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Old 11-17-2014, 05:28 PM
 
1,135 posts, read 1,110,249 times
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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.
Yeah, houses in Chicago are expensive. Even these houses cost a lot for their crappy condition:
http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...7_M85591-71392
http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...7_M83031-20650

So my house for $500,000 in a prime neighborhood and awesome work / drive location is a great deal.

Quote:
Originally Posted by lycos679 View Post
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.

We have freedom and rights in Chicago. Prices are high due to desirability and high incomes.
I don't know... The house is in the Inheritance Trust and I own 50% of it, so I'd live in the basement free. The two top floor bedrooms will rent for $800 each plus utilities, sharing the 1st floor with everyone. How would that work out? Is that about right? Our long term resident and Sr citizen property tax came out to be about $4800 a year. I don't know how much it'd be after living and renting the house, and after my dad died.

Maybe renting the entire house would bring $2600 / month.

So further advice is appreciated. Right now I don't know if I can get a job in Chicago and live in Chicago. Maybe I better get a job in a different city and just rent around.

The house also had a new water heater in 2005. As I said before, this is not a cheap house remodeling flip, as we lived in the house ever since the remodeling.

 
Old 11-17-2014, 05:30 PM
 
1,135 posts, read 1,110,249 times
Reputation: 689
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.
Yeah, houses in Chicago are expensive. Even these houses cost a lot for their crappy condition:
http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...7_M85591-71392
http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...7_M83031-20650

So my house for $500,000 in a prime neighborhood and awesome work / drive location is a great deal.

Quote:
Originally Posted by lycos679 View Post
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.

We have freedom and rights in Chicago. Prices are high due to desirability and high incomes.
I don't know... The house is in the Inheritance Trust and I own 50% of it, so I'd live in the basement free. The two top floor bedrooms will rent for $800 each plus utilities, sharing the 1st floor with everyone. How would that work out? Is that about right? Our long term resident and Sr citizen property tax came out to be about $4800 a year. I don't know how much it'd be after living and renting the house, and after my dad died.

Maybe renting the entire house would bring $2600 / month.

So further advice is appreciated. Right now I don't know if I can get a job in Chicago and live in Chicago. Maybe I better get a job in a different city and just rent around.

The house also had a new water heater in 2005. As I said before, this is not a cheap house remodeling flip, as we lived in the house ever since the remodeling.

I tell God to let me win an ok enough Lotto just so I can stay living in this house. It's a perfect house and location for me, but the Chicago job market for me sucks. Maybe I do have to move because of jobs.
 
Old 11-17-2014, 05:34 PM
 
3,205 posts, read 2,608,598 times
Reputation: 8570
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.
Wow, that sounds great! I just need the zip code so I can search Zillow for my dream house. I always wanted a nice 4 bedroom house overlooking a lake with a two car heated garage for under $50,000! I am anxiously awaiting your answer.
 
Old 11-17-2014, 06:01 PM
 
1,135 posts, read 1,110,249 times
Reputation: 689
Quote:
Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80 View Post
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-->

Is this the thread you're talking about? Is it so hard to sell designer's condos in smaller cities?

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.

Well, maybe out of 70 people there would be 2 or 3 interested enough to buy, and that'd be good enough.

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.

I think was house was listed on July 27, so that was too late to be in the peak buyer summer selling time, especially for home buyers with kids. My brother said if we don't list the house in this summer selling period, then it probably wouldn't sell for a year.

If you want closets then use the nursury room and computer room as a closet, because we did. I admit, only the top floor plan is weird, because my brother split the open space into two bedrooms just for listing.

If you think the remodel was cheap, I guess you got this impression from the white appliances, not SS ones. A buyer can easily upgrade to SS appliance if they want, so the price of this house was lowered. We used licensed electricians, plumbers, and HVAC people to remodel our house. We gave it Toto toilets and the 2nd high efficiency central air for it's time.

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).
$500,000 now is an ok selling price for the house, compared to other listings in the area. I guess what happened is housing prices just went down in Chicago, as the other WP houses are listing for less too.

I appreciate good or bad feedback. It's ok to know what people doubt, and why they doubt that. If people think this is a cheap house, they must be rich people who think it is cheap according to their rich standards. Because my parents were ok middle class citizens, when they retired their salary was around $68,000 / year each. So a $250,000 remodel was what we can afford, and that was like buying another house already.
 
