Robust Lakeview condo sales 2017 (highest sale $1,725,000!)

Our clients bought a duplex condo on 1542 West School Street a couple years back before Whole Foods flagship and new Target were built.  They are loving all the new improvements! (All photos Eric Rojas, Kale Realty)

We worked with several clients buying and selling in the Lakeview community area again this year.  Lakeview is one of the most dynamic condo markets in the city - and dare I say - the country. There is something for everyone! Vintage opulence with lake views, ultra modern studios in full amenity buildings, spacious new construction walk-ups, Wrigleyville crash pads... the style and price-points vary greatly!

Check out my favorite video of the year at our Lakeview condo sale 3743 N Wilton #3!


Lakeview condo sales 2017 (January 1st to December 29th as recorded in MREDLLC.com)
1,932 condos (attached units including town houses) sold in Lakeview this year.  Over the same period in 2016, 1,939 condos sold.  That's pretty amazing consistency.

You can still find great vintage deals in "walk to everything" locations in Lakeview

492 one bedroom condos have closed in 2017 (this is the last day of the year for closings). The median price of a one bedroom sold condo is $205,000.

903 two bedrooms condos sold this year. The median price of a sold two bedrooms condo is $360,000.

500 three bedrooms condos sold this year with a median price jumping to $590,000!

88 four bedrooms (or more) condos sold with a median price of $852,500.

The highest priced Lakeview condo closing is 722 W Melrose St Unit PH, Chicago, IL 60657 $1,725,00.  The new construction four bedrooms penthouse is located in the East Lakview neighborhood near the lake.

Sold! Lincoln Square single family home charms East Coast couple

The living room at 4824 N Hamilton, Chicago IL 60625in Lincoln Square was asking $699,000

"I love this house". That's the moment in the living room I knew we had a sale LOL. It did not take the Baltimore transplants long to know this was THE ONE.

We're happy to announce out latest Lincoln Square single home listing sold and closed just before Christmas this month.  4824 N Hamilton is a great vintage house on a popular block of inviting homes! The location is just a few blocks from CTA Brown Line trains and the Ravenswood Metra, Roots Pizza, The Sixth, Mariano's and the heart of Lincoln Square retail and restaurants at Giddings Plaza.

 4824 N Hamilton is a classic Lincoln Square home with inviting porch on great block! (All house and area photos VHT.com and Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty)

Watch the video!

More property photos, floor plan and information HERE

Formal entry foyer with beautiful woodwork and arches.

Spacious living room with east facing windows.

Large living/ dining space to entertain any occasion.

Dining room wired for sound

Eat-in kitchen with lots of storage opens to the family room.

Eat in kitchen

Bright family room wired for sound

1st of three 2nd level bedrooms

2nd level full bathroom

2nd bedroom.  East facing with great closet.

Finished basement with recreation room and "en suite room" great for nanny, AirB&B, 5th bedroom or guests!

Wide 30' lot allows for great backyard and 2.5 car garage.

Just in time to catch the fall colors at Winnemac Park right down the street! (All photos Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty)

Exclusively listed by

Eric Rojas, Broker

Kale Realty

2447 N Ashland, Chicago IL 60614

773-510-1597

erojas@kalerealty.com

New retail and restaurants line Damen Avenue near Lawrence Ave. All photos Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty.

Giddings Plaza along the Lincoln Avenue commercial district offers the best in city living with a small town feel.

Enjoy the vibrant location filled with parks, shops, restaurants, 

activities and great transportation options!

We have more Lincoln Square house listing lined up for 2018!! Contact us to sell or search for a new house or condo opportunity before they hit the greater market on MLS!

North Park, Chicago home sales 2017

I can't believe another year is coming to an end! Let's take a look at North Park single family homes sales.  We see North Park as a value buy on the North Side of Chicago. Prices have been inching up but remain way below Lincoln Square one neighborhood to the south. While the area is not convenient to CTA trains it does offer access to bus and highway options. North Park is home to large parks, nature areas and well rated school.

North Park home sales and more for 2017
68 single family homes sold this year (Jan 1st to Dec 15th) with a median price of about $350,000. The highest priced sale is $687,000 for 3435 W Glenlake Ave, Chicago IL 60659. The vintage 67' wide lot home featured six bedrooms and four and one-half baths but needed extensive updating.

North Park is home to many customer brick homes from traditional Chicago bungalows and Tudors to some really cool art deco beauties.

