Older Can Be Nice

I have always loved seeing different styles of architecture. I, especially, like styles that age well. (This may be a subconscious desire that "older is better"....most outward signs of aging are reaching out to bitch-slap that theory.)

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and went back to our farm for a week.  Our farm is in a rural area about an hour south of Chicago, IL.  The nearest cities of any size are Kankakee, Bourbonnais, and Bradley.  Those three communities are joined to form one urban area that lie just a short distance from south Chicago. 


How  we came to be connected to the area around Kankakee goes back several generations. My husband's maternal and paternal grandparents were among the  Dutch immigrants that settled on farms just south of Kankakee.  Even today, there are about 6 Dutch surnames that seem to appear around every corner...and in one way or another they are  all my husband's cousins.

My family was more complicated.  My maternal grandparents were born and raised Chicagoans.  I had relatives all through the Kankakee and Chicago area as well.  I was born in Chicago but my parents were more transient.  I didn't always live in the area but we moved in and out of the area as if we were homing pigeons returning to our roost.

My grandfather managed the produce department of the Big Bear Grocery store for a number of years. As a little girl,  he would let me go with him early in the morning before anything  else was open to pick out the produce at farmer's markets around southern Chicago. I have dear memories of my maternal grandparents.  They had a bit of land on the Kankakee River that they kept for the sole purpose of gathering all the family every Sunday afternoon.  The men would play horseshoes and drink Schlitz beer, the kids would play while the women set up a picnic lunch.  It was a family reunion every Sunday.


On the bank of the Kankakee River



Thought Number One -  Perceptions

Most of you might be familiar with the name Kankakee  from the Arlo Guthrie song City of New Orleans. The song tells the story of a train ride traveling out of Kankakee going to New Orleans. I especially love that the train would have traveled over tracks that I would have crossed every day on my way to grade school.

Riding on the City of New Orleans, 

Illinois Central Monday morning rail 

Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders,

Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail. 

All along the southbound odyssey

The train pulls out at Kankakee

Rolls along past houses, farms and fields. 

Passin' trains that have no names, 

Freight yards full of old black men 

And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles.


The town also got some unflattering notoriety from The David Letterman Show.  In November of 1999, Kankakee was ranked 354th in The Places Rated Almanac. David Letterman delivered an ongoing gag consisting of shows that seemed intent on making fun  of Kankakee.  He sent 2 small prefab gazebos and suggested that Kankakee should market itself as the Home of the Twin Gazebos.  While Letterman's intent  more in the vein of getting laughs, Kankakee played along.  The gazebos still stand.  One is located to the north of the Kankakee train station.

I don't believe for a second that Kankakee, Illinois was the worst town in America to live in 1999. In fact, just to make a point...a huge point actually...in 1999 there were 6 murders per 100,000 residents in Kankakee.  Washington DC was named as the 2nd best place in the nation to live, right behind the winner Salt Lake City, according to The Places Rated Almanac.  That year  DC had 241 murders per 100,000. I guess it was a better place to live if you weren't murdered.

Thought Number Two - Kankakee has some interesting history and architecture.

As a kid, I always thought this firehouse was so neat.  I drive by occasionally when I am in the area just to see it. The building was built around 1930 and no longer houses fire equipment.



During the era of Firehouse #2 the one and only fire fighter ever
to die on the scene of a fire in Kankakee died.



Hickox House

Built in 1901, the Hickox House is noted for being one of the two homes in the Riverview Historic District designed by world famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The "Prairie Style" is so named because Wright worked with his clients to develop architectural spaces that were inspired by the natural plant forms of the tallgrass prairie that surrounded Kankakee. Eighty-two of the Bradley House's original ninety  art glass windows survive. Ironically, much of the Bradley family fortune used to build and fit out the house had come from the implements used to plow up the prairie sod that is celebrated by the house

The Prairie style structure still stands at 687 South Harrison Avenue. The original owner was Warren R. Hickox, Jr., who ran his father's abstract, real estate and loan business. In the winter of 1900, Hickox went to Oak Park, Illinois to consult with Mr. Wright about designing homes for he and his sister, Anna Hickox Bradley and land inherited from their father Warren Hickox, Sr. Wright visited Kankakee to look over the ground. He not only designed the houses which became the first designed in the Prairie Style of architecture, but also the furnishings for the houses including tables, chairs, carpets and drapes. Today the Hickox House remains a private home.

