Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Real Estate
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Closed Thread Start New Thread
 
Old 11-17-2014, 07:43 AM
 
1,135 posts, read 1,110,249 times
Reputation: 689

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80 View Post
This is the biggest detractor to this house, IMO. I do not want to look out my front window and see an ambulance bay and commercial/hospital building....even living in a major city, I do NOT want that to be my view. There is a tremendous amount of noise that comes with a hospital that has an ER - again, don't want to pay $500k (much less $650k!) and hear sirens 24/7.

Constants sirens 24/7 was never a bother there, and that never kept me awake. I guess ambulances going there turned off their siren by the time they got near this hospital, because they were not in major traffic roads like at North Ave or Western - major traffic roads.

Second, OP's brother made *some* good decisions in his renovation, such as removing burglar bars (bars scream bad neighborhood), painting with neutral colors (the bright greens, pinks, etc in old photos are hideous), and carving out a 2nd bedroom upstairs. BUT the original remodel was done cheaply-> whether it had a cheap price tag or not, white appliances and builder basic bathrooms are "cheap" compared to your brother's real estate competition in the $500-700k price range.

Too me, burglar bars are an asset, especially when you have expensive stuff. I'd buy a house in an expensive neighborhood with burglar bars too, because then I wouldn't fear a burglar home invasion at night when I'm sleeping, especially if they have a gun. So I felt very secure in my house with burglar bars, even when Wicker Park became an upscale neighborhood.

So I guess you find white appliances cheap. Then I guess these aren't top end stainless steel, but they are not the cheap basic white appliances. I told my mom to shop for the better appliances, but we didn't need top end stainless steel appliances. We weren't looking to remodel this house to sell, we were remodeling for us to live in. Maybe the kitchen appliances aren't top end then, but they aren't basic cheap. The rest of the house wasn't cheap remodeling, - we didn't skimp on wiring, plumbing, or HVAC. We got the 2nd most highest efficiency HVAC central heating - A/C for the house during that time.

My brother didn't carve out a 2nd bedroom. He divided the top floor - one big accessible space - into two spilt bedrooms by putting a dividing wall in between them. I didn't like that. Just so the house wouldn't list as a 1 bedroom but 3 bedroom. I think that open space could have been listed as a 2 bedroom space.




Look at some of the photos for nearby listings (below). OP, certainly you can tell the difference in quality between his baths & kitchens and these!! Buyers at that price point WANT stainless steel appliances (Viking, Wolf, SubZero, etc brands), granite/marble kitchen counters, nice big kitchen islands, luxurious spa bathrooms with soaking tubs, separate showers, double sinks, walk-in custom closets, etc.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...78-55255?row=6

Yes, this house does have a very nice kitchen. How much would a kitchen like this cost?

http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...08-82518?row=1

The front of this house is very ugly.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...11-15709?row=1


http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...55-07648?row=1

How much would the stainless steel kitchen appliances in the townhome cost?

http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...50-71816?row=1


Bottom line, sorry your mom & brother screwed you out of your share of this house. Family finances and wills can be very messy & drama-filled and having personally witnessed a similar situation, my heart goes out to you. But you and your brother are not being realistic about this house's value and merits. Sometimes that's hard to do when it's your personal childhood home. It's hard to separate the real estate market from your family's past, especially when some of your loved ones are no longer here. If he gets the price low enough ($450k?) , then someone will see enough value potential to come in & spend $100-150k to remodel a modern kitchen, bath & closets, and fix some of the weird floor plan issues.

Looking from some of the competition and the way that their price, I guess our house does has to list at $499,900 then. That must mean housing prices have dropped recently. Our next door neighbor house just sold quickly, but our house was better. Her's was a 3 story, but separate top and 1st floor. The basement was unfinished.

The neighborhood has changed dramatically since you were a child and today's buyers want totally different things than the things your family valued about your home & it's location (cafeteria food, schools, a 45 minute walk IN CHICAGO's WEATHER to an elite school, etc). I said you can take the Western Bus home too. You MUST appeal to today's buyers who are mostly single or dual income professionals - they want the charm of a historic home but everything inside to be BRAND NEW & HIGH END, they don't care about fixing their own cars or eating cafeteria dinner or going to mass in a hospital, they want walking distance to fun restaurants and cool boutiques, they most likely won't use the schools, etc.
The nearby good schools to use are St Helen's Elementary and Lane Tech HS, both schools that I went to.

