There once was a time when $150,000 was a king`s ransom in the Chicago area`s residential real estate market, enough to buy a castle nearly anywhere. No more. Depending on where you decide to look these days, that once-tidy sum may bring you only half the house it once did, as little as 10 years ago. But if you`re lucky-and look in the right places-it still could bring you more than you thought it would.
To get a concrete view of the marketplace, the Tribune compared homes around the Chicago area that, according to records of recent real estate transactions, sold for $150,000. Some of the expected contrasts-and some unexpected similarities-between areas emerged, and one fact became extremely clear: The days of a mansion for a hundred and a half are long gone.
We decided to look in towns and neighborhoods that are representative of several regions, in and around the city. We settled on $150,000 as our price because, although it`s above the recent average sales price in 6 of the 10 communities surveyed, it`s within hailing distance of what real estate agents call ”affordable” today.
Elgin
”When I first started out 30 years ago, houses in this area were selling for between $7,500 and $16,000,” said Jerry Hoover, a broker for Elgin`s Hoover-Burnidge Realtors for more than three decades. ”Elgin is still a good value for the money, but even $150,000 won`t get you near what it once would.”
That`s true, but considering that the average price for a single-family home in Elgin over the last six months has been $109,838, there`s still plenty of value to be found in this far west suburban community. Of the properties we investigated, our Elgin find was one of the best for the price.
Located in the Century Oaks West subdivision, on the northwest side of Elgin, the four-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath home we found was purchased for $150,000 in February. It is one of the larger homes on its block and has well-landscaped gardens in front and back along with a front porch and large back yard deck on the one-third acre lot.
The two-story home is also less than 5 years old, one of the newest homes we found in our price range.
”That`s a good example of what`s out there for the price,” Hoover said. ”People expect to get three to four bedrooms, two baths and a two-car garage for that money, which is $50,000 to $65,000 less for the same home in the northern suburbs.”
Lake Forest
Moving north and east, and feeling confident that maybe the market wouldn`t be as treacherous as we thought, we decided to taste some of the richest real estate to be found in the Chicago area-or anywhere for that matter-in Lake Forest.
”The least expensive house listed in Lake Forest is $189,000 and is actually listed as a `cottage,` ” said Genevieve Plamondon of Plamondon & Co., who has nearly 10 years` experience selling North Shore real estate.
”It has been a while since you could find a home below that range around here.”
Even 10 years ago, the $150,000 house was a scarce commodity in this exclusive enclave. In 1980, Plamondon said, we might have been able to find a three-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath ranch house on half an acre in a subdivision. Now that house would sell for about the average price in Lake Forest: $413,791.
So, if we couldn`t get a house, we thought we might be able to find a piece of land within our reach in the lakeside village. But alas, we can afford only three-quarters of the least expensive lot in Lake Forest-one acre in the southwest corner of the village-which is going for $199,000.
Time to move on.
Prospect Heights
In the belt of communities that first felt Chicago`s northwestward push along the commuter rail lines more than a decade ago, we weren`t sure what to expect. Though made up of older housing stock that once formed the first ring of affordable suburban housing, the market had experienced steadily increasing sales prices during the 1980s.
We settled on Prospect Heights and found that real estate was within our financial grasp-but just barely.
The Rob Roy development, a mixed single-family and condominium complex amid the Rob Roy golf course, was home for our third $150,000 find: a three-bedroom, two-bath condominium purchased in May. Somewhat unassuming among the small homes and townhouses that dot the rest of the subdivision, the price was a bit surprising given that the average-priced detached home in the area is $108,541.
Naperville
Because of its explosive growth during the last decade, Naperville has been known for its shrinking stock of affordable housing.
Already skeptical of what we might find, it didn`t help our confidence to discover that our budget fell far short of the town`s $176,468 average.
However, we were met with surprise rather than sticker shock as we stumbled across what seems to be a pocket of virtual bargains in the far west suburbs. Our $150,000 home-a three-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath, split-level purchased in March-is in one of the area`s oldest and most beautiful neighborhoods.
Sitting on the corner of a cul-de-sac, the house`s half-acre lot is surrounded by mature trees that reveal the age of the 30-year-old home. We were told later that the relative affordability of the house (it`s in an area where other homes recently sold for more than $200,000) was representative of a recent market shift in Naperville from seller to buyer.
”Sometimes Naperville has a reputation of being unaffordable, and that`s ridiculous,” said Jo Lee, an 18-year veteran agent with Re/Max of Naperville. ”If you`re in the $80,000s, it`s true you`ll have a problem. But around $150,000, I would certainly try Naperville.
