Home improvement expert Lou Manfredini, who hosts “HouseSmarts Radio” on WGN-AM and also has hosted his own nationally syndicated TV show, “HouseSmarts TV,” and his wife, Mary Beth, on Aug. 31 paid $800,000 for a three-bedroom house in Evanston and sold their longtime five-bedroom red brick house in the Northwest Side Sauganash neighborhood two months later for $1.36 million.
A one-time contractor, Manfredini, 59, started hosting a show on WGN in 1995 under the name “Mr. Fix-It,” after he wrote a letter to the station arguing that “people needed to have an unbiased opinion and needed a place to turn for advice on their homes,” he told the Tribune in a 2001 interview.
Built in 1927, the couple’s new 1,892-square-foot house has 1 1/2 bathrooms, high ceilings, arched entryways, ceiling and sconce light fixtures throughout, vintage French windows, hardwood floors, high ceilings, a living room with built-ins and a fireplace, and an adjacent sitting area with triple French doors. Other features include a staircase with wainscoting and an office adjoining the third bedroom.
Outside on the property are a patio and a large, private flagstone courtyard.
The Manfredinis’ new Evanston house first had been listed in June for $885,000, and its asking price was cut later that month to $855,000 before it sold.
In Sauganash, Manfredini and his wife paid $775,000 in 2001 for their now-former Colonial-style home, which was built in 1929. Restored and updated, the 4,208-square-foot house has 4 1/2 bathrooms, hardwood floors, a living room with a custom fireplace and a kitchen with a custom thickened waterfall island, Wolf stainless steel appliances, a Wolf commercial exhaust hood, a Miele dishwasher, a 42-inch Dutch door Sub-Zero refrigerator and a Wolf six-burner range.
Other features include a remodeled primary bedroom suite with heated tile floors in the bathroom and an oversized shower, a stone fireplace on the lower level, a lower-level home office, Hurd custom wood aluminum-clad windows everywhere except for the living and dining rooms, a professionally relined chimney, LED lighting, a screened porch, custom porcelain front porch tile and a roof with a 75-year warranty.
Outside on the property are a detached two-car garage, a wrought iron rear and side yard fence, an automatic driveway gate and an outdoor lawn sprinkler system.
Manfredini told Elite Street that he and his wife had liked “everything” about the Sauganash house, and that they had bought it in 2001 after they had outgrown an earlier home in the nearby Edgebrook neighborhood because of the birth of their fourth child.
“We wanted to stay in the area and the school our other children were attending,” Manfredini said. “It was and still is a great family house.”
Now, with their children all grown, Manfredini and his wife have decided to downsize. He told Elite Street that “it’s a big house for just the two of us.”
“We are excited for another young family to enjoy the house, and all the terrific things the neighborhood has to offer.”
Typical for a home improvement expert, Manfredini said he and his wife like many different styles of homes “as long as they are done well with quality design, materials and craftsmanship.”
The couple’s co-listing agent, Maureen Barone of Compass, told Elite Street that the Sauganash house “was meticulously maintained and loved.”
“He practices what he preaches,” she said. “Even at inspection, there were zero issues.”
Barone’s husband and co-listing agent, Philip Barone, added that Manfredini desired someone special as the home’s next owner.
“For that age and style of that home, Lou got top dollar for the home,” he said. “He raised his family in that home and he was hoping that someone from the neighborhood would want it to raise their family as well.”
Manfredini and his wife listed the Sauganash house in mid-September for $1.45 million, and they found a buyer just six days later. Public records do not yet identify the buyer.
The couple’s new house had an $11,669 property tax bill in the 2022 tax year. Their now-former Sauganash home had a $17,871 property tax bill in the 2022 tax year.
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
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