Want to Be the Obamas' Next Door Neighbor? Obama's Chicago Neighbor Selling Home

Oct. 27, 2009— -- The housing market is tough right now, even if you're offering a house with a famous neighbor.

Steps away from the Obama family's Hyde Park, Chicago, home, their next door neighbor's 17-room manse is on the market.

The owner, Bill Grimshaw, had hoped to cash in on what he called the "Obama factor" by selling his home but is having a little more difficulty than he originally anticipated.

Instead of setting an asking price, Grimshaw initially left the price open-ended, hoping that the draw of living close to the Obamas' home would boost the profits for him.

"We've been getting inquiries from Singapore, Saudia Arabia, London, New York, California," Grimshaw said in an interview when the house first went on the market in September. "All of these wonderful places where there's large amounts of money and people who don't seem to know the value of it, which, from my point of view, is the perfect combination.

"So I don't think there's an upper limit to my fantasy anymore, I don't even think about it."

Grimshaw bought the house for $40,000 in 1973. Homes of the same size in the same neighborhood, typically go for between $1 million and $2 million.

The 6,000-square-foot house includes preserved woodwork, plaster-detailed molding and ornate original stained glass windows from the turn of the century. It sits on an oversize lot.

And that's even before the benefits of being a "rock star's neighbor," Grimshaw said. "We realized that the Obama factor was never going to get us higher, and so we finally pushed ourselves to take some action."

Since the house went on the market in the middle of September, more than 60,000 inquires have flooded in. The house has its own Web site too, www.5040greenwood.com, which has since had more than 100,000 hits.

But the initial interest failed to produce many actual offers: After a month on the market, there has not been one serious offer.

The real estate company has been forced to set an asking price -- $1.85 million -- when the house gets posted today on a Multiple Listing Service.

Matt Garrison, the house's real estate agent, said that despite initial worldwide interest, the few formal offers were unacceptable, much below what a house in that neighborhood should go for.

"It's a tough time to be selling real estate right now," Garrison, a Coldwell Banker real estate agent, said. "Obviously, the sellers want to get as much money for it as they can. I think we still will get a good price for the property, because it's so unique."

Leasing to the Government

The federal government was also interested in buying the Grimshaws' home. Grimshaw said his family was approached by the government, interested in leasing their home for the duration of Obama's presidency to use for surveillance and security purposes.

Others set a precedent. When former Vice President Dick Cheney was secretary of defense living in a suburban town house, for instance, government security leased an available town house one door away for his protective detail to maintain surveillance of the Cheney home.

Most recently, Secret Service agents briefly rented a home adjacent to the Dallas house where George and Laura Bush retired in January.

For sitting presidents, the Secret Service has been able to set up shop right on a president's own property. There were homes available for security on George W. Bush's sprawling 1,500-acre Texas ranch, and a cottage on Walker's Point, the Maine home of former President George H.W. Bush.

Former President Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton owned no private home while in office.

Grimshaw said that although his family first considered the offer to lease their home to the government, they ultimately declined.

"They were looking to lease and not buy, and we didn't want to do that, so it's really what motivated us to finally say, 'Well, look, let's sell this while the selling price is as high as it will ever be.' So the feds really pushed us into making this decision," he said.

Being the Obamas' Neighbor: Burden or Bonus?

Grimshaw said the value of owning a home next to the president lies in holding a piece of Obama history.

The Obamas used their the Grimshaws' fireplace to shoot an ad for the presidential campaign: a holiday greeting from the Obama family, showing them together in front of the Grimshaws' fireplace.

And living so close to the president's now-second home is certainly exciting. During the 2008 presidential campaign, the Obamas would often stroll through the neighborhood walking to neighbor Marty Nesbitt's house to catch a football game.

The president also took his youngest daughter, Sasha, trick-or-treating in the neighborhood last Halloween.

Since Obama has been president, he has visited his Hyde Park home three times.

But that proximity can be a negative. Heavy security was set up when Obama, as senator, became the Democratic nominee, which picked up even more after he won the presidency.

Barricades were set up and checkpoints were necessary before neighbors could even drive the street on which they lived.

"Security has been a peculiar thing," Grimshaw said. "Initially, it was an incredible pain in the butt. You had to basically demonstrate to the Chicago police and the Secret Service that you actually lived on the block, that you were entitled to continue on your own way and enter your own home. That was odd.

"I told one of the secret service guys that I felt like I was living in East Berlin."

Gradually, however, the security became less overbearing because the Secret Service agents began to know them by face, Grimshaw said.

"They knew us, we knew them, they waved us through," he said. "So once you're established, it's no problem at all."

Ready to Go?

The Grimshaws still hope to sell their home by next month, and the feeling is bittersweet.

"I didn't realize this at first, but the more I think about it, the sadder I become," Grimshaw said. "The house, the Obamas, the neighborhood."

The Grimshaws plan to remain in Chicago, and Grimshaw joked that he would consider it his own stimulus package from the president.

"So next time I see him," he said, "I'll thank him."

ABC News' Ann Compton contributed to this report.