in the series talked about a family moving from East Lakeview to North Center to get into the Bell district. I wonder what they’ll do for high school?
Here’s the Morton Grove family:
“Besides space, schools and transportation were big concerns. They’d already experienced the anxiety of wait lists for preschool in Chicago, so the couple set their sights on the near North Suburbs with an eye on affordable, quality education. That region also promised an easy commute into the city: Roewe works as operations manager for an online advertising firm in the Loop; Xoomsai is a part-time nurse on the North Side.
Having found the right house, Roewe quickly did additional research into school rankings. “I looked up elementary as well as middle and high schools,” he says. “They were all in the top 100, if not the top 50.” And the 17-mile commute downtown would be easy, with a Metra station just a mile from home. (It’s a 33-minute ride to Union Station.) Roewe often rides his bike to the train, and occasionally also uses the CTA’s Yellow Line, which ends in neighboring Skokie.
With the basics well covered, they started to learn about the proverbial cherries—especially all the green space. One-fifth of Morton Grove is Cook County Forest Preserves, open land for recreation, from bicycling to cross-country skiing to horseback riding. Roewe got excited: “Was that on our list of things we must have? No, but when I saw it, I was like, ‘Oh man, I really want to live there.’ ” They moved in August 2010, and still haven’t finished exploring all the area parks with the girls.”
“The people in the article are selling the Eastwood house- not the Leland house that is featured”
Thats not right, Sabrina. The folks in the article are selling the featured house on Leland.
“How would you feel about selling a house whose owners told you that they wanted to get away from a “changing” neighborhood?”
Happy for them? We’re talking about recent history, right? The oldtimers I know were not upset at the piles of money that the urban sophisticates paid to acquire their modest old homes to facilitate change.
There’s a big push to turn around Lakeview HS and many of the parents that helped turnaround the northside elementary schools are now focusing on LV.
My kiddo’s are young, but I am betting and putting my efforts behind making LV a viable option for them when they reach that age. There were hudreds of parents at a recent LV meeting to meet the new principal there.
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Park-Ridge/115-N-Grace-Ave-60068/home/13649513
Sold on 10/21/2011
$629,000
Built 2011
Walk to Metra and downtown
50×125 lot
Vs. $674,999 for this Lincoln Sq. house?
Yeah, as much as people want to bitch and whine and complain, these are comparable homes and it’s very very obvious which is the better place for anyone with children. Sorry guys. I wish it weren’t true either, but it is.
Are they pushing for a name change?
I do like to know why someone is selling and I often ask, especially if I think it’s a nice house. I don’t expect them to say “well they’re tired of the lead paint, radon leaks and asbestos issues” or “the dead body in the basement is too much to deal with” but sometimes you can gather an important piece of info that could help with the negotiations.
yeah hd but you’d have jets flying over your house all day and night, and you’d have to live with all the assholes in Park Ridge
“The people in the article are selling the Eastwood house- not the Leland house that is featured”
“Thats not right, Sabrina. The folks in the article are selling the featured house on Leland.”
You’re right. Sorry. They ARE selling the featured house. Their new house in Lemont must be in DuPage or Will Counties because no other house transaction is showing up in cook county public records.
“Here’s one Realtor who NEVER tells potential buyers the reason for the sellers’ moving. In fact I don’t even care to know all that much myself. I believe in the right to privacy and maybe in some cases it’s better for all concerned if we don’t know.”
Pretty naive. Maybe it’s not important to you or your “clients,” but here in the real world people’s motivations are relevant to value, negotiation and leverage. I was very nervous buying a SFH without knowing that the sellers were leaving town, and very grateful after I learned (after closing) that they were.
Bunny….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR5cErxxBNM
HD- Here’s a Wildwood home that’s getting interesting, for those that have/want to stay in the city.
