Ukranian Village Cottage Still Available 1 Year Later: 953 N. Leavitt
We’ve chattered about this 3-bedroom Ukranian Village cottage at 953 N. Leavitt several times in the last year.
See our December 2009 chatter and pictures here.
The cottage has many of its vintage features, including built-in bookcases, but it also has a newer kitchen with stainless steel appliances and added great room on the back of the house.
Steven Jurgens at Chicago Home Estates now has the listing. See the pictures here.
953 N. Leavitt: 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2 car garage, no square footage listed
- Sold in October 2003 for $510,000
- Originally listed in July 2009 for $749,000
- Was still listed in August 2009 for $749,000
- Reduced
- Was listed in December 2009 for $699,000
- Withdrawn
- Re-listed in April 2010 at $672,500
- Currently listed at $672,500
- Taxes of $5941
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 14×12 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 15×10 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 11×8 (second floor)
Not an oversized lot. Rooms are small as expected for a cottage but seem to be fairly well done/standard. 600K seems about right though I am not a fan of the neighborhood and would not pay that.
600K buys a nice house is the burbs near a train station. For those who insist on the city, it can get a great house in Old Irving. Anyone who buys this house is going to have to want it enough to live there for a number of years given today’s market. This eliminates most of the young families who will look for more space. So who is in the market for a home like this? Empty Nesters? DINKs who never want kids? Alternative couples with life partners?
Check out the *obnoxious* price changes. 4 price changes in 3 months and not one of them affects a number left of the comma.
ps: The virtual tour link now has a floorplan, which was a big mystery the first time this was posted.
“Specious” living room is the best Realtor (TM) typo ever!
““Specious” living room is the best Realtor (TM) typo ever!”
Hahaha nice find
LOL I wonder how many realtor(TM)’s even know what specious means without referencing a dictionary or google
Although I know we are supposed to look past furnishings and decorating as those won’t be there when you move in, I think this place would benefit in a huge way by some modern staging. I think it is hard for anyone to envision dropping this kind of money on a place that has grandmas hand-me-down furniture in it. Add some slip covers, get rid of the table cloth, etc. and I think there would be a lot more interested buyers.
Sorry….too much HGTV over the weekend.
Oh and that single pedestal sink in the upstais bath to share between 3 bedrooms including the master would kill me!
None of the hipsters I know could afford this place.
I know one hipster that could afford this place but he’d rather spend his money on weed
“I know one hipster that could afford this place but he’d rather spend his money on weed”
Probably a much smarter financial decision, in the grand scheme of things.
The solo upstairs bathroom is a real problem. If it had something resembling a master bath–nothing fancy necessary–it would be a *lot* more likely to appeal.
Nice little bar next door. I dropped in for a drink Friday and a few weeks ago. People were friendly.
““Specious” living room is the best Realtor (TM) typo ever!”
I also enjoyed the “Stainless Steal” in the kitchen. Reflects my feelings about the safety of the neighborhood.
Seriously — I blame the sellers as much as the Realtors(TM) for these typos. Well, maybe not quite as much, but still…
If I hire a Realtor(TM), I’m going to let them know up front that ANY TYPOS in the listing will be grounds for immediate termination. I’ll put it in the contract if I have to.
These sellers are trying to unload a $600,000+ house. You’d think they could bother to get their Realtor(TM) to fix the listing.
@Ed “Not an oversized lot.”
This is certainly an over sized lot…according to the tax records, the lot measures 36′ X 105′ which offers 655 additional square feet compared to the standard 25′ X 125′ lot.
I wonder if the agent has looked at this comp over on Huron?
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/2043-W-Huron-St-60612/home/14105148
What do you expect from a realtor these days? I would hope no spelling errors in the listing. Given the location (2300w, 1000N), there’s no way a house like this would even fetch $600,000. My guess is $525,000.
$525 would be more than this seller paid in ’03.
“comp over on Huron”
Love the listing–the parking is “garage”, but what that meant was “we’ll give you $8k so you can build a garage.
“655 additional square feet”
I’d love another five feet on one side of my house. Probably worth $40k in this area. So you could justify ~$560 for this house, using only the Huron house as a comp.
“$525 would be more than this seller paid in ‘03.”
Bet the back area (office/family room/laundry) was finished since then. At least.
Am I the only one who thinks the Huron house is better (factoring in the completed garage)?
