^^^ Yeah, I wonder what exactly they did to get the Buildings Dept death sentence?

Looking at the violations, it's more like, what didn't they do? No permits, unlicensed workers, unsafe working conditions, the whole shebang.

The electrical code violations and failure to correct a structural deficit on 3 of their properties were probably the final nails in the coffin.

The first house you linked to doesn't show the interior, so who knows. The 2nd one is habitable probably but could also stand to have a lot of work done.

The reality is that yes there's some under $450K SFH in Bronzeville right now, but it's not that many. My quick Redfin search showed about triple the amount of homes above $450K in the area than below $450K. Many of them, but not all, below $450K could be characterized as fixer uppers, but habitable. To be honest, I see places for only $75K more that are less than 5 years old and much better than these. Doesn't make sense to not buy the one a little above $500K to me unless $450K is at the upper end of what you can comfortably afford. In that case, IMO you could get a better place in areas like Portage Park or around there for that money.


The majority of homes for sale in the area were built in the last 5 years and are at least $500K. And that's not bad because their counterparts in so many north side areas would be double that or even more than double - even in areas further north like Irving Park. Bronzeville is still a great deal if you want to own a nice, new or semi new SFH. Vacant lots there go for $150K and under, so developers can still build SFH there and make a profit while offering them for half the price as other areas.

True except that literally every. Single. Conversion. Was in Bucktown

Yeah, she needs a new contractor to keep this going

love a nice 400k+ "affordable" home

From the article:

like i said, simply love an affordable 400K+ home

They need to do a Holmes in Chicago. "Sweet Holmes Chicago" ?

Yes well people ALSO want a brand new construction home at the same time. And it should be downtown. In the Loop. Single family home ideally. Because if we are going to complain about affordability, why not go all in?

I see 20+ single family homes on the market in Englewood for less than $75,000. Lots of options out there.

There's a single family home on Marshall Blvd in Little Village for sale for $175k right now. The "affordability crisis" is a total lie. There's actually constantly sub $200k single family homes in good shape in that area. I'm just waiting for the right one to come on the market and I'm going to grab it and move down there. There's one on California facing douglas park right now that needs some work for $90k.

I hate to break it to you, but there's no way you can build a single family home in the loop for under $400K. The land alone is worth millions.

I just lived this and these were the exact areas we explored. We ended up in Irving Park. Portage Park was too far from transit, Lincoln and Logan Square were too expensive, Bronzeville was too far from friends and our nanny-share.

But that is also kind of my point as Bronzeville prices have risen quickly.

Yeah, but the actual code violations aren't all that telling. The city can find a litany of violations in any building they enter if they really want to. Was it something they saw on film they didn't like? I saw an episode or two of this and the work actually seemed fairly thorough or were there specific incidents where they tangled with inspectors or the neighbors? I would kill to be a fly on the wall during whatever inspection led to the stop work order...

Hell, there's a brick 3 flat for about $109k in your little "hot" area of town that's been on sale for a while.

I'd go after it but.....I'm losing interest in the smaller stuff.

Couldn't agree more. Most people don't know just how wonton or abusive the Dept of Buildings can be. Many of them I hear are decent people but all you need is one guy with a stick in his craw and he will ding you for shit that he KNOWS everybody else is getting away with. It's kind of the same with cops who pull you over for some nonsense and they just decide to give you a hard time because they are having a bad day.

Violations for not doing exactly what is on the permit and not using licensed people for everything is kind of BS in a way, because SO MANY contractors are doing this. I've done jobs and am presently doing a rehab in E. Lakeview that already violates both of those, but so is nearly everybody else. This is likely an issue about the contractors pissing off the neighbors more than anything else. Keep the neighbors happy and you're usually going to be fine.

*woosh*

but yea in general people need to get over this fetishization of new construction, or the notion that if its not a complete gut job with all the newest finishes (which are trendy for precisely 1-2 years) its somehow not a serviceable home. we bought a workers cottage in LV a few years back for 50k. yes the bedrooms are tiny and the cabinets are from the 50s. they still seem to hold our dinner plates just fine and kinda seems worth it when the mortgage is paid off in our 30s.

that was my point. thank you.:uhh:

i mean they were straight up doing demolitions/building entire garages without permits, among other things. these werent little technicalities.

and in regards to the quality of the finished products, theres some telling comments from the reddit thread

Right. The entire city does not have an affordable housing crisis. It's the hot or marginal areas that are near hot areas.. which is a common problem in literally every city. There's tons of housing available in the city that is not that expensive. Problem is.. in Chicago, it seems as though when people are looking to move due to these issues, they are sometimes not willing to look at other areas that might not be a hot name. Whether it's where you own or others like a Brighton Park, McKinley Park, etc. I don't know what it is... part of it is maybe outdated information about neighborhoods and outdated advice that north siders seem to follow so much like "don't go south of Roosevelt" and "don't go west of Western."

It sucks to be priced out of your neighborhood and I'm not saying "boo hoo." Areas need to be mixed income to thrive in my opinion, but the cruel reality is that when when there's rules in place, that still happens. It happens everywhere. I'm just saying that when you are actually moving, you sometimes need to expand your boundaries on which neighborhoods to look for and get more up to date information about those areas.

As someone who lives in NYC, a city that does truly have an affordable housing issue, when I see Chicago complain about it, I think "cry me a river. " There are neighborhoods 8 to 10 miles from the center of Manhattan in Queens where a 1 bedroom is still $2000/ month. Condos in Flushing (Queens), 10+ miles away from the center of Manhattan are as expensive as downtown Chicago on average. Chicago does not have this sort of problem necessarily. It has the problem in a handful of neighborhoods, not the entire city.