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/6924-N-Tonty-Ave-60646/home/13592202
As the owner of the subject property, I just wanted to thank all of you commenters for your keen interest in 2027 W Leland. Evidently, many of you have questions and/or misconceptions about the property, my family’s home life, etc. I am overjoyed to fill in those gaps.
My wife and I bought 2027 W Leland in 2002. We made significant upgrades to the house, particularly in the kitchen (which was designed and built by KDA, not Home Depot). As an aside, it is a shame that KDA has left the Chicago market, because they did great work. We moved into the house on the same day that my oldest daughter was brought home from the hospital – while the house was still a work in progress at that point, the nursery was done (the only room in the house that was finished at that point). By the way, my oldest daughter’s nickname, Bunny, was her great-grandmother’s nickname, too. She likes her nickname, and it suits her.
The house really is lovely. I do a ton of cooking, and would not change the kitchen’s layout in the slightest. Our agent, a former executive chef, can vouch for the extreme functionality of the kitchen. The house’s layout and oversized yard are both great for entertaining, which my wife and I do on a regular basis. The bedrooms are comfortably large, and those on the third floor have wonderful views.
Contrary to insinuations above, the foundation is fine, there is no radon or asbestos, there is loads of sunlight, you could not ask for better neighbors, and the faucets don’t leak. That said, the wiring and plumbing are modern, the HVAC is zoned, two of the tubs have jets, the windows are thermopane, the garage holds three cars, etc. It is a big house with modern amenities and vintage character. I am sure that its next owner will enjoy the house as much as we have.
We did not decide to sell our house because of any of the “three D’s” noted above. Our marriage is still going strong after nearly a dozen years, there have been no deaths in the family (touch wood), and our debt level was modest enough to allow for enough additional leverage to buy our new home with no additional equity. We just had been amortizing our loan very rapidly, and were able to keep our monthly payments more or less the same by simply extending out the amortization until we get the house sold. As mentioned above, it is a great time to be a buyer, and we took advantage of it.
There were several reasons, however, for our decision to move out of the city. First and foremost, my commute was getting to me. Lincoln Square to LSD to 55 was over an hour during rush hour on a good day, and it took 90 minutes during rush hour on a good day to get home. A 3 hour commute (round trip) was not uncommon, especially if the Cubs were playing at home. My new commute is 45 minutes in and 30 minutes home – on a BAD day. By reclaiming those several hours per week, I get to have dinner with my family. That is a big deal for me.
Second, because I would generally get home so late, my wife and I very rarely took advantage of all that Lincoln Square has to offer – and it really has a ton to offer. We almost felt guilty about not going out more often, but that is not as easy as it sounds with two kids and no spare time. By the way, my wife was one of the founders of Local First Chicago, a promoter of supporting local businesses, and she also had a store in Lincoln Square for many years. We were pretty deeply involved in the neighborhood and, even though we moved away, we still love Lincoln Square as much now as we ever have.
Finally, it is hard to swallow paying taxes for a park district that we struggled to use, for a school system that we were unlikely to ever use, and for a transportation network which, while wonderful, I was no longer using. The el, by the way, is on the other side of the alley, and is not nearly as loud as you would think. On the other hand, being a block from the Damen stop was a wonderful perk when I was working downtown. That, coupled with the Metra station just a couple of blocks away, makes the location a real commuter’s delight.
Regarding the price, it is a question of weighing the financial pain involved in carrying a property vs the financial pain of leaving money on the table in a down market. I know where our threshold is, but am not about to share that – not even with our agent. While I would like to get the house sold, if we end up carrying the property until the market rebounds (and eventually it will rebound), then my family will just continue to use it not only as a place in the city, but as a home in our favorite neighborhood in Chicago.
The boring reality is just that, as much as we loved living in Lincoln Square, the suburbs fit our family’s day to day needs a little bit better. Not terribly exciting or dramatic, I’m afraid, but exciting and dramatic are generally not good when talking about real estate.
