Are Chcago Condos a good investment

[Saurav Batra]

Hello All,

I am planning to move to Chicago. I went to school and love the city, but do not want to rent. I am looking for condos in the range of 150K - 200K... 1bdr ... (Looking around Lincoln Park, Gold Coast, River North Side, New East Side)

Are condos around that area good investment? Are prices going up/stable/declining ?

I wanted to see the

[Jeffrey K.]

Allen,
How is your home a vehicle for investment? I could be a forced savings account.

I was just going through this with my parents on their house. Purchased 30 years ago for 115k. Put on a 120k addition a few years after that. It is a 5 acre lot and needs a lot on landscape work and upkeep (my dad does most of it himself but the plants still cost money) at a cost of about 100k (3k/yr). Snow removal and grass cutting costs about 2500/YR. Taxes cost about 10k/Yr (have not changed for 20 years on their house so lets say 275k). 10 years ago it needed some cosmetic updates inside and a new kitchen (50k). They need to insure it every year (60k). It needed new windows this year in a few rooms (5K). It needed a new deck last year (10k). The list does on and on.

Well, they had it appraised last year and it came in at $645k. The list above (just some highlights of what home ownership costs) adds up to almost 750k. I am sure once you add everything up they are closer for the 900k mark. This also assumes you have no loan!

They would have been better off renting, but they like their house. It is not a RE investment, but an investment in their happiness.

Buy the home you like and can afford.