Nicholas & Frank...

I took this pic last weekend. After a light snow, Nicholas created "Frank" all by himself. He was kind enough to pose for a picture for me.

Finding the Right House - Part VII: House #3

After that LARGE disappointment, we headed to the Cary house. I wasn't in a good mood. Unfortunately we were relying on Mapquest directions and we blew right past our turn. After pulling over, figuring out where we went wrong, we headed back to the turn and to the Cary house.

** THE LISTING **

Listing Price: $204,900
XXX XXXXXXXXXX
Cary, IL 60013

Bedrooms: 3
Baths: 2.5
Year Built: 1993

IMMACULATE HOME IN MOVE IN CONDITION! NEW CERAMIC FLOOR IN ENTRY, NEWER NEUTRAL BERBER IN LIVING ROOM, LIGHT OAK CABINETS IN KITCHEN, 1/2 BATH IN LOWER LEVEL + HUGE FAMILY ROOM LEAVES ROOM TO ADD A 4TH BEDROOM, BIG GARAGE IS INSULATED & DRYWALLED - OVER 27' DEEP FOR WORKSHOP OR STORAGE, LIGHT OAK DOORS & TRIM, MAINTENANCE FREE SIDING, FENCED YARD + WOODEN PLAYSET, WALK TO LAKE & BEACHES, TOO!

Other things noted in the flyer... Deck, Shed, and Lake Rights.

Living Rm: 17X17
Dining Rm: 10X10
Kitchen: 10X10
Family Rm: 25X14
MstBed Rm: 13X12
2nd Bed Rm: 11X10
3rd Bed Rm: 13X9

Style: BI-LEVEL
Type : RAISED RANCH
Lot Size: LESS THAN .25 ACRES

Mary told us that this house was just put on the market two days earlier. We were the first people to view it. It was so new that no pics were up on the MLS and it wasn't listed on Realtor.com yet. The house was priced to sell. Other comparable homes in the area sold for a bit more... but the sellers were already under contract for the new house they were purchasing so they were under a great deal of pressure from the seller of that house to sell their house quickly.

After we pulled into the driveway, my initial impression was "nice!" After opening the front door I realized that this is certainly a nicely kept home. I guess they weren't lying when they described it as "Move in condition".

The house is a raised ranch style. When you stand in the entry way you have a choice to go up a 1/2 flight of stairs to the living room/kitchen/bedrooms or down a 1/2 flight to get to the family room, laundry room and garage.

We went on to view the rest of the house. The more we looked the more 'right' this house seemed to be for us.

Once we viewed the entire house, we said our goodbyes to Mary and headed home. We needed some time to think....

Back to Part VI --- On to Part VIII

Finding the Right House - Part VIII: The Weekend to Think

I liked it... the problem for me was that I wanted to see MANY more homes.

The pressure was on for this house. The new house the sellers were buying hit the market on 10/26/04, they were under contract on it by 11/02/04. They put their house on the market on the same day. We were the first people to see it on 11/4/04.

The seller's were already under contract with their new house and they needed to sell ASAP. Therefore they priced the house to sell. They were having a realtor's open house on Saturday and with it being priced so well and being in such good shape, it would certainly sell REAL soon.

While it met many of our requirements, it didn't meet them all. Here's the list from the Introduction....

What we are looking for...
Priced from $180,000 to $220,000 - $204,900
No Older than the Mid to Late 1980's - 1993
Move in Condition (or close) - YES
At least 3 bedrooms - 3 BEDROOMS
At least 2 bathrooms (with a Master Bathroom) - 2.5 BATHS
Separate Living & Family Rooms - YES
Decent sized Bedrooms - COULD BE LARGER
Decent sized Kitchen - COULD BE LARGER
Basement - For storage and my Office - A LOWER LEVEL, NOT REALLY A BASEMENT
Large Back Yard - YES
2 Car Garage - 2.5 CAR GARAGE
Nice area to live - YES
Low Crime Rate - YES
Great School System - YES
Near to Parks - YES
Near to Major Shopping areas - CRYSTAL LAKE SHOPPING DISTRICT 2.5 MILES AWAY

Pluses...
Fully Fenced in yard - YES
Deck - YES
Formal Dining Room - NO
Walk-in Closets - NO
Fireplace - NO
3 Season room - NO
Pool - NO

That weekend we hand wrote a "Pro's and Con's" list. There were 19 Pro's and only 6 Con's.

