What’s Going on in the East Village? A 2/2 Duplex Up Loft at 1137 N. Wood
This 2-bedroom duplex up loft at 1137 N. Wood in the East Village neighborhood of West Town just came on the market.
It is located in a popular area, just steps away from the shops and restaurants of hot Division Street.
The loft has 17 foot ceilings with exposed brick.
The main level has dark ebony floors.
The listing says there is a “renovated” white kitchen with stainless steel appliances and black granite countertops.
One bedroom is located on the main floor, and has windows and full walls, while the second bedroom is duplex-up and has a 30×9 deck.
The upstairs bedroom has carpet.
The loft has the other features buyers look for including central air, washer/dryer in the unit and included garage parking.
It is listed for $500,000 which is a new peak price for this unit.
Is $500,000 the new entry point for 2/2 lofts in West Town?
Sophia Klopas at Berkshire Hathaway KoenigRubloff has the listing. See the pictures here.
Or go to the Open House on Sunday, July 12 from 11 to 1 pm (if it’s not under contract by then.)
Unit #2B: 2 bedroom, 2 bath, duplex up, no square footage listed
- Sold in May 2006 for $415,000
- Currently listed for $500,000
- Assessments of $310 a month (includes water, snow removal)
- Taxes of $5120
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Garage parking included
- Bedroom #1: 17×14 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 14×10 (first floor)
Nothing special, split bedroom layout a negative not a positive. Decent enough but shouldn’t this be a $375K place? I honestly don’t know how all the restaurants on Division stay in business. There are more restaurants on that strip than there are near the Viagra Trinangle with all the hotels and GC high rises. Sure Division St. places are busy on Fri-Sat and on nice summer evenings, but who’s going to these places on a weekday night in March?
For 500K you think they would replace the old sinks in that bathroom.
Any potential buyers in the Chicago market better jump on this property. At half a million dollars it is a sure bargain. If you don’t buy now you will be priced out forever. Prices are only going up. God isn’t making any more land.
Meh. It’s so far west! What is it east of exactly?
it’s east of Damen. and just west of Ashland. In fact, I daresay it is halfway between Ashland and Damen.
it’s 2.5 miles from the Lake, hardly what i would describe as “so far west!”
It’s too far west for the price when you may as well just go out slightly further to Oak Park and get a house for that price.
“it’s east of Damen. and just west of Ashland.”
Wood Street is not too far west and it’s definitely within the GZ. By the way, what is a “bro bar” which is what I’ve heard the bars on this stretch are.
“For 500K you think they would replace the old sinks in that bathroom.”
Why bother? The market is so hot nearly everything in the GZ that is priced even semi-normally is going under contract in just a few days.
This is a great place for a couple who need a home office. Near all the bars and restaurants, walking distance to the blue line and 5 minutes from the Kennedy. Also walking distance to that Jewel and now a new Lowes. And the HOA and taxes are cheap. I’d live here for $500k before I’d live in one of those massive places where most of the living space is in a basement. However, I was lucky enough to buy a place here in the early 90’s that I currently rent out and make nothing but money on it.
It is an excellent location for singles, couples and families who want a great walking area, places to go and good proximity to the Blue Line to commute downtown. It’s priced high, but priced right, people will jump on it.
“However, I was lucky enough to buy a place here in the early 90’s that I currently rent out and make nothing but money on it.”
This area was still pretty sketchy back then during the 90’s. transitioning but still sketchy. I know because I frequented the area in the 90’s. Great times but always looking over my shoulder. Prices were considered crazy high even back then. Who would have guessed that for the next 20-25 years gentrification would continue to sprawl in the GZ. Heck after the rough 1970’s and 80’s in the city limits some families left the city never to return.
This place is right by one of my favorite bars to people watch, Gold Star!
My major issue with this place is that the outdoor space comes off of the master bedroom. I would hate having guests walk thru my bedroom to enjoy the deck. Aside from that and the needed bathroom updating, I love this place.
“This area was still pretty sketchy back then during the 90’s. transitioning but still sketchy”
Agreed, it was very sketchy which is why I bought a three flat for $69K. But how could I go wrong near the blue line so close to the loop? Anyway, my tenants were all cash paying folks like Mexican families, and an old polish lady I inherited who would get drunk and call me names. Oh those were the days.
