Beautiful vintage homes draw Chicago's homebuyers to President Barack Obama's Kenwood neighborhood. (Photo: iStockphoto)
In honor of Presidents Day Weekend, I thought it would be fun to profile President Barack Obama's Kenwood neighborhood, which is located in Chicago's Southside.
In Kenwood, Obama owns a $1.65 million restored Georgian mansion that he purchased in 2005. The home is at 5046 South Greenwood Avenue, which is just north of the University of Chicago.
While people have always been attracted to the Kenwood community -- which offers a mix of vintage 18th-century spacious homes, modern condominiums and single-family houses and is close to Lake Michigan -- there's been a spike in inquiries about the neighborhood from home shoppers because of Obama, says Tracey Taylor, broker associate with Rubloff Residential Properties in Chicago.
He notes that sales in the area have taken a hit in the past few months like the rest of the country, but haven't seen the type of slump found on the East and West Coasts, where home-price appreciation was greater during the housing boom.
While sections of the neighborhood were somewhat neglected prior to the early 1990s, there's been a surge of redevelopment there since then, with many new condos and condo conversions, rehabs, and single-family homes being built there, he says. There are currently 253 active residential real estate listings in Kenwood, with prices ranging from the $100,000s to more than $1 million for single-family homes and condos, he says. Some homes top $2 million, he adds.
Among the most expensive listings currently on the market in Kenwood is an eight-bedroom home on Woodlawn Avenue for $1.685 million, according to Cyberhomes. —Lauren Baier Kim