The Butcher Mansion: Are We Having Fun Yet?

 As I mentioned in an earlier post, the conversion of the Butcher mansion into condominiums hurt the chance of  future re-sale. But establishing a Home Owner's Association for the neighborhood mortally wounded re-sale.

Above is the floor plan of the South wing of the house before and after the condo conversion. This was the side of the house that held the family room, the dining room, the two-story sunroom, the $100,000 kitchen, the maids room, the laundry room, a single car garage, and the pool baths.

As you can see from the pictures to the right, the interior is less than one would imagine in a home with an asking price of $1,200,000.

The two-story sunroom was enclosed to make additional room for the condominium above.

You might have noticed, there's no flooring. And that's because the unit flooded.

The Butcher home, once converted into a commercial project, required the installation of sprinklers for code. The problem: when a house sits empty for 5 years and the pipes freeze, you can have a big freakin' mess on your hands. The sprinkler flooded the unit so the kitchen had to be removed, walls had to be taken down to the studs. And back in the former maid's room the studs bow out behind what once was a shower stall.

What the pictures don't reveal is...
the smell. And the smell is BAD.

The smell of mold is overwhelming in this house. Some areas more pungent than others. When you approach the basement off the kitchen, it is an automatic reaction to cover your nose and mouth. You cannot stay in the basement long. When I was down there, it was only a matter of minutes before my throat began to itch and constrict. I literally had to run back up the stairs and outside to breathe.

And beyond the mold problem that exists throughout the house, the basement has a large amount of feces. It appears to be raccoon. Aside from their scat creating a biohazard, the little bastards can wreck havoc on the interior of a home. They tear through air ducts, they shred electrical wire, they chew through insulation. And, no joke, their poo can contain raccoon roundworm which can cause blindness.

Click on the photos below to make them larger and you will see from the exterior of this side of the house the extent of the deterioration and neglect.

The columns that you could once see from the marina, are rotted. Every single one of them. In fact, one is completely missing.The drains are busted, rotted and rusted and mold grows thick on the bricks. The windows are single-pane and the wood trim that surrounds them is peeling and dry rot has settled in.

Large trees spread their roots too close to the foundation and loom precariously over the roof.

Too say there is a lot of work to be done, would be a ridiculous understatement.

The section that makes up the sunroom, dining room, kitchen, back to the garage (excluding the family room and converted bedroom/bath) is approximately 2,200 square feet.

You have to have a plumber come in to remove the sprinkler system, you have to demo the walls and ceilings, reconfigure with new studs, new wiring, new insulation, new sheetrock, mud, tape and texture, new lights, new floors, new cabinets, counters, appliances, new paintThat's just off the top of my head.

And that's not even opening up the doors to the outside, the windows, the exterior of the house. Or exploring any other areas of the home.

And the bank is asking $1.2 million.