Who Are Prospective Buyers in the Gold Coast? A Renovated 3-Bedroom in 1430 N. Astor
This 3-bedroom in the Astor Villa at 1430 N. Astor in the Gold Coast came on the market in August 2019.
The Astor Villa was built in 1972 and has 49 units and assigned parking. It has a doorman and exercise room.
This unit has been “completely renovated” with all wood floors.
It has a chef’s kitchen with modern cabinets, Viking appliances and quartz counter tops.
The bathrooms are marble with floating vanities.
It has a 50 foot long balcony facing Astor.
The unit has side-by-side washer/dryer, wall air conditioning units and assigned parking in the building.
The listing says the current special assessments, which are for the roof deck, lobby, mezzanine and hallway renovations, are going to be paid for by the seller. Reserves are at $650,000.
Listed at $699,000, it has been reduced $25,000 to $674,000.
If you don’t like this unit, the unit above it, #5C, is also on the market completely renovated with the same modern finishes. It has also been reduced and is now also at $674,000.
This building is on a historic, landmarked street with many vintage mansions.
But who is a prospective buyer of these two units?
Do Millennials want to live in the heart of the Gold Coast in 2019?
Rovert Picciariello at Prello Realty has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #4C: 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 1600 square feet
- Sold in October 1996 for $265,000
- Sold both #4C and #5C in January 2019 for $452,500
- Originally listed in August 2019 for $699,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $674,000 (assigned parking included)
- #5C also listed for $674,000
- Assessments of $1820 a month (includes doorman, cable, exercise room, exterior maintenance, lawn care, scavenger, snow removal)
- Taxes of $7460
- No central air. Wall air conditioning units.
- Side-by-side washer/dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 17×12
- Bedroom #2: 14×11
- Bedroom #3: 14×10
- Living room: 22×15
- Dining room: 12×10
- Kitchen: 13×9
- Walk-in-closet: 8×13
wow this is very interesting. The sellers only paid $450k for both units 4C & 5C which were previously duplexed together with a spiral staircase. So $225k each, probably spent about $150k each unit in renovations…now selling for $675k each for a $300k per unit profit. winning!
ooops forgot to add the prior listing for units 4C+5C combined.
https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1430-N-Astor-St-60610/unit-4-5C/home/144833491
Nice analysis and find.
Props to the seller.
Millenials don’t want to live in the Gold Coast. They also don’t want to buy anything. On the other end,I know a 50ish year old doc from South Barrington that bought a pied a terre in the Gold Coast last year.
“a 50ish year old doc from South Barrington that bought a pied a terre in the Gold Coast last year”
Clio moved to South Barrington??
“Millenials don’t want to live in the Gold Coast. They also don’t want to buy anything.”
More like they don’t want to live in the Gold Coast because they cannot afford this and their student loans.
By the time they pay off the student loans however, they are far enough along in their careers where this really could be a starter home – – and it is a great place to raise a family in the City, but a lot of them still want to do that in the suburbs. Go figure.
As the seller has a lot of room to come down in price, they likely will and these will still be a great deal for the seller and an ok deal for the buyer. It is just going to take time. Buyer will be from out of town (just a hunch). If one isn’t from here (I’m not so I feel I can offer some perspective), this location pretty much rocks. Easy to the lake, loop and pretty much everywhere else in the City. Who cares that your neighbors are largely older. Older people are quiet. It’s a win win.
“wow this is very interesting. The sellers only paid $450k for both units 4C & 5C which were previously duplexed together with a spiral staircase. So $225k each, probably spent about $150k each unit in renovations…now selling for $675k each for a $300k per unit profit. winning!”
Thanks B for figuring out the story about both selling in the same transaction.
Don’t forget there was a special assessment on both of them. I don’t know what it was but there are just 49 units and it looks like they’re doing a lot to the building, so there’s that cost too.
But if they sell for over $600,000, it’s some nice profit.
We’ll have to watch it.
I find it interesting that the owners of this upscale Gold Coast property have hired a “discount” broker to handle the listing.
I’ll be surprised if there is a “brokers’ open house” scheduled in the near future, let alone one that’s open to the public.
open houses are a waste of time for people trying to sell their homes, great lead generator for the realtors though
like why invite a bunch of people into your house that probably aren’t even qualified to buy it? Just do appointment only and you’ll save a lot of frustration. Think I saw some study that only 2% of houses sell from open houses, I would imagine its even lower in expensive chicago
From my experience several years ago as a Gold Coast Realtor (in a non-discount brokerage), it appeared to me that brokers specializing in the upscale areas like to see what’s out there, up close and personal, before recommending it to their buyers. Thus “brokers’ open houses” usually on Tuesday during lunch hour, with a modest catered lunch (or at least fancy wine/cheese) would draw the usual suspects, one of whom might even bring a buyer.
realtors having “buyers” in their pocket is a total myth… come on you can’t possibly be that gullible to buy that line of crap
Call me gullible, but I have “scouted” open houses on behalf of real live buyers who wanted me to get a “sneak preview” before they had to take the time and effort to set up an appointment with me.
In some cases, it was worth it because the property lived up to the “hype” and I was able to convince the buyer to see it and buy it.
In other cases, it was worth it because the listing was highly misleading (especially the photos) and we didn’t have to waste time doing a showing.
I hosted my own open house since my realtor was vacationing and trying to convince me that, as Sonies believes, open houses are a “waste of time.”
I sold my house during that open house and didn’t even have to ask my realtor to give up most of his commission. He volunteered to do it for me – – not all of it though. He definitely spent money on marketing and photos and it was well worth paying him for that.
I think open houses are a waste of time when some nube realtor is just sitting there texting their friends or blatantly making up “facts” about the neighborhood or not really studying the home and knowing what is going on in the area or in the association. I went to a few open houses prior to listing my place to both get a feel for the competition but also these were job interviews for the person staffing the open house. Since it was a neighborhood I had lived in for ten years at the time, I was pretty appalled at some of the nonsense that some realtors tried to convince me of in regards to my old neighborhood.
Like Gayle, I have also wandered into open houses on behalf of friends who were in the market. Generally my friends really trust my judgement on real estate so if I think a place is checking most of their boxes or if it is in fact not that great of a place, I am saving my friends time.
Funny thing, in writing this I remembered that I also sold my prior home via a realtor’s only open house prior to listing. It was a special place and it led to a bidding war where I actually picked the lower bidder because they seemed like way less of a PITA. Good times.