Bradley House

Bradley House at 701 South Harrison Ave. is the other Riverview home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The house was built in 1901 for B. Harley Bradley. The Bradley House later became known as Yesteryear, a popular restaurant that did business there for over 30 years. It was
 being renovated by Stephen B. Small in 1986^. The house entered one of the darkest chapters of Kankakee’s history when kidnappers called Small at his home posing as Kankakee City Police. The criminals claimed the Bradley House had been vandalized, luring Small out into the open where he was kidnapped and subsequently murdered. The house remained a private residence until 2010 when it was acquired by a local not-for-profit with a mission to open it to the public as an arts/education center.  The house opened in June of 2010 as a public museum.


llinois, is widely acknowledged as Frank Lloyd Wright's first Prairie design. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places individually and as part of the Riverview Historic District.


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What You Think You Want

For the last several weeks, I have been showing townhouses, condos and villas to a potential buyer that seemingly has no idea what she wants. I am pretty sure that "no idea" isn't overstating it one bit. Clueless...totally clueless.

So far we have looked in 5 cities (4 of those being in the metro area of KC and one in a rural area outside of what any rational person would consider part of Kansas City).  She says she wants a fixer upper but seems to be intolerant of anything that is outdated. She has lowered her upper-budget limit at least three times.

This is where we are at.

She wants this:

For the price of this:

That, in itself, isn't so unusual...so I am trying to be patient and educating her as to what she can get within her budget. With what she now has set as her "optimal" price range, I think I can find a pretty nice refrigerator box but it will be a fixer-upper.

I tend to hold HGTV at least partially responsible for this disconnect.  I hope you don't believe that buyers will look at only three houses and all three will be clean and tidy.  NO.....THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN IN THE REAL WORLD.  People will look at dozens of houses and there are going to be some nice ones and some are more like "are  you seriously trying to sell this dump"?

Since I obtained my first real estate salesperson license in 1986, I have come to the realization a lot of people don't know specifically what they want to buy until they see "it".  Sure...most start out with a working knowledge of the price range they can afford (but not always) and the general area they want to live (but not always). Some may have a general idea of the number of bedrooms and bathrooms needed...or not.  BUT  all of their "must haves", "would likes" and "absolutely requireds" get's tossed out the window when they see something that connects with them. Houses on busy streets will be bought because the closet has a rack that can hold lots of shoes.  Dream homes will be realized because the kitchen is the prettiest color of terra cotta even though there are foundation problems and termites.  (I am not kidding on that one.)  No amount of my telling a buyer about the value, the condition, or inherent problems with a home will sway them because they love what they love.

I absolutely understand the emotional aspect of connecting with a property.  I do, I really do. I have been both the buyer and seller in my personal life. I have represented hundreds of others in the very stressful negotiations of buying and selling houses. Here's the thing. The purchase or sale of a house can veer away from smart investing and steer more toward a perceived ideal for a happy hearth and home.

When it comes to a person's home (or potential home)  there seems to be a very debilitating blindness that sweeps over the buyers and sellers.   Sellers can't seem to see any of the problems, the mess, or the negatives that are attached to their home.  Conversely, buyers see the problems, the negatives and the mess...times two...and can manage to find a few imaginary problems to throw in as well. (No..the pink bedroom doesn't translate into offering $10,000 less!)



There must be a lot of counter space because there
are a lot of things on the counter.



Must of been running late for work this morning. Do
you love the lighting fixture?

As a Realtor, I have seen the bizarre, the strange, the "are you kidding me".  I have dealt with the difficult, the arrogant, the stubborn and  the know-it-all. These are all offset by the wonderful, gracious, practical and they-make-my-job-a-breeze people.

I have shown houses that have been condemned, have been foreclosed or are inhabited by hoarders.

