Jake Butcher Mansion Update for August 2, 2012

WOW! 1,700 views on my humble little Jake Butcher Mansion blog. Haven't heard any activity on the place as of yet. I checked online today with the bank that owns the property, Commercial Bank in Harrogate, TN - Whirlwind is still for sale at a ridiculous $1.2 million.

On December 27th the tax man cometh with another $10,800 or more. How much fun for Commerical Bank getting bills month after month: utilities, maintenance, increasing deterioration and repairs just to show the property. tsk tsk tsk.

It's been 3 months since I made my offer to Commercial Bank in Farragut and, just in case they're reading this, (hi there) my offer stands. Commercial Bank: ring me up, start a conversation, let's get involved. As far as I'm concerned, negotiations are still open.

People may view me crazy to continue interest in Whirlwind but I have my reasons and there is a purpose.

The Knoxville MLS has not changed the listing on the Butcher Mansion. Same Realtor, same price, same write-up, same photos. Same ol', same ol' I guess.

According to my back-end statistics, the majority of people viewing this site are coming from a Windows based system, using Internet Explorer followed by Safari. Iphone users log in after Windows users but only make up 6% of my viewers.

I always love to see what keywords bring people in and who's looking at the site. Don't worry, I can't see who you are, but I can see if you're coming from a company, like Coldwell Banker Wallace & Wallace - who happens to have the listing on the Butcher Mansion. I also find it entertaining to see attorney offices with 5 or 6 names behind them logging in. It makes me feel like someone's tattling and folks are checking in to see if I'm behaving. I am.

My peeps in the United States represent most of my readers but I'd like to give a big shout out to Latvia who comes in a close second for most views. Holla! Who knew?!

Jake Butcher Mansion Update For July 5, 2012

Hi all! I know you're looking for an update on the Jake Butcher Mansion but things have been a bit hectic around here. Should be back on track tomorrow, fingers crossed. :-)

180 Whirlwind Estate: Butcher Mansion Basement

This beautiful wine cellar is NOT in the Butcher mansion. 

The REALTOR with the listing for 180 Whirlwind Estate, also known as Jake Butcher Mansion, also known as 182 Whirlwind Lane, provided me with a brief history of the Butcher home. Being a local I was already familiar with the home. I'd already been inside it and I'd read every article and document about it I could get my hands on. The description provided to me by the Realtor was awe-inspiring. Unfortunately, the description provided to me was completely misleading.

I don't know where the Realtor got the description but I can tell you it was either from decades past or from someone who has never seen the home.

One of my cousins who toured the property with me got into the car following our tour and said, "Wow. That is some serious false advertising."

The description I received stated: "Beneath the kitchen wing of the house is a basement with special storage rooms to hold a grocery store full of items as well as storage for tools and a workshop. There was also a bath and game room with pool table and one of the states finest private wine cellars."

There's a mix of tenses in the above two sentences but I'm not going to dwell too much on that because I've been known to do that myself. I merely wish to point out that there is a basement beneath of portion of the kitchen wing of the house. There is some storage. There is a room and there is a cellar.

However, the space offers nothing more than a bare-bones, depressing state of disrepair.

There's a game room, of sorts. It's a dark, square room with low ceilings and acoustic tile. Some of the ceiling tile is missing and a jungle of wires and pipes are exposed. There's rot, mildew and mold. There's also animal feces. The basement, indeed, assaults the nostrils with its formidable scent.

There are doors leading from the "game room" to a tunnel that goes out to the tennis courts. The tunnel is not entirely underground: it's more like a Mean-Joe-Green-Have-a-Coke-and-a-Smile kind of tunnel. The doors opening to the tunnel have two square windows spray painted black. There is no light in the basement.

The wine cellar is most definitely not "one of the states finest private wine cellars" not by any stretch of the imagination. The "wine cellar" looks more like an old English dungeon where one might store bodies - only not as nice as a dungeon.

The storage space that would supposedly house a grocery store might store the contents of a 2-car garage - if you exclude cars and lawn equipment.

If I had to guess based on memory and the fact that we were in total darkness, I'd guess the entire basement comes in at 2,000 sqft tops.

