Abandoned homes in Back of the Yards

Driving through Chicago’s southside neighborhoods you will find one house after another that abandoned homes in Back of the Yards boarded up, broken down, and landscaping left to nature. Yet, if you take a stroll along Ashland, you’ll find the future of Back of the Yards. This is the revitalization of one of the most iconic Chicago Southside neighborhoods.

Back of the Yards came to acclaim in 1906 with the novel, The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair. In The Jungle, Sinclair portrays the harsh conditions in industrialized Chicago and the exploitation of its immigrant population. Since 1865 when the Union Stockyard was established, Back of the Yards was segregated along class and ethnic lines. As a result, Irish and German laborers, lower-class Eastern Europeans, and African Americans faced segregation and poverty. Subsequently, the modern Back of the Yards is seeing a fresh look. Mexican groceries and restaurants dot the streets. Distressed houses are now being renovated. Back of the Yards is rebuilding from the ground up.

So, what does this mean for Chicago and it’s historic homes?

Windy City Cash Buyers has been buying abandoned homes, and distressed Chicago houses since the ’80s. Most importantly, our goal is to improve Chicago one lot at a time. Back of the yards had limited transportation to other parts of Chicago. As a result, impoverished immigrants were blocked in. And, with so many multi-unit dwellings there was little room for growth or to escape.

Back of the Yards began the slow process of building. Immigrants living in 4-flat rental properties saved money and bought 2-flat wood-frame houses. Those two flat wood-frame houses are for sale, often utilized in much the same manner. Worker’s cottages for sale are a past reminder of laborer’s stepping stone out of multi-unit rental properties.

Today, Windy City Cash buyers pay cash for the property in any condition. We want to buy houses that have seemingly been forgotten. We buy 2-flat, 3-flat, and 4-flat rental properties. So, Distressed, outdated, and Chicago building code violations don’t matter. But, when we buy houses in Chicago’s southside or westside neighborhoods the question that always hits Chicago Windy City Cash Buyers as well as rehabbers and Chicago companies that flip houses for profit is: Should we reno or raze the property?

Reno Chicago property for sale

To be fair, we love to reno Chicago single-family homes and Chicago brick apartment buildings. We buy single-family homes, we buy multi-flat buildings for sale, and we even buy commercial and mixed-use property in Back of the Yards and other southside and westside neighborhoods.

Our goal when buying Chicago real estate is to decide if the property is salvageable. From cosmetic rehabs to gutting a property, full renovations, and of course razing the property. We really want to know what the bones of a house are in deciding how to rehab a property. With good bones, you can make a rehab work. If the cost to reno a home is significantly more than the cost to tear down and build from new, there is good reason to tear down. Windy City Cash Buyers loves older homes. As a result, we seek to salvage older real estate to its original charm with modern conveniences.

Razing abandoned homes in Back of the Yards

While the goal is to rehab Chicago property, there are some properties that are beyond repair and razing abandoned homes in the Back of the Yards is the best option. We buy gutted houses for sale in Chicago all the time which is an opportunity. Gutted houses for sale offer house flippers the chance to use their creative layouts, design, and implement character from salvaged historic homes.

We look at options to save a razed home. Can we save a wall or two? Can we build a new property with the original brick, stained glass, molding, or other features?

Razing a property has always been difficult to me. I feel like I am saying goodbye to a valued piece of history. Trying to salvage and reuse components of architecture and design into a new single-family home on the same lot can be inspiring and tell a story of Chicago’s most iconic neighborhoods.

Windy City Cash Buyers pays cash for properties in any condition and we can provide a fair market cash offer in as fast as 24 hours. Homes often sell in as fast as 7 business days, with no obligation to accept our cash offer.