Buyer Broker Chicagoland

105 W Hillside, A Contemporary Custom Home in Barrington IL – Buyer Broker Chicagoland Critique

I have to say – this home was very cool from a design perspective, but like many Frank Lloyd Wright inspired homes, they have “issues.”

Interior of Contemporary Frank Lloyd Wright Inspired Home in Barrington IL

The owner is Dennis Blair, who apprenticed under Frank Lloyd Wright.  And true to his typical design preferences, the kitchen is in the front of the home, and there were a lot of slats on the front door and garage doors.

My client didn’t like the home after I covered some of the disadvantages and issues that I see with it, and gave me permission to post this report.  Unlike traditional so-called buyer agents (they and their company list property for sale) – I and my company never represent sellers.   I enjoy telling people about the negatives as I see it – versus “selling” them on a home.

(If you’d like to learn more about Exclusive Buyer Agents and the differences – feel free to call me at 847-566-7558.  As a Certified Negotiation Expert – I enjoy getting people amazingly good prices on homes.)

I can tell you that after showing over 8,000 homes in the past ten years, most people in the Chicago area prefer “normal” “boring” traditional homes.  So the potential market of people that would like this home is somewhat limited.

I’ve always been attracted to these types of unique homes – but most unique homes tend to be in bad shape for some reason.

Indoor Garden Area - Barrington IL Frank Lloyd Wright Inspired Home

Of interest, when you walk into the door – you run into a rectangular dirt area that a person could use to grow flowers and veggies etc. inside.   There is plenty of natural light from above for growing things.  The nice thing about the home is that is is very well lit with sunshine — which would be a super feature  in the dreary Chicago winter season.   Unfortunately, the dirt area smelled like a former cat occupant liked to pee in it!

If the cat pee smell wasn’t from that area, then it would likely be from under the newer carpet.  Cat pee smell can be hard to remove from floors unless they are bleached and sealed very very well.   I know – because I had to remedy that with a home I lived in, in the 90′s in the Chicago area, before I put down new carpet.  But my guess is – the cat did it’s numbers in the dirt area!

My video comments

The other issues with this home were:

1.  It is next to a busy street and you can hear the street noise inside because of the older windows

2.  To replace all the windows with excellent ones blocking the road noise, will likely run about $20-30,000 (the home also has an interior window slider)  Many of the windows are fogged.  While new glass would be a short term fix  – it would be best to just get new windows in this home.

3.  If you have kids – it isn’t in as good of a neighborhood for kids as others, based on a number of things.

4.  Decks are deteriorating to some extent -= and there were visible cracks in some of the Dryvit (EIFS) on the exterior.   Dryvit and what is under it – isn’t cheap to replace – and then you still have the issues later down the line, even if you fix it now.  Expensive!

5.  Driveway needs major seal coating – and the yard need a lot of work.

6.  The kitchen needs a total gut rehab and is small.

7.  The greenhouse type part of the roof might bleed off a lot of heat from the home in the winter – making it costly to heat.

It appears that the owner / architect lived there until perhaps early 2009 based on the architectural magazines in the garage with dates of 2008 on it.   The listing agent stated that she didn’t know how long it had been unoccupied since she had taken over the listing from a cancelled listing.  Apparently, she either doesn’t talk to the owner, or just never asked the question.   The address on the web still shows the place as the owner’s home office address

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