Video! Edison Park gut renovation house, Ebinger School, pre-market asking $679K

Take the video walk through of  7232 N Oriole, Chicago IL 60631 asking $679,000. This is a pre-market, private listing opportunity to buy a new gut renovation and expansion in Edison Park's Ebinger School District. Great location near Northwest Highway's restaurant row, Edison Park Metra, Park Ridge downtown and Brooks Park.



7232 N Oriole will have three beds up plus office, full finished basement and attractive finish level.
View the video below to see a finished product by the same builder on a similar gut rehab. Contact me and I can show both homes.




If you are looking for new construction on one of Edison Park's best blocks Kale Realty offers a 50' wide lot with luxury single family home in development at 7112 N Osceola Ave asking $979,000. Take a look at the video below to see the location and a similar finished home by the same builder just across the street.


Contact me for a showing of these homes or other off market opportunities!

7232 N Oriole and 7112 N Osceola

Exclusively listed by:

Kale Realty

2447 N Ashland

Chicago IL 60614

Video! Fully renovated house in Sauganash Park... four beds up! (And recent sales)

Take the video walk through with me!

I've been showing several gut renovations, new construction and pre-market offerings offered by Kale Realty this month. On Monday I showed our Kale Listing listing at 6325 N Tripp, Chicago IL 60646 for sale asking $769,000.  The almost new construction house in the Sauganash Park neighborhood of Forest Glen and Sauganash Elementary School district. There is relatively low house inventory going into the traditional spring market.  This is a quality house is worth seeing before the the buyer competition heats up.

Sauganash Park neighborhood in Forest Glen Community Area. The Valley Line Trail makes the west border.

This home has a great feel. I love walking up to it. The side setbacks, bay window and tons of light flowing in make this large house feel even more spacious!

Check out interior photos and more information about
6325 N Tripp HERE 

Sauganash Park single family home sales
37 single family homes closed in Sauganash Park over 2018.  The median price was about $525,000.  The 2018 sales were boosted by the Sauganash Glen development that added many new construction single  family homes to the neighborhood.

The highest priced sold home is 6110 N Sauganash Ave Chicago IL 60646 closed at $944,504. This large new construction house sits on a wide and deep lot in the new Sauganash Glen development. The lowest priced house sold is 6048 N Keeler Ave Chicago IL 60646 closed at $240,000. The small two bedrooms brick Georgian house was in need of a complete rehab.

In 2016 before the "The Glen" development was completed, 35 single family homes sold with a median price of about $370,000.

6325 N Tripp, Chicago IL 60646

Exclusively listed by:

Kale Realty 

2447 N Ashland 

Chicago IL 60614

As always contact me for a showing of this house or other properties on the north side of Chicago and near burbs.  We have access to off-market and pre-MLS houses too!

Permits? We don't need no stinking permits! Lincoln Square 4 unit gut renovation shut down

5134 N Oakley, Chicago IL 60625

5134 N Oakley (shown above) is a four unit building in Lincoln Square that sold in 2017 for $550K. A steal! Yet, the new ownership elected to completely gut the building without permits. The City of Chicago Department of Buildings has stopped the work (see big yellow sticker on door).

A truck backs up over the sidewalk as construction debris is launched out the windows.

I still find it hard to believe someone would proceed with a large scale gut renovation in a desirable, tight knit neighborhood without building permits. Two brick bungalows in the immediate area were torn down in recent memory without permits (2236 W Carmen and 2237 W Winona). Both projects were delayed (shut down for a time) but my guess is the penalties were not steep enough.  How do you tear down a house illegally and still get to profit?

Showing homes on North Damen in Lincoln Square

Living on North Damen Avenue in Lincoln Square has pluses and minuses.  Sure there is a little more traffic and noise but you typically get a price discount and you can walk out to shops, restaurants and CTA transportation. All photos Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty

I spent last Saturday morning looking at a gut renovated frame home on North Damen Avenue near West Lawrence in Lincoln Square.  My clients are long-time Lincoln Square multi-unit owners  contemplating rehabbing their building or just buying something else. The bustling street location is not a deterrent for them and they loved the idea of being so close to the CTA Brown Line at Damen for them and their kids.

