Buying a house in Alsip need help (Oak Lawn, Blue Island: sales, real estate)

[radly]

Hello im 26 and im about to buy a house in Alsip. Right now we live in a related living house with her parents in Mt.Greenwood and i love this neighborhood but cant afford anything.

I grew up in chicago near Marquette park and had to get out because it was horrible.

I found a house on 118th place near pulaski (about a block and a half west of pulaski behind the mc donalds/apartments for anyone knowing the area). Its a split level with 3 bedrooms and a nice basement with a 2.5 car garage for 155k. We talked her down from 179k.

My help needed is ... What is the neighborhood like? I tried to sit around on a friday night in the area and it seemed ok dispite there being apartments so close. Is there alot of crime in alsip? Can i expect my home to go up in value? Will it turn horrible in a few years?

I have a home inspector coming tomarrow but i would love some opinions.

[chet everett]

I am not super familiar with Alsip, but I do have relatives in Oak Lawn and we sometimes drive through the section you are considering. It does have lots of apartments nearby, and that might not be the best thing.

Firstly, I think you seem to be getting a heckuva low priced home. That can be a good thing, but you really have to get good data on what is selling nearby. According to the stats the median price in Alsip is only $123,500 -- a huge 40.84% decline year over year. Oak Lawn is at $160K down about 20%, and Blue Island at $145 is down only 3.97% -- now that reflects what has sold and might be distorted by small number of sales, but it still is something to be concerned about.
Real Estate: Community Map, Attractions, Schools & Crime Statistics -- chicagotribune.com

The single most troubling thing on that page is the poor performance of the schools -- people that buy SFH detached home want good schools. If they can get a better school in Oak Lawn then THAT is your competiton NOT the fact the seller wanted $179K. You have to be very careful to make sure that you are not overpaying in a declining market ESPECIALLY if the school are declining and the crime may be increasing. Entirely possible that you are walking into a sinkhole...

That said, you have to be PROACTIVE and get involved in doing everything you can to a) maintain & improve your property AND the block you are on b) do everything you can to make your WHOLE area SAFER by getting to know the cops and the trouble spots c) taking an active interest in the SCHOOLs, even if that just means knowing what they spend money on and helping to spread the word that GOOD SCHOOLS are important and worth being an advocate for even if you do not have kids.

Good Luck!

[cdc3217]

I like Alsip for a starter home. You'll be near the public pool if that interests you and a bike trail. That area seems to me to be a solid area of town - I know the apartments you're talking about though. The park district and library have good programs, and my impression is that the young families are pretty nice, long-timers are OK (and I think the homes where you are are more likely long-timer families). But I wouldn't want my kids in jr high there. There are teen hoodlum type issues there IMO. Alsip's had some mayoral changes and I'm not sure how that's affecting life. I'm not sure who home prices are crashing so hard other than a general preference for farther flung towns like Tinley that have more to offer.

If you go to redfin.com and search on zip code 60803 you can look at home listing s and recent home sales and see if your offer is marketable.