Fun fact! Only three of the North Park sold homes were newly gut rehabbed and none of the sold homes were new construction.  Not a single new construction home sale is really rare for a north side neighborhood in the current market. Lincoln Square, Forest Glen, Edgewater, Irving Park etc... so many surrounding neighborhoods have lots of new construction activity.

21 homes are currently for sale in North Park. The median price of a listed home is $439,000 (significantly higher than the median of a sold/ closed home). Ten homes are currently under contract with a median asking price of $345,000.  On par with a closed house this year.

Looking for a home on the North Side or Chicago suburbs?  We'll find it!
 

Doomed Mulligan's in Lincoln Square closes, "KENIA Sports Bar and Grill" on the way

Mulligan's Sports Bar located at 5155 N Lincoln Avenue has closed.  I'm no stranger to local drinking establishments and I never once thought about going to this place. It never looked open and the local "dive bar" competition is very strong in Lincoln Square. An awning with the name "KENIA Sports Bar and Grill" graces the storefront now. I can't find any information for the new business but we wish them luck. 

The location is on a busy stretch of Lincoln Avenue at West Foster about three blocks from my house.  La Cabana de Don Luis (a Mexican restaurant that I really want to like and need to take another shot) next door has been there at least three to four years. Jimmy's Pizza (which I like a lot) two doors down from "KENIA" anchors this otherwise nondescript mixed use building.

Anybody have insight on KENIA?

Under Contract! Buyer nabs Pre-MLS condo at The Heritage, 130 N Garland

A sneak peek from a 35th floor balcony during the property inspection last week at 130 N Garland, The Heritage.

Under contract! We've been working with our repeat clients to find a condo unit in a small, specific footprint of downtown. After representing them on their Lakeview townhouse sale a couple years ago the buyers have been renting near Millennium Park. They narrowed their home search down to a couple buildings: 60 East Monroe (The Legacy), Chicago IL 60603 and 130 N Garland, Chicago IL 60602 (The Heritage at Millennium Park).

Our buyer couple - along with Bob and me - aggressively looked for a good fit over many months.  They wanted a three bedrooms condo with good light, balcony and on a "high enough" floor. Oh... and within the budget ($1 million). We worked with experienced agents and individual home owners to view any possible off-market units for sale. We were able to put together a deal on a "pre-MLS" listing at The Heritage due on the market in February 2018! More details soon as we work our way to the closing.

The new Apple Store along the much improved downtown river walk is a short distance from The Heritage.

Condo sales at The Heritage
18 condo units have closed at The Heritage in the last 12 months. The median price is about $835,000 with 12 of 18 unit sales included a garage parking space in the building.  The highest priced sale in the last 12 months is Unit 5303 for $2,475,000 cash.  The three bedrooms penthouse unit was listed at over "3000 sq/ft " with new kitchen and bath renovations.

We look forward to a smooth closing and searching for more off market opportunities for our clients!

 

New 221 Hubbard rental apartments in River North offer one month free

The newly finished 221 Hubbard caught our eye squeezed behind the CTA track curves (all photos Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty).

221 Hubbard rental apartments in River North offers a sharp modern existence along the gritty looking "L" tracks. Check out  a detailed preview at YoChicago.com  

When in River North you etch out any square foot you can develop! The tracks are a small price to pay for great location at the Merchandise Mart CTA station and the whole of the River North / downtown scene at your feet.

Apartment manager Bozzuto has a robust Apartments.com ad with dozens of apartments listed and rental incentives (one month free etc...).  Studio apartments start over $1,800 and three bedroom penthouses are offered for January 2018 at about $7,800. 

Slight pause in skyrocketing Andersonville unit sales, median prices

A rare modern residential condo development at 1470 W Winona  nabs a big $650,000 sale in Andersonville (all photos Eric Rojas, Kale Realty).

A client of mine is thinking about selling her Andersonville condo in the spring market. Median price for a sold condo has increased 43% since she bought her large vintage unit in 2012. Great restaurants, bars and retailers continue to open. Uptown, Lincoln Square and Edgewater (areas within and surrounding Andersonville) are all pushing for their highest per sq/ft new construction prices. It has been a strong five years of growth for area real estate.

The Andersonville sales area roughly North Ashland to North Broadway and West Lawrence to West Bryn Mawr.

2017 Andersonville condo sales Jan 1st-Dec 1st

Unit sales and median price recoiled slightly this year. 99 condo units (attached homes, town houses) sold in the Andersonville sales area shown above.  The median price of a condo this year is about $345,000. Both unit sales and median price are down from 2016. The highest sale so far this year is $670,000 for a new construction condo at 4806 N Clark Unit 203.  Five unit sales have topped $600,000 so far this year.

