Will You Only Live in a Corner Condo? A 2-Bedroom at 1414 N. Wells in Old Town
This 2-bedroom at 1414 N. Wells in Old Town just came on the market.
It is a southeast corner unit with views of Wells and the skyline.
The living room has two walls of windows, crown molding and dark stained oak floors.
The kitchen has maple cabinets, granite counter tops, including on a large kitchen island, stainless steel appliances and a glass subway tile backsplash.
The master bathroom has duel sinks and an extra large steam shower with dual shower heads.
It has central air, washer/dryer in the unit and garage parking is available for $35,000.
This building has 52 units and an elevator but no doorman.
It has always been one of the most popular buildings in Old Town and buyers have paid a premium to live there.
This corner unit hasn’t been on the market in 9 years.
Are you a condo buyer who will only live in a corner unit for maximum light?
Bari Levine of @Properties has the listing. See the pictures here.
You can also see it in person at the Open House on Saturday, July 16 from 12- 2 PM.
Unit #408: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed
- Sold in June 1995 for $231,000 (included the parking)
- Sold in April 1998 for $310,000 (included the parking)
- Sold in August 2007 for $550,000 (included the parking)
- Currently listed for $580,000 (plus $35,000 for the parking)
- Assessments of $576 a month (includes cable, Internet, exterior maintenance, scavenger, and snow removal)
- Taxes of $8454
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 18×15
- Bedroom #2: 15×10
Definitely in the thick of things with this location. Needs some modernization. 575k with the parking.
Did Johnny Depp stop by to borrow some milk?
“Needs some modernization”
The updates are certainly 10 years old now, but it looks like everything except the 2d bathroom tub/shower, and maybe the toilets has been replaced from original. Maybe the kitchen cabinet are just re-faced, too.
The street here seriously wreaks of piss now, they need to clean their sidewalks up more, its disgusting
Oh, it was 502 that Depp was in:
http://cribchatter.com/?p=5240
So, probably didn’t need to go down a floor to borrow milk.
Agreed, finished could be updated, but is passable. Good location, building, unit, price. What’s not to like about it?
Friend saw this unit today. Said it was great. Hoping I can get in before it goes under contract! Dying to get into this building
“What’s not to like about it?”
The new giant hotel going up a few doors down. Noise, dust, noise, traffic congestion, dust, and then a street filled with tourists. 3
Facts are facts – O’Brien’s/ 1528 N Wells (the planned hotel site) is more than than a few doors down – it’s one block+ north. There’s already lots of construction on Wells & elsewhere in OT b/c it’s a very desirable location for living, dining & nightlife. Wells St is & has been drawing tourists.
Under Contract
“Under Contract”
Thanks for the update. One of these hasn’t been on the market (a corner unit) in a long time so you have to move fast.
Bubble or no bubble?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-18/it-s-not-a-housing-bubble-it-s-just-expensive
“Bubble or no bubble?”
When did they call the last bubble a bubble? 2009? 2010? When it was already busting?
That’s the thing with bubbles. No one believes you’re in one when you’re in one.
But we’re not in one yet. Some key things of a bubble are missing such as massive speculation. But we’re starting to see shades of it growing again. You have people believing, once again, that housing prices only go higher (it’s unbelievable to me that this could be the case just 8 years after such a traumatic bust, but here we are…).
The flippers have turned out. In some cities it’s worse than others. First time buyers are still only 30% of all buyers, well under historic norms. The percentage of all cash buyers is still way higher than historic norms as well (but off its recent highs.)
Record low mortgage rates are the fuel this time. And easy credit, of course. Easy credit is the hallmark of bubbles. The Congress just voted to loosen the down payment requirements on FHA mortgages so that even if a huge percentage of the building is being rented, you can still only put down 3% to move in.
Yes- speculation is building. But it’s not yet at bubble stage. When I start seeing properties literally flipped, especially in these luxury buildings, after they buy new construction, then I’ll be worried.
There have been a few flips (that townhouse in Basecamp in River North, for instance.) But not enough yet for it to be 2007. But I’m keeping a close eye out for it.
