Friday, February 27, 2009

3 Bedrooms, 2 Baths, No Bats




Looking to make an underground real-estate deal? The owners of a 15,000-square-foot cave in Festus, Missouri have a house for you, especially if you're a yabba-dabba-do-it-yourselfer.
They are selling their one-of-a-kind home on e-Bay. Bidding starts at $300,000.
That will buy you nearly three wooded acres not far from St. Louis. The house is built into the opening of an abandoned sandstone mine with 11-metre high ceilings and natural stone walls. The entrance is finished with natural timber and 37 sliding glass doors that flood the space with natural light.
There's no furnace or air-conditioning system. Climate control is provided by passive solar energy and geothermal. The ambient temperature is a nice even 16 degrees C year-round. The owners run 3 giant dehumidifiers almost constantly to keep the damp and mustiness at bay.
Except for a little trouble with the odd occurance of falling gravel and dust, they say it is a great place to live. No bats, no bugs, no noisy neighbors.
The home features three chambers. The front, where all the natural light reaches, is the living area. The second chamber is used for laundry storage and a guest bathroom. The third chamber, way at the back features a stage. Once upon a time, the cave was operated as a roller skating rink and also a rock venue. If you listen closely, you might just hear the fading strains of Cat Scratch Fever and Against the Wind, courtesy of rockers Ted Nugent and Bob Seger, both of whom performed there.
The current owners bought the property in 2004 for $160,000. The vendor took half the money up front. The rest is due in May. You will be surprised to discover that U.S. lenders are reluctant to mortgage a cave at this time.
They figure they've sunk another $150,000 into the project and that there are still finishing jobs to do.
So far, they've had about 6,000 email inquiries.

If you want to see more click here

2 comments:

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