What happened in Lombard Sunday is not supposed to happen.
It was raining-an annoying, steady drizzle that traditionally keeps people away from open houses. The housing market is supposed to be what Realtors call ”soft” right now. And the interest rate picture is uncertain in the face of possible economic repercussions from the Middle Eastern conflict.
An open house Sunday, therefore, should have been a real nonevent, with two, maybe three, customers.
But none of that mattered to the crowds of lookers at this Re/Max West listing. Two groups walked in behind the agent`s representative, Dale Krafft, when she first opened the door and within 10 minutes the home was filled with seven groups of visitors.
This all might sound like a tall story, but the only tall stories here are in the house itself. It towers three stories high, with a full basement making a fourth level.
Vintage pros and cons
There is no mistaking the age of the home, built in 1921, which brings its advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage is the character found in many older homes: quality of workmanship that includes beautiful hardwood floors and features like porches and sunrooms.
The disadvantages include the lack of some modern conveniences and items that need repair or replacement. The garage is representative of these problems. Unlike today, two-car families were rare in the 1920s and so this garage is single. It also needs a new roof.
Bryan Dagenhart was one of the first visitors in the door Sunday, looking for a bigger home and bringing with him a critical eye for details that might slip other people`s notice.
”This is one of the nicer houses around for the size,” he said. ”The treads on the stairs are wide, and the windows have gears. I like to paint, and the back porch is beautiful, with all that light. The Hammerschmidts who own the lumber yard in town built the house-look at the lintels around the doors and ceiling.”
He also liked the size of the rooms, and noted that the house had been rewired to compensate for increased electricity needs since it was built.
The main floor of the house has a living room, a sun room with windows on three sides, a small (11-by-12-foot) kitchen with a bright breakfast area off to the side and a large dining room.
Upstairs, the three bedrooms range in size from 9 by 10 feet to 12 by 17. The second level is highlighted by a porch that spans the the back of the house and overlooks a pine tree that spreads across the back yard.
Dormered attic
The third floor attic area has graceful dormered windows and space for two rooms.
The house sits on a 50-by-160-foot lot and has a terraced back yard. After two months on the market, its price has just been dropped $5,000, to $174,900.
Listing agent Kathy Volpe had Krafft sitting in for her Sunday, an increasing practice among agents who like to hold more than one open house at a time. Krafft, who has no real estate credentials, was hired as a kind of house sitter, to supervise but not to sell.
”My job is just to be here, to hand out the information, to answer any questions I`m capable of answering or to let them know to call Kathy, and to ask them to sign in so she can make follow-up phone calls from the sheet,”
she explained.
A half hour after she had opened the door, Krafft still had not had a chance to see the house herself because of the continuing entry of new families. By the time we left, four more groups were investigating the house- they weren`t going to let a little bad weather rain on their open house parade. –
