Will Reducing Under $1 Million Be The Charm For This Old Norwood Park 4-Bedroom? 5692 N. New Hampshire
We’ve chattered about this 4-bedroom new(er) construction single family home at 5692 N. New Hampshire in Old Norword Park several times over the last few years because it originally came on the market in 2009.
See our 2011 chatter here.
It was 5-bedrooms in its last listing and I can’t figure out what happened to the fifth bedroom, which was in the basement. Did it become the recreation room?
If you recall, the house is located on the highly coveted circle.
Built in 2007, the house has 12-foot ceilings and 5 fireplaces.
There are Brazilian walnut wood floors throughout as well as a 12 seat home theater complete with leather reclining seats.
The kitchen has unique stone work, custom cabinets and onyx counter tops.
Built on an oversized 50×200 lot, it has a rare city 4-car garage with a 600 square foot attic.
In 2011, it was listed at $1.299 million.
It’s been reduced to $975,000.
Will it finally find a buyer under $1 million?
Carol Larson at Baird & Warner now has the listing. See the pictures here.
5692 N. New Hampshire: 4 bedrooms, 5 baths, 4 car garage, 4904 square feet
- Sold in September 1994 for $240,000
- New construction in 2007
- Originally listed in February 2009 for $1.895 million
- Reduced
- Was listed in October 2010 at $1,399,900
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $1.299 million
- Withdrawn in November 2012
- Re-listed in February 2013 for $975,000
- Taxes now $6323 (they were $5540 in 2011)
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 24×13 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 14×14 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 14×13 (second floor)
- Bedroom #4: 14×13 (second floor)
- Maid room: 29×22 (third floor)
- Theater room: 22×15 (basement)
- Recreation room: 24×20 (basement)
“Will Reducing Under $1 Million Be The Charm ”
I guess it depends on whether people at the $1million price point are looking in Norwood Park or people looking in Norwood Park are able to afford $1 million.
Am I the only person who thinks home theater rooms are the tackiest expression of suburbia? I’ve never seen one that doesn’t look ridiculous in a SFH.
The one in Old Edgebrook from the other day was much nicer and less money.
Both Kevin and jenny are correct.
“Am I the only person who thinks home theater rooms are the tackiest expression of suburbia?”
Of course not, but then suburbia in most cases is tacky.
The builder really mistimed this house. Too bad it wasn’t on the market by 2005.
It might have a difficult time selling at even the current price now because the jumbo mortgage most buyers would need is very difficult to get now, and this house and neighborhood don’t draw the kind of people who can put 50% down on something costing $800K or more. People buying now are not counting on being able to sell at or above the price they paid, so they’re not going to accept a less-than-perfect house in an out-of-the-way neighborhood just to get their paws on something. Now that you have to prove that you can actually qualify for financing, houses in this range are really suffering if they aren’t in prime neighborhoods.
Laura, I agree in general with you. Though you don’t need 50% down for a jumbo. 20% does it.
The “maid” room is 29 x 22? Um, ok. Wonder how much gold jewelry the owners are sporting on a regular basis.
The room proportions, fireplaces are a bit off as are many of the finishes. Is it a Georgian or is it a mountain cabin? The house also seems to look more than just a little odd next to its neighbors. The builder chose the wrong house at the wrong time and made the wrong choice with finishes. I can’t see more than 800K at a stretch considering the cosmetic needs to reduce the laughability factor.
The exterior of this house is a disaster. It looks like someone’s warped idea of what a fancy dollhouse should look like.
“The exterior of this house is a disaster.”
c’mon, it’s just a bad porch (unfortunately concrete + brick) and a silly red door. ok, and the choice of location–looks out of place on the street.
taken in isolation, and after a few coats of paint, the only bad thing is the balustrades.
“taken in isolation, and after a few coats of paint, the only bad thing is the balustrades.”
Needs a few pillars and a gargoyle or two, and a tasteful fountain in the front yard would improve things immeasurably.
Oh God, the burbs haters are out! Though I agree that home theaters are ridiculous and tacky..I mean, how often are they used anyway..usually when I am watching TV or a movie I am cooking, picking up stuff or just laying on the couch with easy access to my beer or wine.. those things you gotta get up and go upstairs to get something to eat, or to pee, or to refill you booze..unless you have one of those ugly ass standing popcorn machines…sorry I digress. The house is not bad but it totally looks squeezed into this lot like a fat girl stuffed into a dress that is not right for her.
