List Price: $899,900
Sale Price: $925,000
The Property: Five days after U.S. Bank put this foreclosed 12-room Hinsdale house up for sale, three bidders were vying for it—and the only reason it took that long was that the bank requires a property be marketed for at least five days before it will look at offers. “It could have gone even faster,” says Becky Eichstaedt, the Coldwell Banker agent who was selling the house for the bank.

Key to the house’s appeal was that it was in excellent condition, inside and out (unlike some foreclosed builder houses that are left unfinished or that the losing party trashes on the way out). The builder had completed the house in 2007 and, unable to get it sold quickly, rented it out for a year. Those tenants “took very good care of it” before moving out in January, Eichstaedt says. She also says the timing was right. “There was an influx of transferees all looking for houses,” she notes.

When the five-day waiting period had elapsed, Eichstaedt had three offers to forward to the bank, which then gave all three bidders the chance to bring in a better, final offer. Two came back with offers above the asking price, Eichstaedt says. She could not say what the winning bidder had initially offered.

Situated on a corner lot in northeast Hinsdale, the house has a creamy stucco exterior with old-world shutters and a quaint bird-beak window bay on the second floor. There are four bedrooms—plus a “retreat” room on the third floor that could be used as a bedroom—five-plus baths, a nice carved limestone mantel, and two laundry rooms. The sale closed April 28th. The buyers are not yet identified in public records.

Price Points: The builder bought the site, which at the time held an older house, in 2005. Although public records do not contain the price, they show that on the day of that transaction, the builder took out a $904,000 mortgage on the property. There is no indication of how much the builder spent to complete the construction of the new house on the lot, but Eichstaedt says the house had an asking price of $1.15 million in 2007. The buyers paid about 80 percent of that original asking price.

Listing Agent: Becky Eichstaedt, Coldwell Banker, 708-352-4840; becky@liveinwesternsuburbs.com

Photograph: courtesy of Becky Eichstaedt