House Hunters: Evanston Edition

We've had enough traffic at our place that Lindsay thought we should start taking a look at some of the houses on the market in Evanston. Just to get an idea of what's out there in case we need to move quickly. A girl can dream, right?

So on Sunday, we dropped Molly off with her Aunt Susie and went to check out a range of houses in Evanston. Little did I know how wide of a range we were talking about! The first house we entered smelled so strongly of cat pee, I almost turned around and walked right back out. Disgusting! I've heard too many horror stories about people who have bought houses ruined by cat urine to ever consider a place that might have that type of problem.

Luckily, there wasn't too much time to get discouraged, because the next house was absolutely wonderful! Just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Northwestern's campus (and the lake!) and far enough north that the neighborhood isn't totally overrun with students. The house is updated enough that we could move in without having to make improvements and is full of interesting little study nooks and play areas...I could just picture little Molls doing homework or playing with dolls in this house. Sigh. Downsides include a small master bedroom and a small backyard. However, the master bedroom has a "tandem room" that could be used as a getting ready area, and the 2 porches and abundance of neighborhood parks would probably compensate for the lack of yard. Very tempting.

There was another house we liked a lot that had been recently updated. It had a huuuuge back yard that Jason was very excited about. Downsides for this one include a lack of bathrooms (only 1 full/1 partial) and proximity to a busy street (Crawford). But, it's in the best school district for elementary schools and has a million other appealing features.

I won't describe all of the houses we visited in detail. There were a few that were overpriced AND needed work, so those fell off the list of favorites pretty quickly. But there was one "as is" sale that could be promising. It's a charming Tudor style house on a really nice block with some pretty expensive homes. I think an elderly couple used to live there because it's full of wood paneling and pastel-colored tile. They've already dropped the price significantly, so if it comes down a little more, we could potentially consider doing a gut rehab. I'm not sure I'm up for that, but it's something to think about! Or maybe someone on HGTV will see this post and decide to give me a show and do it for free. Like I said, a girl can dream!