$69k is a steal. smokes were also $2 a pack, a McDonald’s value meal was $3, eggs were .99 and tuition at Loyola was only $14k a year. now smokes are $10 a pack, a value meal is considered garbage food, eggs are organic and $4 a dozen, and tuition is roughly $40k a year. the crazy thing is that in the 90’s I had entry level office jobs as a clerk making $12 and $14 per hour part-time. that’s still the going rate for entry level office workers these days and fast food pays minimum wage. that was nearly 20 years ago!
Yes it was a steal to a degree, but at the time, the neighborhood was nothing. And the flat had stoves for heat, no furnaces. So I let my inherited residents live there for a year or two and then had them all pack up and rehabbed the place. And rehabbing was a no permit situation–no nothing. Once the police did come and put a stop work order on the door and then they left and we continued working. The computers were a mess at city hall–nobody knew what the hell was going on. They took me to court once and were so unorganized the judge got upset that the city didn’t have it together and just dismissed my whole case. New ball game now. You can’t hammer a nail without a permit.
“fast food pays minimum wage. that was nearly 20 years ago!”
I recently saw a marketing flyer for an older industrial building just outside the city limits and it marketed the fact that it’s beyond Chicago’s minimum-wage law.
” New ball game now. You can’t hammer a nail without a permit.’
Yeah, it’s all about the revenue. the city follows up on 311 calls about permitless construction with more efficiency than the police responding to a shots fired call in the loop. I saw a ticket the other day it was $500 plus court costs for not mowing the lawn. $500 bucks! That’s crazy. It’s just like the no permit fines too.
Yeah, catching a falling knife. I had a client the other day call me up about buying a house. Totally unqualified but that didn’t determine. I explained that this was the worst time to buy a house in the last 7 years because prices are the highest they’ve been in years. But the high prices sure bring out the crowds.
determine should be ‘deter him’; typo
“I recently saw a marketing flyer for an older industrial building just outside the city limits and it marketed the fact that it’s beyond Chicago’s minimum-wage law.”
The decimation of the middle class is a complicated problem with roots in technology, finance, offshoring trends, untold numbers of low wage workers from third world countries, and to some extent the breakdown of the two parent household (i.e. single parent households are generally poorer than two parent households); but there’s an argument that seems plausible that the breakdown of family is not the cause of inequality and the swelling lower classes, but merely a symptom of poverty, which has merit. Regardless, $500k two bedrooms aren’t helping the middle class one bit either as there are those who can afford $500k two bedrooms, and those who early $30k a year.
“the breakdown of family is not the cause of inequality and the swelling lower classes, but merely a symptom of poverty, which has merit.”
No chance. Poverty has nothing to do with it. When the Ellis Island immigrants came to America with no money, they immediately adopted to and assimilated to the existing American moral standards of the time, aka WASPs. Having bastards kids was embarrassing even to the poor. Even the negro population during that era was on board with the prevailing cultural norms, and it helped black families.
What happened was the “civil rights” movement, which allowed the blacks to stop having to “conform” to the culture of the white man. So, the blacks free to do whatever they want, revert back to culture, conduct, and norms that can be seen today in Africa. To act like s responsible person is “acting white” and the Eskimos who run our media/academia etc. since the “Sxities” have been telling all minorities to act however they damn well want, which is usually as per a Third World culture. You can’t even tell an immigrant no to litter, because that’s bullying or imposing a privileged mentality on the poor immigrant.
what about the near necessity of the two parent household in order to move from lower to middle/upper class? That has a huge effect on inflation
two parent working household I mean… durr
PS homedelete, you should have seen the crowd at Whealan Pool Aquatic Center this weekend. I doubt even you and your wife could have taken it. Also, anyone else notice the amount of litter at North Ave. beach these days? even floating in the water? esp. near the jetty? also in the sand? I don’t recall it ever this bad. Chicago is adopting the Brazil-model. Can’t wait to hear Chief Keef’s respone to Fr. Phleger, how dare dat white man tell him anything.
Unit 1E is also for sale in this building. I think it’s bigger. Has 2 1/2 baths and the tax records and MLS indicate 1800 sq ft. vs. 1500 for this unit. Also, the bathrooms appear to be more updated. It’s a first floor unit though.
“Why bother? The market is so hot nearly everything in the GZ that is priced even semi-normally is going under contract in just a few days.”
