Lincoln Park 2520 offers the chance of a lifetime, for a building such as this on Chicago’s lakefront will not be built for a generation or more.

- Chicago Agent Magazine, demonstrating either a sly sense of humor or a poor choice of words in the writeup for its Favorite Overall New Development (City) for 2009.

Not that we can snark too much — New Homes did name X/O the best new high-rise development of 2007. It happens.

A few weeks ago we brought you some info on price cuts at three Lincoln Park single-family homes, courtesy of CondoShark.com. Today I’m turning to the neighborhood once again to see what’s available in the condo market. The three listings below — a loft at 2407 N Surrey Ct and two condos at 2734 N Mildred Ave — have seen the biggest price cuts by percentage in recent weeks, and they all happen to be in Wrightwood Neighbors.

• Unit #2407 at 2407 N Surrey Ct: a two-bedroom / 2.5-bath loft with 2,000 square feet; was $595,000, now $449,900 (a reduction of 24 percent)
• Unit #2 at 2734 N Mildred Ave: a three-bedroom / two-bath condo with 2,066 square feet; was 885000, now 675000 (a reduction of 24 percent)
• Unit #1 at 2734 N Mildred Ave: a three-bedroom / two-bath condo with 2,066 square feet; was 875000, now 675000 (a reduction of 23 percent)

Visit CondoShark and ShoreShark for a look at more of the steepest price reductions in popular Chicago neighborhoods and suburbs.

It hasn’t put the brakes on closings, but it certainly changed from a green light to a yellow light. It’s not a red light, but without Fannie Mae approval and a stable of portfolio lenders that are easily obtainable, it has definitely slowed down the process.

- From a source close to Magellan Development regarding Fannie Mae’s classification of Aqua’s 474 apartments as commercial property, which, along with its still-empty hotel component, raises the development’s non-residential-to-residential ratio above what Fannie Mae’s guidelines permit.

This has kept a lot of buyers away from the closing table in recent months. According to Redfin’s MLS data and Cook County sales records, 11 homes have closed at Aqua since mid-September. Understand that this number represents the minimum homes that have sold — there is a lag of a few weeks in the Tribune’s Cook County records search, so it’s possible that units that were never listed on the MLS have closed since mid-October but have not made their way into the paper’s database.

In the meantime, Magellan is putting together a list of portfolio lenders who will be able to give buyers 80-percent loans. These lenders should be ready to go starting next week, meaning we should see an uptick in closings at the tower very soon.

Obviously, Magellan views Aqua’s apartments as residential units and plans to reapply for Fannie Mae approval, but the developer believes it has a better chance for reconsideration after it has resolved its hotel situation. No word yet on how much longer that will take.

We should tip our hat to the crew at the SkyscraperPage forum, who started discussing this issue earlier in the week.

Have you heard of any other developments that have had trouble with closings lately?

It’s the Friday after the Michigan Avenue Tower II auction, which means it’s time for the development’s sales team to roll out a new pricing schedule for its unsold units at the high-rise, located at 1400 S Michigan Ave in the South Loop.

Right on cue, I received an e-blast from Accelerated Marketing Partners and Weichert, Realtors – Frankel & Giles promoting “auction pricing without the auction,” with new sample listings showing cuts of 23 to 28 percent off recent asking prices.

Frankel & Giles won’t give out a full price list by unit and tier, but agent Rhonda Hoff says most of the remaining one- to three-bedrooms range from the $180s to the $550s. A couple of penthouses are also available at $1.8 million and $1.9 million.

The three samples in today’s e-blast are:

• Unit #1312, a 692 square-foot one-bedroom / one-bath priced in the $180s, down from the $250s. Homes in this tier all sold at auction in the $180s.
• Unit #1508, a 751 square-foot one-bedroom / one-bath with den priced in the $190s, down from the $260s. Units in this tier all sold at auction from the $190s to $220s.
• Unit #2701, a 1,259 square-foot two-bedroom / two-bath priced in the $370s, down from the $490s. Units in this tier all sold at auction in the $320s and $330s.

Last weekend’s auction did away with roughly half of the developer’s inventory, meaning that 40-something homes were still available coming into this week. However, Hoff says Frankel & Giles is only marketing about 15 units for now.