See, here's the thing: I hate being lied to. I really do. I especially hate when someone tries to sell me a lie. The advertising I have seen regarding the Butcher mansion goes beyond optimism and delusion, it is, in my opinion, a flat-out lie.

It's time to get real. You want to see the basement? This is video taken when my family and I toured the house with the Realtor.

Jake Butcher Mansion: So Sad

People, the Butcher Mansion is sad: it really is.

Yesterday, I showed the original floorplan for the second floor (seen left). I compared the Butcher's decorating style to the style of the Ron Burgundy character in Anchorman.

During the Butcher's time the home was tacky. Now, it's just sad.

Rumors circulated for years that Butcher had at least one toilet lined with gold coins. I personally have not seen said toilet but I've heard the rumor repeatedly from various sources. Of course, that doesn't make it true: but based on the decor I saw after the Butcher's left, I wouldn't doubt it.

Do you think Oprah has a toilet in her home that allows her to sh** on money?

I don't think so.

Do you think Nelson Mandela flushes to the sound of toilet water swooshing over gold coins?

Not likely.

Why? Because that is ridiculous.

You know what else is ridiculous? Commercial Bank in Farragut, TN thinking they're going to get $1.2 million for the Butcher Mansion with its current condition and exorbitant maintenance costs.

Developers bought the Butcher estate at auction in 1993 and turned the (approximately) 22,000 sqft mansion into 5 condos: two on the first floor: two on the second floor: and one on the third floor: the basement was left a basement.

Condo #3 is on the second floor and takes up the entire right side of the above floorplan.

The developers made a few tweaks in the build as far as closets and laundry areas, but this is the gist of the plan that exists today.

The changes you'll notice are:
* You no longer have access to the right side of the house from the stair landing. That former hall doorway has been closed off to make a half bath.

* The entry to condo #3 (and condo #4) are through the front door on the first floor, up the winding staircase and through what was once a sitting room.

By the way, there's no elevator in this 22,000 sqft, 4-level home. I hope you enjoy a solid workout because you're going to get one every time you carry in the groceries or a sleeping child.

* The developers took the two bedrooms that once faced the marina and turned it into a living room. There's a pitiful little fireplace in the corner.

* What was once a two-story sunroom on the first floor has since been closed off and is now a family room for Condo #3. Which I have to say, I like the idea of closing that off. It's difficult to decorate 24 ft walls and it's a pain in the ass to heat wasted space. So close it in: that works for me. And there. That was a compliment.

The family room has a really spectacular circle window that looks out to the garages of the homes blocking what was once a rolling pasture and water view. oh well. Actually, if you stand on the far right side of the window and lean to your right as far as you can without falling, then look diagonally to your left, you can catch a peak of the water. So there's that.

* Do you see the dining room, kitchen and master bedroom area in the revised floorplan? That used to be the Butcher's playroom for their kids. This space is huge! How huge? Based on my calculations, the former playroom area is approximately 2,000 sqft. My entire house in Colorado comes in at approximately 1,800 sqft. A 2,000 sqft foot playroom is mind-boggling.

So let's take a look at a couple of images from Condo #3, shall we?

Jake Butcher's Whirlwind Estate - Condo #3 Living Room

This is what you see when you walk through the front door of Condo #3. There's a corner fireplace with a surround made from materials you can pick up at Home Depot for $125. The corner tv unit offers your eyes a secondary black box to look at: so, when you walk into the entry of this condo your eyes shoot off in different directions. Nice. There's absolutely no focal point. And with the duct work above the tv cabinet running the length of the room, this looks like a cookie-cutter, new-build basement to me.

This is the guest bedroom in the original floorplan with the bathroom to the right

There is absolutely nothing special in what the developers did to this house. The former Butcher residence in Clinton, TN can no longer be described as an estate or even a mansion. It's a great big, hacked up, quickly deteriorating, public nuisance. The cost of restoring and maintaining this home is astronomical. No one in their right mind is going to buy this place. And that's why my offer still stands. The question of whether or not I'm in my right mind is still up for debate.

Condo #3 & #4 have a family room like this. The window is great. The view? Not so much.

This is the kitchen in the 3rd condo. There is nothing right about this. I don't feel I need to go into the dated lighting, the dated floors, the old appliances and everything else that's wrong here: the bottom line is there shouldn't be a kitchen here at all. The developers destroyed the resale of this home when they chopped it into boring, unremarkable, terribly-expensive-to-maintain, condos.