 
Old 11-17-2014, 09:51 AM
 
26,974 posts, read 43,502,112 times
Reputation: 31779
Quote:
Originally Posted by ss20ts View Post
I looked at all the Trulia photos and the place looks so drab and sterile to me. The angle of the photos looks like they're are trying to make the rooms appear to be larger than they really are. The exterior is hideous and I see a lot of dollar signs on changing that.

Would I pay $500k for it? Nope. Not even in the best neighborhood in Chicago!
I agree, it's a builder's grade flip especially in the kitchen with it's cheap (and bland) cabinets/appliances/counters, the bathrooms with the big box store sink vanity and cheap tile, plus what looks to be varying flooring types ranging from laminate to "off the roll" carpet....all for over 500K? Me thinks not.
 
Old 11-17-2014, 03:00 PM
 
1,135 posts, read 1,110,249 times
Reputation: 689
Quote:
Originally Posted by kyle19125 View Post
I agree, it's a builder's grade flip especially in the kitchen with it's cheap (and bland) cabinets/appliances/counters, the bathrooms with the big box store sink vanity and cheap tile, plus what looks to be varying flooring types ranging from laminate to "off the roll" carpet....all for over 500K? Me thinks not.
These houses have bland cabinets too then:
http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...l_PhotoGallery -- Just a simple rectangular cut pattern in their cabinets! My house cabinets have a more intricate pattern!

http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...l_PhotoGallery - The microwave in this house doesn't have as good a control panel as my microwave. The fancy stainless steel refridgerator has no cold water and ice maker / outlet LIKE MY REFRIDGERATER.

This house has those top end stainless steel appliances you want with good features, but it has less cabinets then my kitchen and thus LESS KITCHEN STORAGE SPACE TO STORE STUFF. It's stove has no middle griddle to fry a steak if you want, unlike my stove. It's cabinetry and kitchen space clearly suck compared to my kitchen! http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...l_PhotoGallery

Cheap white appliances? You probably think they're cheap just because they're white, not stainless steel. Look at the appliance in my kitchen pic with my dad - just check out the control panel of the microwave and stove / oven. The stove / oven has the knobs for the stove, a center griddle, and a digital control panel for digital control of the oven. Now look at this supposed "top end" stainless steel oven in this house -- http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...l_PhotoGallery

-- Their supposed "top end" stainless steel oven is just controlled by knobs, NO DIGITAL CONTROL OF THE OVEN, LIKE MY OVEN. My refridgerator has a cold water and ice maker / outlet, what does their TOP END STAINLESS STEEL REFRIGERATOR have, just a water outlet? THEIR TOP END STAINLESS STEEL DISHWASHER HAS NO CONTROL PANEL ON IT [MINE HAS] - SO DOES THEIR DISHWASHER JUST HAVE A SIMPLE "ON" CONTROL? PATHETIC.

So just because appliances are white, that doesn't mean they're cheap. Just because appliances are stainless steel, that maybe gives you the impression they are top end and expensive. But my appliances have more features. Because I am a features gadget guy.

The only thing we didn't have is granite countertops.

The bath toilets top floor and first floor are TOTO - isn't that a high end enough Japanese toliet?

We selected tile that looks nice, not cheap tile.

It was not a builder's grade cheap remodeling flip. Not when you put the 2nd best highest energy efficient central air during that time of remodeling [unit is Carrier I think]. You can sense a cheap builder's grade flip from a rehabber who buys and sells houses immediately after a rehab.


And I take back my previous comment that this house's kitchen is nice and expensive. Just take a close look at the control features of it's fridge, microwave, and oven. The feature's on my house's "cheap white" appliance are better!
http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...l_PhotoGallery The fridge in this house has no cold water and ice maker outlet, an AWESOME FEATURE OF MY REFRIDGERATOR, especially when you want to drink a lot of ice water!

I guess you got the impression our appliances are cheap when the listing pics are small and fuzzed up and they don't show the detailed features of the control panel of our appliances. Because when we went shopping for kitchen appliances, we bought for good features, not for "an expensive looking stainless steel appliance that doesn't have good features."
Attached Thumbnails
What do you think of this house in Chicago?-kitchen-dad.jpg  

Last edited by JTE1969; 11-17-2014 at 03:23 PM..
 
