Why Isn’t This Selling? 437 W. Aldine in Lakeview
This one bedroom unit at 437 W. Aldine in East Lakeview has been on the market for months.
It seems to have everything buyers would look for in East Lakeview:
Vintage? Check.
Spacious? Check.
Washer/dryer in the unit? Check.
Deeded parking spot? Check.
The only thing missing is central air, but window units are accepted as the norm in many of these 1920s vintage buildings.
Why hasn’t it sold?
Here’s the listing:
SPACIOUS VINTAGE HOME IN AN ELEGANT 1920S COURTYARD BUILDING WITH GORGEOUS LANDSCAPING CLOSE TO THE LAKE.
HIGH FIRST FLOOR WITH PARQUET FLOORS, HIGH CEILINGS, GAS FIREPLACE W/ CARVED STONE MANTLE, FORMAL DINING ROOM, LARGE EAT-IN KITCHEN W/SS APPLIANCES, FLOWING FLOORPLAN W/ ENTRANCE FOYER W/D IN UNIT, DEEDED GARAGE.
EXCELLENT LOCATION WITH EASY ACCESS TO BUS, SHOPPING AND NIGHTLIFE. SEE INCENTIVES BELOW!
George Koons & Associates has the listing. See more pictures here.
Unit #19: 1 bedroom, 1 bath, 1000 square feet, full-size dining room
- Sold in July 1990 for $114,500
- Sold in March 1992 for $118,000
- Sold in August 1999 for $169,000
- Sold in April 2004 for $248,000
- Currently listed for $299,999 (includes the parking)
- Assessments of $297 a month
- Taxes of $2,821
- No central air- window units
I’ve always been intrigued by this building – i’m surprised there are one bedroom units in it.
In general i think 2004 prices are good for today’s market, but this is a strong buidling, strong location, no tragic flaws.
However, that’s a high price for a one-bedroom. so i think it’s just a little over-priced.
Its not selling because at the end of the day its a one bedroom apartment priced at 300k. No central a/c either. Is Lakeview really worth $300/sf?
Lakeview used to be comparably cheaper than River North for a reason: its because there are a lot of young service sector employees who reside and work here and other artist types. It was only the urbane hipsters & recent college grads who contributed to the run up in prices in LV to astronomical levels with their funny money loans.
Now that you need a downpayment for a condo (gasp!), these urbane hipsters are priced out of ‘livin’ the dream’ and its only the serious investors left. Serious investors tend to care less about the trendiness of a neighborhood and wouldn’t take a chance on Lakeview if they can get Lincoln Park or River North for the same price.
hmm its definatley over priced. if you assume that the 90 sales price was in line with historical prices for chicago, by 04 it was probably worth a little under $200K, if prices go back to normal, this unit will be worth about $240 in 09
I like that it’s the only unit for sale in the building – better chance the neighbors are paying their assessments.
Agreed, too expensive and FIRST FLOOR…
What’s with the weird wrap-around kitchen?? If one person were working at the stove with another chopping something on the counter, the two people wouldn’t be able to even see each other!
I have a question, a bit off subject, but I’m not sure where else to post it…
I recently purchased a rehabbed condo in Edgewater that is on the first floor. The developer installed new hardwood floors over the top of the previous hardwood floors. He did this in all the units. The problem I’m having is that my upstairs neighbors’ floors are EXTREMELY loud! It is not so much the sound of them walking, but the squeaking and creaking from the floors. It is so bad that I wake up at 3AM when she goes to the bathroom everynight, and I’m a VERY heavey sleeper.
My question is, is there anything that can be done about this, has anyone had this problem before, what did you do?
please help!
thanks, sorry for the long off topic question…
In case it hasn’t been said enough, the only reason the unit hasn’t sold is the price. 1 bedrooms in Lakeview simply cannot get $300,000. Cut the price to $250,000 and it will sell within a week. Too bad for the seller if they mortgaged it to $300,000; the buyer will not pay that price.
Jason,
Did the new kitchen install go smoothly? How does it look? There may be some type of sound proofing that you can have installed on your ceiling….not certain though.
I am thinking this property might be a great way to introduce a process for consensus pricing of real estate that I am testing out and wondering if the people here are interested in participating. It’s based upon the concept of “The Wisdom of Crowds” – i.e. a group of people can more accurately estimate things than any one individual. It’s being used more and more these days – kind of like a futures market but much, much easier to participate in.
You start with a $5000 (virtual) account and buy and sell “shares” of the house based upon what price they think it will ultimately sell for. People who are good at this make “money” and people who aren’t lose “money”. The more money you make the more influence you have on the estimated prices in the future. Eventually, this becomes a very accurate way to estimate home values – presumably better than real estate agents attempting to do CMAs. Where this has been done in other areas people seem to enjoy the process.