Lockport
As morning turned to afternoon, our tour continued to wind its way southward, past the ever-expanding boundaries of the southwest suburbs. We were looking to test a long-accepted principle that guarantees greater value as one travels southwest from the Loop.
We put on the brakes in Lockport, north of Joliet near the northeastern edge of Will County and approximately one hour`s drive from downtown. What we found, for once, was what we had expected: larger homes for less money.
”With $150,000, 10 years ago you could have bought a mansion,” said Fran Hondros, a Lockport real estate agent for nearly 15 years. ”That`s no longer true.”
Sure, but you`ve got a better shot than in Winnetka. In that North Shore matron, the four-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath ranch we found in Lockport would probably have cost at least double the $150,000 it sold for this spring, Hondros said. Although the home, which sits on a three-quarter acre lot on the west side of town, cost more than the $126,284 average for the area, it still rated a good buy for its size-and despite its distance from the city.
Chatham
Making a brief return to Chicago, near the southern limits of the city, we found our next $150,000 home on the outskirts of Chatham, near 81st Street and Stony Island Avenue.
The attractive two-story, four-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath brick home sits on a corner lot in the well-kept, quiet neighborhood that is known for its strong sense of community pride and solid 1930s and 1940s housing stock. But is it a bargain for $150,000? Or is it overpriced in a market where the average price is $69,102?
”Considering its location, and that most of the houses in that area are a great deal smaller, you`re probably right in the ball park,” said Bertrand Neal of Newmann & Associates, who has sold real estate on the South Side for 20 years. ”But that`s more house than you could get for the money in most of the city.”
Berwyn
In the suburban pocket closest to the Loop, just off the Eisenhower Expressway in Berwyn, we picked a house with a downstairs apartment that was purchased in April for exactly $150,000. It has three bedrooms and two baths upstairs and a smaller downstairs unit that seems a good fit for one.
Though it had a small deck in the back yard, a two-car garage and was in good shape (freshly painted, new roof and well-landscaped) for a 40-year-old home, we had expected to find more for our dollar.
”The income potential of the home is probably what set the price,” said Ruth Diamond of Folsom Realty, who has been a broker for two decades. ”We used to see a property like that for $60,000. A family would buy it and put their grandmother or a cousin in the downstairs place.
”Now people use it to supplement their income or help pay off the mortgage. The competition and more interest in Berwyn have pushed prices way up.”
Northwest Side
It was late in the day when we pulled into the far Northwest Side of the city. Admittedly bleary-eyed and near price tag overload, we found our way to a home that sold in March for $150,000.
Best described as a neat little three-bedroom home in the middle of a row of other neat little three-bedroom homes, it is a prime example of the city housing stock that first began to appear in the mid-1950s. Situated on the standard 25-foot city lot, with a small back yard and detached two-car garage abutting the alley, there was little to distinguish the house from those around it.
Though well-maintained and suitably landscaped, its location on a major thoroughfare did little to meet our expectations, especially for a home that sold above the $135,000 average for the neighborhood in which it is located.
North Side
Heading toward home, our next-to-last stop was on the North Side-slim pickings for someone with our kind of budget in a market with an average price of $195,180.
”If you`re speaking of the Lake View community, Lincoln Park and surrounding areas, you can just add a zero to whatever the building cost 20 years ago,” said Don Haderlein of Haderlein & Co., who has been selling North Side real estate since Truman was president. ”If a building was worth $20,000 20 years ago, it`s worth at least $200,000 now.”
Our find was a two-flat in desperate need of a rehab. Though containing two large three-bedroom apartments, the building was hardly the most attractive on the block and its affordable price could easily be attributed to its general disrepair. A fixer-upper in any book, this place was a bargain for the handy only.
Gold Coast
Our last property was culled from the top of the city heap: the Gold Coast, which boasts an average sales price of $373,723. As in Lake Forest, we were skeptical if not downright cynical about the possibility of finding any roof to place over our head.
But unlike on the North Shore, we were able to find a home, albeit a small one, on a very low floor in a Lake Shore Drive high-rise. A two-bedroom condo in the building recently sold for our magic number.
Though we found it to be small for the money (less than 1,000 square feet), we are more than ready to believe that given its location, anything we could afford was certainly a bargain.
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Finally, 10 disparate properties later, our survey was concluded. The results left us wondering what that same $150,000 would bring us 10 years from now-if anything at all.
