Tonight I’ll be watching the Super Bowl at a friends’ home in Rogers Park. Compared to neighboring Evanston and Edgewater, Rogers Park has very attractive home prices! I recently listed 7612 N Rogers #2 in Rogers Park. It’s a beautiful 3 bedroom 2 bath condo with a garage just a couple of blocks from the lake for just $350K!

As shown below sale prices for Rogers Park 3 bedroom condos and townhouses in the past year ranged from less than $50K to just below $450K.^* The median sale price was $243K, well below the median in north neighbor Evanston at $287K and south neighbor Edgewater at $345K.

Distribution of Rogers Park 3 bedroom condo & townhouse sale prices during the past year

Search Rogers Park 3 Bedroom Condos For Sale on BairdWarner.com
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^*Based on Midwest Real Estate Data LLC (MRED) Data.

Today I toured a 3 bedroom condo in Evanston that the owner will be putting back on the market this spring. I also had lunch at Lupita’s Restaurant in Evanston with a buyer considering Evanston, Skokie and Rogers Park.

I really like the ambiance of Lupita’s. It was quiet enough so my buyer and I could talk. The wait staff didn’t interrupt us more than necessary. Try the non-alcoholic sangria with lunch.

Not everyone enjoyed the recent rains like our young friend shown left. I think there were at least 2 home sellers in Evanston for whom water was a big issue on Sunday.

A couple who’s home I listed in Evanston got a contract on it last week so I took them out looking for a larger home on Sunday. Three of the homes they wanted to see in Evanston where having open houses, so I timed our visits with the open houses.

When we reached the 2nd open house, we found a sign that there was no open house. I called the broker explaining that I had 2 serious buyers and asked if I could show the home. I was told that the seller said there were to be no showings that day.

We went on to the 3rd open house and I knocked on the door. The seller answered and informed us that the open house was cancelled. I again explained that I had 2 serious buyers, but she replied, “This isn’t a good time.” and asked us to come back during the week.

Hmm??? Could it be that these sellers had water in their basements and didn’t want any prospective buyers to see it?

On Saturday I met with a couple of gentlemen who want to sell their house in Evanston and move to a larger house in the same area. Their house is in the 60201 zip code in Evanston which had the highest rise of any Evanston zip code for median house sale prices^* during the past 12 months, rising 3.75%. Median house prices for zip code 60203 were basically flat, rising only 0.5%. Prices in the southern part of Evanston, zip code 60202, dropped 6.2% during the last 12 months compared to a year earlier.

The Evanston zip codes are shown below. Zip code 60208 is for Northwestern University.

^*Based on Midwest Real Estate Data LLC (MRED) Data. MRED was recently formed by the merger of MLSNI and MAP MLS.

Recently, I compared prices for condos in Evanston and Rogers Park (just south of Evanston) for a woman in Los Angeles considering accepting a position at Northwestern University in Evanston.

The first difference I’ll point out is that buyers in Rogers Park must pay a buyer transfer tax since Rogers Park is in the city of Chicago. Currently, the tax is $7.50 per $1,000 of value, so the tax on a $400,000 condo is $3,000 (400 * 7.5). At this time, there is no such tax in Evanston and most suburbs.

The woman is interested in a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo with at least one garage space. Prices^* start just under $200K in Rogers Park and just over $200K in Evanston. The median price for 2 bedroom, 2 bath condos with garage parking in Rogers Park is $340K, but another $100K higher in Evanston at $440K!

Comparing median prices for the past 3 months (Sept – Nov) to the same period last year, such homes in Rogers Park saw an increase of 6.2% and an increase of 2.5% in Evanston.

So a buyer will probably pay more for a comparable condo in Evanston, but will avoid Chicago’s buyer transfer tax. Either area would probably be good to buy in since both have seen price appreciation this past year for this specific housing type.

^*Based on Multiple Listing System of Northern Illinois (MLSNI) Data

A woman called me the other day from England asking about the real estate market in Evanston. She graduated from Northwestern University in Evanston and is considering taking a job in Chicago.

Unlike the many of suburbs where I’ve worked this year, the median Evanston house price^* for the past 3 months (August – October) is higher than for the same period in 2006. In fact, it’s up 20% ($625K vs. $521K)! Yes, I checked the numbers twice to make sure it wasn’t a mistake! The 2006 median price was up 11% from the same period in 2005.

The median price for Evanston condos is also up from the same period last year, but only 2%.

^*Based on Multiple Listing System of Northern Illinois (MLSNI) Data

Friday I showed houses in Evanston and a condo in Rogers Park to a lovely couple relocating to Chicago from Ithaca, NY. We met at the CTA Purple Line Stop at Main in Evanston. I got there early and shot the video below just north of that CTA stop. It starts at Starbucks^® to the east of the intersection and ends at the CTA stop to the south. This is my first attempt at online video, so bear with me!

Yesterday I did a market analysis for a wonderful 4 bedroom 2 bathroom expanded bungalow in Evanston. One of the features of the home that all buyers who view the home will remember is the library. It’s 2 stories of beautiful bookcases with an attached rolling ladder to give you access to the upper shelves! It’s a room any book lover will fall in love with!

Since Evanston is home to a major university (Northwestern University), I would expect a fair number of houses in Evanston to have libraries. I checked a few stats¹ on Evanston homes with libraries and here’s what I found:

Evanston Active on Market Houses with Libraries: 7, Priced: $600K to $3.97M, Average List Price: $1.4M
Evanston Houses Sold During Past Year with Libraries: 12, Sold for: $647K to $1.97M, Average Sale Price: $1.2M
Average Sale Price of all Evanston Houses Sold During Past Year: $600K

¹Statistics based on Multiple Listing System of Northern Illinois (MLSNI) data.

Last night I searched for 3 bedroom 2 bath condos with a garage space in the Lakeview area of Chicago and in the suburb of Evanston. My out-of-town buyers aren’t sure yet if they want to live in the city or the suburbs.

Such condos in Lakeview start around $375,000 and the majority under $400,000 are in high rises. Once you get above $400,000 you can find these condos in smaller, more intimate buildings. As you start to bump against $500,000 they start to include family rooms or a 2nd garage space.

In Evanston such condos start around $325,000. You only need to be in the mid $300,000s to start seeing units with a family room or 2nd garage space.

Yesterday and today I showed houses in Evanston to a couple wanting to move from the Uptown area of Chicago. What we saw supported a high level rule of real estate in Evanston. That is, as you go south towards Rogers Park, you get more home for the same money and as you go north towards Wilmette, you get less home for the same money.

Evanston has a very diverse housing stock. You’ll find everything from very run down homes to some of the finest luxury residences along Lake Michigan.

The city of Evanston is very progressive and is doing sophisticated strategic planning which includes more emphasis on input from its citizens. In looking over their strategic planning documents I couldn’t help but notice that one of the benchmark cities that they compare themselves to is Arlington Heights!

There was one very weird discovery in our house touring yesterday. A vacant split-level house had a very large crawl space under most of the house. That’s not the weird part. The crawl space contained a huge model train setup. One wonders how many hours family members spent crawling on their knees to build it. I also wonder about the look on guests’ faces when invited to crawl into this miniature world!