Old 11-17-2014, 03:19 PM
 
Location: Salem, OR
15,518 posts, read 40,267,236 times
Reputation: 17399
Quote:
Originally Posted by JTE1969 View Post
http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...l_PhotoGallery - The microwave in this house doesn't have as good a control panel as my microwave. The fancy stainless steel refridgerator has no cold water and ice maker / outlet LIKE MY REFRIDGERATER.

Cheap white appliances? You probably think they're cheap just because they're white, not stainless steel. Look at the appliance in my kitchen pic with my dad - just check out the control panel of the microwave and stove / oven. The stove / oven has the knobs for the stove, a center griddle, and a digital control panel for digital control of the oven. Now look at this supposed "top end" stainless steel oven in this house -- http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...l_PhotoGallery

-- Their supposed "top end" stainless steel oven is just controlled by knobs, NO DIGITAL CONTROL OF THE OVEN, LIKE MY OVEN. My refridgerator has a cold water and ice maker / outlet, what does their TOP END STAINLESS STEEL REFRIGERATOR have, just a water outlet? THEIR TOP END STAINLESS STEEL DISHWASHER HAS NO CONTROL PANEL ON IT [MINE HAS] - SO DOES THEIR DISHWASHER JUST HAVE A SIMPLE "ON" CONTROL? PATHETIC.


And I take back my previous comment that this house's kitchen is nice and expensive. Just take a close look at the control features of it's fridge, microwave, and oven. The feature's on my house's "cheap white" appliance are better!
http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...l_PhotoGallery The fridge in this house has no cold water and ice maker outlet, an AWESOME FEATURE OF MY REFRIDGERATOR, especially when you want to drink a lot of ice water!

You need to go to an appliance store. Many stainless models have hidden digital displays so that the display isn't seen. It gives the appliances a clean look which is considered higher end. Our digital display for our dishwasher is hidden on the top ledge of the dishwasher. You can only see it when you open the door.

Many stainless models have the cold water and ice makers inside the doors, again, to give the stainless steel face a clean look.

I'm not sure being on an open forum will help you move on from the house. When you start going off on how your appliances are better because you like the digital display, it is hard to see how you are going to get past the sale of the house without some therapeutic support.
 
Old 11-17-2014, 03:55 PM
 
3,205 posts, read 2,608,598 times
Reputation: 8570
JTE1969, this has been bugging me since the first post - why the heck do you keep calling this a 3 story house? Are you counting the garage as a story? The on-street parking? Maybe the waiting room at the hospital across the street? The first story is the one you walk into from the street. The second story is those two substandard bedrooms shoehorned into the walk-up attic. Are you calling the basement another story? Are any of the pictures taken in this so-called third story?

Maybe you consider the tale you tell about your brother and mother screwing you out of the house you thought they would give you if you lived there rent free long enough a '3rd story'?

Inquiring minds want to know!
 
Old 11-17-2014, 04:11 PM
 
1,135 posts, read 1,110,249 times
Reputation: 689
To post #54 - I actually don't mind criticism or negativity of my house. It shows me what doubters doubt about my house. I haven't shopped for appliances since 2005 or so, so I didn't know about SS appliances. From people's criticism here that they thought we had cheap appliances, I guess they said that when the house listing pics don't show the control panel of our appliances. I just wanted to say even though our appliances are white, they are not basic appliances with just a knob control, like for oven temperature. Our appliances have the same features of fancy SS appliances then, they just don't have that clean SS look. And if a SS oven doesn't have digital control of the oven, then my stove / oven is clearly better despite being white.

Actually if the house doesn't sell or goes to low of an asking price, I'd rather convince my brother to let me live in it and let me pay him $240,000 over the years. Because he threatened to sue my aunt and I to sell the house or charge us !15,000/year rent to live in it. If the housing market is crashing I'd rather live in the basement while the rest of the house is rented. But I would share access to the kitchen there.

But we had people ask throughout the years if we wanted to sell our house. So there are people who like our location, despite it being by a hospital. If I sought out another house for myself too I'd like to be by another hospital. What is worse for noise is if you live on a major city street, by a train station, or by an airport, - airplane, car, truck, and train noise is frequent then.
 