Not if your finishes are outdated and lots of stuff is selling with newer finishes in the area. You get a haircut in that case.
“Yeah, catching a falling knife. I had a client the other day call me up about buying a house. Totally unqualified but that didn’t determine.”
I’m not sure you know what that phrase means…
“I’m not sure you know what that phrase means…’
Of course I understand what it means. Prices are too high and are poised for another ‘correction’ and that’s what I was trying to explain to him. Trust me, in years past, I’ve had this conversation on quite a few occasions, but no one listened to me. All of them lost their homes in foreclosure. Yes, all of them.
“No chance. Poverty has nothing to do with it. ”
The older I get the more I think that poverty has something to do with it. The lack of available jobs for lower class men make it hard to marry and support a family; and few women these days are willing to matrimonially tie themselves to a uneducated man with marginal income earning prospects.
I like most people in the US today have some family members that 30 years ago would have been productive members of society in factories or in offices with benefits and pensions; but today those jobs are gone gone gone and instead they live off SSDI, odd jobs and the dole. I don’t think they’re any “lazier” than those of a mere few generations past, its just that there are fewer opportunities, so it looks like they’re lazy, because in many cases, I’d do nothing rather than work a minimum wage or hard labor job myself too.
And if you think about, I’m only 4 or 5 generations removed from subsistence farmers in the hilly mountainous regions of central europe; and that line of work was in most people’s family family no matter where they came from anywhere in the world. it was work the farms for food, or die, but now that food is cheap but unskilled work is difficult to come by, it’s really a function of poverty that people make the decision that they do. ANd those decisions compound on themselves.
But this is a real estate blog, and I’m going off on a tangent.
“Of course I understand what it means. Prices are too high and are poised for another ‘correction’ and that’s what I was trying to explain to him.”
That is not what “catching a falling knife” means…
I’m just upset that Delish diner closed.
“The lack of available jobs for lower class men make it hard to marry and support a family; and few women these days are willing to matrimonially tie themselves to a uneducated man with marginal income earning prospects.”
In one sentence you have both the fallacy and the reality of the problem. The problem is not the lack of jobs. There are plenty of jobs that are unfilled. The problem is people who are not “educated” for the jobs that exist. The jobs are what the jobs are. They are a given. The economy produces them – not politicians and not social engineers – as they are needed. On the other hand uneducated people are not a given. That can be changed.
“The lack of available jobs for lower class men make it hard to marry and support a family; and few women these days are willing to matrimonially tie themselves to a uneducated man with marginal income earning prospects.”
Women no longer need men in order to leave their parental homes. They can earn their own money and live wherever they want. That means marriage can now be postponed. In prior generations, the only way to move out of your parents house, even for 1960s and 1970s women, was to get married.
This is why the average age for marriage in the large cities is now around 30 (for both men and women.) The financial reason for marriage has been removed.
“the only way to move out of your parents house, even for 1960s and 1970s women, was to get married”
That’s a weird, cloistered, part of society that you’re familiar with.
“That is not what “catching a falling knife” means…”
Technically it means buying a house as the price is falling, which is not quite happening yet, but close enough because for all practical purposes, buying at or near the top with a subsequent price decline is basically the same thing. Which I believe is imminent. That’s what I was trying to tell the guy when I told him not to buy a house today when prices are the highest because a correction is coming, just to wait a little bit longer.
“In prior generations, the only way to move out of your parents house, even for 1960s and 1970s women, was to get married. ”
It wasn’t the ‘only’ way but surely the most common. And in many places in the US outside of big cities where kids go off to college, but some don’t, it’s probably still the most common way to get out the parents house.
“In one sentence you have both the fallacy and the reality of the problem. The problem is not the lack of jobs. There are plenty of jobs that are unfilled. ”
This is the fallacy. I can’t find my sources for this at the moment but there aren’t all these unfulfilled jobs out there that workers lack the skills for. There’s a handful of industries with so called shortages, a lot of which is simply there are a lack of skilled workers ‘who are willing to work at below market wages’ thus leading to shortages, coupled with the decreased incentive for employers to train employees.
It’s also hard to argue against them millions of jobs that have been offshored due to NAFTA or sent to China. Those are the jobs that many americans would otherwise have. Good paying factory and industrial jobs have been replaced with low wage service jobs.
