POST 2 I understand about indecision, but I don’t care if I get behind…..Part 1

It is so easy to look for a new home these days. Pick your favorite online site, Redfin or Zillow or a realty company, plug in your parameters, and the hours can melt away as you float from home to home. Early this year Barb and I got in that habit, comparing notes, and occasionally talking to a realtor.

We were looking for the perfect empty-nester home. A ranch home in Deerfield or Northbrook seemed like a good option, but they were as rare as a sunny day during our overcast and rainy spring. Then late in April things started to click…too many things!

We unearthed a ranch in Lincolnshire. It was a little (a lot) bigger than we really wanted with two, count-em 2, wine cellars. The location, though an improvement, wasn’t the mainline onto the tollway that I wanted. It needed some updating, especially the kitchen, and it had DRYVIT (shivers!!!) But we liked the house, we liked the agent, and we decided to put the house on our mental “Maybe” list.

What else would make the list? On a rare sun-shiny Sundays, we decided to explore an Open House in Thorngate, the large subdivision in Riverwoods. The house we saw didn’t do much for us, but as we were leaving Barb said “Let’s drive around a little, I think I remember there being a vacant lot for sale here.”

OK–that is NOT what I wanted to hear! But what harm would a drive-by do? We found the lot, the “For Sale” sign sagging on the weedy, half-acre parcel. A large pond on the south side, a nice house on the north side and another “substantial” house across the street.  Maybe there was potential here. Barb scribbled down the realtors number. Things were going to get interesting.

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POST 1….when I saw it was time for a change

Going on 60. Kids are grown, gone, and they aren’t coming back. The climb up to the master bedroom feels like an Everest trek, and there are no Sherpas to shlep the laundry baskets.  An evening commute that stretches to an hour on bad days, and lately they are all bad days.

Several months ago Barb and I considered all those factors and thought maybe, just maybe, it was time to leave the house that we had made our home. Twenty-five wonderful years of renovation, redesign and renewal. The kids, the holiday  parties, the “Breaking Bad” and “Walking Dead” marathons. They had all been great, but it seemed we had the itch.  And itches have to be scratched.

In this blog, we will begin by revisiting our decision making process, assuming our mind changing and flip-flopping can be called a process!  And then we will progress to (what we hope is) the exciting part, chronicling the design and construction of our new home. If all goes well, a year from now we will be showing pictures of the new Casa Raff. We hope you follow along and enjoy the show!