Old 11-17-2014, 04:29 PM
 
Location: Northern Maine
10,428 posts, read 18,600,167 times
Reputation: 11562
It is amazing what people will pay to live in a city with no human rights or freedoms. You can buy a nice 4 bedroom home overlooking a lake in Maine for less than a tenth of that price. Two car heated garage too. Low taxes and close to a ski area.
 
Old 11-17-2014, 04:42 PM
 
1,135 posts, read 1,110,249 times
Reputation: 689
Quote:
Originally Posted by rugrats2001 View Post
JTE1969, this has been bugging me since the first post - why the heck do you keep calling this a 3 story house? Are you counting the garage as a story? The on-street parking? Maybe the waiting room at the hospital across the street? The first story is the one you walk into from the street. The second story is those two substandard bedrooms shoehorned into the walk-up attic. Are you calling the basement another story? Are any of the pictures taken in this so-called third story?

Maybe you consider the tale you tell about your brother and mother screwing you out of the house you thought they would give you if you lived there rent free long enough a '3rd story'?

Inquiring minds want to know!
Yeah, I call this a 3 story house because it has two floors and a basement. If real estate terminology calls that a 2 story, then I didn't know that. But it shouldn't be called a bungallow. If you're calling the top floor now divided into two "substandard" bedrooms, then each of these bedrooms have more space then the bedroom I had in my 2 bedroom apt I rented in Houston. The only thing these two bedrooms don't have is their own closet, but there is more than enough space for clothes racks, cabinets, and an altar there in each bedroom. The rooms next to each of these bedrooms held considerable enough stuff while I lived there, and they can function as a computer room / office.

Actually, I don't mind if this house doesn't sell, but then I would have to live in it, and I'd like to rent each bedroom upstairs as private space, and I'd have the basement as my private space. Then we would share the first floor. But I worry if I can get a job in Chicago's tough job market. Maybe this house should be sold and I live in another city, like Houston, where you can buy an 1800 sqft house for $140,000 or so, but they are wood frame, not brick.

I don't know about what to do with my future now, life is so uncertain. After being unemployed so long in Chicago, maybe I have to move to other places and rent to work for jobs there. Maybe I have to live in Apts the rest of my life, and keep moving for jobs. Because not all the good jobs for me are in Chicago. But the problem is that I have a lot of possesssions causing $380 / month storage fees. I wouldn't have had these many possession if I was warned I wouldn't inherit this house. When we we're guests in a rich dentist's house in Vigan, my mom said "but I own a house... I said I never bought it, I'll inheirt it and it's still your house mom."
 
Old 11-17-2014, 04:58 PM
 
11,768 posts, read 10,226,700 times
Reputation: 3444
Quote:
Originally Posted by JTE1969 View Post
To post #54 - I actually don't mind criticism or negativity of my house. It shows me what doubters doubt about my house. I haven't shopped for appliances since 2005 or so, so I didn't know about SS appliances. From people's criticism here that they thought we had cheap appliances, I guess they said that when the house listing pics don't show the control panel of our appliances. I just wanted to say even though our appliances are white, they are not basic appliances with just a knob control, like for oven temperature. Our appliances have the same features of fancy SS appliances then, they just don't have that clean SS look. And if a SS oven doesn't have digital control of the oven, then my stove / oven is clearly better despite being white.

Actually if the house doesn't sell or goes to low of an asking price, I'd rather convince my brother to let me live in it and let me pay him $240,000 over the years. Because he threatened to sue my aunt and I to sell the house or charge us !15,000/year rent to live in it. If the housing market is crashing I'd rather live in the basement while the rest of the house is rented. But I would share access to the kitchen there.

But we had people ask throughout the years if we wanted to sell our house. So there are people who like our location, despite it being by a hospital. If I sought out another house for myself too I'd like to be by another hospital. What is worse for noise is if you live on a major city street, by a train station, or by an airport, - airplane, car, truck, and train noise is frequent then.
I'm pretty sure people told you in the Chicago forum that your income wasn't going to be enough to cover property taxes. You could rent it out, but since the ownership (rent) needs to be split 3 ways there still won't be enough to cover expenses over the coming years.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man View Post
It is amazing what people will pay to live in a city with no human rights or freedoms. You can buy a nice 4 bedroom home overlooking a lake in Maine for less than a tenth of that price. Two car heated garage too. Low taxes and close to a ski area.
We have freedom and rights in Chicago. Prices are high due to desirability and high incomes.
 
