Posted on 02/24/2009 2:03:14 PM PST by americanophile
You've heard plenty of stories about foreclosures, but the latest victims of this brutal recession are about to lose their cave.
That's right. For nearly five years, Curt Sleeper and his family have lived in a cave. His mortgage is about to come due and, like millions of other Americans, he can't refinance.
So now, the 17,000-square-foot, subterranean home is being auctioned off on eBay.
Sleeper and his wife Deborah bought the cave outside St. Louis in May 2004 for $160,000. To pay for it, they sold their old home, TV and even the DVD collection. They made a 50 percent down payment and borrowed the other $80,000 from the seller. It was a five-year loan with a single balloon payment at the end.
The Sleepers now have until May 1 to pay off the remaining $83,000 or sell the property. It's not a foreclosure sale yet, but if they can't come up with the money, they risk losing the house.
Besides the initial $80,000 payment, Sleeper said he spent another $150,000 on renovations to the cave and the surrounding 2.8 acres he owns.
The original plan was to refinance. But Sleeper, a self-employed computer consultant, said...
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Groundwater, gravity, and erosion never stop - eventually the cave, uh, caves-in. The ceiling falls down, in other words.
That's what a responsible person would do. Obama and the Dems have no need for responsible people other than their money.
I'd be glad to live there, but I'm not commuting to Texas every day.
80 000 / 60 = 1 333.33333.
If my math is correct, $1333 per month is not bad rent for a 17,000 sq ft air-conditioned mansion on 2.8 acres. Too bad about the lost renovation costs.
The answer - mold.
The note holder can get a $300K house because the guy is defaulting on an 80K loan.
Make a nice new home for the FR servers, don’t you think?
The FIRST THING they should have done was pay off the note, KNOWING it was a five-year balloon note.
I'm apologize.
I find it impossible to feel sorry for stupid people.
It's just not in my nature.
What kind of mortgage/real estate deal was that?
I’ve never heard of that kind of boondoggle.
Cool.
Nice photos.
Yeah, about 56 degrees constant year round, raised somewhat by the heat of the machines. No climate conditioning required for the server farm at all.
;)
so does your house
And pretty much storm-proof at that. ;-)
Finance is not his strong suit.
All sorts of folks buy homes under “land contracts” - that is where the seller holds the financing for some set period of time, after which you have to pay up.
It is common in the midwest, especially when the buyer needs to build a house, before he can get conventional financing.
That’s almost as awesome as folks buying up old Minuteman and Titan missle silos and renovating them.
Yeah - but - the electric service, from the photo, seems to be overhead, and it looks like a 10KVA pot. Way too small for a server farm, and only slightly more reliable than power in CA.
Out of curiosity, I emailed a friend - STL DOES have eathquakes, which makes a cave somewhat iffy.
Of course, the FR staff are used to earthquakes...LOL.
Subterranean sub-prime.
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