Ex-Bears Coach Takes $400,000 Loss On Lake Forest Mansion

LAKE FOREST, IL — Former Chicago Bears head coach John Fox this week sold a Lake Forest mansion for a $400,000 loss. He purchased the country-style estate from sportscaster and former Bear Tom Waddle in April 2015, spending $3.275 million on the property a few months after getting hired, according to property records. The home was listed last April asking for nearly $3.4 million and sold for $2.875 million on Monday after a price reduction earlier this year.

Fox was Bears head coach from 2015 to 2017. He achieves a record of 14 wins and 34 losses, finishing his second season in charge with the Bears' worst record in the era of 16-game seasons and second-worst winning percentage in the franchise's 100-year history. Fox has not coached professionally since.

Built in 2008, the cedar and stone two-story home includes more than 8,100 square feet of living area on a 1.68-acre lot, according to its listing.

As the first owner of the house, Waddle purchased the property for $3.25 million in February 2010 before first listing in July 2013 for almost $4 million.

The six-bedroom home has an open layout with a first-floor master suite and a large kitchen overlooking the family room, according to its listing. It also includes a large yard and a finished lower level with an exercise room, entertainment room and two fireplaces.

The man Fox replaced, Marc Trestman, unloaded a $3.35 million Winnetka mansion after losing the Bears job in 2015 and sold a townhouse in Glencoe in December 2018, a month after getting fired from his head coaching job with the Toronto Argonauts in the Canadian Football League. Last month Trestman was announced as the head coach and general manager of a Tampa Bay team in the XFL, professional wrestling magnate Vince McMahon's abortive league that plans to return next year.

Fox's successor and current Bears head coach Matt Nagy bought a house in Lake Bluff last April for $2.75 million. He purchased a 9,400-square-foot new custom home built by Capital Custom Builders and designed by Lake Forest architect Scott Renken on the subdivided Lansdowne Estate. Before it was sold to a developer in 2007, the 21-acre property was owned by the family of Harry Clow, president of Rand McNally, Nagy purchased the house for more than 21% below the home's $3.5 million asking price.

The new owners of Fox's former home, which had technically been owned by an LLC managed by his wife, Robin Militello, have yet to be identified in public records. According to the Lake County Assessor's Office, the 2018 estimated fair market value of the property is $2,982,316. Its annual property tax bill was more than $52,000.

Related:

• New Bears Head Coach John Fox Buys Home From Tom Waddle
• Former Chicago Bears Coach Marc Trestman Sells Glencoe Townhome
• Foreclosure Sale Of Ex-Bear's North Shore Mansion Awaits Approval
• Ex-Bull Sells Bannockburn Mansion To Ex-Bear For $2 Million Loss

More recently sold homes in Lake Forest and Lake Bluff »