CHICAGO - Be President Barack Obama’s neighbor for a cool $1.85 million. 

The 17-room, 6,000 square foot (557 sq metres) brick house for sale adjacent to Obama’s Chicago home needs work to update the kitchen and bathrooms, but there is no need to worry about break-ins, the seller says. 

“It’s definitely got phenomenal security. A whole team of Secret Service agents is posted 20 feet (6 metres) away” night and day, real estate agent Matt Garrison said.

 ”Some people may view that as a negative thing but we’re looking for buyers who see it as a positive thing,” Garrison said.

 Prospective owners won’t face daily searches, Garrison said, but visitors will likely have to be cleared in advance.

The Obama family, of course, lives in the White House for now and their Chicago home in the Kenwood neighborhood is presumably vacant. The Chicago Police Department recently scaled down its around-the-clock presence at the house.

But when the Obamas and their two daughters were there, they sometimes chatted with neighbor Bill  Grimshaw and his wife, who preceded them in the neighborhood. The Grimshaws, whose children have grown, bought the home for $35,000 in 1973.

There are many large mansions in the area that have sold for $2 million and more, sometimes to overseas investors, but the depressed real estate market has stifled interest.

“We’re talking to a few traditional, nice families. It’s likely the buyer will turn out to be somebody already looking for a house like that in that area. Maybe the Obama factor will put them over the top,” Garrison said.

- Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia in Washington)