Several agents in recent weeks have told us that proper staging is vital to selling a home in this market. Several weeks ago, Joe Zekas and Prudential Rubloff agent Francesca Rose shot video of a resale at ParkView Condominiums, 505 N McClurg Ct, prior to its being staged. The transformation, as you can see in the “before” video above and the “after” video below, is striking: A relatively unappealing unit has become comfortable and inviting.

In the “after” video, Kim Baker and Karen Fike of Chicago Home Staging talk about the importance of color and the paradox of how adding furnishings can make an empty space feel larger.

Why Montclare? Why not? This “neighborhood for the rest of us” on the Northwest Side has a lot of older homes for sale, but look close enough and you can find some nearly new condos, townhomes, and single-family homes on the market. I came across nine listings (including four short sales) in this nabe of “N” avenues that fit the bill:

• Unit #11 at 2935 N Natoma Ave: a 1,727 square-foot two-bedroom / two-bath townhome priced for short sale in the $190s (reduced from the $270s)
• Unit #4 at 2931 N Natoma Ave: an 1,800 square-foot two-bedroom / two-bath townhome priced for short sale in the $190s (reduced from the $280s)
• Unit #2D at 7043 W Grand Ave: a three-bedroom / two-bath condo priced in the $220s
• Unit #3W at 7162 W Grand Ave: a 1,450 square-foot three-bedroom / two-bath condo priced in the $220s
• 2438 N Newcastle Ave: a 2,500 square-foot four-bedroom / three-bath single-family priced for short-sale in the $220s (reduced from the $320s)
• Unit #4W at 7170 W Grand Ave: a 1,450 square-foot three-bedroom / two-bath condo priced in the $240s
• 2533 N Neva Ave: a three-bedroom / two-bath single-family home priced for short sale in the $250s (reduced from the $290s)
• Unit #5 at 2935 N Natoma Ave: an 1,800 square-foot two-bedroom / two-bath condo priced in the $290s
• Unit #6 at 2919 N Natoma Ave: a 1,727 square-foot two-bedroom / two-bath condo priced in the $310s

For a “food desert” like Auburn Gresham, the arrival of a new Aldi grocery store is a reason for celebration. This morning I drove down to the South Side neighborhood to see the store open for the first time and afterward talked to Carlos Nelson, executive director of the Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation, about the impact it and other new developments will have on the community.

In early 2007, Joe Zekas met up with Carlos in Auburn Gresham to talk about the neighborhood. You can watch videos of their visit on the YoChicago YouTube channel.

The Terrazio condos at 1935 S Wabash Ave will be ready for delivery late this year or early next year, putting them well behind the market in the eyes of some onlookers. I asked Mike Hulett of Jameson Real Estate how sales are holding up, what his expectations are as closing notices start to go out, and why he thinks the development will stand out in a South Loop neighborhood that’s already flush with inventory. Mike also talks about his experiences working with developer Sedgwick Properties.

Visitors to the Union Row townhomes in the 500 and 600 blocks of West 16th Street often don’t have a good perception of where they are in relation to the surrounding area, says Belgravia Group’s Zev Salomon. To remedy that, Salomon recently took Joe Zekas on a driving tour of Union Row’s neighborhood.

In the first part of their tour, Zev and Joe drive west from Michigan Avenue to Halsted Street and discuss the arrival of new retail options on Roosevelt Road, the growth of University Village, and the emergence of art galleries and restaurants in Pilsen’s arts district.

Belgravia Group in October announced reductions for four Union Row townhomes priced from the $530s to $710s. The first buyer who signs for one of the four homes will receive an $80,000 cut, the second a $75,000 cut, the third a $70,000 cut, and the fourth a $65,000 cut.

Watch more segments from Zev and Joe’s tour on the YoChicago YouTube Channel.

Turns out all it took to get Flair Tower’s vital deets was a trip to the development’s new leasing center in River North. I stopped by the office during my lunch break yesterday and walked out with a handful of promotional materials including a full list of rental rates and fees.

The first of Flair Tower’s 198 apartments should be ready for occupancy by March, says General Manager Lauren Dolan. According to the tower’s price sheet, anyone who takes advantage of a pre-leasing incentive will pay about 17 percent less than the rates listed below for the full term of a lease. The incentive does not appear to apply for the tower’s penthouse units, which include 1,122 square-foot one-bedrooms, 1,520 and 1,552 square-foot two-bedrooms, and all of the building’s three-bedrooms.

Additional charges include $50 for individual applications, $125 for corporation applications, and $450 for move-in fees.

