The Properties: The owners of these two homes swapped houses—even though it wasn’t an even trade. In fact, as you can see, one residence is worth more than twice the other.

The lower-priced house is an 82-year-old, 11-room brick Georgian on the edge of a public golf course. It has six bedrooms and three-plus baths and is situated on a short, semi-secluded street. Evanston’s Central Avenue, with its train station, shopping, and dining, is just a few blocks away. According to records at the Cook County Recorder of Deeds, the sellers of this house bought it for $315,000 a dozen years ago.

Just over three miles southeast of that house is the higher-priced home in this swap, a 17-room Tudor, built in 1912, that stands on nearly six-tenths of an acre. It’s in a neighborhood of mansions and one block from a public beach. The house has nine bedrooms, seven on the second floor, where there is also a sitting room and a study. This one’s sellers bought the house nine years ago for $1.14 million.

On June 4th, the sellers swapped houses, although records of the sale did not show up until last week. I have been unable to reach either of the sellers or their real-estate agents for insights into the swap. Of course, it’s not unusual to trade up from a $1.2 million to a $2.9 million house. But going the other direction is less common.

Price Points: The Tudor mansion commanded a higher price than nearly every other home sold in Evanston in the past 12 months. The only house that went for more during that time period was a Pritzker-family mansion on the north end of town that was sold last August for $4.1 million.

Listing Agents:  For the $2.975 million house: Rachel Harrigan, Prairie Shore Properties, (847) 869-7300.  For the $1.225 million house: Ginny Holbert, Prairie Shore Properties, (847) 256-1121