Historically, when the stock market has been at record highs, the housing market has been hot, hot, hot. And that’s what it is right now.
“When did they call the last bubble a bubble? ”
Who is “they”?
The Economist called it a bubble (the “biggest bubble in history”) in June of 2005:
http://www.economist.com/node/4079027
So, if “they” = “the media”, at least part of the media were paying attention.
I think another reason you haven’t seen so many flips is that the only condos they have been building in the last few years is multi million dollar, larger units, basecamp is one of the more affordable developments in the near north, if not the most, I’d think its harder to flip a 2mm condo vs a 800k townhouse as folks at that price point are generally more discerning buyers
once they start crapping out 300-400k condos I’d imagine you’ll try and see some flips in those developments
“I’d think its harder to flip a 2mm condo vs a 800k townhouse as folks at that price point are generally more discerning buyers.”
Yes and no. Prices are going up so fast, I don’t think it’s that crazy to think that someone who paid $1 million for a place in 9 Walton won’t try and flip it for $2 million once that building is constructed. There are plenty of expensive units trying to get expensive prices right now.
So, if “they” = “the media”, at least part of the media were paying attention.
Then the Economist was the only one. In the NYT, we were entering a “whole new paradigm” in Florida.
I love it how people come out of the woodwork 10 years later to basically say “but I saw the bubble.”
No. You didn’t.
“I love it how people come out of the woodwork 10 years later to basically say “but I saw the bubble.””
I read that article at the time, which is why I remember it. It was on the cover.
Pretty clear there was a *global* bubble, but the market certainly stayed irrational longer than I could have stayed solvent *even if* there had been a clear way for *an individual* to bet against the bubble in ’05.
ps: The more enduring housing bubble blogs were started in the summer/fall of 2006. Are you asserting that they also didn’t know it was a bubble? Notwithstanding “bubble” being integrated in their title?
pps: Another data point:
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2005/01/housing-prices-asset-bubble.html
The 2d ever post on that blog, Jan-05, titled “Housing Prices: An asset bubble?”
Yeah, *NO ONE* had any f’ing idea.
nobody could forget the housing bubble blog my fav. just a collection of news article quotes and then hundreds of comments. that’s where I first discovered like minded fellas like myself.
“nobody could forget the housing bubble blog my fav. just a collection of news article quotes and then hundreds of comments. that’s where I first discovered like minded fellas like myself.”
It is still operating and there are still hundreds of comments.
It’s just as obvious a bubble this time as last time. Just expanding differently than the last time because no two bubbles are exactly the same.
“Yeah, *NO ONE* had any f’ing idea.”
Oh wait- NOW you’re quoting Calculated Risk which was started to EXPOSE the housing bubble and the massive growth in credit?
Don’t even make me laugh anon(tfo). I was running this blog in 2007. NO ONE on here was saying it was a bubble. All anyone ever did was fight with me about it.
Ditto with 2008.
Heck- even into 2009 people were still delusional (remember the infamous- “Lincoln Park prices can never go down” arguments? Pulease. Give me a break.)
So don’t come on here all high and mighty linking to relatively little known housing bubble blogs and saying “everyone knew.” No, they didn’t.
Oh- and go check out the site that HD was referring to. Yes- Ben Jones was saying it was a housing bubble way, way back (in 2004-2005.) That’s why he started the damn blog, you moron. Because NO ONE in the mainstream press was covering it. They were all like, “this is completely normal” and they are doing it again (and yes, everyone should be reading Ben Jones again because his coverage of all the media stories is, once again, first rate.)
Same with the Prudent Bear newsletter writer Doug Nolan, who has since shut that down but is still writing about how f*cked up the Central Banks are and how they’ve distorted the entire global economy.
And it’s not going to end well.
But first to blow up will probably be the developers of the luxury apartment buildings. Why everyone thought that they could build thousands of these units in every big city and there would be enough renters to fill them is beyond me. What happens to those owners when they can’t fill them?
They are giving away 1 and 2-months free rent in Streeterville buildings right now (the Class A units.) There are another dozen towers going up nearby.
No two bubbles are the same. They take different forms but they have one thing in common: ease of credit.