View, download, or print this spreadsheet through Google Docs.

Woe to the tenant who’s late with the rent check at this house. The Tribune reports that Rahm Emanuel has rented out his 2,719 square-foot home in Lake View for $4,995 a month, after asking as much as $6,000 earlier in the year. The paper describes the home as a Colonial-style house with four bedrooms, 3.5 baths, three fireplaces, a finished lower level, a granite kitchen a screened-in sunroom, and a private deck.

RMR Partners and @properties have taken a hatchet to four homes at 114 – 120 N Halsted St in the West Loop in the past week.

Two condos — units #2 and #3 at 114 N Halsted St — received reductions late last week of $100,000 (or about 20 percent) apiece, bringing their list prices down to $390s and $420s, respectively. Both homes have 1,500 square feet, three bedrooms, and two baths. The other two homes, both 1,900 square foot units with three or four bedrooms, saw smaller cuts on Monday: Unit #4 at 118 N Halsted St dropped by $50,000, from the $620s to the $570s, while unit #4 at 120 N Halsted St dropped by $60,000, from the $620s to $560s.

All four units feature outdoor terraces, ebony hardwood floors, walnut kitchen cabinets, quartz and granite countertops, glass backsplashes, stainless-steel appliances, and master baths porcelain and mosaic tile, whirlpool tubs, and steam showers.

Price discounts are becoming more publicly advertised, although developers remain concerned about the ripple effects. Several buildings have undergone substantial re-pricing of their entire unsold inventory in order to quicken the sellout of the building. Other buildings have opted for individual “loss-leaders,” testing the effects of particularly well-priced units on their sales pace.

Whether or not a developer is employing price discounts, buyers are attempting to negotiate on price in the same way that the resale market operates. Negotiating with a developer has become much more of “make me an offer,” although we are hearing that the discounts buyers are desiring are often too extreme for the developer to accept. This disconnect between buyer and seller expectations is also occurring in the resale market, resulting in sales volume which is approximately half of the 2007 volume levels.

- From Appraisal Research Counselors‘ 3rd Quarter 2009 Downtown Chicago Residential Benchmark Report.

Along with reported contracts, Appraisal Research Counselors now tracks unit closings from public records. Below is a breakdown of signed contracts and unit closings in the downtown market during the first three quarters of 2009, courtesy of ARC’s report.

Searches for The Park Monroe, 55 E Monroe St, have gone up following the announcement of reductions of up to $300,000 on select units. To help your own investigation, I’ve put together this pathfinder of links to Web sites about The Park Monroe (seen in the center of the photo at right) and its neighborhood.

• The Park Monroe: Official Web site
• GlenStar Properties: Developer
• Walton St Capital: Investment firm
• Goettsch Partners: Conversion architect
• Pappageorge / Haymes: Interior / floor plan architect
• Linn-Mathes: General contractor
• Equity Marketing Services: Exclusive broker
• Redfin: Home listings at and near The Park Monroe
• Park Monroe price reductions: Details on price cuts for nine Park Monroe condominiums
• YoChicago: Posts about The Park Monroe
• SkyscraperPage Forum: A “boom rundown” discussion thread on all new high-rises, including The Park Monroe
• “Deconstructing 55 East Monroe”: Lynn Becker on The Park Monroe’s conversion
• “Coming out on top in the Loop”: Chicago Magazine’s video tour of The Park Monroe
• Yelp: Reviews of restaurants, stores, and services near The Park Monroe
• EveryBlock: Crimes, permits, photos, and reviews within eight blocks of The Park Monroe
• MoveSmart: Neighborhood information for the 60603 ZIP code
• Ward 42: Web site for 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly
• Flickr: A slideshow of photographs of The Park Monroe

Here are some offhand observations I made as I revisited the results of Michigan Avenue Tower II’s auction yesterday afternoon.

• The 43 units auctioned:

• Listed on average for $335,483, or $375 a square foot
• Started at an average minimum bid of $171,140, or $179 a square foot
• Sold on average for $260,698, or $276 a square foot

• On average, Michigan Avenue Tower II’s units sold for 22 percent less than their latest list prices but 52 percent more than their minimum bid prices.

• The biggest drop from list price to sale price by percentage and dollar amount was for unit #2605, a two-bedroom / two-bath with 1,259 square feet. The unit had been listed at $520,000 but sold for $296,000, representing a 43-percent reduction.

