Under Contract In Less than 2 Weeks: 2234 W. School in Roscoe Village
What’s selling? Properties targeting first time home buyers like this 2-bedroom unit at 2234 W. School in Roscoe Village.
It came on the market in July priced at its 2003 purchase price and went under contract in just 13 days.
It appears to have all the bells and whistles: stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, central air, in-unit washer/dryer and, of course, deeded parking.
Nick Kluding at Baird & Warner has the listing. See more pictures here. (If that link doesn’t work- then try this.)
Unit #1: 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, no square footage listed
- Sold in August 2003 for $279,000
- Originally listed in July 2009 for $279,000 (parking included)
- Under contract
- Assessments of $189 a month
- Taxes of $4282
- Central Air
- In-unit washer/dryer
- Bedroom #1: 12×11
- Bedroom #2: 11×9
- Living room: 19×12
- Kitchen: 15×11
No surprise. Its a good location and priced right.
Yup. Sellers arent crazy. Good for them.
so scary seeing that to sell you need to list at 2003 prices.
I am so screwed 🙁
to the group, if this unit sold for $279K, what do you think a very similar unit in Andersonville/Edgewater would go for? Assume all finishes are the same, square footage is the same, amenities are the same?
I’m just curious.
Let this example be fair warning to anyone who bought or ever thinks of owing a 2/1 condo conversion.
Wow a 2/1 in RV sold for 280k? It only takes one sucker I suppose.
If the unit is really in Andersonville (west of broadway, south of Bryn Mawr, East of Ravenswood) then it would probably sell for around this price. If it is more in Edgewater or far west, it could be quite a bit cheaper.
Agree-it totally depends on whether its A’ville or Edgewater. Or rather it depends on what the selling agent can convince the potential buyer.
A’ville tends to have more cachet among the younger urban crowd for some reason. Even a lot of people who definitely live in Edgewater say they live in A’ville.
For Edgewater: 220k
For A’ville: 245k
These are just my guesses.
Bob, I agree with you on. The unit in question is more in Edgewater than aville.
thanks.
1 bath? For nearly 300k I dont want me guests using my bathroom. Sorry.
2 weeks? How come I see it in Redfin as on the market for 44 days?
That’s more like 6 weeks, no? Maybe you meant 2 months?
Listed 6/29/09 and contract dated 7/10/09.
> Let this example be fair warning to anyone who bought or ever thinks of owing a 2/1 condo conversion.
what’s the warning?
“what’s the warning?”
Don’t do drugs?
The warning? I’m sure Steveo and I agree on one thing: 2/1 condo conversions are a bad purchase. The seller just watched 6 years of appreciation go ‘poof’; and she’s losing money due to transaction costs; and her PITI of $1,800 or $1,900 a month was about 20% more than comparable rents in Roscoe Village.
But this seller bragged that they owned for six years. Priceless.
HD – Under contract in 2 weeks means under priced by the realtor. Many realtors these days are talking their sellers into dropping the price too low. What is the listing agent’s goal? To get an extra $100 in commission by selling high, or by collecting the commission with little work or effort?
“Under contract in 2 weeks means under priced by the realtor. Many realtors these days are talking their sellers into dropping the price too low.”
I disagree. A property that sells within a few weeks means it is either extremely unique or it is priced correctly for this market.
“Many realtors these days are talking their sellers into dropping the price too low.”
Wouldn’t that result in actual sales taking place?
With sales volume still at 20-year lows in most of the areas covered by CC, where are these sellers and their talkative realtors?
CC: “1 bath? For nearly 300k I dont want me guests using my bathroom. Sorry.”
Do you have some personal bathroom issues you want us to know about?
HD, I think most sellers these days have watched all or almost all their appreciation go “poof”. But they still have been gaining equity in the place if they can sell for what they purchased. In this scenario, the seller might not have made money, but they also appear not to have lost much either. In this case, its not that bad. You get the same benefit as a renting, but more control over your living quarters…
““Under contract in 2 weeks means under priced by the realtor. Many realtors these days are talking their sellers into dropping the price too low.””