This sadly, is the master bedroom in condo 3. There is very limited natural light (electricity is off). You can see where sheetrock has been removed. There's no flooring. The ceiling fan is cheap and, again, it is soooo dark.

And this, my friends, is the master bath. What can I say that hasn't already been said?

Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. Heavy sigh. Heavy sigh.

Jake Butcher Mansion: Is the Address 182 Whirlwind Lane or Not?

Is the Butcher Mansion address 182 Whirlwind Lane or not?

It seems like a straight forward question, right? Unfortunately, it isn't. It appears no one really knows what the address is.

When the Butcher's lived in Whirlwind the address was on Old Emory Road. But when the developer came in and subdivided the land and hacked the mansion into 5 tacky condominiums everything changed.

Commercial Bank in Tennessee has the property listed on their website as 182 Whirlwind Lane Clinton TN.

The Realtor has the property listed on her site as 180 Whirlwind.

The Property Assessor's office has the parcel identified as 123 Whirlwind Point.

The CRS (courthouse retrieval system) the Realtor uses has the property listed as separate units: 123 Whirlwind Point, 182 Whirlwind Point, 186 Whirlwind Point and no number Whirlwind Point. There's a condo missing in there somewhere. And wouldn't it make it easier to just have one correct address listing units 1-5 or A-E so people can figure out what's what and who's who? Is that so hard?

The deeds all use legal addresses that start with "Beginning at a point on the West edge of Wing Wall and Whirlwind Point Road running South 45 deg. 45 min. West, 112.64 feet to a point; Thence on a curve having a radius of 400 Feet, and arc length of 266.21 feet, a chord bearing and distance of South 26 deg..." Jesus, Mary and Joseph!!! Just tell me the frickin address!!! The legal description goes on for three quarters of a page and never gives a street address.

Also, did you notice how the legal description identifies Whirlwind Point ROAD? You won't find a Whirlwind Point ROAD in any other documentation.

Isn't that nice?

The Trustee's office has the Butcher mansion address as 123 Whirlwind Point not to be confused with 123 Whirlwind Point LANE which is a totally separate parcel with a completely different owner.

The copy of the utilities I have in my possession identify the property as 182 Whirlwind Point Lane.

Zillow identifies the property being just off Whirlwind Drive but there is no other record that identifies any street named Whirlwind Drive in that area. Google maps has it listed being just off Whirlwind Point Lane.

At one point, the Realtor told me the bank representative had his attorneys working on turning the condos back into a single family residence because the Home Owner's Association was charging the bank for 5 separate units.

Well, if anyone made a few clicks on their computer they would have learned that the property was converted back to a single family residence in January 2007 - that's over 5 years ago, people. 5 years.

And the Trustee's office - the one who bills taxes every year - has the Butcher mansion listed as a single family residence. The property taxes for a single family residence in Anderson County are based on 25% of the total property value. A commercial property, which a condominium unit would be, is based on 40% of the total property value. The Butcher mansion total property value is multiplied by 25%, which makes it a single family residence, and then that figure is taxed 2.532%.

Do you know how I found that out? I made a few clicks on my handy dandy computer and then I made a phone call to the Trustee's office. I had all that information in about 5 minutes. I wonder how much Commercial Bank is paying those attorneys since they were supposedly working on that for weeks?

FYI: the Trustee's office has the total property value of the Butcher Mansion listed at $1,711,400 which is waaaay too high for the condition of the property. Makes you wonder if anyone actually went out to the property or if they just based it on previous records?

So, Commercial Bank is paying attorneys to do work that's already been done. They're being billed Homeowner Association Fees 5 times what they should be paying. However, the bank representative told me he refuses to pay the association fees so I guess it doesn't really matter, does it?  Oh, but it will. But that's a whole 'nother topic. The appraisal the Trustee's office is using puts the taxes at $10,833. Commercial Bank must continue to pay those taxes or risk losing the property to Anderson County. If only Commercial Bank could figure out what they're paying taxes on.