I would have a real hard time wiring up a house with a finished basement. It was well & septic and we have no experience with either.

But when I got honest with myself... I didn't think we'd find a house this nice, this close to work in our price range... Hell... it's 13 MILES closer than the Aspen house!. It would be stupid to pass it up.

Valerie and I finally agreed we would submit an offer on Monday.

Back to Part VII --- On to Part IX

Finding the Right House - Part IX: The Offer & The Contract

The day was Monday November 8th. I arrived at work and began my day. At 9:30am we left to head to Mary's office in Libertyville. After waiting a few minutes for Mary to show up we headed into the office. We sat in a conference room and she went through the contract and filled in the blanks. The offer price on the contract was $190,000, the closing date was set to 01/31/05 and the mortgage contigency date was set to 12/20/04.

A few hours later came the negoation. We weren't going to get them to come down much. Getting the sellers to come down anything was just a bonus as far as I was concerned.

Mary suggested that we offer $190,000 with the contract. It was lower than I figured a first offer should be but she's the one who does this every day... I defered to her. My goal was to see if we could get the price down to $200,000.

It wasn't more than a couple hours later that we had our first counter offer... $201,900 with no Fridge or Washer & Dryer.

We countered with $193,000 and they returned a "final offer" of $199,900 with Fridge & Washer & Dryer.

With that, I called Valerie to confer. At 6:29pm we agreed to accept that price & they accepted our offer.

Later that night we had to initial the changes made to the contract. The house was ours. The hard part was done... or so we thought...

Back to Part VIII --- On to Part X

Apple introduces 6GB iPod mini

Apple today unveiled the second generation iPod mini lineup with a new 4GB model priced at $200 and a new 6GB model with 50 percent more storage priced at $250. Both iPod mini models feature increased battery life of up to 18 hours, USB charging and an ultra-portable, lightweight design available in four colors (pink, blue, silver, and green). "The iPod mini is now available at the magic price point of $199," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "At this breakthrough price point, and with more than twice the battery life, the new iPod mini should appeal to even more music lovers." The 4GB and 6GB models of iPod mini are available worldwide immediately and include earbud headphones, a belt clip case, and a USB 2.0 cable.

MacNN Article Here.

I'm famous... well sort of...

If you happened to pick up today's Northwest Herald... take a peek at the top most headline.... it's a quote from me!

Online version of the article here.

Finding the Right House - Part VI: House #2

Next up was the house in Barry's subdivision called Applewood.

This is the house I was excited by. This was the house I was pretty sure we would buy.

** LISTING **

Listing Price $198,500
2016 Aspen Dr
Woodstock, IL 60098

Bedrooms: 3
Baths: 2.1
Year Built: 1993

WHY BUILD....THIS HOME LOOKS LIKE NEW**** CERAMIC TILE IN KITCHEN, FENCE YARD, FIREPLACE, LANDSCAPED PROFESSIONALLY, WALK IN CLOSET, FULL BATHROOM IN MASTER BEDROOM, VERY NICE REC. ROOM IN FINISH BASEMENT

Living Rm: 13X12
Dining Rm: 10X10
Kitchen: 17X11
Family Rm: 14X12
MstBed Rm: 15X12
2nd Bed Rm: 13X11
3rd Bed Rm: 11X10

Type: 2 Stories
Style: Colonial
Fireplace: 1
Basement: Finished
Garage: 2.5 Car
Assoc. Dues: $ 400

We pulled up into the driveway and I eagerly walked up to the front door. Mary came around and used her Realtor keypad thing to unlock a little lock-box that contained the house keys... moments later I was standing in the entry way.

The first thing that came to mind was... "What the fuck happened to this place?"

How shall I put this....? Hmmm.... while the house was really nice on the outside... it was.... well.... abused on the inside.

Mary said... "This is probably why it's been on the market for 6 MONTHS!"

I hadn't a clue it was on the market for that long.

In order to get this house into "move in condition" it would require a massive cleaning job, the repainting of every single wall & ceiling, new carpeting in the ENTIRE house (all 3 levels), new tile in the kitchen and new appliances. That is not to forget the drywall repair and rewiring!

I was greatly disappointed. I was hoping this would be "The One"!

I loved the layout, I loved the size, I loved the full size basement. The yard was a little bizarre and it was in a community that would require HOA dues, but from the outside the +'s way outweighed the -'s

We stood in the kitchen for a few minutes to discuss how much it would cost to get back into shape and soon realized, it wasn't worth it.