We, once again, have ease of credit (for college loans, auto loans, credit cards, mortgages, construction loans etc.)
“ps: The more enduring housing bubble blogs were started in the summer/fall of 2006. Are you asserting that they also didn’t know it was a bubble? Notwithstanding “bubble” being integrated in their title?”
Like I said anon(tfo)- first you claim that the mainstream press was all over the bubble story (i.e. the Economist, which is the only source you cited) and now you’re switching to the very blogs who were started to expose the housing bubble in the first place (which literally had only like 5,000 readers around the country at the time)
Pulease.
NO ONE in the mainstream press, the government, the Fed, the big banks saw the bubble. They weren’t talking about it. They weren’t saying, “hey- there’s something wrong going on here.” They weren’t warning about it.
Same as now.
Oh- except Ben Jones, who, like I said, is providing excellent coverage, once again. And Doug Noland, who doesn’t track the housing bubble, per say, but the expansion on the Fed’s balance sheet and the expansion of credit and why it will ultimately doom us.
But don’t re-write history.
Pulease.
People need to educate themselves as to how far out of the mainstream you would have been to be saying “bubble” back in 2006. Go read the Big Short (the actual book- don’t just see the movie.) And also read “the greatest trade.” They cover the same things but in different ways.
Some of the guys who DID see it literally were having anxiety attacks the longer it went on and the bubble didn’t collapse. It was VERY hard to be a bubble believer for all those years. Everyone else called you nuts. And it grew in size far longer than anyone thought possible.
Please go read the books.
Don’t listen to anon(tfo)’s re-write of history.
Heck- even into 2009 people were still delusional (remember the infamous- “Lincoln Park prices can never go down” arguments? Pulease. Give me a break.)
I wouldn’t cite Steve Heitman(sp?), Cilo and the clown from other real estate blog as the prevailing wisdom
“I wouldn’t cite Steve Heitman(sp?), Cilo and the clown from other real estate blog as the prevailing wisdom”
They are all “in the biz” as the saying goes so if they don’t know what’s going on, who would?
“NO ONE on here”
Oh, so “no one” having any idea means “no one who was posting to the comments of cribchatter.com”.
NOW, that makes sense.
“Some of the guys who DID see it”
I thought that NO ONE saw it.
So, is it some people saw it, or NO ONE saw it?
“first you claim that the mainstream press was all over the bubble story”
Never claimed that; can you read?
This post here:
http://cribchatter.com/?p=857#comments
Has comments from “Chicago Bubble Blog”, so that is “someone” commenting “here” in December 2007 who called it a bubble.
So, this:
“I was running this blog in 2007. NO ONE on here was saying it was a bubble.”
Is demonstrably factually false.
“They are all “in the biz” as the saying goes so if they don’t know what’s going on, who would?”
So a paid real estate shill, a guy that posted to only buy in LP and a poster who “said” he had a Red Lambo, but couldn’t remember the actual paint name?
Seems Legit
fwiw, I declared Lincoln Park real estate overvalued in October ’87.
There might not be an independent “media” record of my view, but I did share it with many fellow patrons of various Lincoln Park Big-Ten themed bars (now said to have not been in existence back then).
“There might not be an independent “media” record of my view, but I did share it with many fellow patrons of various Lincoln Park Big-Ten themed bars (now said to have not been in existence back then).”
You too wojo?
Now I KNOW that we’re in another bubble. Everyone re-writing history on the last one.
So very sad.
And yes, there were no big ten bars in 1987. Nor in 1997.
“there were no big ten bars in … 1997.”
You’re delusional.
Your definition of “Big Ten Bar” is so narrow that one could argue whether they actually exist today.
It’s so similar to your definition of “no one knew”–“no one” except those people you cite who “literally were having anxiety attacks”–what were they having anxiety over, since they didn’t know it was a bubble??
Whaddya mean “You too wojo”? I really have believed the sky was (or would soon be) falling since ’87. So what if I’ve been wrong, so far, about the Fed’s ability to levitate asset prices via rate cuts and QEs? I’m sticking with my perma-deflationist outlook. and besides it hasn’t been so terribly wrong.
http://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/charts/indicators/Case-Shiller-City-Composites.html?Case-Shiller-City-Composite-Real-Indexes.gif
“Ben Jones was saying it was a housing bubble way, way back (in 2004-2005.) That’s why he started the damn blog, you moron. Because NO ONE in the mainstream press was covering it.”
