Race Or Reason

Looks like an office complex, doesn't it.

The structure pictured is, in fact, a single family home located in Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood.

Yes, that Bridgeport. The ancestral homeland of the Daley clan and the font of all clout in the city of Chicago.

An African-American couple wanted to buy the place and now the Justice Department is looking into the real estate deal that wasn't.

It could be discrimination that stopped Daniel and Adrienne Sabbia from selling their modern residence to George and Peytyn Willborn. Or it could be the sort of 'after the offer' panic that sets in.

The Sabbias just might have thought that the Willborns could be coaxed into paying a higher price since they wanted the place so badly.

As in most home sales, the grantor and grantee reached a verbal agreement on a price, but the sales contract was never signed.

If the Willborns were willing to pay $1.7 million for a building that shouts 'Doctors Offices', maybe they could be convinced to pay a little more? As it turns out, the Willborns simply went straight to HUD and filed a complaint when the sale fell through and the house was pulled off the market.

The house is on the market again, starting at around $1.8 million.

The Willborns could call the Sabbias' bluff and meet the price, but a history of discrimination often leaves a large chip on the shoulder. They elected to make it into a federal case, but whether or not a judge sees things their way is another matter.

Some people are known to put a house on the market to gauge interest and value, only to change their mind when an offer is made. Many who have been through the real estate search have come up against a crackpot who acted like they were ready to move, only to find that the owner was not so serious about the sale after all.

Then again, this is Bridgeport we're talking about. It's a remarkably pale area in a city that is highly compartmentalized when it comes to neighborhoods.

It's taken as gospel that black folks move in and the gangbangers follow.

Hard to preach from that book, however, when you're talking about a family that has the financial means to purchase a home in the stratospheric price range.

Is it discrimination or a seller with cold feet?

A Federal judge will have to decide.