Wow House

$2.4M Evanston Victorian Dates to 1889

In Patch's ongoing real estate column, we look at a three-story, five-bedroom Victorian home in North Evanston with ornate stained glass windows and other historic details.

Looking for a home for sale on the North Shore? Or do you just like to ogle pictures of gorgeous real estate? Each week, Patch features North Shore Wow Homes that fits the bill. Today's installment is a $2.4 million Victorian home at 1742 Asbury Ave. in Evanston. Built in 1889, the three-story, five-bedroom house is replete with period details including ornate stained glass windows, wood panelling and several fireplaces. Other features include a wrap-around porch, sunroom and three-bedroom coach house. For more information, visit the home's Coldwell Banker listing.

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Wow House

Deerfield Wow House Is a Dream Home

Large first floor living space offers family room, kitchen, living room and dining room with hardwood floors.

From elegant and stately mansions to modern, environmentally-friendly abodes, The North Shore is chock-full of one-of-a-kind homes for sale. Each week, Patch features one ‘Wow House’ that caught our attention. This week Patch has an abode listed by Alan Berlow at Coldwell Banker at 963 Cedar Avenue in Deerfield. Listed at $1,099,000, this dream home boasts a kitchen with eating space and an eating bar, island, butler pantry and pantry closet.  The main floor also has a contemporary living room, dining room, family room and a fifth bedroom.  There is also a finished basement recreation and exercise room. And, the family house has four bedrooms on the second floor. There are five full bathrooms. Here, take a peek inside, and see what this …

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This Week’s “Wow House:” A $2.9 Million Gem With New England Charm

Can you smell the sea breeze? This 5,600 square-foot estate brings Nantucket design to the North Shore.

From elegant and stately mansions to modern, environmentally friendly abodes, The North Shore is chock-full of one-of-a-kind homes. Each week, Patch will feature one ‘Wow House’ that caught our attention. This week, a 5,600 square-foot Northbrook estate steals our hearts. Set on two acres down a private lane, the $2.9 million showstopper invokes New England with its cedar shake shingles, peaked rooflines, gables and expansive porches. Completed by builder Orren Pickell in 2005, 23 Bridlewood Road won a Crystal Key Award from the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago for its architectural design. Last Week: Glenayre Mansion Makes This Week's 'Wow' House Inside this mansion, French doors lead through the foyer to an enormous family …

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Dealing With the Underwater Mortgage

Homeowners with no equity adjust to new real estate realities.

Can you imagine selling a home and bringing a check to the closing table rather than receiving money from the transaction?  With real estate values in Deerfield declining below the balance of the mortgage on many homes, walking away from the sale of a house with no funds or paying to sell is becoming a new normal for some.  Home values in Deerfield have dropped between 30 and 35 percent since 2007, according to Koenig & Strey Senior Vice President and Broker Manager Michael Mazzei. Carol Strauss, Coldwell Banker’s managing broker, agrees. “This is the most challenging market I’ve seen,” Straus said. “When I started (in 1979) interest rates were 17 percent and that was a challenge,” she added indicating today’s market is the hardest she has…

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RB

9:19 am on Thursday, January 12, 2012

The Government has no business taking on a guarantee of these bad real estate investments. The consumer and the bank made a bad bet. The market went down. Work it out. It's when the rest of us have to pay for their mistakes through Government guarantee's of mortgages that are currently on the back of the bank that we complicate this whole situation. It is unfortunate and hopefully the parties can…   more ›

For Sale: ‘OMG’ House With Wright Ties

Patch tours $2.7 million Riverwoods home designed by famed architect's youngest apprentice.

When it came to designing her home, Joyce Marcus knew exactly what she wanted, she also knew precisely who she wanted to build it.  “You know how sometimes you meet someone and you’re symbiotic, that’s how it was with Dennis and I,” Marcus remembered of her first interaction with architect Arthur Dennis Stevens. Stevens happened to be one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s youngest apprentices and lived with the noted architect for several years. Marcus first met her dream architect when she moved her business to an office building in Des Plaines. Stevens not only designed the facility but was working there at the time. So it didn’t take Marcus very long to introduce herself.  “I walked in their office and I said, ‘This building is amazing,’ ” Marcus…

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