Unique Home/ Investment Opportunity In Uptown

This multi-family building at 848 W Lakeside Pl in Uptown popped up on one of my investor’s searches the other day and really caught my eye. Just hitting the market 4 days ago, what makes it unique is that it’s a 5 unit building but one of the units, with over 3000 square feet of living space and beautiful finishes, is clearly the owner’s home. The other 4 units have a combined annual gross rental income of $54,000, for which many of my investors would pay around $560,000. Since the building is listed at $1,325,000 that means that the owner’s living quarters are effectively priced at $765,000. I could work with that.
Check out the really cool photos below of the owner’s home and note that it has 3 bedrooms and 1 1/2 or 2 baths. Here is the description from the MLS:

Gorgeous vintage brick 5 unit on 40X150 lot tucked away on a quite, tree-lined street just steps from the lake. All original Honduran mahogany beams, wainscoting, 1/4 inch sawn oak flooring, and brass fixtures. Meticulously maintained and improved upon; new tear-off roof, furnace, windows, tuck-pointing, fence, landscaping & more. Over 3,000 sq ft of living space. 4 large 1&2 BR units fully leased w/ value add opp!

Unfortunately, there are no photos of the rental units. The building sits on a 40 x 150 ft lot and has 5 parking spaces. I am a little disappointed in the kitchen. As elegant as the unit appears overall I would really expect higher end appliances but then again those Sub Zeros and Viking ranges don’t have a lot of the nice features that cheaper appliances do have.
The property taxes are a bit of a mystery in that the the tax records show it as $5,667 with a market value of $884,540. Not only is that market value too low but those property taxes are too low for that valuation. In fact, the MLS listing shows the property taxes at $14,333, which is totally consistent with that market value. But the story gets even better because for 2012 the city is showing the market value at $668,860. Now how do they come up with these numbers?
One potential fly in the ointment is that there are ongoing discussions about building large apartment buildings just south of here at Montrose and Clarendon. In fact, just today Crain’s reported on another proposal for a $220 MM retail development with 770 apartments. So what will all that supply do to area rents?

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