Eileen and Donald Peters would rather move than remodel. After living in their turn-of-the-century home near the heart of Glenview for 26 years, they long for modern amenities and perhaps smaller quarters.
“We’re at the point where we have to reinvest in this place to do all the things I’d want to do to it,” said Donald.
“We’ve never had a new house,” said Eileen.
Though their dream is only in the planning stages, they have been thinking about getting their house ready for sale. Norma LoPresti of Re/Max Villager in Glenview recently consulted with the couple and offered some pre-marketing advice to help them get top dollar.
The two-story frame home is actually a two-flat converted to single-family living, which is how the Peters family used the space. The two floors are connected by two staircases, one outdoors and another-a spiral staircase-in the dining room. Each floor has an eat-in kitchen and full bath. The first floor has three bedrooms and the second floor has one plus a living room that could be used for sleeping. The first floor also has an office and a pecan-paneled den. There is also a basement, two-car detached garage and large, landscaped back yard.
An in-law?
Because the property is zoned for a multiple-family residence, Donald has considered marketing it as an in-law arrangement. That’s a possibility, agreed LoPresti, but the potential for commercial development will probably be more attractive to buyers. “It’s easier to sell a multiple structure than an in-law,” she said. “In Glenview we have more need for (multiple-family housing).” In her opinion, the property should be placed with the multiple listing service under both single- and multiple-family dwellings to get the greatest amount of attention.
The Peterses intend to replace the wallpaper in the foyer and to put paneling instead of the white painted corkboard in the small bedroom adjacent to the foyer. New wallpaper is advisible, said LoPresti, but leave the corkboard alone. Both the bedroom and the office were once the front porch. The next owners most likely will “tear the cork down and they’ll tear the paneling down. They’ll convert it back to a porch. They’re adding front porches to their houses today.”
While standing in the foyer, LoPresti looked at the front door. Here she advised polishing the brass hardware and doing “something pretty, like a wreath. That’s going to stick in their minds.”
The first-floor kitchen was recently remodeled to include an entire wall of floor-to-ceiling European-style cabinets. The walls are papered in a subdued blue and beige plaid and the room is accessorized with duck prints and figurines. The kitchen is a great selling point, said LoPresti. To spiff up the decor even further, she suggested putting a wallpaper border with a duck motif around the room at ceiling height.
In the first-floor hallway and in the closets the sales agent noted light fixtures operated by pull chains. The Peterses should give thought to changing them, she said. “Some lenders require switches to be on the walls, not pull chains anymore. It might be a bit of an investment but it could be worth it later. I’d check into it.”
The second floor
On the second floor she advised painting the yellow kitchen a more neutral color and repairing a few ceiling cracks. A wallpaper border would be attractive here, too, as would mirrored tiles above the countertops, LoPresti said. “They’re very easy to clean and give the feeling of more space.”
The bathroom could be given a quick makeover with new wallpaper and a matching shower curtain. She liked Donald’s idea of putting wood molding around the ceiling of the bathroom.
The windows in the bedroom and living room sport white blinds and brown tweed curtains. Eileen said she will remove the curtains; she put them up as added insulation, she said.
The Peterses said that although they thought LoPresti’s recommendations were valid, they were also somewhat surprised. “From my point of view they are mostly cosmetic,” said Donald. “I wouldn’t be shining a keyhole, for instance, or putting up little borders, but that’s what the young kids are looking at. We were taught to look at the larger things (when buying a house)-the furnace and foundation, those things.”