Lisa Simpson: You can’t expect us to swallow that tripe!
Principal Skinner: Now as a special treat, courtesy of our friends at the meat council please help yourselves to this tripe.
Ha ha. Fwiw, here’s “A CATALOG OF 727 SIGNIFICANT STORIES PUBLISHED BY MAJOR BUSINESS-NEWS OUTLETS BEFORE THE FINANCIAL CRISIS”
Note: their list doesn’t include anything from The Economist, nor anything prior to 2004 from The Financial Times. But as expected, there are many stories about the burgeoning bubble prior to late 2004, when Jones got his blog up.
http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/the_list.php
“it hasn’t been so terribly wrong”
What’s a real dollar? Is that something a Sovereign Citizen has stuffed in his mattress?
Related: are you implying that my collection of Jim Baker hundos isn’t going to allow me to purchase a house at the 1985 nominal price?
Wojo: You cut off scene:
Lisa: Stop it Stop IT! Don’t you realize you’ve just been
brainwashed by corporate propaganda?
Janie: Hmmph, apparently my crazy friend here hasn’t heard of the food
chain.
Uter: Yeah, Lisa’s a grade A moron!
Ralph: When I grow up, I’m going to go to Bovine University.
Which is also apropos.
“Note: their list doesn’t include anything from The Economist, nor anything prior to 2004 from The Financial Times. But as expected, there are many stories about the burgeoning bubble prior to late 2004, when Jones got his blog up.”
Please show some respect for someone who has run a blog for longer than you have been able to add 2 + 2 against all the crazies like those on this blog who said “there’s no bubble” and mocked him (many whom he had to ban from the blog because they were so abusive.)
And now here you all are again saying you all saw it. HE’S the one who “saw it” and was in the trenches (and continues to be) for all of these years.
His blog is a masterpiece. And continues to be. If you can’t see the bubble (again) right before your eyes- then you are truly blind. I can’t make you see. And neither can he.
As one of his articles today says- we are at a 42-year high in apartment buildings construction. 42 years! It’s so far out of the norm to be laughable. But somehow everyone believes that there are endless people to pay $2100 a month for a 500 square foot studio in downtown Chicago. And no one says anything.
There aren’t. Just like those 10,000 condo units in the South Loop never sold.
Yet no one says anything. No one on this blog is saying, “hey- there are 22 buildings being built in downtown Chicago right now with about 6,000 to 7,000 luxury apartments. Who will fill those?”
Where the cracks are in this housing market are obvious.
But it looks like Ben and I will be one of the few documenting it. I’m proud to join him in that service this time around (as I’ve said, I started this blog too late to capture the bubble expansion last time.)
Long live Ben Jones. And the other blogs who dedicated themselves to exposing the housing bubble (and the current one that is developing before us.)
“everyone believes that there are endless people to pay $2100 a month ”
Who is this “everyone”??
“No one on this blog is saying,”
Do a post on the apartment pipeline, and you’ll likely get a bunch of it.
Sabrina, you do realize that there was literally zero construction for a few years after the housing bust, creating a supply shortage and is one of the main reasons you saw housing prices recover so quickly?
Now, I think people paying the rents in these new buildings are idiots, but apparently folks are doing it enough to lease them all out?
“folks are doing it enough to lease them all out?”
Not for long, given the trend in NYC and EsEff:
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realestate/20160727/CRED03/160729850/equity-residential-stock-falls-after-third-cut-in-revenue-outlook#utm_medium=email&utm_source=ccb-realestatereport&utm_campaign=ccb-realestatereport-20160727
I don’t think all these new construction market rate buildings pencil out with reasonable rents – – right now I bet they are holding on to that interest-only construction loan as long as the bank will let them and trying desperately to get the advertised rents. Eventually, the loans will amortize and the landlord will have to get what they can get or default. You are already seeing 1-month free promotions at some recent Clybourn corridor buildings….even with that they are still over-priced to me. I expect more rent incentives in the next six months. The rents too damn high!
anon,
fwiw, The Economist reported in “House prices: Going through the roof,” March 28, 2002:
“American house prices have risen by more in real terms over the past five years than during any previous five-year period.
