Busy times before, and busy times ahead! It was a very full weekend, but we had a lot of fun.
On Friday, takaza and I met up with roho and genet for dinner at Las Vegas Diner in Antioch, then retired back to their place to watch The Big Lebowski (with white Russians in hand, naturally). It was my first time seeing it, and it was every bit of what I have come to expect from the Coen brothers. I enjoyed it, even if it seemed like half of the movie’s scenes could have been cut and left the main plotline intact. We also made a quick run to Wal Mart and picked up some nice lamps for our new bedroom set. I really should post some pictures of it now that we have everything in place.
We were slow to get started on Saturday, eventually leaving the house a little before 5 PM to drive around and look at rental house possibilities. We’re not unhappy with where we are now, but we know that we could do better if we must rent (and we agreed that we’re at least a year away from buying). We looked at some nice places in Wauconda, then on our way back stumbled across this jaw-dropper of a rental house. 4,000 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths with an in-ground pool on 6.5 acres in a very rural setting. Holy cats! Even stranger is the fact that it’s an $850,000 house that they’re willing to rent for $2,500 per month. I swear, if Dan and I could find a couple of suitable roommates, we’d jump on that sucker in a heartbeat.
On Sunday, Dan stayed home to deal with some workstuff while I hitched a ride with Roho and Genet down to colliedoc and hypersnazz‘s place for Straif’s belated birthday party. A good time was had by all, and I was very happy that the homemade caponata that I made was well received. Straif cooked up some tasty chicken katsu and teriyaki burgers, and Genet’s bourbon chocolate torte was simply sinful. We headed out on the early side so I got to spend some time with Dan before turning in.
Monday it was back to the grind at work. I spent the evening catching up on Midwest FurFest projects, answering e-mails and putting the finishing touches on some projects. Things are really coming together well, and I’ve got high hopes for this year.
Looking ahead this week, we’re getting together with linnaeus, Roho and Genet tomorrow to finally watch The Amazing Race season premiere. Rumor has it we might be hosting a lion this weekend, then on Sunday is an in-person Midwest FurFest staff meeting at the Westin. I may not have time to sleep, but at least I’ll be kept busy…
Your research compliments mine 🙂 It appears that the company trying to sell this place is a real estate investment outfit; I first suspected flippers or perhaps someone who bought the house out of foreclosure, but I can’t find any record of property transfer for the house after 2004.
The Wisconsin address makes sense because the fellow for whom the company is named appears to be a project manager at a local electrical contractor based out of Kenosha, WI. It was originally placed on the market in October, 2007 (if not before) with an asking price of $899,900; you can see they’ve dropped it by fifty grand since then. It’s also notable that the sign in front of the house right now states that it’s available for rent for $3,800 per month.
To me, this all points to an investment gone wrong, and now they’re to the point where they’re trying to generate any income they possibly can out of it, whether it pays the mortgage or not. And as much fun as it is to dream about the fabulous social spaces and pool and other goodies, there’s the reality of allllllll that grass to mow, and the driveway to pay to be plowed, and keeping a pool maintained is certainly not cheap. All of which makes me sad.
I can’t imagine the upkeep on something of that size, even with 4 people living there… But would it would be awesome to KNOW somebody with a house like that, if nothing else!
Still… All that grass makes my skin itch and chest ache.
Though the listing *does* also list a “rent to own” price. Not sure what exactly the details are, and it may be too good to be true (probably is)… but the house is awfully shiny.