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River Forest mansion sells for half its ask, after languishing on the block

The Ashland Avenue home is only one of a handful of pricey properties on that stretch to sell in 2 years

914 Ashland Avenue (Credit: VHT Studios)
914 Ashland Avenue (Credit: VHT Studios)

A River Forest mansion that first listed in June 2017 for $3.2 million finally found a buyer, but for half its asking price.

The six-bedroom Italianate at 914 Ashland Avenue sold for $1.6 million, according to Crain’s. It is the only one of five $3 million-plus listings on a two-block stretch of Ashland to find a buyer since the first home was listed, according to the report.

The seller was Marcia Coleman and the buyers were not yet identified in public records. Robert Swindal of @properties had the listing.

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Four other houses between 909 and 1000 Ashland started out with asking prices over $3 million in the past couple years, and all had to cut their asking prices below that threshold, according to Crain’s. None has found a buyer.

Swindal said the languishing listings reflect buyers who don’t want to spend big money maintaining large houses — and soaring property taxes. The home he sold at 914 Ashland had a tax bill of more than $51,000 last year, up more than 30 percent from a decade earlier.

Sales of $1 million-plus homes in the Chicago area grew by 1.4 percent last year, a dramatic drop from the 10 percent growth in sales of $1 million-and-up homes recorded in 2017, according to Crain’s. Despite the slowdown in the overall luxury market, sales of homes trading at $4 million or more posted a record year in 2018. [Crain’s] — John O’Brien

 

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