The Ferris Bueller House Just Got a Little Cheaper

I mean, cheap for Highland Park:
http://www.prairiemod.com/prairiemod/2013/11/bueller-house-price-chop.html

I wouldn't want to live in it, but as teenagers we hung out near it as I had a friend living close by. We'd spend a great deal of time at the boating beach, which was a better place to do our underage drinking as no one ever went down there, unless they were taking a boat out. In the winter it was completely abandoned. I seem to remember some sort of wooden bridge on a property near there (maybe it was that house, I can't remember) over a ravine that always felt like we shouldn't have been there. Not that it stopped us, but in hindsight we were probably trespassing.

The photos of the property, and the scenes in the movie don't really convey how wooded this area is for a practically beachfront property in a part of the country not exactly noted for trees. Say what you will of the house, but the grounds and surrounding neighbourhood are spectacular.

The boating beach had an insanely dangerous road leading down to it that was dangerous most of the year, but got an additional level of daredevil tossed in when there was snow or ice. It was a single lane, which was fine most of the time as there wasn't much traffic, but it was curvy, and narrow, and you couldn't see what was coming from the other end. Again, with slow, careful driving it wouldn't have been terrible, but with cars filled with teenagers feeling that immortality that young people believe themselves to possess...not good. You'd get to the top, and there was a really difficult spot where you'd have to punch the gas to get up over the final hill...but you couldn't see what was coming. As my dad used to say, "Go until you hear glass" is pretty much the approach you had to take, and thankfully I was never met with another car filled with teenagers barreling down in the other direction. That road scared the shit out of me. The last time I was back, about fifteen years ago, they'd widened, and filled the road in a bit to make it easier to tow down a boat. I have to think that will save lives, but it also makes the beach a more attractive place to go walking, ruining it for the teenagers of today.

Fun bonus fact about Ferris Bueller's Day Off:
Part of it was filmed on the other side of town where I was living, and my house is in it for a few seconds as they drive by. I had no idea there'd been a film crew there as I was at work, and only found out about it years later watching the movie on cable. Brush with fame.