142 units sold over the same Jan 1st- Dec 1st period in 2016 with a median price a hefty $375,000. At the top end 10 units sold for over $600,000.  From my analysis more higher-end new constructions units hit the market in 2016 than 2017 helping raise the median price. I also think we plateaued with re-sale prices by spring 2017. High asking prices slowed unit sales the rest of this year.

Things have changed quite a bit over the past 5 years. In 2012 about 64 condos sold in the highlighted sales area with a median price of $247,000.  The highest condo sale was $485,000 with only five condo units selling over $400,000.  The same period of  2011 saw 61 condo units sold with a median price of about $205,000.  11 months of 2016 unit sales (144) beat out 22 months over 2011-2012 combined (124).

We miss DNAinfo Chicago

Me with DNAinfo reporter/producer Patty Wetli and editors Andrew Hermann and Shamus Toomy

I was able to host a thank you party for our local DNAinfo Chicago reporter and producer Patty Wetli and associates a couple weeks ago. The hyper-local journal was suddenly shut down in November by its owner. We gathered at Empirical Brewery 1801 W Foster in Lincoln Square with friends who appreciated Patty's DNAinfo reporting. I personally owe a huge debt particularly to their real estate related reporting around the city.

Follow the former DNA journalists, editors and producers for their next chapter. These are just a handful of of folks who brought us the news we could use every day.
@aherrmann350
@stoomey  
@pattywetli 
@tedcoxchicago
@mina_bloom_
@DNA_WPB

Our neighbor to the north: Evanston home sales

A classic Evanston home near the lake on Dempster.

We spent a couple days last week viewing homes in southeastern Evanston just east of Chicago Avenue and near Burnham Shores Park. The area of interest is in Nichols Middle School.  This is a relatively expensive area for single family homes with reason.  It's close to Metra, CTA, Lake Michigan beaches and parks, shops, dining, grocery stores, services and Northwestern University to boot!  

Let's take a look at overall Evanston single family home sales.

Views of the Northwestern campus from Burnham Shores Park.

Beautiful home on Hinman just east of Chicago Avenue shops, services and dining.

2017 Single Family Home Sales January 1st to November 30th
431 Evanston single family homes have closed thus far in 2017.  The median price of a closed house is a hefty $538,000.  The location and condition of a median priced house varies but you can expect "vintage farmhouse" in general. Closer to the lake you can bet on very vintage and expensive!

The highest closed price in Evanston this year is $2,800,000 for 1048 Forest Ave, Evanston IL 60202.  I happened to pass by the "10,000 sq/ft" Colonial style estate yesterday. It sits on a 2/3 acre lot in southeast Evanston two blocks from Burnham Shores Park. 

Over the same period in 2016, 458 single family homes closed with a median price of $515,500. Looking back to 2012 when the local housing market began to recover rapidly 403 single family houses closed with a median price of about $440,000.

We walked by the Evanston History Center on the way to a showing.

Currently 53 homes are under contract with a median asking price of $440,000.  That will bring the median price down a little by years end.  It is also a sign of buyers investing in lower end homes in traditionally lower priced pockets to renovate.  

116 Evanston homes are actively for sale on our MLS (MREDLLC.com).

Closing time! 706 Cynthia in Glendale Heights

Sold! 706 Cynthia Lane, Glendale Heights IL 60139

Congrats to our repeat clients who asked us to represent the sale of their mother's home in Glendale Heights.  We appreciate the sensitive nature of each client's situation and thankful to have their trust! After multiple offers and inspections a ready willing and able buyer came through.

Glamorous Realtor perks!

I attended the closing yesterday on behalf of the sellers in Arlington Heights.  We manage the process in person from the home evaluation to the closing. Plus, some title companies have great coffee and snacks!

2626 North Lakeview condo sales in Lincoln Park (median price $250,000)

2626 N Lakeview, Chicago IL 60614 is one our favorite resale buildings for location, price and amenity. It has a rooftop pool! Doorman! Fitness room! The area has a tony feel with elaborate architecture, high-end properties and pleasant walking paths along the park. Lake views can be had in most east facing units.

We've spent a good amount of time working with condo buyers in East Lincoln Park lately (Lincoln Park east of Halsted). The neighborhood is as popular than ever, there is development everywhere and prices have trended up for five years. In my opinion East Lincoln Park features several existing mid-rise and high-rise buildings offering more value than Gold Coast or Lakeview comparable homes. If you like expansive parks, tons of restaurant / bar options, nearby cultural events, services and the lake (!) at your doorstep East Lincoln Park is for you. 