Old 11-17-2014, 06:05 PM
 
1,135 posts, read 1,110,249 times
Reputation: 689
Quote:
Originally Posted by rugrats2001 View Post
Wow, that sounds great! I just need the zip code so I can search Zillow for my dream house. I always wanted a nice 4 bedroom house overlooking a lake with a two car heated garage for under $50,000! I am anxiously awaiting your answer.
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.
Yeah, maybe this house should sell and I should live in a $50,000 dream house with cheap property taxes. Do you have any listings?

I would use this house as a home base and do contract jobs around the nation for work then. It sounds like a good plan! Where should I move to?
 
Old 11-17-2014, 06:07 PM
 
11,768 posts, read 10,226,700 times
Reputation: 3444
Quote:
Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80 View Post
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).
In fairness, $500K isn't too out of line for this neighborhood. The work was completed with no permits and the kitchen looks like it was just slapped together, so it does have some things going against it, but it is one of the cheapest houses I have ever seen in Wicker Park.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JTE1969 View Post
Yeah, houses in Chicago are expensive. Even these houses cost a lot for their crappy condition:
http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...7_M85591-71392
http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...7_M83031-20650

So my house for $500,000 in a prime neighborhood and awesome work / drive location is a great deal.

I don't know... The house is in the Inheritance Trust and I own 50% of it, so I'd live in the basement free. The two top floor bedrooms will rent for $800 each plus utilities, sharing the 1st floor with everyone. How would that work out? Is that about right? Our long term resident and Sr citizen property tax came out to be about $4800 a year. I don't know how much it'd be after living and renting the house, and after my dad died.

Maybe renting the entire house would bring $2600 / month.

So further advice is appreciated. Right now I don't know if I can get a job in Chicago and live in Chicago. Maybe I better get a job in a different city and just rent around.

The house also had a new water heater in 2005. As I said before, this is not a cheap house remodeling flip, as we lived in the house ever since the remodeling.
My realtor said to expect anywhere from 1.5% to 2% of the sales price, but there are some variation between a house with land and a condo with no land and even among identical houses in the city/county. If the tax assessor estimates the house to be worth $500K you are looking at $7500-$10K/yr in taxes. The house could probably rent for $1.7K-$2K at the upper limit (def not $2.6K), but the rent would be split 50,40,10, which, as I said, isn't enough to cover expenses over the long term.

I still wouldn't call your house a great deal though. It's in Wicker Park, not Lincoln Park. There was a house ( an actual house) for sale in LP for about $500K that also had a backyard and was in better condition than yours is - now that was a great deal. If I was going to place an offer I would get a quote to move the fridge where the pantry is and put the pantry where the fridge is, a quote to have all of the cabinets match, and possibly do something about the upstairs. Once I had that quote I would deduct that from the comparable listing price.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rugrats2001 View Post
Wow, that sounds great! I just need the zip code so I can search Zillow for my dream house. I always wanted a nice 4 bedroom house overlooking a lake with a two car heated garage for under $50,000! I am anxiously awaiting your answer.
Lol me too. (seriously)
 
Old 11-17-2014, 07:17 PM
 
1,135 posts, read 1,110,249 times
Reputation: 689
Quote:
Originally Posted by lycos679 View Post
In fairness, $500K isn't too out of line for this neighborhood. The work was completed with no permits and the kitchen looks like it was just slapped together, so it does have some things going against it, but it is one of the cheapest houses I have ever seen in Wicker Park.

But the kitchen has a lot of cabinet space. And our cabinets did look just as good as those other expensive WP house listings. We only lack granite countertops and SS appliances. We didn't remodel for a house flip, so that guarantees that whatever house work was done wasn't a "cheap look good / high profit" remodel job.

My realtor said to expect anywhere from 1.5% to 2% of the sales price, but there are some variation between a house with land and a condo with no land and even among identical houses in the city/county. If the tax assessor estimates the house to be worth $500K you are looking at $7500-$10K/yr in taxes. The house could probably rent for $1.7K-$2K at the upper limit (def not $2.6K), but the rent would be split 50,40,10, which, as I said, isn't enough to cover expenses over the long term.

I guess I would rent the 2 bdr top floor to someone, and share the first floor with them [for $2000 monthly]. I would live in the basement then, but they would have access through the basement to the laundry room.

