Well, yesterday was stressful, of sorts. Went to pore over the details of the current favorite house at 5:30. Didn't find anything that jumped out at us (although one of the newer windows upstairs was cracked, which we missed the first time...disappointing, but not a problem)).

We then went to see three other houses. All of them sucked in their own way, and thus were immediately stricken from the contention list.

So, we got back to thinking about the favorite house. And, we decided, it's time to commit here. So we filled out the paperwork to put in a bid last night. It's quite a bit below their asking price, which is par for the course, more or less. It's a beautiful house, with a whole lot of amenities and everything. I save that list for later...but for now, here's what the house NEEDS (apparent to us without an inspector on site).
1. Replace windows on first floor and in basement. Though kitchen and bath are already replaced. Shouldn't be too crazy, pricewise, but still, not cheap.
2. Buy new washer/dryer.
3. Replace or cover wood paneling throughout basement family room. They did it nice, and it actually looks good--except that they had so much shit hanging on the walls with nails that there are holes bored in the paneling EVERYWHERE. It looks horrible.
4. Replace or cover wood paneling in upstairs bedroom. This isn't as bad as the basement, but still.
5. Remove wallpaper and paint walls in a lot of areas in the house.
6. Remove wood siding on back of house...or have it looked at and repaint it if it's still in good shape.
7. Install central air. For now, check number of a/c units and possibly buy enough to cool whole house.
8. Possibly replace goofy-looking faucets in two of the three bathrooms.

All these things we're using to our advantage. :) Hopefully the listing agent will simply want to unload the house (it's vacant...an estate sale.) because it's in the city and he's out in Mount Prospect. But we'll see.

Side note...there was a GIGANTIC aquarium in the garage that was in sad shape. I am going to have them ask if we can have it, if they're planning on just throwing it away. It will need some serious, serious cleaning...but it would be freakin' sweet if it still was any good. It's got to be like 75-100 gallons...or more, maybe. :)

Ah well...cross your fingers for us. If we get this house, we're looking at end of April to move.