Man Living in Cave Faces Foreclosure

ABC News ^ | February 24, 2009 | SCOTT MAYEROWITZ

[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...

[americanophile]

No, this is not a Taliban joke.

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

Mortgage default: So easy, a caveman can do it! :D

[Badeye]

(chuckle)

Ya know a commercial is coming along thoughs lines.

[Jim Robinson]

Six munths ago he culdn’t even spel programmer. Now he are one.

[MeanWestTexan]

“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.”

Um, sounds like he should have paid the debt first.

[TheWasteLand]

I think they just outed Batman.

[VRWCmember]

This idiot financed $80 on a five year balloon note, and then poured an additional $150 into renovations but didn’t bother to pay down any of the note and still owes $83 five years later.

[avacado]

[Just another Joe]

I saw this on the news last night.

That's a DARN nice cave.

[TChris]

“Creative” mortgages are like the lottery: They’re for people who are bad at math.

[2banana]

A real man cave!

[UglyinLA]

Sounds like he is between a rock and a hard place.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Remind you of something?

[OldNavyVet]

Real property is real property ... Case closed.

[softwarecreator]

$160,000 for a cave?

uh ... yeah.

I had to check out the byline to make sure it wasn't from the Onion or a website like that.

[dfwgator]

He’s in deep guano.

[KarlInOhio]

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.

Billionaire-playboy Bruce Wayne shouldn't have put all of his money into Bear Stearns.

[Richard Kimball]

$320,000 total? Talk about a money pit. He really got in over his head.

[dfwgator]

Billionaire-playboy Bruce Wayne shouldn't have put all of his money into Bear Stearns.

I think he put it all with Bernie Madoff.

[bgill]

Ok, so he got a 5 year mortgage on $80k. Now, at the end of that 5 years he owes $83k. Did he not make any payments in all that time?