Luckily I have seen others that are beautifully maintained, wonderfully decorated, and  spotlessly clean.  

 
Why did you buy what you bought?  Do you think you made good decisions or were you overtaken with the emotion of the moment? 

Did You Really Think That Was The Best Idea?

Yes, readers, here we are again.... winding our way towards the end of the week .  The culmination of my reading all the lesser-reported stories that exemplify the art of   "thinking outside the box".  You have to admit.... it takes a certain amount of creativity to get your name in the newspaper even if it gets posted under the banner of WEIRD NEWS.

I wonder if the people that appear in these stories are troubled by being the section of the newspaper (or Internet) that is the equivalent of being the "butt of the joke", OR do they buy extra copies and give them out to friends, while saying "Hey, I made it into the Friday edition of the newspaper" ???


Crushing Blow


First up...we have Roger Pion.  Roger had a beef with the local Montpelier, VT police department after a recent arrest on the charges of resisting arrest, and marijuana possession.

As the Montpelier police worked in their building with the windows closed and air conditioners running, they didn't hear anything out of the ordinary.  That was until a good neighbor called 911 to tell them that there was a tractor rolling over  their vehicles. (Luckily for the department, a few vehicles were off on calls.)

Yeah, angry man on tractor (Pion) was crushing most of the department's vehicles.  By the time they ran outside they had lost 5 marked cruisers, 1 unmarked cruiser and a transport van.  Unfortunately, for them they just had to stand while they watched the tractor go down the road. None of their vehicles were road ready.

Montpelier police enlisted Newport police to catch up with Pion and arrest him. He is being held by the Vermont State Police.

Not only were the cars crushed, but the vehicle equipped  radios and computer equipment within the cars was destroyed and they are unable to retrieve shotguns and rifles out of the trunks prior to having help from the Jaws of Life equipment.  Estimated damage exceeds $300,000.00.


A couple of notable items appeared in the report.  Some of the vehicles had just gotten washed. Is this the equivalent of "it will rain if you wash your car'.  The article mentioned that the Montpelier police were unsure if Pion had secured a lawyer.  Do you think they really care?  I bet not. I wonder if Roger Pion's good friend "mary jane" was involved during the time he was thinking "why don't I just take my tractor down to the police station."

Book Lovers and Losers

Christopher Meusburger of St. Paul, MN, allegedly threatened his 62 year old neighbor with a sword on Monday night after she complained about how he had mistreated a book she had loaned him.

The woman saw the book laying on the floor in the hallway, outside of her door according to the criminal complaint filed on July 31st.  She questioned Christopher as to why he had left the book on the floor.  Evidently Christopher took offense.

Christopher seems to be taking his
arrest well.

He allegedly got right in her face and said "If you weren't so weak, I would seriously hurt you!" Then...according to the report...Meusburger "chest bumped her".  The woman claims that she sensed that he was intoxicated (are we surprised???) and told him that if he continued to push her she would call the police.
At this point, Christopher ran back into his apartment and came out with a sword. He supposedly, posed in a "fighting stance" and proceeded to swing the sword. 

According to the complaintant, she feared for her life. She called the cops who arrested Meusburger.

While in custody, Christopher admitted that he had consumed 12 cans of beer but denied he had threatened his neighbor.  When asked if he knew why he was in jail, he said "Yes, because, I am an idiot."

I think we can all agree with the "idiot" part, but I am questioning the woman's version of the story as well. I can't believe if she got chest bumped by the drunk neighbor she calmly said "Please, don't push me" or something equally calm and polite.


Speaking of Books

 Terry Davis of Prospect, KY is accused of stealing a textbook from the  Barnes and Noble college bookstore near the University of Louisville's Health Sciences Center according to WDRB-TV.

Davis then went to Gray's College Bookstore to try to sell the book. However, by the time he reached the second book store, the book had been reported stolen and the fast thinking employees alerted authorities.

The arrest report said surveillance video cameras captured both the theft and the attempt to sell the book, according to Louisville Courier-Journal.

He may not have the strongest grasp of morals but he sure can provide a strong example of irony. The book he stole was  Resolving Ethical Issues.