House hunting in the 'hood

So, we've been looking for houses, kinda. The problems with our own home are 4-fold:


a) No yard

b) the kids bedrooms are not on the same level as ours which has always bothered me

c) no storage...no basement=no storage

d) we are the lower unit so we can hear every move the guys upstairs make. We hear them come in, we hear them play them playing video games, we hear them stomping around, etc.

So, since we want to stay in the city, we have been looking further into the ghetto which is the far west side of Chicago. I shouldn't say ghetto...that's a pretty derogatory term, but what I mean by that is a slightly "scarier" neighborhood than the one we live in, which is basically not so scary.

And here was my favorite one. It's so awesome inside. And by awesome, I mean HUGE! It has three levels of hugeness and old hardwood floors and cool molding. But it also has some mold, and the copper pipes have been stolen, and some of the wiring. It was originally a three-unit building, so it has the plumbing for three kitchens, but actually has zero kitchens installed right now.

But I'm a sucker for a project...especially a HUGE project. Especially a huge project which means I'd end up with a huge home. And I could open a school there! A classical/waldorfy/christian school for the neighborhood kids. I just love old stuff...but old stuff has a lot of problems.

Like this bathroom, which is definitely a problem. But bathrooms are fixable. I mean, how much can a toilet cost, right? Or...pipes? Or...electricity?

Matt is not exactly jumping in with both feet yet, but he's warming up to the idea. Come one, help me out here people...you'd buy this house right? We could probably get it for about $75K, and we have tons of friends in the neighborhood: church friends, school friends, etc. We could finish the house for $150K I think...as long as we don't want anything fancy. But the space...the space! It would be so nice.