I thought the group here seems to be fairly knowledgeable about real estate and would be a great pool of players. I have two other properties loaded into the system other than this one. One of those has been featured on this blog before.
Check it out at http://priceit.lucidrealty.com and let me know what you think. You can actually comment right there on the site.
Fair Value would between $230,000 and $240,000.
Another flipper living in la la land.
Repeat…. we will see prices at 2002 levels before this is over.
Some say it will get worse and they have reasons based on dire condition of our financial system, which is tottering.
But no more than 2002 price for anything.
By the way, this is a beautiful place, just not worth anything like this kind of money.
‘no more than 2002 price for anything.’
Laura I think we will continue to see post-2002 prices on properties for quite awhile now. The transaction volume will be considerably lower but there ARE qualified buyers out there.
In fact I work with a late-20-something who is expecting a kid soon and his MO is to own a property. He knows the market is bad but it has been instilled in him by his family and fiance that they need to own. There will be plenty of people who don’t time the bottom of the market. Real estate is an illiquid market so it is subject to price fluctuations.
And of course every owner who wants to sell will hope, pray and believe that their unit will be one of the few that is snatched up by the smaller pool of potential buyers, but reality will be a cold reminder.
Very few adults can fit all of their belongings into 1000 sq.ft.
In fact, it looks like the photographer had to press hard against the walls just to take these pictures.
Jason, until the upstairs owner puts down a thick area rug in her bedrm (above your bedrm) that squeak will persist along her 3 AM route. If she won’t put an area rug down, it may be worth it to you to buy it for her. Check your condo documents; some associations require area rugs over hardwood floors to muffle footsteps.
I disagree with SS
At the end of the day 1 bed is 1 bed and 2 bed is 2 bed, no matter how bells and whistles it has. Product differentiation will help with more traffic and higher liquidity. This might command a higher price, but not in this market. Being able to sell is a premium to owning such units.
In such state, I will revert to the fundamentals of location and price per square foot in the area. Getting carried away with steam showers and marble tiles, will distort the majority of the analysis.
Reverting back to my multiple regression class, at the end of the day, 80% of the data was driven by few factors. Other minor details didn’t really help out with the projection.
As recent CDO sales and mortgage default rates show. The mortgages written in 2005 till mid 2007 were horrible. The latest article on the link shows that mid 2007 was possibly the worst quality. We are seeing the 3/1 ARMS reset and saw the real estate sold in 2005 hit the market. If I base my analysis on these two factors, I forecast that we won’t be out of the woods until mid 2010. The winter of 2009/2010 might be the winter of discontent that all must endure. All the forecasts are subject to revision…
Josh,
Try more like 2011 or 2012. Thats what the option ARM reset calendars are showing as the payments jumping drastically.
The WSJ yesterday just had an article about option-ARM bozo consumers. Lets not just blame the institutions here folks these purchasers were financially unsavy, stupid, and oh so wanting to keep up the joneses and live beyond their means. Unfortunately for the institutions the consumers can go bankrupt and leave the bank with the debt.
These negative amortization loans have default rates approaching 48% in certain markets. These will make subprime and even alt-A look like child’s play. What bank stocks do you own?
I hear that 60% of all option arms are in Cali. Although I have a few friends who took out the option arms to buy a big house for the wife and kids.
“Lets not just blame the institutions here folks these purchasers were financially unsavy, stupid, and oh so wanting to keep up the joneses and live beyond their means.”
Who gave them the money? Who’s supposed to be the financially saavier and smarter side of the lender/borrower transaction? The lender, right? If lenders had refused to make stupid loans, no one could have gotten a stupid loan. And don’t say that consumers demanded them–consumers are demanding cheaper gas, but oil compnaies won’t sell at a loss just to sell.
I do not own much bank stocks but own long calls to reduce risk and downside exposure. Those positions are blown recently. I certainly do not recommend the financial sector. Risky play so do it if you have cojones to sit out the tough times. Only well fortified banks with deposits to pay out the dividends are worth holding. Avoiding the investment banks that will go down big time in rough times.
The banks just pumped and dumped the CDOS, ABS, MBS b/c due to low rates, the institutional investors needed them to boost their return on fixed income investments. However, the banks were holding too much in inventory when shit blew up on their face. Its like playing hot potato, if you hold it too long, you get burned.
Banks deserve to be beaten for lax underwriting standards but our government’s goal of giving everyone the American dream was over played.
The article on Bloomberg this morning hits the spot.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=avPV2OxmwF9w
I like it, but the kitchen is a huge turn-off. Might be nice for someone who doesn’t like to cook.
The listing was canceled. Probably waiting for the market to turn around 🙂
Unit 19 wound up being sold for 278k on 9/30/2008 to a knifecatcher, as unit 21 was also a 1,000sqft 1/1 that sold for 255k on 8/1/2011. Enjoy!