Chicago House Hunting
I am a planner.
Like the worst kind of planner.
Our first au pair from Germany was back to visit, and of course we had to road trip to Chicago!
As in, I was planning for our move to Chicago for over a year prior to the anticipated move date and evening doing a little house hunting. After a trip to Chicago last year to settle on a neighborhood (LINK), we made a run for it with our dream team of au pairs to look at a few townhouses for sale. It was a whirlwind of a trip, and our last big road trip before the world would change as we know it.
I remember we went the last weekend in February. We booked a trip compliments of Hilton Grand Vacations, to tour one of their properties. It was the last week in February - we were traveling over my brother’s birthday - a day that I take time to celebrate each year. This year I was going to be surrounded by all my favorite people and in a city that we were planning to call home.
Once we arrived in Chicago, we put the au pairs up in their own hotel - a deal that Paul found on the internet that included a bunch of amazing food credit. Paul and I were staying down the street in hotel complete with a complimentary breakfast buffet. We were living the life, thanks to Paul’s deal hunting and a little creativity.
Our daily breakfast, joining the au pairs at their fancy hotel to rob them of their food credits, haha!! SERIOUSLY so delicious! I’m drooling.
The view from the top of the Hancock building! Cheers to my brother, and our many adventures together! Who would have known that this little pregnancy was going to last and bring us our little baby girl!
There are few reasons this weekend is very memorable:
The Market started crashing
COVID was recognized abroad and we were first learning about it.
I peed on a stick, and I was so excited to have a positive pregnancy test!
It was my brother’s birthday. He would have been 35 years old.
We celebrated with “drinks” in the Hancock tower, and I had to order a 7-Up.
We randomly bought a timeshare, then the world closed travel for all eternity. (face palm)
Waiting to go up to the top of the Hancock, date night!
Paul and I went on a whirlwind tour of properties with our relator. We found our relator on a whim visiting an open house last time we were in the area. She knows the area like the back of her hand and has toured almost every townhome in the area. We were able to see almost 10 properties to get a feel for the area. Many of them were instant “no”… and plenty of them were “maybe”.
In the end we were between two properties:
(1) A move in ready, new build that was going to stretch our budget, but had everything we wanted including a large rooftop patio.
OR
(2) A stinky home with a kitchen I couldn’t stomach in need of many updates. However, it had been sitting on the market for awhile and we would likely be able to get it for a great price.
Paul in heaven. The Whole Foods carries all different kinds of beers - in a grocery store!! Definitely an upgrade from Pennsylvania’s regulations!!
We were ready to stretch our budget and met our relator for coffee to talk it through now that we had narrowed it down to our final two. She kept saying that she had bought the “stinky” property the year before and redid it herself. We were a bit skeptical and couldn’t see the vision. She offered to bring us by her place to see what she made of it. We took a few steps into the home and our minds were made up.
We put an offer in on the stinky property with “a lot of potential” with the goal of redoing the guts of the property including the kitchen, bathrooms, and master bedroom. We also took out every last piece of carpet because the place smelled like an old wet dog.
I made a pinterest board with our tastes, and our relator went to town getting everything lined up. As the pandemic shut the world down… things slowly progressed. Our closing was delayed for a variety of reasons, so we got a late start, but we were so pumped to start our adventure in Chicago in our new home!
So many meals in this spot in the restaurant, even Tristan was able to join us!! Ohhh, those potatoes. Look at the burgers?!
This is an accurate depiction of what it’s like to a be a mom out to dinner with your children. Look, no food on my plate. Surrounded by emotional and hungry creatures who are declining to eat all of the delicious food that was purchased for them but doesn’t look like it usually does…(facepalm)
This was such a memorable trip. It was a quick trip, but memorable nonetheless. It was so wonderful to be able to travel with both of our au pairs to get a glimpse into our life in Chicago!