Three sales agents provide Deal Estate with their assessments of a KaneCounty house

THE LOCATION: Geneva THE LISTING: This slate-roofed 11-room Tudor, built in 1928, sits on two and a quarter densely wooded acres along a busy road near the Fox River. The five-bedroom house successfully blends original features-such as the cast limestone fireplace-with a new home theatre, a gourmet kitchen, an indoor pool, and a lavish master bath. THE ASKING PRICE: $1.795 million.

Only the fourth family to own this house, the sellers-who bought the place in 1996 for $920,000-listed the property with Jamie Daniel of Miscella Real Estate in May 2006. Three other agents visited the home and gave Deal Estate their best (hypothetical) offers.

JEFF JORDAN RE/MAX EXCEL Jordan notes that Geneva has three times the number of multimillion-dollar homes on the market that sold all of last year. “That’s a three-year inventory,” he says-a fact that potential buyers should turn to their advantage. “You know you’re one of only a few buyers out there, so make an aggressive deal.” HIS BEST OFFER $1.5 million
LYNN PURCELL BAIRD & WARNER Purcell admires the house, but is rapturous about the surrounding acreage. “I could live in that backyard,” she says. “I like the peace and the perennials, and from the back, the house’s architecture is even more dramatic.” She notes the close proximity of shopping and a Metra station, and downplays the noise out front from the nearby road. HER BEST OFFER $1.6 million
PEGGY BROWN SEVENOAKS REALTY Brown likes the house’s location and vintage character, but worries that the distance from the kitchen to the family room might turn off contemporary buyers (the family room is attached to the living room, two rooms away from the kitchen). “It’s not the trendy house of today, but if you come in here, you’re probably not looking for that.” HER BEST OFFER $1.5 million

Simpatico
New owners embrace the traditions of the historic Florsheim Mansion

Gold Coast List Price: $2.35 million Sale Price: $2.23 million

Designed in 1938 by its first owner, the architect Andrew Rebori, as two separate structures, this Gold Coast house is commonly known as the Florsheim Mansion, after Lillian Florsheim, the shoe heiress and sculptor who bought the place from Rebori in 1946. Ten years later, Florsheim commissioned her son-in-law, the architect Bertrand Goldberg (who designed the revolutionary Marina City), to join the two buildings at their second floors. He linked them with a black-laminate and stainless-steel kitchen meant to mimic the sleek lines of the era’s streamlined railroad cars.

In 1998, the Goldberg family sold the house to Robert Fitzpatrick, chosen that year to lead the Museum of Contemporary Art. Fitzpatrick recalls he had heard that a potential buyer wanted to gut the house’s kitchen, so he hastily bought the place to prevent its desecration. Wanting to downsize, Fitzpatrick and his wife, Sylvie, worked with Nancy Joyce of Koenig & Strey to sell the house. After initially listing it at $2.7 million, they lowered the price and sold the house this past May.

The new owners, Russ and Shawna Rosenzweig-he’s the CEO and cofounder of the Round Table Group, which provides experts to attorneys and other clients-plan to use their new home to “reinvent the salon,” says Russ. “Our role is to make the Florsheims and Rebori and the Fitzpatricks proud,” adds Shawna. “We want to continue the tradition of this house.”

Send tips about high-end home sales to dennis@rodkin.com.

Photography: Chris Guillen