“As the owner of the subject property, I just wanted to thank all of you commenters for your keen interest in 2027 W Leland. Evidently, many of you have questions and/or misconceptions about the property, my family’s home life, etc. I am overjoyed to fill in those gaps.”
Thanks for checking in Ed and setting the record straight on everyone’s misconceptions.
But how is it “leaving money on the table in a down market” if it’s a down market? The market IS the market. If you price it right- as the house on the block behind yours was- it sells pretty quickly. Lincoln Square IS popular- as you know. Why not just dump the thing and move on?
Otherwise- you now have to worry about weather proofing it this winter, shoveling the sidewalks etc. And then by next spring, you will certainly have a stale listing compared to all the newbie properties that come onto the market competing against yours.
It sounds like you’re willing to hold onto the property- seemingly for years. Does that mean you’re willing to rent it out until the market “rebounds”?
I’m not sure I understand this strategy if you have equity in the property. The only people I see holding onto an inflated price are those who DON’T have equity in the property and therefore have no choice but to hold on (or else it would be a short sale.)
Sabrina,
Normally I would agree with you about “dumping” a property to pull out whatever equity is remaining, or hanging onto a property only if it is underwater. We apparently are in a somewhat unique situation, though, in that we have plenty of equity remaining in the property which we don’t need to pull out immediately. We are the beneficiaries now of never having levered up during the heydays. More recently, though, we saw values in the suburbs getting crushed relative to those in the city. The timing was right for us personally, a potential arbitrage opportunity presented itself, and we took the bet.
As a bit of additional clarification, I run the finance department of a +/-$75 million private real estate investment fund which we de-levered almost entirely in late 2007. Given today’s real estate market, we are now looking at our strong overall equity position as a means to start buying again. I have more or less followed the same strategy on the home front. Right now is just a great time to be buying properties, even if it is a terrible time to sell. In other words, if an owner does not NEED to sell, but can afford to carry a property until the market rebounds, the appropriate sale price becomes a question of NPV – and my discount rate today is pretty low. The difference between my underwritten valuation and a fire sale “dump” price is money left on the table.
Of course, this is betting that the market will eventually rebound, but we have been through cycles in the past and I expect to eventually break out of this slump, too. Inflation, if nothing else, will drive up values over the long haul. Please don’t misunderstand me, though. I would love to sell the property sooner rather than later. Having two properties just adds headaches. That said, I have no intention of dumping it at what I believe would be a fire sale price – we simply don’t need to. The commenters in this blog may disagree with me on valuation/pricing today, but we are looking at it from different perspectives. And if any of them wants to see how far apart we really are, then get in touch with my agent and make a bonafide offer – otherwise, well, talk is cheap.
In the meantime, we may decide to rent it and get some cash flow from it – we have had multiple strong leasing requests, and we may just take one. Or we may just continue to market the property and see what happens. Or we may take the property off of the market and use it as our place in the city. As I mentioned above, I really do love the location, and the house really is wonderful. Keeping it for ourselves would not be the worst thing in the world. My wife and I will making that decision shortly.
Sabrina,
Normally I would agree with you about “dumping” a property to pull out whatever equity is remaining, or hanging onto a property only if it is underwater. We apparently are in a somewhat unique situation, though, in that we have plenty of equity remaining in the property which we don’t need to pull out immediately. We are the beneficiaries now of never having levered up during the heydays. More recently, though, we saw values in the suburbs getting crushed relative to those in the city. The timing was right for us personally, a potential arbitrage opportunity presented itself, and we took the bet.
As a bit of additional clarification, I run the finance department of a +/-$75 million private real estate investment fund which we de-levered almost entirely in late 2007. Given today’s real estate market, we are now looking at our strong overall equity position as a means to start buying again. I have more or less followed the same strategy on the home front. Right now is just a great time to be buying properties, even if it is a terrible time to sell. In other words, if an owner does not NEED to sell, but can afford to carry a property until the market rebounds, the appropriate sale price becomes a question of NPV – and my discount rate today is pretty low. The difference between my underwritten valuation and a fire sale “dump” price is money left on the table.