“That means marriage can now be postponed.”
Marriage is also postponed because of college debt, and it’s expensive to get married, and cultural norms towards marriage have changed greatly. It’s a multifaceted issue.
The problem is many in the lower class aren’t gaining skills of any kind. They can’t function in the white collar service sector, nor are they qualified for vocational work. There are plenty of jobs for people who have some sort vocational training. Heck, I see more plumbers, electricians, construction workers, etc making more than many white collar professionals nowadays.
“white collar professionals”
the bastardization of ‘professional’ continues…law, medicine and theology being the only traditional professions, then reasonably expanded to include those roles *requiring* advanced study (accountancy, architecture, etc etc).
Sales ain’t a “profession”, and management *requires* less advanced study than an electrician needs. White collar job /= professional.
Anon, split hairs much?
“Anon, split hairs much?”
Russ, state the obvious much?
“Professional” has become a nearly meaningless word in the context of job classifications.
“the bastardization of ‘professional’ continues…law, medicine and theology being the only traditional professions”
this why the lawyers i use to work with were such D-CKS?
“this why the lawyers i use to work with were such D-CKS?”
Naw, law school just attracts D-CKS.
“there aren’t all these unfulfilled jobs out there that workers lack the skills for.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/skills-gap-us-killing-millions-204222974.html There are a ton of these articles out there.
“There’s a handful of industries with so called shortages, a lot of which is simply there are a lack of skilled workers ‘who are willing to work at below market wages’ thus leading to shortages”
So I’m not clear on the premise here. Are you saying that skilled employees are choosing to sit at home rather than take these jobs? If that’s the case then we have a serious problem. Alternatively, we have unskilled people who can’t take these jobs and that sounds like a skills gap to me.
“It’s also hard to argue against them millions of jobs that have been offshored due to NAFTA or sent to China. Those are the jobs that many americans would otherwise have. Good paying factory and industrial jobs have been replaced with low wage service jobs.”
And if it wasn’t for that transfer of jobs our smart phones would cost $3000 and an entry level car would be $40,000. That transfer is part of the equalization of global wealth which is inevitable. With 5% of the world’s population we consume 30%+ of the world’s resources. That will not – can not – continue. The only remedy is to make sure that our labor force is globally competitive.
” but close enough because for all practical purposes, buying at or near the top with a subsequent price decline is basically the same thing”
No. It is not even close to the same thing. The whole point of “catching a falling knife” is to not buy an asset that is suffering a rapid and steep decline. Buying BEFORE it does is absolutely not “catching a falling knife”. It’s OK to just admit you were wrong.
“I can’t find my sources for this at the moment but there aren’t all these unfulfilled jobs out there that workers lack the skills for.”
These aren’t necessarily “unfulfilled” but there are several million “open” jobs currently on the big job boards like Monster in the United States. It’s the highest since the recession. But Gary is right, not everyone has the coding background or whatever it is they are looking for.
In the “skilled” professions, there have been shortages for several years. It’s been well documented.
In 2012, you could have read an article about how there was a lack of welders (which was only going to get worse because of retiring Baby Boomers), gone to welding school, graduated, and be in your very well paying job by now.
Here’s an article from January of this year- STILL talking about the welder shortage. It says a skilled welder can make $100k a year with overtime.
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/money/companies/state-of-opportunity/2015/01/08/demand-welders-remains-high-across-state/21443503/
“It wasn’t the ‘only’ way but surely the most common. And in many places in the US outside of big cities where kids go off to college, but some don’t, it’s probably still the most common way to get out the parents house.”
What were the other ways HD? Maybe you don’t know, but if you went off to college, you returned home after graduation and you lived there until you got married. There were women’s “working girl” apartment buildings in some cities but many parents didn’t like it and wouldn’t let their daughters, yes, even those with college educations, go live in them.
The whole situation has completely changed in only about 50 years. Go back and read your history. That’s why, for those with college, the marrying age for women was 22. They graduated and they got married right away because they HAD to to get out of the house.
Remember, landlords wouldn’t rent to single women.
Oh- and forget about buying anything. Even as late as the 1990s banks didn’t want to give single women mortgages. Remember all the stories about having to have your father co-sign? OMG. That was only 25 years ago.