The sellers here got extremely lucky, that’s about all there is to this story.
I agree with Jason R, if the seller’s moved their equity somewhere else then the gains have already been won. Plus if they can claim a true loss then there’s a tax benefit.
Actually selling a place in this market is a feat in and of itself. Selling too low is one thing, but you need to be realistic. The agent makes nothing if the property is priced high, sits on the market for 6-9-12 months and doesn’t sell. Who makes money then?
Everyone here is so bearish on the RE market. I get it, there was a bubble, speculation, too much inventory, yadda, yadda. But surely there is some price low enough to where the transaction was fairly priced or to where a two week contract doesn’t automatically imply a “lucky” seller.
Sonies: Where do you think a fair price for this would be? $200k? $150k …. three rolls of toilet paper?
“But surely there is some price low enough to where the transaction was fairly priced”
It’s a 2/1 apartment in the least desireable corner of RV (imo).
What would you pay to rent this place? $1500? If so, then somewhere around $225k might seem “fair”, assuming that the taxes are *not* reflecting a HO exemption. But you’d have to expect to sell it for less in the future if/when mortgage interest rates rise. If you were buying this to rent it at $1500/month, it’s worth something like $150k, what with those assessments and taxes (7.5% cap).
BTW, I wouldn’t choose this place for $1500/month.
“But you’d have to expect to sell it for less in the future if/when mortgage interest rates rise.”
This isn’t necessarily true. It depends on how the fed raises rates. An aggressive exit to the tightening cycle could be shock for mortgage rate or it could signal an end to the recession. Also, a slow gradual rise corresponding to a gradual rise in demand could allow home prices to go up with rates. Just look at the last time the fed tightened out of the dot com easing cycle. Housing prices soared with rising rates under Greenspan.
“This isn’t necessarily true”
It’s not *theoretically* true. If you think that home prices will rise in real terms over the next ~5 years while mortgage rates are also going up (which is not necessarily true), more power to you.
I’m not sure that home prices will rise in real terms. Three to five years from now, we might experience some pretty significant inflation… big enough to out run home prices. But for the average person, a home purchase is a fairly good way to capture inflationary growth. Most people don’t have the access or intelligence to trade commodity and gold futures/options or anything else to give themselves some inflationary protection. So although home prices may not rise in “real terms” in the next five years, they may still go up.
“Sonies: Where do you think a fair price for this would be? $200k? $150k …. three rolls of toilet paper?”
For me personally its worth zero, since i’m never going to live in a place with only one bathroom ever again! But you can rent 2/2’s in just about every neighborhood in the city for $1700, not saying that they are as nice as this so lets say $1700 rental equivalent for a nice 2/1. That would make the property worth what 200k? (170k mortgage or 100k down payment lol)
Currently if you put 10% down at the sale price your P&I = $1425 + $100 for PMI, your Assessments are $189, and your taxes are $356 coming to a total of $2070 a month
I’d say 225k would be a fair price for this 2/1.
Sonies, fast forward 2011-12 and $225k will seem like a reasonable price.
“I’d say 225k would be a fair price for this 2/1.”
Fair enough Sonnies.
“Sonies, fast forward 2011-12 and $225k will seem like a reasonable price. ”
??? Seriously, HD?
$225k implies another 20% decline in the market; given that the Chicago market (in general) has already given up half of the 40% bubble appreciation, another 20% implies that we’ll give up the other half too.
I meant, b/c $225k seems reasonble, to me, now. With your dire predictions, I’d expect you saying less than that.
My predictions aren’t dire, they’re pragmatic.
I don’t think low-end stuff like this will drop another 20% in Chicago. Maybe another 10%.
Properties >$500K, on the other hand, have much more pain to come and will drop another 20% or more.
“For me personally its worth zero”
Sonies if you ever inherit any real estate we should talk. I will make you a deal that might even include a case of beer.