Welcome to the lucky number 13th Weaky Award. This has remained my favorite segment since the blog got started about a year ago. Today I want to introduce you to the Sleeper Family. Aside from have a really cool last name, the Sleepers also have a really cool house.
Their house is built into a cave!!
I
‘ll give away my childish attitude here but, that’s freaking awesome! Their 17,000 square foot hideaway was purchased in 2004 for the tidy sum of $180,000. It’s a bargain at that price. The Sleepers were smart too. They sold a bunch of their personal possessions and were able to put 50% down on the house. The previous owner provided financing for the rest of it. Since then Curt Sleeper has put another $150,000 into the home, with renovations and upgrades.
But trouble has emerged from the dark depths of their home. Their financing was in the form of a five year balloon. Well their five years of easy payments are almost over, and the balloon payment is due. They now owe $83,000.
Of course the plan was to always just refinance in five years. That’s what everyone’s plan was. But with struggling economic times no bank will provide financing. The problem isn’t so much with income, as with the banks have no way to value the home. This isn’t exactly in a neighborhood of other caves.
So now unless the Sleepers can refinance or sell the home, they risk foreclosure. It’s really sad that it came to this. But they still signed on the dotted line of the mortgage, and I have an award to give.
The lucky 13th Weaky Award goes to William Curtis Sleeper for failing to establish appropriate financing for his dream home. He did many things right, like putting 50% down on the home. But having invested so much in improvements, he failed to account for the risk of a balloon mortgage. Bad economy or no, balloons are never a good option. Curt I wish you the best and hope you get to keep your home.
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This story was originally found on Dvorak Uncensored, which linked to an ABC News story. Click through to the ABC News story for photos and more details about the house.
The image links to the eBay listing for the house. His website for the house is Caveland.ning.com
 By The Weakonomist |
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I wonder how much it will go for in the foreclosure auction. I need a vacation home…