By the way, everyone acts like ALL of the manufacturing jobs went to China or Mexico which just isn’t true. Chicago still has quite a bit of manufacturing both in the city and outside. There are still $100k a year warehouse foreman jobs out there- but you have to have computer skills now.
I have a friend who works for one of the big railroads in Chicago. That is a GREAT gig – it’s union and pays a pension. They can’t find enough qualified people.
Oh- I also know someone who works for Commonwealth Edison. They also can’t find enough people to climb the telephone poles. That pays six figures a year if you do overtime (which you likely will.) Every time he tries to recruit a 20 year old without a college education they basically tell him they don’t want to climb the poles. They would rather work at the AMC movie theater.
Choices, choices…
It is certainly interesting to see that some of the blue collar professions getting paid more than the white collar useless jobs. Kind of makes sense though, your parents or grandparents probably worked some shitty hard labor blue collar job that payed fairly average while a couple of college educated white collar folks ran the show, so they rammed down their kids throats the importance of a college education and how you need to go to college, when in reality today going and learning a trade somewhere was probably the better long term thing to do, especially since it costs WAY less.
And you can’t get someone in China to install a backup sump pump in your basement.
Doctor hires plumber to come fix issue at his house. After a few hours, the plumber hands the Doctor a bill for $1000.00.
The Doctor is incredulous saying “One Thousand Dollars? That is more per hour than I charge and I’m a heart surgeon!”
The Plumber, replies “I know! That’s why I got out of brain surgery!”
We’ve been conditioned to believe that working outside or with your hands is less noble than office work.
The ROI on college these days is not that high unless you are smart enough to go to a top school and have access to the best employers.
The money saved for college could be better spent on funding a business for many of these kids coming up nowadays.
I wish CPS would turn some of these poorer performing schools into legit VoTech schools so the kids in those areas could get some real skills.
And what is really sad is that it’s far easier for politicians to talk about free college education, higher minimum wages, higher income taxes, and erecting trade barriers than it is to address a skills gap, the work ethic, and the high school dropout rate.
@ Gary, basic economics is not the strength of the average Gruber voter. A lot easier to make promises about free stuff than to really get into the nitty gritty as to why things are they way they are…
Ditto to what sonies said.
Look at the splash Barnett Capital is making in Lake View. This company is based on Skokie Blvd. in suburban Northbrook. How many “white collar jobs” are involved? Not many, you have a few execs, lawyers who put together the LP docs, a spreadsheet analyst named Josh or Adam and that’s about it. They aren’t hiring into their group and paying the college-grads Obama keeps wanting to push into the system. No chance! Meanwhile, they are building all these new construction houses and paying top dollar for the trades. I know a guy who runs a plumbing company who probably nets about $300K per annum. I have a friend who works for a suburban roofing company in sales, and that company was started in 2000 by a Polish immigrant and he’s now a millionaire a few times over. Think about all the accountants and realtors out there who are struggling with their $80K white collar jobs, etc.
And this one just came out this morning: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/homebuilders-beating-lack-labor-153104628.html#
” I have a friend who works for a suburban roofing company in sales, and that company was started in 2000 by a Polish immigrant and he’s now a millionaire a few times over. ”
He better go back to poland because most roofers i’ve met have got tax problems up the wazoo.
Some trades are HARD WORK and often can be back breaking. And getting into them requires training and you start at the bottom. Entry level plumbers start out carrying buckets of dirt earning pennies and have to work their way up from there. It takes years to get the certifications. and flat work? that pays well too, as long as you can dig ditches and throw out your back.
And construction? Are you serious? just as recently as a few years ago construction was in a half a decades long DEPRESSION and has only recently started to come back. The good tradesmen are in demand, like in any profession, but a lot of them are not.
And furthermore, a lot of trades charge so much money not because they’re making $$$ but because there are fixed overhead costs that the legit businesses have to pay (but the illegitimate ones do not)….rent, taxes, insurance. WC ins. in Illinois premiums can be up to 1/3rd the cost of an employees salary – per year. So that $45k a year laborer you pay has a $15k WC premium.
The roofers are the world. Unless you hire the big named places (that are expensive), the rest are just fly by night operators paying illegal immigrants in cash with no WC coverage or even CGL insurance. Lots of GCs are the same way too.
