Comments on: Broker: "Condos are not a good deal"

By: Eric Rojas

Eric Rojas — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 05:35:20 +0000

Carter,

I actually represented a buyer on a home on the 2800 Block of North Whipple a year ago… it was rehabbed quite well, modern and spacious, and went for $409K. We got a deal… this was far the exception. $400K usually doesn’t get you as much. I was referring to the farther northwest of the city where $400K will get you a re-hab job in a spot with nothing to walk to.

I do believe this area of Avondale/Logan Square you mention by the Belmont Blue Line stop should and could be a boom area. Things have been slow there however. But the commute to down town is really good from the Blue Line stop (and the Logan stop just south).

My contractor and close friend owns a two-flat a half block from the Blue Line there on Kimball. My client, he and I go to the Small Bar on Albany all the time (think its Albany and Wellington). You can find the neighborhood “hipsters” there. He loves the neighborhood… easy to drive or take the train anywhere, and even had a Bar Crawl a few weeks ago.

There are a ton of bungalows available for $400K, some move in ready. But mostly, these homes are pushed way out from what most of my buyers consider desirable neighborhoods. They would rathe buy a $400K condo in a hotter neighborhood.

As long as I’m writing, favorite spots for the $400K house would be “Move In Ready” are Jeff Park, Edison Park as close to the Northwest Highway “down town” strip (Norwood border too), maybe North Mayfair because it isn’t that far west, Gladstone Park, and Peterson Park if your lucky.

By: Attrill

Attrill — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 05:23:39 +0000

The great thing about the current drop in the market is that it does make it possible to get a single family home in the city again. And not just in the far NW side, but in south Logan Square, East Humboldt Park, and many other neighborhoods close in on the Blue Line. Hell – 3 years ago I bought a 2 BR, 2 Bath single family for just under $240K (a few blocks from the Western stop). If anyone is looking for a single family home close to Bucktown/Wicker Park just walk around the area bounded by California, Milwaukee, and Armitage. There are plenty of houses well under $400K. The area is not zoned for condos, so you aren’t competing with developers for a property.

Across the city developers are not scooping up every lot they can get their hands on like they were a few years ago, which makes it possible again to by a “fixer upper”.

By: Chad

Chad — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 00:55:15 +0000

How do you do a waste?

By: Joe Zekas

Joe Zekas — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 22:33:56 +0000

Jane, Jane, Jane

As usual, I read it and understood it, and you didn’t do either. You have an agenda that will survive any state of facts, because you don’t exhibit much interest in facts.

Does your gaffe here cause you any embarrassment? I doubt it.

As Carter points out, Chicago is not on the list of cities that are expected to experience a decline of 1% or more.

Read it and weep?

Please get this, and get it once and for all: whatever the facts are, I’m not going to weep or cheer. I simply want to know what the facts are and try to put them in perspective.

I’ve been through several disastrous downturns in the housing market, and several spectacular uoward surges, and long stretches of stagnation. I know real estate doesn’t always go in one direction, either up or down.

What is your beef with people who refuse to drink your Kool Aid? Are you joining the bubble crowd that seems to have a love affair with ignorance?

By: UptownR

UptownR — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:09:06 +0000

I am in my 30s, own a condo, and have many other friends in their 30s or late 20s that own condos in the city. For some it’s a pit stop on the way to the suburbs, but many of us are trying to make city condos our long-term homes. Some have bought large three-bedroom condos on quiet side streets near parks so they can raise families in the city, and I applaud them for that. It’s not that we don’t want single-family houses, but just that we can’t afford them in neighborhoods that offer what we want. It will be interesting to see what happens as our families age…

By: Carter

Carter — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 19:05:07 +0000

I think that’s true in large part, but the other major reason people buy a condo (or downsize to one) is to not have to deal with all of the hassle that owning a piece of property entails – be it repairs on an older building to raking leaves to shoveling snow.

By: UptownR

UptownR — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 18:43:14 +0000

I think that people buy condos because it is what they can afford in where they want to live. I would love to move into a single-family house, but have researched the hell out of Portage Park, Jefferson Park, and the like–and just don’t see anything great about living there. I’m a city person through and through, but if you’re going to need to rely on your car anyway and have no restaurants and shopping nearby, there are several inner ring suburbs that offer more amenities! So, sometimes being a city person just means living in a condo–unless you’re rich. I mean, come on–do you really think people are going to rent for their entire lives? That’s not exactly a great long-term investment either. I’d take home-ownership over that any day.

Jane is all gloom and doom, and only looks at one side of the story. She could be right, but could just as easily be wrong. The future market could break in either direction.

By: Carter

Carter — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 18:19:53 +0000

Not sure about that – go to the source story:

And Chicago isn’t even on the list of the “top 100″ cities where the drop is expected.

By: Jane

Jane — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:47:55 +0000

Read it and weep Zekas and Rojas.

By: Lee

Lee — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:59:47 +0000

My understanding is that the price per square foot for attached housing has passed that of detached housing, which seems to speak more positively for the demand for condos. Though I still agree with Carter and Alan that a home should first and foremost be a place to live.

The ‘Modern Communities’ report released by GfK Roper Consulting showed an oversupply of large-lot single family homes:
http://www.newurbannews.com/MarketAprMay07.html

Quote:
“Large-lot housing — currently 53 percent of US housing stock — became the most popular housing to build in the post-World War II era, and it has been supported by conventional zoning throughout the nation. Nelson estimates that we already have 23 million more of these units than will be in demand by 2030. Yet builders are adding to this oversupply.”