Hard to sell Foreclosure

[Opti]

Here's part of an article I found on Yahoo. Here's one foreclosure with more than a few reasons its not selling.

They say there are snake pits on Wall Street.

Chase has learned there are snake pits on Main Street too.

Last year, the J.P. Morgan Chase banking unit foreclosed on a home near Rexburg, Idaho, that is infested with garter snakes.

They slide through the yard, the crawl space, the walls, the ceilings, even across the floors. Sure, they're harmless, but there are perhaps thousands of them. They give off malodorous secretions when alarmed, and can even leave the well water tasting a bit like the way they smell.

Two families have fled the house in scenes reminiscent of horror-film classics. One turned to a local TV station in 2006 to document the infestation, complaining of not being able to sleep at night. The video is still available on YouTube and is doing absolutely nothing for sales. Watch the video on snakes in the house.

The next family appeared on TV's "Animal Planet" earlier this year. They said they were told the previous owners came up with the snake story to explain why they stopped paying their mortgage. But, it turns out, the story was true.

Search "Idaho snake house" on the Internet and several intriguing posts emerge. Zillow.com offers a sales description that mentions "a large kitchen with center island," but nothing about snakes on the kitchen floor.

The house, built in 1920 and remodeled about five years ago, has somehow become a hibernaculum, where snakes gather en masse for winter. It's so famously infested that Chase has taken it off the market.

Earlier this year, the five-bedroom home at 675 W. 5000 North was listed for $109,200. That's about $66,000 below its market value. But somehow there were no takers, even in a region known for its Snake River.

Chase is now in the unenviable position of having to be delicate with snakes that continue to live in the home despite a defaulted mortgage. Once a house has been featured on "Animal Planet," you can't just burn it down or otherwise slaughter its reptilian residents. You have to be nice to snakes. It's just good business.

[Deleted]

Maybe Chase should donate the house to local zoo to get a tax deduction and good PR!

[Apple]

Sounds like they should get a couple peacocks. There is a museum near here that has them on grounds to control the snake population. Peterson's rock garden in Redmond, Or also used to have the birds for that reason (don't know if they still do). So, the snakes would start to go away, but hope you don't mind the noise of a woman screaming every now and then (that's what pecocks sound like, horrible noise)...

[DVM gone riding]

I saw it on animal planet. Basically the only real option was to jack up the house, remove the den and re-pour the foundation. the snakes in the yard and stuff were 10s-100s under the house it was 1000s it was a primary den for them, nothing short of eradication was going to make them leave---how do you even eradicate snakes??? they did talk to several people, personally I think they should have sued the bank that sold them the place for failure to disclose, but in the end i think they just walked away 20-30k poorer one of the families may have had to declare bankruptcy.

[midjd]

That would be DH's dream house... I will not be showing him this article

[Mad Dawg Wiccan]

Years ago, I read about a house near here with a similar problem. It was built during the winter, and it wasn't discovered until the spring that it was on top of a rattlesnake hibernation den with hundreds of rattlers in it. I don't know what they finally did with the place.

[2kids10horses]

I had a couple of peacocks once. Yeah, he would occasionally be noisy. But it wasn't a horrible noise like a woman screaming.

Never saw a snake.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

EEEEK!

<--- does NOT like snakes