-it has 2 full level above grade plus the finished attic and basement
I saw the Huron house when it was for sale. The pictures look much better than it really is. There were renters living in it so it was quite messy. The work was all done by the guy who bought it and it wasn’t what I would call top notch when it comes to finishes, etc. The kitchen was TINY with very few cabinets. The half bath on the main floor was about 3×3 feet and that is being generous. The attic level had very low ceilings making the space useful but not ideal. I have not been in the Leavitt house, but it seems like there is a lot more room there especially when it comes to the kitchen.
“-it has 2 full level above grade plus the finished attic and basement”
No evidence of a basement in the listing. Do you know, or did you just assume a basement?
I’d rather have typos in the MLS remarks of a listing than this ridiculous statement: “Remember a Deed to your own house is a Declaration of Independence”
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/4457-S-Berkeley-Ave-60653/home/12705791
When you can only add so many characters to the remarks section of an MLS listing, why in the world would you add that?
That Kenwood listing includes another creative spelling attempt: “spaceous”.
Also, it should be noted that the living room is “ideally situated for dramatic furniture arrangements”. Isn’t this what buyer’s are looking for these days?
Correction: what “buyers” are looking for…
@ anon (tfo)- I would never use just one comp when pricing a property, rather I look at several in the area. Here is a different comp just four blocks south to give you an idea of what this type of money buys around there.
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/518-N-Claremont-Ave-60612/home/12827926
I am surprised no one picked up on the Stainless Steal…
“I would never use just one comp when pricing a property, rather I look at several in the area”
I’m lazy. And it fit the narrative of this place being $100k high, still.
Oh, and location-wise, the even side of Claremont is not a good comp, in general, and 100′ from Grand isn’t a great comp for 50′ from Augusta.
“Here is a different comp just four blocks south to give you an idea of what this type of money buys around there.
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/518-N-Claremont-Ave-60612/home/12827926”
IMO, these two aren’t even in the same league. I toured the Clarmont house, it’s as nice as the pix suggests if not better in person (owners are part time Chicago residents, per agent, thus the place is barely used). I admit I have not seen this one, but from the pix, it’s two very diff style and looks much dated (leaving aside the cottage vs. modern brick topic). Extra lot size does help a little, but not really (for me anyway).
The Claremont property was one of those that was on the news with a special report from Pam Zeckman about how they had crazy low prpoerty taxes. The house next door is nearly identical and their taxes were over double this one I believe. I saw the property as well an it was SOOOOOO much nicer than the Huron place. Can’t even compare when it came to finishes and layout.
The Claremont place went under contract a couple days after the Pam Zeckman expose. I wonder how that was worked into the contract? Did original owner have to set up an escrow for the back taxes? Or did purchaser just accept the risk?
im floored that these sellers thought they could sell this place for $749k last summer.
“The house next door [to 518 Claremont] is nearly identical and their taxes were over double this one I believe.”
Taxes should be 9x higher (yes NINE). AV went to 89,614 (’09) from 9,972 (’08). Mine went up about $400.
But the ’08 assessment assumed no structure–which should have been picked up w/ the deed ($660k in ’03–they owned 7 years and lost $10k+ costs) or the permits.
” I wonder how that was worked into the contract? Did original owner have to set up an escrow for the back taxes? Or did purchaser just accept the risk?”
The listing agent told me the seller were willing to include the clause in their contract that they would be responsible for any back owed taxes.
“The listing agent told me the seller were willing to include the clause in their contract that they would be responsible for any back owed taxes.”
If you’re ever the buyer in that situation, that shouldn’t be good enough–the taxes would be a lien on *your* house and you’d have a contract claim against the seller–meaning, if/when they don’t pay, you’d have to sue them, spending money, and face the possibility that they’d file BK and walk away with you worse off. Price it into the offer or get escrowed $$, everything else is not really protecting you.
That’s still more than I would be willing to pay to live next to a bar – and I love this neighborhood.
Today’s selections: Un-Lovely Reta and Thanks, but I’ll Leavitt.
I have to laugh. Even if this cottage were in LP would it be listed for 675k?
You can get a SFH in LP for 649k (MLS#:07536180). Guess if this is still languishing that hipsters had their access to crazy credit curtailed as of late.
“Even if this cottage were in LP would it be listed for 675k?”
b/c it’s got a larger lot, were it next door to your find (a good one, btw) it would *still* be listed for over $700k, as it would have started at ~$850k.
Isn’t it ironic that hipster cottges are now too expensive for them to flip among each other? You know things are bad when the hipsters have managed to price themselves out of the market. They’re usually the cheapest demo around.
CribChatter FTW! All typos have been corrected!
Well, “today desires” is still a little ESL-ish, but at least “Steel” and “spacious” are correct. I’ll even forgive the random capitalization.
FINALLY Sold – $617,500.