Wolfram Street in Lakeview: Snapshot of the Mansion Market
It’s not just condo flippers who are having a hard time selling in this market. Owners of million dollar homes in Chicago seem to be under some stress as well.
Just take a walk down West Wolfram Street in West Lakeview.
I’ve already posted about 1445 W. Wolfram. Remember that house? It was the “Once in a Lifetime Opportunity” on a new construction McMansion listing. The listing said:
“Developer must get out now! Make an offer!! Being sold “as is” – way under market value 95% complete – you put in last 100k of work (apps, elevator, etc.)! Home boasts tremendous light, hwdflrs, custom cabinets, eat-in chef’s kitchen, walk-in pantry, elevator, radiant heat, 5 decks & 2 laundry centers, exquisite finishes, master craftsmanship & great floorplan.”
It was originally listed for $1,999,999 and had been reduced to $1,650,000. It has since been reduced again to $1,600,000.
It’s got some steep competition nearby however. It seems Wolfram is full of million dollar homes that aren’t selling.
Only a few doors down is 1417 W. Wolfram. I don’t have pictures of this house, but it just went into foreclosure.
- Last sold in January 2004 for $1.295 million
- Foreclosure auction price of $1,383,203
Not too far away is 1351 W. Wolfram. From the listing, it looks like it was newly built in 2005. The listing says it has Viking, Sub-zero and Bosch appliances.
1351 W. Wolfram: 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2 half baths, 2 car garage
- Currently on the market for $1.725 million
- First came on the market in March 2005
- Total market time of 441 days (but has been on and off the market for nearly 3 years)
- Amanda Samuels at Coldwell Banker has the listing
A little further west there are two new McMansions that are nearly identical right next door to each other. (The interior pictures on the listings are the same for both.)
1726 W. Wolfram: 5 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, 2 car garage
- Currently listed for 1.545 million
- First came on the market in February 2006
- Market time of 219 days (but has been on and off for about 2 years)
- @Properties has the listing
1724 W. Wolfram: 5 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, 2 car garage
- Currently listed for $1.475 million
- First listed in March 2005
- Market time of 292 days (has been on and off the market for nearly 3 years)
- @Properties has the listing
What do these properties say about the state of the upper bracket market in Chicago?
You be the judge.
One issue may be that the neighborhood elementary school (Burley for the evens, Prescott for the odds; except the whole 1300 block is prescott, which seems to be the lesser of the schools) isn’t the greatest–and fairly recently was pretty poor (esp. Prescott). Plus the kids directly across the street have a different neighborhood school
Also, it’s likely that the number of families who want to live in Chicago and can afford $7500+ per month (mtg+tax) after coming up with a $400k+ down payment is pretty much tapped out–especially if they might “need” to send their kid(s) to private school, too.
I’m not a fan of the newly residential area b/t Diversey/Wellington/Ashland/RR Tracks–the traffic is brutal, there isn’t a real park particularly close; most of the nearby retail is basically auto-oriented businesses–have you ever walked to the stores around Wellington/Ashland–I have and it sucks. The ass-end of the Jewel, etc. faces you on Paulina from Wolfram to Nelson.
The 1300 & 1400 blocks are better, in general, but have a bit of a zoning problem–1351 is almost surrounded (3 sides) by more intensive zones; 1417 and 1445 are both IN a zone that permits somewhat more intensive uses. 1417 also looks like it has a side alley.
They’re nice houses and they are probably pretty appropriately priced for the money the developers/owners have into them, but it’s just too much money with the amount of similar inventory out there.
Anon: Thanks for the update on the neighborhood. It sounds like several of these developers are going to continue to struggle to sell these at these prices.
anon, people that can still afford Mil+ homes don’t worry about CPS. They will go to Catherine Cook or Francis Xavier or the Latin School.
Great reporting, this has got to be THE most useful real-estate website in Chicago. Chicago real-estate is in for a dramatic fall.
SITC:
Perhaps you don’t think that they do, but I have many neighbors who paid in the vicinty of, or more than, $1mm and DID take CPS into the equation. Just depends on the neighborhood school. These two schools are not ones that one would choose.
If you have 2 kids, sending them to CC, FP or Latin is like paying over $500k more for your house–in other words, if you can send your kids to Lincoln Elem., you can “afford” to pay about $2mm east of Lincoln Ave v. $1.5mm here. Or you just buy the same size house in Wilmette (with a bigger yard) and save a bunch of money.
Anon –
While I agree with you that the public schools could use improvement (isn’t that a citywide problem?), I have to disagree with you on the area. I’ve lived there the past several years and I think it’s great. For parks, I think it might be one of the best areas in the city – there’s Chi Che Wang – a new grassy park over at 1762 W Diversey, there’s Hamlin Park a few blocks to the West and there’s Wrightwood Park to the east of Ashland. In warmer weather, you can walk anywhere from Southport to the east, Webster Place in LP to the southeast, and Roscoe Village to the north. You also don’t have nearly the parking congestion as you do in East Lakeview. Where do you live? Just curious.
I’m not sure why you are calling these “mcmansions”. They are built on standard size (and smaller) lots and are often not any bigger than the other older houses in the same neighborhoods. There are some double wide and 1.5 wide lot homes that are quite large in this neighborhood that you don’t talk about. These particular homes that you have mentioned, other than being new, are not over-scaled enormous cookie cutter homes like those in the newer suburbs that this “mcmansion” term brings to mind.
I also disagree with “Anon” that traffic and shopping is brutal in this neighborhood. Roscoe village is walk able and very close and Lincoln Ave and Southport corridor are as well. There are great parks in the area such as soon to be landscaped (2009) Chi Che Wang and the park on Wolfram east of Southport not to mention Hamlin Park.
Also, Burley elementary is actually one of the best CPS schools around and has a huge waiting list for those out of it’s boundary lines. It has surpassed infamous Blaine elementary in test scores and is definitely a factor for those with kids in this area.
Maybe it’s the mishmash of architectural themes from years past that makes it a McMansion?
re: McMansion. From Wikipedia (edited to eliminate clauses that would not aply):
“The term is generally used to denote a home with a larger footprint than a median home …. It is also used to refer to the replacement of an existing, smaller structure in an older neighborhood with a larger and more elaborate home.
Architecturally, the term refers to a house with a floor area commonly over 3,000 square feet (280 m2) in size, often on a small lot (the house itself often covering a larger portion of the land than the yard in a more conventional design) and typically built in homogeneous communities that are often produced by a developer. Although they are generally large homes, they are distinguished from “true” mansions by the fact that they are mass produced and are not architecturally unique. Their cost places them in the purchasing range of the upper middle class segment of the population.”
The only thing I deleted was: “and which is often located in a newer, larger subdivision”. Everything else *could* describe any of these houses and most of them do describe *all* of them.