2626 N Lakeview is just south of the West Diversey Parkway strip of bars, restaurants and services while overlooking leafy lakefront parks. It is also in the heart of North Clark Street shopping and dining a couple blocks west.

Sales
Sixteen units have closed in the building over the last twelve months. The median price of a closed unit is about $250,000.  Sold prices range from $150,000 for a studio to $545,000 for a three bedrooms, two and one-half baths unit (with fantastic views!).

Only one unit is currently under contract.  A studio unit #3010 is under contract as a rare short sale asking $159,900. Five units are currently under contract and five units are listed on MLS as rentals.

Live relatively cheap in East Lincoln Park steps from Diversey Harbor and any number of urban delights! Please contact us to purchase or sell your next Lincoln Park property.

No real estate transfer stamps... no sale!

Our single family home listing at 706 Cynthia, Glendale Heights IL 60139 is closing next week.

Real estate transfer stamp programs can vary from city to city, village to village. The application process, cost and time line to get transfer stamps on a real estate sale are important details few sellers and buyers consider. However these small details can become costly and hold up a sale! We recommend hiring a local real estate attorney familiar with the various village requirements early on in the sale process.

We recently sold a house in Glendale Heights where all homes must pass a city inspection before the transfer stamp may be applied. An escrow amount in lieu of transfer stamps is held by the city until; 1) the seller cures the inspection violations or, 2) the buyer signs a disclosure (and pays the escrow) acknowledging they will cure the issues. This is a much different process in Chicago where no physical city inspection takes place as part of the real estate transfer.  

In Glendale Heights, a seller pays $3.00 per $1,000 of the sale price as a real estate transfer tax while Chicagoans also pays $3.00  per $1,000 (buyers pay $7.50 per $1,000!).

The more you know!

Re-sold for $3 million early this year, former Threshold's row house now Titanic renovation

A huge "stop and notice" row house on North Lakeview gets a gut renovation.  The impressive property will maintain it's vintage panache! (All photos Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty)

The Lincoln Park corner row house at 2700 N Lakeview at West Wrightwood most recently operated as a social services facility by Thresholds was re-sold for $3 million early this year.  2700 N Lakeview is the largest of four row homes built circa 1917 and designed by David Adler among others.  It is now an extensive gut renovation by a developer. Dennis Rodkin reported in 2015 the home was originally built for a survivor of the Titanic. In May, Ted Cox reported the new owner Foster Design Build planned either three large condos priced from $3.5M to $4.5M or one single residence priced up to $10M.

Two other row houses in the group have recent re-sales.  2704 N Lakeview was sold in 2016 for $1.8 million and is now under gut renovation by a private owner. 2708 N Lakeview had sold in 2013 for $2.65 million.

2704 N Lakeview , sold in 2016 for $1.8 million, looks over Lincoln Park.

The entrance to 2704 N Lakeview row house now under renovation by a private owner. It was listed at 8,800 sq/ft according to the listing on MREDLLC.com.

2708 N Lakeview sold for $2.65 million in 2013

The row homes are located in a beautiful stretch of northeast Lincoln Park (across from the parks adjacent to the lakefront) near another iconic building.  The Elks National Memorial sits just north of the 2700 N Lakeview development.

Elks National Memorial 2750 N Lakeview, Chicago IL 60614

The four row homes are wonderful in their own right but much of the value is built into the location. Need a cocktail? Walk into the actual Lincoln Park and take a seat at the classy North Pond front bar. The life!

North Pond at 2610 N Cannon Drive, Chicago IL 60614 in the park.

Chicago Tree Project in Lincoln Park

Sculptures in the Chicago Tree Project located in Lincoln Park open field north of North Avenue (just before the snow!)

We've had a bit of a "bummer fall" season with the early first snow on November 10th (a birthday present to me!).  It feels like the heavy leaves just dropped early with little time to view the changing colors.

One of our favorite things about Lincoln Park is all the opportunity to stop and look at interesting things; architecture, new business and public art.  The Chicago Tree Project helps pick up the slack for the early bare trees, dying trees and those decimated by Emerald Ash Bore beetle. Supported in part by the Chicago Sculpture International these damaged trees remain in the landscape as sculpture.

We are continually impressed by the partnerships forged by the Chicago Park District in so many areas of sports, art and recreation.

Here is a great run down of many public art sites