Traditional (and some grand) frame construction single family homes are mixed in with commercial and multi-unit buildings along Damen Avenue in Lincoln Square.

Only four single family homes sold along Damen Avenue in the Lincoln Square neighborhood over the past 12 months.  Two over-sized (wide) properties sold for development at $436,000 and $470,000.  A newer construction (2007) single family home on a  25' x 173' for $1,030,000.  A really cool gut conversion of brick commercial building sold for 4542 N Damen sold for $1,973,010. The $10.00 bucks probably bought a cabinet pull!



The Perfect Cup has been a treasured neighborhood institution for many years. Coffee shop + train stop = city living! 

Turin Bicycle Chicago is one of many independent shops that line the Damen commercial district near the CTA Brown Line station.

Currently there are two properties for sale. The gut renovated house at 4740 N Damen priced at $799,900 and "tear down" property at 4610 N Damen offered at $850,000.  That property on a 40' wide by 125' long lot has been listed for 1634 consecutive days on MREDLLC.com.

Newest single family home construction, rehabs in Ravenswood near Winnemac Park

The giant garbage bins are scattered around Winnemac Park for another season of new construction and gut rehabs around the Ravenswood neighborhood of greater Lincoln Square.

4846 N Seeley (middle) was sold as a short sale for $350,000 cash in September of last year.  The new owners listed as an LLC are well into the impressive gut renovation.

4950 N Leavitt was sold as a short sale last year for $403,000 cash (asking price was $399,000).  An active local broker/developer represented the sale and the LLC owner is well into the gut renovation.

None of the homes above are listed for sale just yet.  My guess is all three houses will be marketed for sale but it is possible one or more already have a buyer agreement in place.


Click for more Ravenswood and Lincoln Square posts.

Construction alert! Greystone gut rehab in Lincoln Square

We spotted this Lincoln Square two-flat greystone building being converted to a single family home at 2242 W Leland. We've been writing about current owners and cash flush buyers that are in the market creating their dream homes on the North Side. Many owners are borrowing equity on their long time family held properties to gut renovate for themselves or just simply improving their homes again.

Some owners may try their hand at selling their renovations in the retail market due to low carrying costs (i.e. no or low mortgage). The upper bracket buyers are custom gut rehabbing existing buildings or building luxury new construction "in-fill" single family homes.

The existing two flat building at 2242 W Leland shown here was in great shape and sold for $580,000 in October of 2009. It looks like the current owners are "gut rehabbing" the building, although I could not tell from my quick look from the sidewalk if they are maintaining any wood trim etc... In any event, this is another example we are seeing in Lincoln Square of taking advantage of low mortgage interest rates and favorable loan terms to create a custom home in a wonderful location.

Read more of our posts on new construction around the area here!

What Color Paint Would Axl Rose Use?

I'm prepping a condo to go to market next month at 2700 N Halsted in Lincoln Park. The bathroom needs a repaint and a little work to be perfect.

What paint to use....

Whenever I have a difficult question like this, I just ask myself: W W A R D?
That's right... what would Axl Rose do?

He'd choose Benjamin Moore's November Rain

When I look into your eyes
I can see a love restrained
But darlin' when I hold you
Don't you know I feel the same
'Cause nothin' lasts forever
And we both know hearts can change
And it's hard to hold a candle
In the cold November rain
We've been through this such a long long time
Just tryin' to kill the pain
But lovers always come and lovers always go
An no one's really sure who's lettin' go today
Walking away
If we could take the time to lay it on the line
I could rest my head
Just knowin' that you were mine
All mine
So if you want to love me
then darlin' don't refrain
Or I'll just end up walkin'
In the cold November rain

Do you need some time...on your own
Do you need some time...all alone
Everybody needs some time...on their own
Don't you know you need some time...all alone
I know it's hard to keep an open heart
When even friends seem out to harm you
But if you could heal a broken heart
Wouldn't time be out to charm you

