I spent part of my Sunday afternoon driving around Hamlin Park and Roscoe Village in search of open houses. Several showings on my list were near the actual Hamlin Park, on both Damen and Wellington avenues, so the 2900 block of Damen seemed like a good place to park the car.
I was immediately struck by the number of for-sale signs I saw on either side of Damen. I’m not exaggerating when I say that nearly half of the buildings between George Street and Oakdale Avenue had a sign mounted out front. The homes below don’t appear to reflect everything I saw in the video above — for one reason or another, none of the Koenig & Strey listings surfaced in my search — but it gives you an idea of what’s available:
Condos:
- 2906 N Damen Ave #3: Two-bedroom / two-bath; built in 2000, last sold in 2007 for $425,000; on the market 49 days, now priced in the $420s.
- 2916 N Damen Ave #3: Two-bedroom / two-bath; built in 2006; on the market 193 days, now priced in the $380s.
- 2917 N Damen Ave #2N: Two-bedroom / two-bath; built in 2000, last sold in 2005 for $306,000; on the market 75 days, now priced in the $310s.
- 2920 N Damen Ave #1: Four-bedroom / 2.5-bath; built in 2005, last sold in 2007 for $495,000; on the market 12 days, now priced in the $480s.
- 2947 N Damen Ave #2N: Two-bedroom / two-bath; built in 1996, last sold in 2007 for $363,000; on the market 96 days, now priced in the $370s.
Multi-unit buildings:
- 2900 N Damen Ave: Eight units; built in 1916, last sold in 2007 for $775,000; on the market 88 days, now priced in the $620s.
- 2913 N Damen Ave: Seven units; built in 2001, last sold in 2006 for $995,000; on the market 229 days, now priced in the $760s.
Blocks lined with for-sale signs are nothing new — there are plenty in my neighborhood, including my own street — but they never fail to interest me. In this case, I wonder how much of a negative Damen is for buyers — the streetscape isn’t as dire as Ashland Avenue, but the block is close enough to the six-corner intersection of Damen, Diversey, and Clybourn to see its share of standing traffic (something that’s surely compounded during peak hours by the four-way stops near Hamlin Park). The cross-streets around the park seem much more inviting and neighborhoody, and indeed, that’s where I saw the majority of buyer traffic during open house hours.