Buying a Condo

Toni and my house-hunting saga appears to have come to a successful resolution. Because we had until October to vacate our home within the National Lakeshore, we were able to take our time plus we didn’t have to be simultaneously selling a house. We found a condo (a duplex) in Chesterton that has most everything we were looking for: master bedroom on the first floor, finished basement, two-car garage, no septic tank, foyer, skylights, no big yard to care for, and for good measure two bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor. It is close to 80/94 and Lake Michigan but in a fairly secluded area with an open area in back. The process of bidding on it and then going back and forth after the home inspection was rather tense but turned out all right. Doug at the IU Credit Union was a great help as was our agent Gloria Notaro. I was really tempted by a beautiful cabin in Miller north of Oak Street and built by Patrick Lee, but it was over $250,000, contained no garage or basement and had a septic tank. The last time we were house-hunting was 35 years ago. Moving to NW Indiana, not realizing that Miller was the place to live, we first rented a house in Ross Township (from a man in Texas who had hired lawyer and future Congressman Adam Benjamin to handle it for him; in his office was a plaque honoring him as Assyrian-American of the Year). Then we rented a Hoosier home at 337 Jay Street from Mike Lukovic, who loved us because his previous tenants were no-accounts who left a trail of creditors in their wake. We spent close to two years looking for a place to buy in Miller until we found our present house, which had a Miller mailing address and phone number but because it was a half-block into Porter County allowed us to pay much less for insurance.

Yesterday I emailed grad student Rich Balsano: “I enjoyed my time with you and Joe. When I was discussing the importance of decentralized citizen control of what once was called urban renewal, I meant to add that gentrification can be a mixed blessing at best if it forces out old residents, as has happened in places like Baltimore.” He replied: “Duly noted. Joe and I feel very fortunate that you took the time to discuss these issues with us, and even show us around town a bit. In my time in graduate school, it was certainly the most gracious interview I have participated in. Thanks again, and if there is ever anything I can do to help you out just let me know.” When I was a grad student my adviser Sam Merrill went out of his way to be helpful and introduce me to other historians when we were doing research at the Library of Congress. I recall being surprised when historian Elliott Rudwick appeared to be so interested in my findings about Jacob A. Riis.

I mailed a copy of my “Ides of March, 2003” Shavings (volume 36) to a friend of Sam Barnett’s who had read about it on his Facebook and a copy of the Seventies issue “Tie-Dyes and Color Lines” to “Facebook friend” David Cox, a student who wrote about his mother Beverly not even realizing she was pregnant until she went into labor with him. Twenty-four years before his mother gave birth to his brother Tom, and the doctor told her she could never again have children. In many ways the Seventies was my favorite decade, but, quoting Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, I warned readers in volume 29’s Editor’s Note: “The kids of today should defend themselves against the 70s! It ain’t reality, just someone else’s sentimentality.”