Sometimes I need some time...on my
own Sometimes I need some time...all alone
Everybody needs some time...on their own
Don't you know you need some time...all alone

And when your fears subside
And shadows still remain, ohhh yeahhh
I know that you can love me
When there's no one left to blame
So never mind the darkness
We still can find a way
'Cause nothin' lasts forever
Even cold November rain


Don't ya think that you need somebody
Don't ya think that you need someone
Everybody needs somebody
You're not the only one
You're not the only one

Modern Lakeview Condo Coming on the Market

We'll be listing this home with full details by the weekend. Its a large one bedroom in East Lakeview with many custom updates. New high end and efficient kitchen... every inch is used. New bath. Lighting and trim updates. Some new electrical.

Special.

Yeah baby, I get randy just looking at this kitchen...rowrrrrr.

Much ado about Avondale Chicago

Not much time here... but wanted to point out a post at Yo Chicago and conversation about development in Avondale. This is a Chicago neighborhood where I see a lot of upside in buying and fixing up a home.

Check out the comments too.

I'll re-visit this subject in more detail when I have time. So don't hold your breath.

Flipping homes in Chicago: A family affair

My brother-in-law called me out of the blue yesterday. He’s driving around the Humboldt Park neighborhood and asks me for market information concerning a home going to auction.

Now, this is not entirely unusual as he’s been in the mortgage business for awhile. But, homes going to auction? What the hell are you driving around Humboldt Park for?

Turns out he has become a real live house flipper with a couple partners. News to my wife and me. And in perfect brother-in-law fashion, he gives me a last minute “pop-in” phone call for some really important information. No problem Bro, I’ll just drop all my clients and the three deals I'm in the middle of…

And I did. See, it’s my wife’s sister’s husband, and they have two kids. All I was thinking is if I “prioritize” him, I’m taking food out of their kid’s (my nephew’s) mouths and Thanksgiving this year will be REAL awkward… well, so I do the research on the spot. Look, I’m a pretty good Realtor and it burned me a little that the dude’s in my city (he’s a dedicated suburbanite) snooping around real estate and he didn’t seek my advice way before hand.

BTW, the numbers show house transactions down %50 compared to the 2nd and 3rd quarters and home prices down by about 10% in that same comparison. However, move-in condition homes under $300K have sold in relatively short market times.

Okay, my ego aside, the brother-in-law and sister-in-law are pretty smart people and they have consistently showed each other support in these types of ventures. And brother John is a good numbers guy and has some contacts here and there. So, I believe they’re on the right track. But what about me? Turns out they don’t have a Realtor on the North Side and they could use some specific consultation. Thanks for the bone… dude.

Here’s what they need and here’s what I’m good at:

Right now they are focused on a certain price-point in emerging neighborhoods. They find the houses now, usually bank owned (REO) that go to auction. But they need advice on the market statistics concerning the single family homes, consultation on the finishes of the house, and a Realtor to market and sell it. Check, Check and Check.

If this thing takes off, maybe I’ll bird dog some houses too. But the foreclosure and auction game takes a lot of concentrated time and effort. My everyday bread and butter is being one of the top Buyer’s Agents in the city for residential real estate… and I’d be taken away from client research if chasing foreclosures.

However, because I do represent so many transactions all over the city and therefore know what buyers want, I’m in perfect position to consult on things like location, price, finishes and marketing.

This could be the start of a family empire and an HGTV show.

Bucktown timber loft update

Here's a couple photos of the new bath tile in my Bucktown listing at 2333 W St Paul. Exciting stuff! Seriously though, my clients consulted with me and invested a little in the right places before listing. It makes all the difference. Place shows great and features a few upgrades that make it "move-in and enjoy quality".
Updates prior to lisitng were completed by Jonathan Hill of Artistic Construction at artisticconstruction@gmail.com


Take a peek at the listing HERE:
I dare you to look.