The OTHER Elgin House Walk

What a great day for the Elgin House Walk. Perfect weather to look at the pastel colors of the painted ladies, gew-gaw dripping from the eaves. Inside, a beautiful array of rugs, oak trim, and stained glass.

But here's a tour of the other Elgin.

A matress ready for adding an apartment in the basement.

You can't really call it an apartment without a stove.

And here we have some moldy paneling, 2x4s, and a door.

All of the above items pulled out of the house next door as the neighbors moved away.

Former owners had installed a nice patio, complete with the gas grill and furniture. After a couple of years of parking cars on it, and with weeds taking over, it's not so nice now.

But the patio matches the rest of the landscape now. It hasn't been mowed for a couple of months now.

Look at the cool mini-blinds. Maybe the space heater was set a little too high. It doesn't add much to the curb appeal.

But there's plenty of free parking in back. Three cars in the driveway PLUS two SUVs in the garage.

Call now! This one won't last.

Now, here's a little pedigree of the place. (Source: Kane County Recorder -parcel # 06-12-479-019

JT owned it for years and years. He lived alone. Didn't invest much in the place but he kept the lawn mowed and didn't put much wear-and-tear on the place.

Then JT sold it to Steve and Debbie in March of 2001. They owned two dogs and cat but weren't any trouble at all. They fixed up the place. She planted flowers and hedges. He installed the patio. And inside it was nice as well.

In January of 2006 Steve and Debbie had a house built out in Gilberts and moved away. The new owners were Raymond Ruiz, a single man, and Rodrigo Vargas, a single man. But one of them never lived there.

In February of 2007 Felipe Reyes bought the place.

In August of 2008 a foreclosure was filed.

All that time, until Labor Day 2009 the house was occupied. Sometimes by five adults and sometimes by only two. But someone has always lived there and they all went somewhere during the day, presumably to work.

A couple of months ago they took to leaving the windows wide open day and night. I'm guessing our wet summer got inside the house and made it smell like a locker room.

The for sale sign has been up for well over a year now. Who knows if it is even inhabitable at this point.

I keep thinking I should call it in to the city to at least get someone over to cut the grass. Then again, if they can catch me parking on gravel with six inches of snow on the ground, I'm sure they'll notice the weeds. Or will they?