List Price: $499,900
The Property: Fourteen years ago, Jim and Lisa Whittington bought a tiny Sears Catalog house built in the 1920s in the leafy, charming Sauganash neighborhood on the city’s far northwest side.  Although it was originally a two-bedroom house with just two other main rooms, previous owners reconfigured it as a one-bedroom and merged the other bedroom into the modest living space.

As their family expanded to include two children, the Whittingtons expanded the house, too, adding a second floor in 2000 with three bedrooms, a bathroom, and a computer nook, and building a quaint wraparound porch out front. They now have a large, inviting dining room where two rooms used to be, as well as a homey breakfast room/family room that opens onto the big back yard. And that porch only enhances the neighborhood’s congeniality.

The Whittingtons retained the home’s original features wherever possible. The knotty pine staircase that used to lead only to an unfinished attic now provides access to the second floor, and the vintage crown and baseboard moldings of the living room were replicated in the dining room. Some disused doors from the main floor got reinstalled on the second floor, blending old and new.

As you’ll see in the video, the Whittingtons are fond of the house—they’ve either done or managed most of the work on it themselves. And they’re hearty fans of their neighborhood and all it offers, such as an old-time July 4th parade that starts at the end of their block, Sauganash Elementary School a few blocks’ walk from the house, the lovely Sauganash Park on the next block, and the bike path converted from a rail bed. With one son leaving for college soon, they want to move to a smaller house but stay in the neighborhood. Given how pleasant Sauganash is, who wouldn’t want to stick around?

Price Points: The Whittingtons and their agent, Patty Cerny, initially priced the house at $539,000, and then reduced it to $519,000. In late March they cut the price to $499,900. An interested buyer should factor in the cost of refinishing the original oak floors on the main level.

Listing Agent: Patty Cerny of Baird & Warner, 773-230-2542 and patty.cerny@bairdwarner.com