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Old 02-04-2010, 10:13 AM
 
Location: Spokane, WA
850 posts, read 3,716,773 times
Reputation: 923

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I've been look at Remax for condos and am amazed at how inexpensive some of them are. I've seen several that are $60,000 or less, between a studio at 2 bedroom, that seem to be in very good condition. They look to be in pretty decent areas too.

Why is this? I'm in Portland, Oregon, which is much less expensive than Chicago and we have nothing like that. Is the market really terrible there or something?
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Old 02-04-2010, 10:19 AM
 
Location: Oak Park, IL
5,525 posts, read 13,949,514 times
Reputation: 3908
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sobefobik View Post
I've been look at Remax for condos and am amazed at how inexpensive some of them are. I've seen several that are $60,000 or less, between a studio at 2 bedroom, that seem to be in very good condition. They look to be in pretty decent areas too.

Why is this? I'm in Portland, Oregon, which is much less expensive than Chicago and we have nothing like that. Is the market really terrible there or something?
Many of the low priced condos are in high violent crime, low amenity neighborhoods.
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Old 02-04-2010, 10:50 AM
 
11,975 posts, read 31,789,833 times
Reputation: 4644
Here's one in Edgewater. I'm sure it's a pit, but I'm tempted to buy it at this price.

5740 N Sheridan Road Unit: 15E, Chicago, IL, 60660 - MLS #07337681 - Condo/Townhome/Row Home/Co-Op real estate - REALTOR.com® (http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/5740-N-Sheridan-Road-Unit-15E_Chicago_IL_60660_1113026977 - broken link)
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Old 02-04-2010, 11:03 AM
 
2,329 posts, read 6,633,575 times
Reputation: 1811
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lookout Kid View Post
Here's one in Edgewater. I'm sure it's a pit, but I'm tempted to buy it at this price.

5740 N Sheridan Road Unit: 15E, Chicago, IL, 60660 - MLS #07337681 - Condo/Townhome/Row Home/Co-Op real estate - REALTOR.com® (http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/5740-N-Sheridan-Road-Unit-15E_Chicago_IL_60660_1113026977 - broken link)
Gotta love how they dont include pictures of the interior, and the exterior is mainly obscured by tree branches
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Old 02-04-2010, 11:04 AM
 
Location: Spokane, WA
850 posts, read 3,716,773 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lookout Kid View Post
Here's one in Edgewater. I'm sure it's a pit, but I'm tempted to buy it at this price.

5740 N Sheridan Road Unit: 15E, Chicago, IL, 60660 - MLS #07337681 - Condo/Townhome/Row Home/Co-Op real estate - REALTOR.com® (http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/5740-N-Sheridan-Road-Unit-15E_Chicago_IL_60660_1113026977 - broken link)

Yes, exactly. I'm just amazed that these prices are available, even in the bad neighborhoods.
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Old 02-04-2010, 12:32 PM
 
Location: Chicago
2,884 posts, read 4,988,595 times
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Something else to consider is the monthly assessment. Sometimes they make up for the low price with sky high fees.
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Old 02-04-2010, 12:59 PM
 
Location: Spokane, WA
850 posts, read 3,716,773 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by knitgirl View Post
Something else to consider is the monthly assessment. Sometimes they make up for the low price with sky high fees.

Yes, I looked at that too. But some were only about $150 a month, which is pretty reasonable.
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Old 02-04-2010, 01:14 PM
 
Location: Chicago
2,884 posts, read 4,988,595 times
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Could be there are a lot of foreclosures or distressed properties in the building. There are a ton of condos on that stretch of Sheridan. I would be very reluctant to buy a condo in this market without checking out how well it's managed, the reserves, etc. I work for a mortgage broker, it can be difficult getting loans if the building is in trouble. You definitely would want to do a TON of due diligence before committing to a condo. There was another thread on here recently by a guy who was thinking of just walking away from his condo because the value was less than what he paid. Of course he bought near the peak and we all hope that we're near the low now.
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Old 02-04-2010, 01:52 PM
 
28,455 posts, read 85,370,617 times
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knitgirl is dead on -- the ingredients for some very nasty "soup of doom" in the condo market of Chicago are all in a big pot. If a few other things happen to turn up the heat there is going to be a boil over that will whack all kinds of real estate values very very very hard.

The problems stem from about a decade of serious over building of condos, lax regulations on converting apartments into condo, virtually no supervision of condo associations / HOAs under Illinois weak Condo laws, and a complete lack of understanding on the part of most buyers as to what they were getting into.
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Old 02-05-2010, 09:38 PM
 
184 posts, read 766,330 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by knitgirl View Post
Something else to consider is the monthly assessment. Sometimes they make up for the low price with sky high fees.
Parking might cost extra too.
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