Old 11-17-2014, 05:14 PM
 
13,194 posts, read 28,176,343 times
Reputation: 13135
Quote:
Originally Posted by JTE1969 View Post
These houses have bland cabinets too then:
http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...l_PhotoGallery -- Just a simple rectangular cut pattern in their cabinets! My house cabinets have a more intricate pattern!

http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...l_PhotoGallery - The microwave in this house doesn't have as good a control panel as my microwave. The fancy stainless steel refridgerator has no cold water and ice maker / outlet LIKE MY REFRIDGERATER.

This house has those top end stainless steel appliances you want with good features, but it has less cabinets then my kitchen and thus LESS KITCHEN STORAGE SPACE TO STORE STUFF. It's stove has no middle griddle to fry a steak if you want, unlike my stove. It's cabinetry and kitchen space clearly suck compared to my kitchen! http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...l_PhotoGallery

Cheap white appliances? You probably think they're cheap just because they're white, not stainless steel. Look at the appliance in my kitchen pic with my dad - just check out the control panel of the microwave and stove / oven. The stove / oven has the knobs for the stove, a center griddle, and a digital control panel for digital control of the oven. Now look at this supposed "top end" stainless steel oven in this house -- http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...l_PhotoGallery

-- Their supposed "top end" stainless steel oven is just controlled by knobs, NO DIGITAL CONTROL OF THE OVEN, LIKE MY OVEN. My refridgerator has a cold water and ice maker / outlet, what does their TOP END STAINLESS STEEL REFRIGERATOR have, just a water outlet? THEIR TOP END STAINLESS STEEL DISHWASHER HAS NO CONTROL PANEL ON IT [MINE HAS] - SO DOES THEIR DISHWASHER JUST HAVE A SIMPLE "ON" CONTROL? PATHETIC.

So just because appliances are white, that doesn't mean they're cheap. Just because appliances are stainless steel, that maybe gives you the impression they are top end and expensive. But my appliances have more features. Because I am a features gadget guy.

The only thing we didn't have is granite countertops.

The bath toilets top floor and first floor are TOTO - isn't that a high end enough Japanese toliet?

We selected tile that looks nice, not cheap tile.

It was not a builder's grade cheap remodeling flip. Not when you put the 2nd best highest energy efficient central air during that time of remodeling [unit is Carrier I think]. You can sense a cheap builder's grade flip from a rehabber who buys and sells houses immediately after a rehab.


And I take back my previous comment that this house's kitchen is nice and expensive. Just take a close look at the control features of it's fridge, microwave, and oven. The feature's on my house's "cheap white" appliance are better!
http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...l_PhotoGallery The fridge in this house has no cold water and ice maker outlet, an AWESOME FEATURE OF MY REFRIDGERATOR, especially when you want to drink a lot of ice water!

I guess you got the impression our appliances are cheap when the listing pics are small and fuzzed up and they don't show the detailed features of the control panel of our appliances. Because when we went shopping for kitchen appliances, we bought for good features, not for "an expensive looking stainless steel appliance that doesn't have good features."

I gave this same advice on the "designer condo" thread where there was another seller who was too emotionally involved in his sale to think rationally-->

When we live in a house, it's all about us- what colors we like, how we arrange furniture, what features appliances have, etc.

When we sell a house, it's ALL about what buyers want. What you, the owner/resident, think doesn't matter anymore.

To be successful, you MUST be able to see your house in a buyer's eyes. People on this thread are LOUDLY telling you the remodel looks cheap, the floor plan is weird, people want real closets for $500k (not a rolling rack), what you value in appliances isn't what the average seller values, etc. And if you don't believe internet strangers on two different threads, the fact that you got no offers near full price at $650k, $575k, and now $499k should speak volumes.

You can choose to hear the feedback or not. But until you do - and adjust the price or the interior accordingly- the place won't sell. Which sounds like that's what you prefer (same as the overly emotional designer condo seller in the other thread).
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 12:28 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top