What an amazing change of events for Chicago's Lincoln Square Neighborhood for the Month of July 2011 from a year ago!
We have been hearing grim news, more layoffs, but one of the things I have seen with Chicago's Lincoln Square Neighborhood is the balance of housing, the awesome parks, the arts, restaurants, the Running Club, and while some Chicago neighborhoods have been hit really hard this is what I have seen from the Closed Sales for Single Family Homes in Chicago's Lincoln Square Neighborhood.
Did you know that in July 2010 only two homes sold? Market time was shorter and was only 33 days on the market but only two homes closed for July 2010.
July 2011 brought brighter, clearer news and 15 properties have been reported as closed for the month. The market time was 131 days on the market and while we would all like to compare median pricing, I believe it sends a wrong message due to the variance of square footage in the homes and hence, is just not something we should depend upon. Rather, we should focus on the price per square foot and that would reflect the condition, size, motivation of the seller.
Here's some insight to what has closed for the month of July 2011 in Chicago's Lincoln Square Neighborhood:
4515 N. Clarement closed out at $840,000 this month. It's previous sale was recorded as of October 2004 in the amount of $862,500. The property when sold in 2004 was a complete gut rehab. Not much of a variance as the crash hit hard in 2006.
2141 W. Agatite closed this past month for $755,000. It's previous sale was recorded in 1995 in the amount of $192,500.
2148 W. Agatite closed for $650,000 this past month. It's previous sale was recorded in 1987 for $143,500.
2152 W. Berwyn was an REO (Bank Owned Property) and closed out for $259,699 this past month. It's previous sale was recorded in 2005 in the amount of $490,000. The Lis Pendes was filed in 2008. Two things need to be mentioned here: The sale price in 2005 was extremely high and as a former appraiser, I have to say, I have no idea how that property appraised out in 2005 as it was not worth it. The second thing is that one cannot judge the sale in 2011 when the Lis Pendes was filed in 2008 in which the market has adjusted significantly in Chicago, as a whole, and hence, the final selling price is that of a home that is in need of rehabbing, updating, remodeling and is typical in size of homes that I sold on Farragut in 2007 for $290K and $315K. So, one cannot judge what that former selling price was and compare it to a market adjustment when it wasn't worth the money to begin with in 2005.
So, from hand picking some of the properties that did close and using them as illustrations reflects that the sky isn't falling like most tend to think it is because one of the strongest features Chicago's Lincoln Square Neighborhood has is the diversification of housing, not an overload of condominiums, not too many corner apartment buildings, but complete balance. When one has that, plus the diversification in architectural design amongst all these awesome homes, Chicago's Lincoln Square Neighborhood has been one of the strongest neighborhoods when it comes to retaining value because of those factors.
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