“there is mounting evidence of house-price bubbles in some big cities.
“The current spurt in prices is … causing some economists to fret that historically low interest rates are inflating a dangerous house-price bubble.
“Most of the world … has been enjoying a boom in house prices over the past few years, with prices rising at their fastest rate in real terms since the late 1980s….
“While New York prices are rising faster than the national average, prices have been bubbling even more vigorously in some other American cities, with annual increases of over 20% until last year in San Francisco.
http://www.economist.com/node/1057057
“The rents too damn high!”
Jimmy McMillan 4 Prez!
“The Economist reported in “House prices: Going through the roof,”
No byline = “No one”, I guess(?).
Why would a developer want to hold onto a loan any longer than absolutely necessary?
Get them leased and sell is the developers Mantra
Rental development loans are different from ownership. Construction to pre-stabilized financing can be interest-only for a certain time frame. Then, once a certain occupancy level is reached for a certain time frame, the loan converts to amortizung debt. This can require a reduction in the loan amount so it “cas flows.” They want (this is counterintuitive), the biggest perm loan they can get which means they need to get the highest initial rents they can get. Then they turn around and sell the property having put very little of their own $ at risk or the propert bumps along with lower rents and less cash flow. This is the game in the big new buildings.. Obviously this wouldn’t work for a small time developer. It’s the old adage… I owe you $20, I have a problem. I owe you $20 million, YOU have a problem.
“Sabrina, you do realize that there was literally zero construction for a few years after the housing bust, creating a supply shortage and is one of the main reasons you saw housing prices recover so quickly?”
There was virtually no new construction because there was 10,000 (yes TEN THOUSAND) unsold condo units downtown- mostly in the South Loop that had to be absorbed. Most were absorbed by converting them to apartments. Now we have built another 10,000 new apartments with about 5,000 to 6,000 of those under construction with no clear understanding of who will rent them all.
BUT- personally- I’m glad they’re building it all. I think we can all agree that the 3 or 4 towers they’re building on Division will be great for that street. Or the lots they are building on near the old Cabrini Green will only make that neighborhood safer and more alive. And that the huge developments going on in the South Loop are getting rid of open parking lots and bringing even more vitality there.
We’re not a world class city without having a world class downtown. Some of the buildings, dare I say it, are even architecturally interesting. Gasp. And it’s all providing thousands of jobs.
But eventually, supply and demand will kick in and some developers are going to be left without a chair when the music stops.
“Do a post on the apartment pipeline, and you’ll likely get a bunch of it.”
I just did that on June 20th.
Most people on the thread don’t seem concerned with the THOUSANDS of units that are being built even as current buildings are giving away 1 to 2 months free rent.
http://cribchatter.com/?p=23377
the 1-2 months free rent is just to get you in the shiny new building, moving sucks so people then do the “ehhhh this is probably $400 a month or more overpriced but do I want to spend X dollars and X time to move?”
And as liz said, condos and big apartment buildings are apples and oranges in terms of financing
“the 1-2 months free rent is just to get you in the shiny new building, moving sucks so people then do the “ehhhh this is probably $400 a month or more overpriced but do I want to spend X dollars and X time to move?”
Sure. They know you won’t move.
But they weren’t giving away ANY free months just 12 months ago. Nearly record high occupancy. Not so much anymore. Too much supply now.
Most of the buildings weren’t complete 12 months ago so… that’s probably why? less supply! Buildings like the Xavier have been doing it from the start though
“the 1-2 months free rent is just to get you in the shiny new building, moving sucks so people then do the “ehhhh this is probably $400 a month or more overpriced but do I want to spend X dollars and X time to move?””
But they’re shrinking the unit sizes, so a 650 sf one bedroom can’t hold that much stuff. It will be easy for Millennials to move.
the no room for a kitchen table confounds me. so they expect everyone to eat in front of the tv while playing xbox?