All Forum Posts by: Jessica Lee

Price solves all issues.  Keep lowering it every 2 weeks. I've had to learn that the hard way myself a few times.  From the looks of it, the quickest and cheapest thing to do is to upgrade all the bedroom light fixtures. They look like generic, builder grade, 2010 fixtures.  Find some more modern brushed nickel flushmount LED's that are around $30-$40.  Costco had some nice ones on sale for $17 a few months back.

Besides that, anything else would be pricier. The tan bathroom tile could use some updating very mid 2000's look. The kitchen counters are not my taste with that cabinet color scheme.  Switching out bathroom tiles would cost around $3000.  New quartz countertops and tiled backsplash would be ~$3000 as well.  But if that can help you sell for another $10,000 and quick, could be worth it.

@Jessica Lee

As I do not know the market out there, the best advise I can give is that the price/condition is making or breaking the listing. 

The price, this could be a lot of things, is the unit on the first floor, if so they may go for less money, is there external factors creating an issue (noise, not great lighting, etc.), or is there internal factors as in shape/layout of the property that are not conducive for living/enjoying the property. You need to base the price of these considerations. (i.e. if the property is on the first floor compared to the top floor, well there might be safety concerns, or noise concerns compared to a comp that sold on the top floor of another building down the street).

Condition, the condition looks great, and looks to have been staged? If these things right here are good pieces of the puzzle put together, I would look up at the price paragraph on and see if there are some challenges there. Also, see the DOM for that building, even go back 1.5 years on comps in the area. 

I wouldn't panic yet. The average Days on Market for similar condos within a 1/4 mile radius is 31 days. Your on day 9. 1523 N Cleveland was on the market for 11 days before being put under contract and sold for $552K; so you appear to be priced right. Regarding the L Train, do you have the soundproof windows? If not that may be the drawback.  Properties next to the L without soundproof windows will sit longer than those w/ soundproof windows.

Ask your agent for weekly updates of active/pending & sold condos within 1/4 mile of your unit. That's your competition. Look for differences in square footage, amenities, condo fees,..... No need to panic yet.

Thank you Crystal. Really appreciate your insights. The feedback from the showings we have had (8 through open house, 2 private) have all said the train isn't loud at all and they were all very surprised by it. The issue seems to be getting people to schedule private showings so we may have to adjust the price and are open to doing if needed. We will hang tight for another week or two as you mentioned, DOM is up to 30 days and right now we're on day 11. 

I comped your property (Clyborne to Lasalle, North to Division). From there you have to follow the units that sold or are available on the tracks. 

1543 N Hudson Unit 2 is ACTV @ $452k

1546 N Orleans Unit 504 CLSD @ $494,700

1446 N North Park Unit 4R is ACTV @ $499k

As you can see, none of them have broke the $500k mark so I'd definitely keep an eye on that.

With that being said, you're still early in you're listing so I wouldn't panic just yet. I think you have a better product than your competition next door @ 1529 N Cleveland #3S and the CLSD unit @ 1527 N Cleveland Unit 2N for $555k makes me optimistic that you're not too far off from a contract. Give it a dozen showings and drop it $10k...If your sellers prefer to get out of it quicker then drop it to $499k.

Good luck! 

Thanks Mike. Your comments are very helpful! I have been tracking those two active listings and will definitely drop the price if we need to. Based on comments here and DOM, we should be okay for now. It looks like DOM is anywhere from 10-30 days. 

I just can't imagine having a railroad track 30 feet away from my windows. How often do trains go by there?