Comments on: Did You Know That A Tiny Part Of Edgebrook Is Actually Skokie?

By: Markus Azadeh

Markus Azadeh — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:52:25 +0000

Indeed, since we're talking about maybe 11 or 12 homes here, there really aren't any "economies of scale" to talk about. For Chicagoland standards though, this catering to the political upper class is nothing out of the ordinary. Many dignitaries and higher-level city politicians that used to - or still - live in Sauganash, enjoy similar perks as well (pothole-free and always snow-plowed side streets in the winter, on-time garbage removal, frequent street cleaning, frequent police patrols etc.) Their immediate neighbors, of course, are the beneficiaries of these services as well. Real estate values on that stretch of Ionia are certainly an interesting topic to discuss. This particular home on Zillow that you mentioned, JB, happens to be a pre-foreclosure short sale. Therefore, I doubt that it would be suitable as a meaningful comp. I can't really discuss the details of it here, because the MLS indicates that the owners of this house are not allowing any Realtor comments or reviews (such as on blogs). But even if they did, I don't think that the final sale price of this property would really help define the values of these dozen homes. What will probably be a royal pain though is the fact that out-of-area appraisers won't have a clue how to evaluate properties in this area. As it is, out-of-area appraisers that aren't familiar with local property values pose a common problem to real estate transactions already (a result of HVCC). But when you have a local appraisal issue, coupled with a quirk such as this one, things can get ugly quickly. Whether or not this house would be worth x% more, had it been located across the street, is difficult to say, JB. The last time, a home sold on that stretch of Ionia was on October 2005 (6810 N Ionia - Edgebrook side) for $444,500. Also, the high school attendance area (pdf-file) for these homes is District 219 Niles West High School which might carry some weight with many parents.

By: JB

JB — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:05:27 +0000

Very interesting … Thanks for making that call. I guess since the mayor was living there, Skokie probably HAD to get all the essential utilities there. But in later years, I bet it was interesting when the predecessor to Comcast had to get cable TV service to this area … It would hardly be worth it to put in the infrastructure to serve just the handful of subscribers.

Assuming that the house on Zillow is in pretty bad shape and will close for something a bit less than 239, it gives some good insight on the “value” of an Edgebrook address — I would think if that house were across the street, it would be worth at least 50% more, even in the current market. So only two differences would seem to be the school district and the Chicago address (possibly the property tax — anything else?). Kind of gives a little window to what the city of Chicago residency requirement means to property values on the edge of the city.

By: Markus Azadeh

Markus Azadeh — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:33:46 +0000

So, I called the Skokie Building Dept. and asked a gentleman by the name of Bob about a brief history on this. He didn’t know much about it, except to say that manymanymany years ago, one of Skokie’s mayors (he didn’t know which one) used to live on that stretch of Ionia, hence it had to become part of Skokie. Whether or not any horse trades were made between Chicago and Skokie, Bob couldn’t say. Nice guy, this Bob, but his boss was peeking over his shoulder with more urgent village matters, so I couldn’t keep him on the phone for long.

Alas, your interesting inquiry about utilities, JB, fell through the cracks as well. I’m quite sure that the children living in that semi-block are attending Skokie schools, as the Zillow listing you posted, confirms. At this point, I’m hoping that anyone who is intimately familiar with that block, or better yet, lives there, would visit and enlighten us, here on 60646 Blog.

Incidentally, I’m told by one of my long-time neighbors that the North Edgebrook subdivision on Meade/McVicker/Sherwin Aves, just north of Touhy Ave. at one point in time used to be part of the Village of Niles, and eventually got annexed by Chicago.

By: JB

JB — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:04:51 +0000

What I’d like to know is WHY? Was there some kind of swap of land between Skokie and Chicago that resulted in this oddity … This little sliver of Skokie extends down from the commercial areas to the north, but there’s still no clear reason why … sort of like that small residential section of North North Edgebrook. It’d be interesting to knw how the utilities work — Peoples Gas or Nicor? Are there separate connections for sewer and water vs. the rest of the neighborhood? I’m sure the kids there have to attend Skokie schools — somewhere north of Pratt and east of Carpenter? Just seems odd, and it would make sense to bring that block into the Edgebrook family. I’d also guess a house like this: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6787-N-Ionia-Ave-Skokie-IL-60076/2141855448_zpid/ would be worth a lot more with a 60646 address, so the residents likely wouldn’t be against it.