A while back Russ mentioned that most of teh people in trades aren’t the smartest, and the smart ones who get into the trades do really well for themselves, and that’s absolutely true. It’s easy for us to point to a few anecdotal stories of people in the trades doing well but that’s not the majority. It’s borderline absurd for everyone one here to think that the grass is greener in WI for welders. Even the article says there were a whopping 977 openings for welders. The article also quotes a company in Green bay that has 28 hand welders and 38 robotic welders, which tells you where the industry is going in general; and furthermore, this particular company pays:
“The pay range for welders at KI is $13.50 to $18.50 an hour. Weber said welding jobs in the $18 to $24 an hour range are available and a few at even higher levels.”
The $100k a year is for specialized welders at the top of the food chain. I make more than $100k a year in an air conditioned office in major metropolitan area and sometimes I barely work even 40 hours a week and I’m a nobody in my industry. You’re not going to get anybody who ‘struggles’ with their $80k a year white collar job to quit and take up welding in Wi for even $24 a hour. you guys are being ridiculous.
The original issue was your statement that there was a lack of jobs for lower class men. That does not seem to be the case. There is, however, a lack of jobs for unskilled men. So what everyone should be focusing on is how to raise the skill level of people who can’t get jobs so that they can get jobs.
I’m sure someone has done a study on whether there are more unfilled skilled jobs than unskilled workers. I doubt it. I would think the shortage in skilled labor could be solved rather quickly and still leave millions of unskilled workers.
Furthermore, the shortage is acute, why hasn’t Mr. Market solved this problem? Why isn’t there more training programs or apprenticeships, you know, what the guilds did for thousands of years?
The nursing shortage of years past is gone, the market solved that problem long ago…
“Marriage is also postponed because of college debt, and it’s expensive to get married, and cultural norms towards marriage have changed greatly. It’s a multifaceted issue.”
It’s not expensive to get married, it’s expensive to get divorced. I have an neighbor, newly single after his second marriage went south, who told me “from now on, instead of getting married, I’m going to find someone I don’t like and buy them a house”.
LOL.
“I would think the shortage in skilled labor could be solved rather quickly and still leave millions of unskilled workers.”
I don’t think it’s a quick fix as outlined below.
“Furthermore, the shortage is acute, why hasn’t Mr. Market solved this problem? Why isn’t there more training programs or apprenticeships, you know, what the guilds did for thousands of years?”
Because labor is more mobile than it used to be. You can spend a boatload training someone and then they go to work for your competitor for $.50/ hour more. That’s why I generally won’t hire brand new agents. a) the schools need to be doing this b) need to solve the high school dropout problem.
“It’s not expensive to get married, it’s expensive to get divorced.”
It’s actually both! For any wedding not in a VFW hall or county park.
““from now on, instead of getting married, I’m going to find someone I don’t like and buy them a house”.”
Rod Stewart lives in Chicago??
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-560605/Rod-Stewart-Three-wives-seven-children-beloved-train-set–fun-me.html
“b) need to solve the high school dropout problem.”
high school drop out rates are smaller than been in years:
“Between 1990 and 2013, the male status dropout rate declined from 12 to 7 percent, with nearly the entire decline occurring after 2000 (when it was still 12 percent). ”
https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=16
“Because labor is more mobile than it used to be. You can spend a boatload training someone and then they go to work for your competitor for $.50/ hour more. That’s why I generally won’t hire brand new agents. ”
Basically your philosophy is why the welding industry has 977 positions in WI that pay up to $24 per hour. Employers cannot find enough employees to do back breaking welding at ages starting at $14.50 an hour with wages up to $24 with experience. And then they don’t want to train anyone and then they whine. I have zero little sympathy for the employer who whines that it cannot find workers to work at the rates they want to pay. Just pay more, or pay for training and increase wages accordingly.
I guarantee if the welding industry raised wages quite a bit and provided training there would be no shortage of welders.
For example, the oil industry has no shortage of skilled people who have skills or are willing to learn skills to move to far away places in the middle of nowhere to learn fracking. You used to be make $100k in oil easily (until the SAudi market floodign lately, but that aside) and learn a skill at the same time.
IS there any shortage of people willing to move to North Dakota for $100k a year? Hell no there’s no shortage.