“[home theaters] you gotta get up and go upstairs to get something to eat, or to pee, or to refill you booze”
Who puts a home theater in a basement w/o at least a half bath down there? and usually at least a dry bar, too, right? also, where’s your beer fridge and wine ‘cellar’? In the basement, right?
So, I reject your objections.
“it totally looks squeezed into this lot like a fat girl stuffed into a dress that is not right for her.”
More like the dude wearing a tux (with a ‘fun’ tie) to a frat party.
Driven by it countless times. Its actually not that obnoxious. This isn’t the only McMansion in Old Norwood. Now the issue is I believe the house next door to the South which should be a tear down on a 50×200 lot sold last year for low to mid 2’s and from my last drive by this house it was not torn down and had people living in it. The house to the North is along the same scale at this.
I like it personally – but I’d go into Park Ridge or Glenview for $1M. Could be a option for a city worker with a well established side business. Not sure who else would be the buyer for this.
Great comments today peeps!
“I like it personally – but I’d go into Park Ridge or Glenview for $1M. Could be a option for a city worker with a well established side business. Not sure who else would be the buyer for this.”
Why do you like higher taxes?
I can’t believe nobody has commented on how frickin low the taxes are!!!!
“I can’t believe nobody has commented on how frickin low the taxes are!!!!”
It’s never sold, so they can keep getting one-year reductions, regardless of what it gets assessed at.
ah that explains it
I’m sure someone will buy this sometime for some price but I guarantee you it will never be me! I’m not even sure I’d take it if someone paid me because I’d have to find a way to get rid of it.
“Who puts a home theater in a basement w/o at least a half bath down there? and usually at least a dry bar, too, right? also, where’s your beer fridge and wine ‘cellar’? In the basement, right? ”
Eh, seems a waste of space (depending on how big the basement is) but seems better to have a nice big bar area with all of the above with a big screen..I just think one room where you go to “watch a movie,” and do nothing else is kind of weird. But I am not like my fellow suburbanites that I think anyone who hangs out in their basement (unless its a walk out) all the time is weird…(basements were made to help teenagers in the 70s and 80s sneak booze, smoke pot and get it on without their parents intervention.)
“Eh, seems a waste of space (depending on how big the basement is) but seems better to have a nice big bar area with all of the above with a big screen..I just think one room where you go to “watch a movie,” and do nothing else is kind of weird.”
This, I agree with.
You guys playing cards?
“More like the dude wearing a tux (with a ‘fun’ tie) to a frat party.”
Vlajos (February 22, 2013, 11:28 am)
“I like it personally – but I’d go into Park Ridge or Glenview for $1M. Could be a option for a city worker with a well established side business. Not sure who else would be the buyer for this.”
Why do you like higher taxes?
Those taxes at $6200 are going to catch up at somepoint. That is a $20K + tax bill once the assessor gets ahold of the right information.
I’d rather be in Glenview or Park Ridge where that house fits better and you have the schools. Im a big NW side proponent especially Old Norwood, Edison, Wildwood, Edgebrook etc but this one I am not. I’d take my Million elsewhere
Actually Norwood Park Elementary is better than Park Ridge schools when comparing by income, barely. Glenview elementaries are slightly better. Tax bill will still be lower in the City for $1MM homes vs PR and Glvw.
Norwood
96% meet and exceed
47% exceed
Park Ridge
96%
45%
Glenview
97%
51%
Vlajos, schools are more than just test scores.
I’m not saying Norwood is bad or PR or Glenview is better or worse just that test scores are but one piece of what makes a school good or bad.
A school can have great test scores and only teach test taking skills rather than problem solving skills or critical thinking. Schools can have great test scores but bad teachers and/or administrators.
I just think you are WAY over simplifying what makes a school good or bad.
Looks like a souvenir from a class trip to Williamsburg. Imagine the neighbors just love this behemoth’s lack of neighborly context and raised first floor oversized footprint.
Norwood’s elementary school is great, but getting into Northside Prep, Peyton, or Whitney Young is a serious bummer. Ignatius and Loyola HS tuition’s already about $15,000/year plus books and parent contributions, which will nix out the tax savings for several years.
Plus, buyer spends $1 million, and still hangs-out in the basement?
Benjamin, I completely agree, but Norwood Park and many of these CPS schools (in neighborhoods we discuss here) actually have amazing teachers and curriculum. Kids in general will get a better upbringing and education by living in a diverse community. Glenview is not interesting or diverse. Park Ridge is cool with me in general.
The number of kids in these public schools who meet/exceed standards is high only because they come from middle class families. Those same kids could be sent to terrible schools and still get the same scores. Test scores mean very little in terms of school quality. It’s a better measure of who has good parents versus who has crappy parents.
