Trying to move the white elephants — unfinished homes a tough sell

The residential real estate slump has claimed several victims. None may be as visible, though, as the unfinished new-construction homes that dot the country.

Crain’s Chicago Business , one of the top business publications around, recently wrote a small story about the high number of new-construction homes that have yet to be finished. Crain’s refers to them as white elephants.

What usually happens is that developers or homeowners run out of money before they can finish construction.

Crain’s profiles a Chicago couple who own a former farmhouse that sits on two-and-a-half city lots. After a small fire, the owners moved out, and have left the house vacant for the last 25 years. The owners, however, did decide to add an addition to the house. Unfortunately, they never finished it. The four-bedroom house — unfinished and all — is sitting on the market now for $2.5 million.

You can bet that house is going to be a tough sell. It’s a struggle to sell any home these days. One that’s unfinished? That’s a challenge for the top real estate agents.