UPDATE: I recently found out that this house sold a couple weeks after we viewed it... here is the info...
List Date: 05/15/04
Contract Date: 11/24/04
Close Date: 11/30/04
Sale Price: $ 185,000

It closed in 6 days and sold for $13,500 less than listing. And that wouldn't even cover all of the repairs needed to bring the house to A+ shape.

Back to Part V --- On to Part VII

Finding the Right House - Part V: House #1

After work on November 4th we headed to Woodstock and drove to the house on Quail ct. I knew it was in a different area of Woodstock than the Aspen Dr. house but it was further away than I realized.

** LISTING **

Listing Price: $208,000
1801 Quail Ct.
Woodstock, IL 60098

Bedrooms: 3
Baths: 2
Year Built: 1989

CHARMING AND IMMACULATE !! HOME OFFERS MAPLE HARDWOOD FLOORING THROUGH OUT THE MAIN LEVEL, 3BD, 2BA, A LARGE MODERN KITCHEN AND BEAUTIFULLY FINISHED LOWER LEVEL FAMILY ROOM. THE HOME HAS MANY EXTRAS AND IS IN MOVE IN CONDITION. WON'T LAST LONG AT THIS PRICE. A MUST SEE!!

Fireplaces: 0
Garage: ATTACHED,2 CAR GARAGE
Master Bath: NO
Family Room Size: 20X14
Kitchen Size: 11X11
Living Room Size: 21X13
Master Bedroom Size: 12X13
BR 2 Size: 13X10
BR 3 Size: 10X11
Style: TRADITIONAL
Basement: YES
Type - DE: 1.5 STORY
Lot Size: LESS THAN .25 ACRES
Taxes: 4297

The house was nice, I loved the hardwood floors, but it was pretty much ruled out due to it's distance from Route 14.

Back to Part IV --- On to Part VI

Finding the Right House - Part III: Realtor.com

I love Realtor.com. While it's not always up to date, it certainly gives you a great idea of what kind of house you can buy in your price range for any given area.

I searched many areas within 30 or so miles from Buffalo Grove. That helped me narrow down the areas we would have the Realtor look into.

We couldn't look to the East because it gets more expensive the further East you go. We weren't interested in going South because to get a really nice place for the money you'd have to go to like Sugar Grove or Oswego. So we looked as far North as Antioch and as far West as Woodstock and Huntley.

Some of the areas we were looking in included... Gurnee, Lindenhurst, Lake Villa, the many Round Lakes, Grayslake, Mundelein, Cary, Crystal Lake, Woodstock, McHenry, Hainesville, Lakemoor, and Wonder Lake.

Gurnee was pretty simple to rule out. All of the houses in our price range were close to Waukegan. Which if you know the area... isn't a good thing. That sucks because a couple years ago we saw several houses in our price range that would have really been nice.

Mundelein was ruled out because all of the houses in our price range were 40-50+ years old. We wanted something newer.

We found a couple good houses in Woodstock in the same subdivision that Barry, a guy in my office recently moved to. We wanted to check out those in person.

Other than that, the other areas had some decent places and they were worth including when we handed the search off to our Realtor.

Back to Part II --- On to Part IV

Finding the Right House - Part IV: Realtor time

In early November, after we got a feel for the new construction in the area, we decided to enlist the help of Realtor Mary Ronan.

We scheduled an appointment to check out the listings I found in Woodstock on Realtor.com. She scheduled a viewing for a couple days later.

After she learned what we were looking for, she did a search on the MLS system.

Later the next day, she e-mailed us a list of 24 houses. Truth be told... I hated them all! In the afternoon she sent us another set of 21 properties to check out. I looked through them and none were appealing to me. When I got to the last one I stopped. It was a house in Cary. There was no picture included (which would normally mean I'd skip it and go to the next one... I'm very against imageless listings) but the description of the property on the listing was enough to pique my interest. After all, since we were already seeing 2 properties in Woodstock, another property in Cary (which we go through on the way home anyway) wasn't that big of a deal.

Back to Part III --- On to Part V

Finding the Right House - Part II: New Construction: Townhomes

The search then moved on to closer locations. But, due to the market, all we were left with for new construction was Townhomes. But they all were about 20 miles closer.

