Story URL: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=123715
Story Retrieval Date: 2/9/2010 8:41:51 PM CST
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Inyoung Hwang/Medill
As the distressed real estate market in Chicago struggles to recover, Andersonville is still attracting homebuyers.
Andersonville a safe haven for some in real estate debacle
by Inyoung Hwang
March 12, 2009
“It’s a very disparate marketplace here in Chicago right now,” said Tom McCarey, a real estate agent with @properties. “[Andersonville’s] kind of been impervious to the swings and fluctuations” in home prices, he added.
Pamela Ball, an Andersonville resident and real estate agent, said prices in the neighborhood are down 5 percent to 8 percent compared with a year ago.
Andersonville is technically located within Edgewater, which has seen a drop of 8.5 percent in home prices as of February last year, compared with Chicago as whole, which has seen a 10.2 percent drop, according to Zillow.com. Other North Side neighborhoods have been more distressed. Uptown, which borders to the south of Andersonville, has seen a 12.9 percent decrease in home prices, and Rogers Park, which is north of Edgewater, saw a 11.3 percent fall.
Marge Britton, who oversees residential development for Ald. Mary Ann Smith of Edgewater and Uptown, said a key factor in Andersonville’s relative success is that not that many new buildings went up during the recent housing boom. In other words, the supply of homes has remained stable.
“The areas that are going to be hard hit are the areas that had a lot of new construction,” said Stephanie Derderian, who works at Keller Williams Realty.
“Andersonville’s wave of condo conversions happened in the 1980s,” explained Ball. “There was a smaller wave in the past five years, but there’s very little new construction. Andersonville is very unique, and it’s a little bit like living in a bubble.”
Len Benefico, an agent with Koenig & Strey GMAC Real Estate who works with properties all over Chicago, said Andersonville attracts the type of buyer who would probably still qualify for mortgage loans even in the current tight credit market.
“It's a nice, trendy neighborhood,” Benefico said. “People that like that kind of area – those are people that still have their jobs and are making incomes. Therefore, they can get loans. It all correlates.”
David Macey and Suzette Mayobre, who both work in advertising, are currently renting in Andersonville and say they love the neighborhood for its distinct character. They plan to purchase a home this year, and they have been looking primarily in Andersonville because of its sense of community and because they believe it will be the best investment.
“There’s a lot less inventory in Andersonville, and it’s also a different kind of buyer,” Macey said.
“We’ve looked at other neighborhoods but we just keep coming back,” Mayobre said.
Ball, who is Macey and Mayobre’s real estate agent, said the diversity in the kinds of properties available in Andersonville has also helped to shield it in the downturn.
“When things start to get difficult, you need that diversity to be stable,” she said. “Now more than ever, it’s location location location.”
Neighborhoods in Chicago that can deliver on that traditional real estate mantra have been more resilient, as skittish buyers seek real estate investments that they believe will be more secure.
Derderian, who specializes in two other prime neighborhoods -- the Gold Coast and Lakeview -- described how the past few months were characterized by inactivity and insecurity as the stock market declined and people were preoccupied with the presidential election. But recently, she’s noticed the hint of a turnaround.
“What I’m starting to see.. is more activity,” she said. “Buyers are beginning to say, ‘This is my opportunity.’ Sellers are starting to say ‘Even if I have to sell low, I can find something else that’ll be a good deal.’”
Another sign of Andersonville's stability, say employees of local businesses, is that over the past year while other Chicago neighborhoods have seen local stores shut down, businesses on Andersonville’s retail strip are still bustling. Even the numerous home furnishing and furniture stores, an industry that has felt the repercussions of the housing crisis, have been doing well along Clark Street.
Christopher Duke, the assistant manager of Urbanest, 5228 N. Clark St., said revenues for the home design store have kept pace with last year’s figures, as local shoppers who are decorating their homes still pop in frequently.
Michelle Peterson-Albandoz, who’s lived in the neighborhood for 15 years, doesn't think the recession has quite hit Andersonville yet. An artist who runs Las Manos Gallery on 5220 N. Clark St., she said it’s been a nice surprise that since October, business has only gone up.
“The professionals that live in the neighborhood are maybe recession-resilient,” she said. “They don’t quite [need]their 401(k) [plans] yet” and are not overly worried about the stock market's recent losses.
For Macey and Mayobre, it's a buyers' market in real estate, and the relative stability of their neighborhood on Chicago's North side has been an additional impetus.
They are also looking to take advantage of the $8,000 tax break from the 2009 First-Time Homebuyer Credit provision, which was unveiled on Feb. 25 as part of Obama's economic stimulus package and includes all home purchases made between Jan. 1 and Dec. 1, 2009.
“We’re definitely motivated to buy now,” Macey said.
