$450,000

Start with the shop, because that is what you are really here for. Power is already run to it, the door is tall enough for the equipment that never fits anywhere else, and there is enough gravel out front to swing a trailer without a three point turn. The two car garage is insulated and heated, so winter projects do not wait for spring. Inside, the kitchen cabinets and counters have fresh paint, laundry is right where you want it, and the wood stove earns its keep about the time the January heating bill shows up. Sliders off the dining room open onto a deck big enough to actually use. Downstairs is finished, with room for a den, an office, or whatever doesn't fit upstairs. All of it on an acre at the north end of Joliet, garden rows in and miles of open country past the back fence. It feels a long way from anywhere out there, and the school is three blocks off.