Valerie and I spent 3 weekends visiting pretty much every new construction site we could find. That search took us from Round Lake to Volo to McHenry. Some just sucked right off of the bat, while others were for all practical purposes perfect!

Madrona Village - Concord Homes

The Glen at Lakemoor Farms - Neumann Homes

Bradford Place - Pulte Homes

Heron Bay - Pasquinelli Homes

Remington Trails at Valley Lakes - Remington Homes

Abbey Ridge Townhomes of McHenry - Gerstad Builders

Morgan Hill - Concord Homes

The last one we looked at was actually the one we liked the most... Terra Springs by RHA. The Drake was the best model we saw out of almost 20 different floor plans.

After seeing the Drake we had some serious thinking to do. For a townhome, it was rather pricey.... $225ish and then there was an association fee.

Back to Part I --- On to Part III

Finding the Right House - Part I: New Construction: Single Family

Our search began with new construction... why not start new? That easily lead us to check out Shadow Creek in Harvard.

Dave & Kay had moved to Shadow Creek a few months earlier and I loved the little subdivision. We checked out the most expensive model in the subdivision... The 4 Bedroom Dogwood... It was $174,900.... VERY affordable.

The Dogwood was pretty much everything we were looking for in a house...

Excellent price, split level, 4 bedrooms (an office of my own), 2.5 baths, an unfinished basement, and a nice, open kitchen. The best part... of course... completely customizable since it's NEW CONSTRUCTION! I could wire that house till my heart's content. I could have ceiling speakers installed in various locations. We could blow over $25,000 on upgrades! Ahh.. the joys of new construction!

The ONLY downside I could find was location. It's 38 miles away from where we work.

Since Shadow Creek was over 90% complete, they only had 3 lots remaining that the Dogwood could be built on. It's REALLY easy to get caught up in the excitement of a brand new house. We actually put $1000 down on a lot that day! Is new construction really worth a 76 mile round trip commute? Later that day we discussed it further. Valerie decided that the commute would be too much, while I was still thinking... holy shit we can build this house from scratch, wire it exactly the way I want and pick everything from cabinets, tile, wall color, certain wall locations.... EVERYTHING! But as reason set in, I relented. Unfortunately... no matter how much I loved the idea and freedom of new construction.... it WAS to far.

Back to Introduction --- On to Part II

Finding the Right House - Introduction

Not unlike the My Ride-Chicago Experience series, in the days to come I am going to post articles describing my recent experience in buying my first house. I'm calling this series, "Finding the Right House"

For starters... you need to understand the Real Estate market around here. Buffalo Grove is a place where you can buy a tiny 3 bedroom ranch built in the late 1950's for about $250,000+. That's certainly not as bad as some of the areas I've seen on HGTV's "House Hunters" but it's still pretty damn inflated. Take the Shadow Creek house (in Part II) as an example... if that $174,900 house was in Buffalo Grove, it would easily sell for near $350,000.

If you want a nice House in Buffalo Grove you will spend well over $300,000. If you want it to be a newer house... be prepared to spend over $400,000. It's all location.

There was NO WAY in hell we were going to pay a 1/4 Mill for small, crappy 40+ year house.

In order to get more affordable homes you need to get further away from Chicago. That will mean heading North, way South or more West.

It's amazing what 15 miles can do to prices... but they are ALL on the rise... A couple of years ago you could build a brand new house in Lake in the Hills for $200,000. That ain't gonna happen now.

We looked at homes in Lindenhurst/Gurnee a couple years ago. Those 1980's houses that went for the $175's are now in the $190's.

That should give you a decent idea of the market we're in.

What we are looking for...
Priced from $180,000 to $220,000
No Older than the Mid to Late 1980's
Move in Condition (or close)
At least 3 bedrooms
At least 2 bathrooms (with a Master Bathroom)
Separate Living & Family Rooms
Decent sized Bedrooms
Decent sized Kitchen
Basement - For storage and my Office
Large Back Yard
2 Car Garage
Nice area to live
Low Crime Rate
Great School System
Near to Parks
Near to Major Shopping areas

Pluses...
Fully Fenced in yard
Deck
Formal Dining Room
Walk-in Closets
Fireplace
3 Season room
Pool

Okay... let's begin... Finding the Right House... Part I

Finding the Right House Posted in several parts

While the blog lists things with the newest first, make sure you read this in the correct order....

Start with the introduction.

Introduction, Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI, Part XII, Part XIII, Part XIV, Part XV