$9,000,000 in Evanston? (Highland Park, Wilmette, Lake Forest: real estate, houses, buyer)

[US-Traveller]

Take a look at this home that just hit the MLS in Evanston.

925 Edgemere Court, Evanston, IL, 60202 - MLS ID#07199576 - Single Family Home real estate - REALTOR.com® (http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/925-Edgemere-Court_Evanston_IL_60202_1108806785 - broken link)

The home is located in Southeast Evanston on a private lane just east of Sheridan Road. It offers 50 feet of private deep water frontage on Lake Michigan.

Schools are Lincoln, Nichols, and Evanston Township High School.

This home is among the most expensive on the North Shore at the moment.

I think the home should be priced at $4-5 million instead of $9 million.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by US-Traveller

I think the home should be priced at $4-5 million instead of $9 million.

Based on what? I can see few problems with this place, and the location is among the best in an ultra-exclusive area. It's about $818 per square foot as currently priced, and I could see it going for $600-$700 per square foot. But not much less.

[Anthera]

Its grossly overpriced compared to comprable properties in Winnetka, Kenilworth & Wilmette.

Check out 1000 Michigan in Wilmette. Is a nicer property in the NT district, larger waterfront and they are asking $4.7 Million.

If the property in Evanston is deep water, there wouldn't be a private beach.

[US-Traveller]

Originally Posted by Anthera

Its grossly overpriced compared to comprable properties in Winnetka, Kenilworth & Wilmette.

Check out 1000 Michigan in Wilmette. Is a nicer property in the NT district, larger waterfront and they are asking $4.7 Million.

If the property in Evanston is deep water, there wouldn't be a private beach.

Correct. It is very overpriced when compared to similar properties in neighboring communities like Winnetka, Wilmette, Kenilworth, and Glencoe. There are even more affordable lakefront properties in Highland Park and Lake Forest.

Correct. The home has a deep water lot. I have attached a link to the virtual tour.

VHT - Real Estate Photography, The VHT Tour, 360 Scenes, Video Production

[Steve-o]

Overpriced, IMO. Lakefront or not, that home is not worth that price.

[hsw]

White elephant

Real estate is heavily about location/setting/feel/neighbors; who the hell wants to live in Evanston?

IIRC, ?595 Sheridan in Winnetka sold in ?'02 for about $3.5MM/acre; costs about $1-2K/sf to build a bespoke, latest-tech house

Not many who can afford >$5MM houses want used houses; any used house on desirable land is a land buy and teardown, and buyer wants to design/build what they desire w/a competent architect and builder

Most people only build one primary family house in their lifetime; why reside in someone's used, ancient house?

[ajolotl]

I personally prefer Evanston to the other North Shore communities. When places are uniformly wealthy they lose a lot of their energy and spontaneity. I strongly prefer the vibe of a place with a mixture of people -- students, some rich people, some struggling artists, people from different countries, some blue collar people. Evanston has much more of that. Anyhow Evanston has more and better commercial areas than any of the other North Shore communities. I like to get out of my house.

[Anthera]

Originally Posted by ajolotl

I personally prefer Evanston to the other North Shore communities. When places are uniformly wealthy they lose a lot of their energy and spontaneity. I strongly prefer the vibe of a place with a mixture of people -- students, some rich people, some struggling artists, people from different countries, some blue collar people. Evanston has much more of that. Anyhow Evanston has more and better commercial areas than any of the other North Shore communities. I like to get out of my house.

Evanston is very nice, but most people looking to spend over 4 million on a house don't look there. I don't know what the highest priced residential property is that has sold in Evanston, but I'm sure it wasn't anywhere near 9 million, or 4 million.

[Anthera]

Originally Posted by hsw

White elephant

Real estate is heavily about location/setting/feel/neighbors; who the hell wants to live in Evanston?

IIRC, ?595 Sheridan in Winnetka sold in ?'02 for about $3.5MM/acre; costs about $1-2K/sf to build a bespoke, latest-tech house

Not many who can afford >$5MM houses want used houses; any used house on desirable land is a land buy and teardown, and buyer wants to design/build what they desire w/a competent architect and builder

Most people only build one primary family house in their lifetime; why reside in someone's used, ancient house?

Now, now, I know you don't like used houses. But most people on the NS do. Most of the older lakefront homes are renovated by their new owners, not demoed. 595 Sheridan was an exception, not a general example.

[chet everett]

The comps for such a property are not there. On the one hand this does not really matter, as this is NOT the kind of thing that regular financing would be involved with, but in the broader sense it is a factor.

A quick glance at the photo's reveals design choices that, to put it nicely, are "highly personal". The odds of these choices resonating with another buyer are extraordinary slim. If the owner is a builder it would be kind of standard for the builder to have a large list of concessions that they would make to suit a new buyer. It appears to my eye that there are likely code violations that a town like Evanston would NOT grant exceptions for --- unshielded light fixtures too close to showers, stairs lacking handrails, problems with lighting runs unless commercial rating standards were followed, possible egress issues.

Entirely possible some fool spent $9M or more on this property and wants to try and recoup that outlay, but that is not how to price a property. At this price point it would compete with places in Aspen, Monaco, and any number of high dollar locales that are all seeing major fall-off in demand.

What is the unique appeal that could not be recreated at a far lower price point?

Unless there is some secret, I see as a massively mis-priced mistake...