List Price: $1.95 million
Sale Price: $1.65 million
The Property: This commanding 16-room Georgian mansion looks down from its hilltop site through a broad allée of 26 tall silver maple trees. The home was built in 1972 at the center of the McIntosh section of the village of Inverness from a design by Adolph Nilsson, whose company, Period Homes, built several impressive houses in this and other northwest suburbs.

Extensively renovated by its latest sellers, Robert and Tracey Cantarutti, the house has a marble foyer, hand-cut parquet flooring in the dining room, a handsome crystal chandelier in the living room, and extensive millwork throughout the main rooms. There are five bedrooms, a wine cellar and a home theatre in the basement, and, out back, a pool. The kitchen was redone lavishly six years ago, says the sellers’ agent, Sandy Heinlein. In fact, she adds, in the ten years the Cantaruttis owned the house, they “renovated everything, inside and out. They finished the basement, renovated the pool, and landscaped the grounds.” (“The only thing left of the old pool is the hole in the ground,” says Robert Cantarutti.) The couple also installed modern heating, air-conditioning, and water-heating equipment.

The Cantaruttis—he’s in Chinese manufacturing and she’s a business consultant—decided to downsize now that their three children are grown. “It’s too much house for the two of us,” says Cantarutti. “It’s not being utilized, and we both travel.” They listed the house for sale in May 2008; they had a deal with their buyers, who are not yet identified, in early November. The sale closed January 30th.

Price Points: According to public records, the Cantaruttis paid $950,000 for the house in June 1999. The cost of their renovations, according to Heinlein’s listing sheet, was $800,000. That would mean their total investment in the house was $1.75 million—or $100,000 more than the most recent sale price. That loss would not include commissions and fees—and Cantarutti estimates their rehab costs were even higher. “We spent as much to renovate as we did on the house,” he says. But the Cantaruttis fared much better with the house than the previous owner, a Japanese businessman who bought the place in 1996 for $1.18 million, according to public records. Heinlein says he never moved in. After three years, he sold the house to the Cantaruttis at a $230,000 loss—and he hadn’t even had a chance to savor living there. “We got to enjoy all that,” notes Cantarutti.

Listing Agent: Sandy Heinlein of Baird & Warner, 847-991-5000