But, some welding company who complains that it can’t find people to work for wages starting at $14.50 per hour (per the article) clearly, clearly isn’t paying enough. And there’s a lot of industries like that. Die cutting and machine operators are the same way. “we can’t get enough people to work for $16.00 so there must be a shortage!” hahaha try paying $32.00 or $50.00 and hour and watch the shortage disappear. Can’t afford it? Then find a new business model or raise your prices. That’s business buddy, costs go both ways.
“Between 1990 and 2013, the male status dropout rate declined from 12 to 7 percent, with nearly the entire decline occurring after 2000 (when it was still 12 percent)”
True, but that same source indicates that 20% are not graduating on time. Not sure how long it takes to get that number down to 7% but that statistic looks out to age 24.
Besides, what percent of people in the general population fall into your category of “can’t get a job”? And how does that correlate with not graduating high school. I’ll bet it’s a pretty high correlation.
” Employers cannot find enough employees to do back breaking welding at ages starting at $14.50 an hour with wages up to $24 with experience. And then they don’t want to train anyone and then they whine.”
No doubt. When faced with a shortage raise your wages. The supply curve is a given but one has to wonder why the supply curve isn’t higher given all the whining about no good jobs available. From that same article: “In 2013, the school graduated 89 students. Within six months, 85 percent were employed and 90 percent of them had welding jobs with a median starting salary of $36,668.” Damn that sounds better than sitting on the sofa or working at McDonalds – especially given the upside.
But you are not going to get companies to invest in rudimentary training. It just doesn’t pay off. If the government wants a good ROI on their dollars they would be better off investing in technical skills like carpentry and welding than in giving free college education to everyone.
I guess I should have said “supply curve isn’t lower”. Never did understand why they put the axes on those curves backwards.
“I guarantee if the welding industry raised wages quite a bit and provided training there would be no shortage of welders.”
This has been happening for years now- and they still can’t get anyone to do it. It’s called an “apprenticeship.” Many companies have it. It takes 2 to 3 years to finish. You DO get paid while doing it but not the salary you would get when you finish it. Yet- they still can’t get anyone to do it. No one wants to take the 2 years to learn the skill.
Texas has been paying for welding schools and scholarships for years now. In some cases, you can go for free.
Apparently, Austin Community College has enrolled 450 students now. People are on waitlists but there still aren’t enough welders.
“If he could, Robb Misso said he would hire 15 more welders immediately. Other companies want even more, said Misso, president of Dynamic Manufacturing Solutions in Northeast Austin.”
http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/local-education/central-texas-welding-programs-struggle-to-keep-up/nmtfb/
Unemployment in Austin is just 3.3%. Wow.
I talked with some people who work for the electric company. Their apprentice program is 5 years. But you start over $20 the first year.
“The nursing shortage of years past is gone, the market solved that problem long ago…:”
Really? I was just in the suburbs and saw a sign outside of a retirement community that said they were having open interviews every Thursday afternoon for RNs and CNAs.
“And construction? Are you serious? just as recently as a few years ago construction was in a half a decades long DEPRESSION and has only recently started to come back. The good tradesmen are in demand, like in any profession, but a lot of them are not.”
Not according to the Homebuilders. Just last week they said they cannot build more housing because they can’t find the labor.
Lots of baby boomer construction workers retired after the Great Recession and others moved onto other trades/professions. Why go back?
After about 2 weeks on the market, this unit just lowered $11,000 to $489,900.
If you’re not selling almost right away, you’re priced too high. The inventory is THAT low.
I went to some open houses in the GZ over the weekend. They were swarmed with people. 50-60 people looking. No offers as of today. Why not?
maybe they have some offers and are negotiating?
realtor didn’t update the listing status?
I mean I find it extremely impossible that there were 50-60 people at open houses (unless of course it was just 5 families of 10 each) and didn’t get one offer.
I wouldn’t consider this area the GZ. You can live in Lakeview for the same price. I don’t see the appeal here.
As a resident of the area I will tell you that the appeal is the proximity to the city. This location is close to a the blue line stop and even from where I live I can hop on a bus and be downtown in 15 minutes. Driving is a piece of cake. And generally prices are lower than Lake View. This place was priced high.
Yeah, we like this area better than University Village 🙂
I think this place should be substantially cheaper than a similar place in Lakeview. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this area. I just don’t understand why a place like this should go for $500,000.
University Village as a neighborhood is OK. I live there since it’s inexpensive and near downtown. I think of this area as being similar to UV in that it’s a compromise area – not perfect, but cheaper than living closer to the lake.