• Unit #500, a 580-square foot studio, sold for $160,000, or 18 percent more than its $135,900 list price.

• The biggest increase from minimum bid to sale price by dollar amount was unit #1203, a 2,120 square-foot three-bedroom that started at $375,000 and eventually sold for $601,000. The biggest increase percentage-wise was for unit #2510, a 1,027 square-foot two-bedroom that rose 74 percent from its minimum bid of $175,000 to a final price of $305,000.

• The home smallest increase from minimum bid to sale price was unit #1211, a 692 square-foot one-bedroom that started at $120,000 and eventually sold for $180,000. The smallest increase percentage-wise was for unit #2602, a 1,540 square-foot two-bedroom that rose just 22 percent from its minimum bid of $375,000 to a final price of $457,000.

Joe Zekas recently joined Jean Ward of Chicago Lakefront Properties and Francesca Rose of Prudential Rubloff for a walk through several homes at Lake Point Tower, 505 N Lake Shore Dr.

Weighing in at 4,500 square feet and $1,895,000, unit #4610 is the largest and highest-priced home currently for sale at Lake Point Tower. The basics, however, don’t clue you in to the spectacular wraparound views from the sprawling living areas of this unit.

Sedgwick Properties‘ Terrazio, 1935 S Wabash Ave, had almost fallen off my radar until a couple weeks ago, when I received word of a grand opening party Jameson Real Estate was throwing at the mid-rise. I wasn’t able to make that event, but I did meet up with Jameson agent Mike Hulett a few days later to take an early look inside the development.

In order to compete in an admittedly tough South Loop market, Sedgwick opted for several upgrades during the construction process, including an improved exterior with cornices and natural stone all the way across the retail level.

Here are some more observations I made yesterday while looking at the results of this weekend’s Motor Row Lofts auction.

(Note that all of these amounts do not take into account the 5.5-percent premium charged to buyers to reach a final purchase price.)

• The 19 units auctioned:

• Listed on average for $445,689, or $318 a square foot
• Started at an average minimum bid of $190,000, or $157 a square foot
• Sold on average for $247,167, or $178 a square foot

• On average, Motor Row Lofts’ units sold for 45 percent less than their original list prices but 30 percent more than their minimum bid prices.

• Two units did not reach their minimum bid amounts:

• Unit #501, a three-bedroom / two-bath corner duplex with 2,049 square feet, a second-floor den, a balcony, and a rooftop deck, came in $43,000 below its minimum bid price of $359,000
• Unit #504, a three-bedroom / two-bath duplex with 1,657 square feet and a rooftop deck, came in $10,000 below its minimum bid of $295,000.

• The biggest drop from list price to sale price was at unit #506, a three-bedroom / three-bath with 1,755 square feet, skyline views, 21-foot ceiling heights, a den, and a rooftop deck. The loft had been listed at $609,000 but sold for $313,000, representing a 49-percent reduction in price. (Watch a video tour of unit #506 with Joe Zekas and Motor Row Lofts developer Paul Zucker.)

• The smallest drop from list price to sale price was at unit #317, a one-bedroom / one-bath with 926 square feet and a balcony off the living room. The loft had been listed for $279,900 but sold for $187,000, representing a 33-percent reduction.

• The biggest increase from minimum bid to sale price was at unit #306, a 1,440 square-foot, two-bedroom corner unit with city views. It started at $210,000 and eventually sold for $286,000, representing a 36-percent increase in price.

• The smallest increase from minimum bid to sale price was at unit #503, a 1,359 square-foot, two-bedroom duplex with a rooftop deck. It started at $240,000 and eventually sold for $247,000, representing a 3-percent increase in price.

For even more analysis from one person in attendance, check out MarathonRunner’s lengthy review at CribChatter. Check back tomorrow for some similar observations from the Michigan Avenue Tower II auction.

Last week I took the Brown Line up to Armitage and walked a few blocks east to Oz Park, one of the great public spaces of the Lincoln Park community area. Follow me around the park in this short video, which I shot at the same time as last Friday’s “name the nabe” photo.

Is it better to list your home high and gradually reduce its price over time until a seller bites, or to opt for a lower but more accurate price from the get-go? @properties agent Bob Darrow devoted his latest post on his Your Windy City Guide blog to this question. To find an answer, Bob used his AgentMetrics analysis program to compare price / sales price ratios for homes that had no price changes and those that saw one or more reductions.