Of course, this is betting that the market will eventually rebound, but we have been through cycles in the past and I expect to eventually break out of this slump, too. Inflation, if nothing else, will drive up values over the long haul. Please don’t misunderstand me, though. I would love to sell the property sooner rather than later. Having two properties just adds headaches. That said, I have no intention of dumping it at what I believe would be a fire sale price – we simply don’t need to. The commenters in this blog may disagree with me on valuation/pricing today, but we are looking at it from different perspectives. And if any of them wants to see how far apart we really are, then get in touch with my agent and make a bonafide offer – otherwise, well, talk is cheap.
In the meantime, we may decide to rent it and get some cash flow from it – we have had multiple strong leasing requests, and we may just take one. Or we may just continue to market the property and see what happens. Or we may take the property off of the market and use it as our place in the city. As I mentioned above, the location is great and the house is wonderful. Keeping it for ourselves would not be the worst thing in the world. My wife and I will making that decision shortly.
Whoops – it looks like my last post went through twice.
Price drop to $625,000.
It’s a pretty house and I wouldn’t be able to hold my wife back if it were in Coonley. Curious to see what 2117 W Leland down the street closes for. It’s been under contract for a few months, so we might see it close soon.
Update (although maybe I’m the only one interested): House is under contract as of yesterday.
Looks like 2117 W closed at 590k on Feb 23. If this one ends up around there, I’d say the Rutledges got a good price.
Closed at 554,500 on April 27. So I guess everything after architect’s first post was just sound and fury, signifying nothing… 🙂
“So I guess everything after architect’s first post was just sound and fury, signifying nothing… ”
Yeah, yeah.. Unnecessary Shakesbeer and Fucklner reference.. get your ass onto the other thread you elitist prick!
I’m happy to see the owner has completed the last step of his long journey to the suburbs. I wish him and his family the best of luck.
“Closed at 554,500 on April 27. So I guess everything after architect’s first post was just sound and fury, signifying nothing”
Thanks for the update T.
I’m continually surprised that people can own a property for 10 years and STILL lose money (even though I know what Case Shiller is at and I’ve been running this site for over 4 years.) The wealth destruction from this bust is still shocking to me.
Sold in March 2002 for $545,000
“Closed at 554,500 on April 27.
how exactly did they lose money?
Are you forgetting the principal payments of a mortgage? Unless these people were stupid and heloc’d the hell out of this house, they should have a fair amount paid down
“Are you forgetting the principal payments of a mortgage? Unless these people were stupid and heloc’d the hell out of this house, they should have a fair amount paid down”
Hmm…let me think about this.
You buy something for $500,000. You sell it 10 years later for $450,000. Did you NOT lose money on it? Um…yes you did.
I didn’t say they were underwater. I didn’t say they had to bring a check to the table. Paying down the mortgage has nothing to do with whether or not they actually lost money on this (because they did- most likely $30,000+). So after ten years of repairs, maintenance, paying taxes etc. they still walked away with a loss. Wow. Yes- I know they had to live somewhere. But everyone thinks real estate is the golden ticket and it’s not. This is the housing bust in action.
I’m pretty used to seeing the people who bought in 2005/2006 and now 2010 (the 2010 purchasers, by the way, are losing their shirts worse than the others) losing their 20% downpayments (even though I get sick seeing that too)- but when the 10+ year owners are losing (and I see an example of it)- it’s still amazing to me. I guess I’ll be shocked even further by the people who lose money after owning 15 to 20 years here in Chicago (which may be happening in some areas- I don’t know.)
“You buy something for $500,000. You sell it 10 years later for $450,000. Did you NOT lose money on it? Um…yes you did.”
Nevermind that thye ALSO put a bunch of money into the house. Sounds like more than $50k. So they paid ~$600k, and netted ~$500k.