Compares good to these listings:HEART OF WICKER PARK - 2 BED W/ HWF DW WIFI INCLUDED~STEPS 2 BLUE LINE
One-of-a-kind Wicker Park mid-rise with all the luxury amenities
GARDEN 2 Bedroom in Wicker Park

2bdr with a lot of space list for a lot in rent in WP: chicago apts/housing for rent "Wicker Park" - craigslist


I still wouldn't call your house a great deal though. It's in Wicker Park, not Lincoln Park. There was a house ( an actual house) for sale in LP for about $500K that also had a backyard and was in better condition than yours is - now that was a great deal. If I was going to place an offer I would get a quote to move the fridge where the pantry is and put the pantry where the fridge is, a quote to have all of the cabinets match, and possibly do something about the upstairs. Once I had that quote I would deduct that from the comparable listing price.

Lol me too. (seriously)
I'd prefer WP to LP because it's a better drive centrally located to access the 90/94 & 290 to drive to suburban jobs better than LP. Way less work drive hassle.

Seriously, I'd prefer to rent / share the house now. Would property tax be around $7500 / year if that happened? I'd prefer that but I don't know if my brother would allow that. If the house sells he could get $200,000 from his share of the Trust and he'd immediately pay off his cheaper Texas home, - and that's his motivation.

Last edited by JTE1969; 11-17-2014 at 07:40 PM..
 
Old 11-17-2014, 07:26 PM
 
11,768 posts, read 10,226,700 times
Reputation: 3444
Something I just thought of. When the house finally sells I would take the money and buy a place that you can rent out (possibly with your brother as a co-owner) so that you can have some income and live rent free. I am currently looking at a place that is a bit more than your house, but rental income nets close to 6 figures. Or, alternatively, buy a company so that you can have a job, but that would put your current income at risk. My brother and I just bought an SEO oriented company with the arrangement that I will not have to be involved in the daily operations, my invested money gets returned as dividends, and a gross up clause to cover any taxes due.
 
Old 11-17-2014, 07:45 PM
 
11,768 posts, read 10,226,700 times
Reputation: 3444
Quote:
Originally Posted by JTE1969 View Post
I'd prefer WP to LP because it's a better drive centrally located to access the 90/94 & 290 to drive to suburban jobs better than LP. Way less work drive hassle.

Seriously, I'd prefer to rent / share the house now. Would property tax be around $7500 / year if that happened? I'd prefer that but I don't know if my brother would allow that. If the house sells he could get $200,000 from his share of the Trust and he'd immediately pay of his cheaper Texas home, - and that's his motivation.
The taxes going up had something to do with the change of ownership, which would happen at some point, now or 10 years from now is irrelevant as the ownership will change at some point. I recall the thread from the Chicago forum, but I don't remember the details.

I said $2K max because these houses are are close to you, are available less than the $2.6K you quoted, and aren't shared space. I realtor can give you a better estimate for a shared space rental, but I don't see how it would be $2.6K.

1310 North Leavitt Street #CH, Chicago IL - Trulia
2119 West Evergreen Avenue #1NW, Chicago IL - Trulia
1078 North Hermitage Avenue #3, Chicago IL - Trulia

Quote:
But the kitchen has a lot of cabinet space. And our cabinets did look just as good as those other expensive WP house listings. We only lack granite countertops and SS appliances. We didn't remodel for a house flip, so that guarantees that whatever house work was done wasn't a "cheap look good / high profit" remodel job.
The cabinets don't look like they match. The top cabinets have an arc in the design, the bottom cabinets have a straight line carved out, and 2 of the cabinet doors have glass instead of wood. Like I said, it looks like it was just slapped together. Not horrible and not expensive to fix, but it isn't aesthetically appealing to me. If you browse other listings you will see that the kitchen design matches or compliments the rest of the kitchen. I could just be the odd man out, but I have looked at a lot of kitchens over the summer and nearly everything matched.
 
Old 11-17-2014, 08:02 PM
 
6,438 posts, read 6,884,237 times
Reputation: 8739
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.
Can you make any money up there? Didn't think so. Nice place to spend what you've already made somewhere else.

By the way, my human rights and freedoms are about the same anywhere in the United States. It's not perfect, but it's the best country that I know of.
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