“Though you don’t need 50% down for a jumbo. 20% does it.”
USB giving jumbos with 10% down for a while now. They tack onto the interest rate, but can definitely get one.
“The number of kids in these public schools who meet/exceed standards is high only because they come from middle class families. Those same kids could be sent to terrible schools and still get the same scores. Test scores mean very little in terms of school quality. It’s a better measure of who has good parents versus who has crappy parents.”
This is true of all schools and really the point of this. There are a lot of lemmings who think, CPS bad, Suburban Public School good. The facts show it is completely not true.
The jumbo loan is going to be tough. I’m refinancing with the same bank that I have a mortgage with and they are asking too many questions. When I first bought all I did was sign and give my SSN and BOOM! I got a loan. I had very little money and was in a worse off position than I am now. I’ve paid down the house for 7 years and am getting a loan for half of what it is worth… and the bank is still quite picky.
My experience is with a regular loan… I don’t know how many can get the JUMBO loans anymore. It is really tough.
“My experience is with a regular loan… I don’t know how many can get the JUMBO loans anymore. It is really tough.”
If you have income, assets and a downpayment it’s not.
Jason- are you trying to refi a condo with rentals in the building? Either way, much more paper work now.
difference between living here and living in glenview or park ridge is the neighbors you have. Have a glenview neighbor and you will see what i mean.
i would take old norwood over those any day of the week, if i had to choose this house then i would choose to live in an englewood garden apartment
Paint the front door candy pink and park the Dreamvette out front
House is a mishmash of styles. Georgian exterior, sort of, arts and crafts interior in some rooms, Tudor in others, one room seems almost Victorian, bathroom is 50’s, and the kitchen belongs in greg Normans 200 foot yacht. Somebody with no taste will buy in the 700s.
“Kids in general will get a better upbringing and education by living in a diverse community.”
STFU already. You have no proof of that whatsoever. Anyone else sick of biased people trying to pass off opinion as fact??
“Glenview is not interesting or diverse.”
Immigrants on the way up in America, like Koreans, think Glenview is great. Given the choice, they want their kids to grow up around white-Americans, the people who founded and built this nation. The Koreans don’t want all this diversity bullshit. They prefer to spend leisure time with civilized pursuits like golfing in the fresh air, not lliving in some dump like Little Village.
http://www.glenviewparks.org/
Ha….Take a look at how “uninteresting” all of these offerings above are. If you listen to the Vlajos’s of the world, then you’d be much better off hanging out in a “diverse” neighborhood….like go hang out around Jimmy’s Red Hots at Grand & Pulaski, plenty of diversity in that mixed-soup neighborhood. Compare the offerings around there to what Glenview has. That’s your choice. There’s an auto repair place or auto body shop about every half-block, some third-rate independent mexican grocers, vacant storefronts….yeah, much better than the what offerings exist in Glenview!!
Glenview is totally diverse. I was just as the kids museum.
Phil, Yes there are rentals in the building. I’m close to closing but they asked me quite a few questions. Anyway I’m very near the end so that’s good.
I have to imagine that a JUMBO would be much harder even with assets, income, and downpayment. We are not in the early 2000s where people were getting loans “no docs.” I know a few people who literally got loans with no documents and (way) little income. They’ve all had to foreclose…. actually one was in Glenview. Not very diverse… Evanston is diverse… Oak Park is diverse… but not Glenview.
Koreans are attacked to Glenview because there is a community there and the schools are very highly ranked.
It’s really a preference if you like city-living or suburban-living with similar people as you or different people.
sorry meant to say ATTRACTED TO (not attacked)
“Koreans are attracted to Glenview because there is a community there”
What does this mean? How dare they defy Vlajos and choose to live among their own people! Outrageous.
I’m definitely in the minority but I would absolutely love to have a home theater at some point. I think it requires a pretty heavy dose of being an A/V nut, but having a place to go and watch a movie in ideal conditions without distractions is great.
As to spending time in the basement, maybe it’s my rose-colored glasses from my days of being a pot-smoking and booze-sneaking teenager, but I don’t mind it one bit. Cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter and nobody else wants to be down there.
” helmethofer (February 23, 2013, 3:50 pm)
“Koreans are attracted to Glenview because there is a community there”
What does this mean? How dare they defy Vlajos and choose to live among their own people! Outrageous.”
And you’re the one who always complains about self-segregation? So you and VJ are actually in agreement!
G.O., HD.