After five years at the top of Oak Park Village Hall, Manager Tom Barwin’s two-bedroom, two-bath house just went on the market. But it’s unclear, as of yet, what that means for Barwin’s future as Oak Park’s top administrator.
The home, located on the 1000 block of South Lombard, is currently owned by village hall. Barwin has been renting the home since April 2008 (currently at $1,200 a month). It was supposed to be a temporary fix until he sold his former home in Michigan, but the economy tanked and selling his house took much longer than originally anticipated.
Village trustees have been anxious in recent years to move the village away from owning properties, and as such, the home was officially listed for sale last week. Realtor Molly Surowitz said the village is hoping to fetch $300,000, after first buying the home for $341,722 in 2004.
Oak Park purchased the home as part of the “Barrie Park Buyout Program,” along with six others in the neighborhood, as a way to calm residents worries while the park was being remediated due to environmental issues. Seven years later, all but Barwin’s home have been resold.
Surowitz said the village is still offering up to $30,000 in loans and grants for whoever buys the home, as part of the Barrie program, and will also offer free building permits for any renovations. It may be a tough sell, as many families are looking for three bedrooms, but Surowitz believes the housing market has rebounded some recently.
“We don’t expect it to just fly off the shelf,” she said. “I think we priced it well, and we priced it really competitively, for the size and what’s available for someone.”
Village Trustee Ray Johnson said that Barwin is welcome to make an offer on the home, though Oak Park won’t subtract his rent payments, as had previously been requested. The village board is in no rush to have Barwin leave the house, and plans to wait until a sale closes.
“It is nice to have some income coming in from it, rather than having it vacant,” Johnson said.
Barwin said he and his wife, Peg, are still deciding whether they want to buy the house, or look to rent elsewhere. When he first started with Oak Park in 2006, Barwin said he hoped to put in at least five years with the village, an anniversary he celebrated this month.
But the manager was unsure, as of Monday, what the couple’s next step will be.
“We’re just in the process of trying to look down the road a little bit more, and housing is a big factor,” Barwin said. “Moving is akin to going to the dentist for a root canal, times 10.”