This is heart of what most people think is Wicker Park. Price is high but not by much. I say it eventually sells around $470k.
Wicker Park starts at Division. This is really East Village.
I agree with Gary & strongly disagree with Jenny.
West Town/WP is a real & vibrant neighborhood unlike the bedroom community of University Village (which I also like). WT/WP here has very very stong res demand because there’s so much more underpinning it compared to Univ Vill or (less so) Lakeview in addition to greatly superior access to Loop etc via public trans & Kennedy Xway. WT/WP has great range of restaurants, great range of bars/clubs, lots of amenities and Chgo’s liveliest street scene on Division St. 6+ months/yr. Like Lakeview there’s a plentiful supply & wide array of housing options. Much cheaper older units are available for purchase or rent nearby. CC posters (and lurkers) should do Div’n St. tour starting at Mike’s/ Rite Liquors & work west going up and down full socio-economic scale of bars and restaurants! We recently stopped at bro bar FatPour for drinks and apps – 50+ beers on tap w/ almost as many big screen TVs. Friday special is $5 beer w/shot of Jack, Jameson or Malort (didn’t spot Bobbo)! Around corner is great people watching @ hipster’s Rainbo Club. Which reminds me to warn any HHater – WT/WP is a truly integrated & mixed demo ‘hood.
“We recently stopped at bro bar … ”
Lol, this coming from a dad with kids already out-of-college themselves.
southbound is right about the incredible diversity in this overall area. You’ve got homeless living near the Kennedy, projects at Milwaukee/Division across from the Planned Parenthood office, which is next to a liquor/cigarette/potato chips store catering to the blacks, which is next to an occult book store. You have all the Mexicans still in the area, numerous taco places, random massage parlors, used record stores, the bro bar strip on Division, there are random drunks and mentally ill types hanging out at the six corner park, you have these crazed “cross fitness” types now too, all the hipsters, lost soul types, some yuppies (mostly drinkers “play bags”) who cannot afford LP or Lake View because they have crappier jobs, who else…..? Oh, the Wicker Park gutter punks, drug dealers, your random rapists and black “youths” that hold up convenience stores, and some elderly that are still around from the old days. Lots of pot smokers and people with uglier dogs than you see in, for instance, River North. You can go to the Jewel at Ashland north of Division and see all of this diversity, but notice that in the check-out lines etc. none of these people actually talk with or connect with the people not like them.
There’s not much interaction amongst the differing subgroups, classes, and races.
“I mean I find it extremely impossible that there were 50-60 people at open houses (unless of course it was just 5 families of 10 each) and didn’t get one offer.”
Are you going to open houses?
50 to 60 people is what the agent told me. Yeah- you’d think you’d get an offer, right? But it had 1995 finishes and the seller thinks the market is so great that he doesn’t have to upgrade a single thing.
Maybe they are still negotiating? But as of today- it’s still not under contract.
By the way- you really can’t wait until an open house to see a property that has just come on the market. The only open houses you can go to (if you are a serious buyer) are on properties that have been listed awhile. Obviously, there’s no bidding war with those properties. Otherwise, if you don’t see a new listing within the first 12 hours of it coming on the market, it will likely already be under contract.
The market is so super hot that this unit was pulled from the market without a sale.
Imagine that?
Buyers are really picky right now. I find that interesting because with inventory still pretty low you’d think they wouldn’t be able to be. But they are.
I think it’s more like some sellers are unrealistic. Once you see that a property is not selling and you get some feedback it usually becomes clear that the price needs to come down but sellers often refuse to listen. And sometimes we take on an overpriced listing, thinking that the seller will become realistic but they don’t.
I agree Gary. But there are more and more “unrealistic” listings right now than we’ve seen in a long while. The spread between the list price and what it actually sells for is the highest in some parts of the GZ in the last 2 years.
That means sellers have unrealistic expectations.
This is why a bunch of properties are sitting there.
I’ve said it before.
With this level of inventory, if you aren’t under contract within a week, you need to lower the price. Everyone who is interested has already seen it. Price is ultimately what gets you the deal.
Heaven forbid you are on the market for a month or two without a reduction.
But I realize that sellers don’t always (ever?) listen to their agents. They know it’s a hot market. There were lots of bidding wars in the spring (less so now) and they think they can really get that higher price.