List Price: $837,000
Sale Price: $805,000
The Property: The buyers of this big house on more than half an acre in Northbrook spent 49 percent of what its prior owners had paid for the place in 2007. Built in 2000 in a neighborhood where builders were replacing many small, older homes with far bigger residences, this house has eight rooms, each one oversized. Its white brick exterior carries through to a crisp white-and-wood interior. There are four bedrooms, three-plus baths, a living room with an octagonal bay, and a two-story family room that overlooks a deep backyard.

The previous owners had paid $1.64 million for the house in mid-2007. By August 2008, the home was in foreclosure by the lender, Countrywide. Originally priced at $1,082,900, it was listed for sale with Michael Lohens, a Park Ridge RE/Max agent, who estimates that the interior needs about $200,000 in work. Otherwise, he says, the home has a lot going for it. “It’s a good house in a good location,” he says. The sale closed May 2nd.

Price Points: Lohens says he had offers as high as $975,000 when the house first went on the market. “The bank wouldn’t take that [little] back then,” he says. “You almost get punished for bringing in a good offer in the first weeks it goes on the market—but you could also lose it, so you have to try.” Within a few days of this sale, another Northbrook house sold at foreclosure for half of its previous sale price. Built in 2005, buyers paid $1.4 million for that 10-room house in 2006. It sold at foreclosure on April 30th for $767,000.

Listing Agent: Michael Lohens, RE/Max, 847 698-7000; www.mlohens.illinoisproperty.com