Jake Butcher Mansion: Mold Issues

One of my biggest concerns for bringing the Butcher Mansion back to a habitable condition is the cost of mold remediation. The smell of mold and mildew in this home is overwhelming. It hits you before you cross the threshold and in certain areas it constricts your throat and burns.

Thankfully, we have a hazmat professional in the family. Shortly after beginning his tour, Zack donned his hazmat suit and provided masks for all of us.

The basement, the main floor and the second floor are major problem areas. You can see where someone has attempted to clean the mold or worse, painted right over it. Whatever the case, it's bleeding through. And it's everywhere. Most of it appears to be surface mold but there are areas throughout the house, basement, and garage that are a concern for the more dangerous black mold.

The problem is, as I understand it, you have to take care of all the surface mold first. If you disturb mold, particularly black mold, the spores get airborne and attach themselves to any possible feeding surface which would be all the surface mold that currently exists in the house. Black mold spreads quickly and then you have what I like to call, "a frickin nightmare".

Mold is a big, BIG issue with the Butcher mansion. Clean-up could run five to six figures. You also have the ducts and vents to worry about. It is a massive undertaking.

Here's a little peak inside the Butcher Mansion in Clinton, TN. This video was taken from the second condo conversion on the first floor. Yes, sadly, the Butcher mansion was divided into 5 condominiums years ago but all occupants moved out, supposedly due to the high utility and maintenance bills. The house has since been vacant. The asking price remains $1.2 million and is currently held by Commercial Bank - Farragut, TN is their closest branch.



Moving on from this point we have the ballroom, also part of the second condo conversion.



What are your thoughts on the mold issue? The price of this home?

Butcher's Whirlwind: Sad, Lonely and Neglected

I always admired the Butcher's Whirlwind estate. At one time it was so beautiful and from a distance, it still is. But up close, it's a different story.

Every column needs repair or replacement. Very costly.

Have you ever walked into a house and just "felt" it? Sometimes a house lacks personality, sometimes it welcomes you with open arms. Sometimes it gives you the creeps. But homes emote, they definitely emote.

I had a house down in Widefield, CO where I used to live with my husband and kids. I loved that house, we had a lot of happy memories there. Unfortunately, we got an assignment out of state and had to put the house on the rental market. When the tenant moved out, it took me months to go back in and prepare the home for a new tenant. The vibe in the house I once loved was now oppressive. It was overwhelmingly depressing, dark and sinister. I learned from neighbors that the cops were at the house just about every weekend. There was a lot of abuse in the home, neglect of a special needs child, alcohol and drug abuse, and I swear to you, long after the tenants moved out, you could still feel it. My mother wouldn't even go past the front room.

With the Widefield house, I opened the windows, ripped out the carpets, painted the walls, played a lot of upbeat music, brought in friends and family for laughter and totally changed the vibe of that house. The first people who came to see it, loved it and signed the lease.

Jake Butcher's Whirlwind has a sad and neglected feel about it. It's lonely. You may think it's weird I believe houses take on personalities but they do, I feel it.

The bar by the pool - doesn't look like a great entertaining space now

Whirlwind had a good 10 year run. Lots of parties, a house full of children, friends, family and entertainment. But that all ended in 1984. And every loan taken out on the property since has resulted in foreclosure. A foreclosure is a stressful event and that stress, sadness and even loneliness imprints on the house.

Commercial bank is asking $1,200,000 for the Jake Butcher Mansion. $1.2 million is crazy! The house is in bad shape, it will take a fortune to restore and a fortune to maintain it. Potential buyers, if there are any, aren't likely to get past that "feeling" of loneliness and neglect.

Thanks to my cousins and their boyfriends, I have several videos of the condition of the property. This is a video from the pool and tennis court area to the front of the house. Initially, I wasn't going to add music but, again, the house spoke to me. It's so sad. More videos to come.

Jake Butcher Mansion: The Ballroom

 

Butcher Mansion ballroom is approximately 1200 sqft

From first glance, the ballroom appears to be in pretty good shape. But what you don't see here in the photos, you'll see in the video currently being uploaded to youtube. There is extensive mold throughout the ballroom as there is throughout the house.


Over the fireplace, on the walls, on the ceilings and most notably on the beams, mold is everywhere and it appears to have been painted over, but is now bleeding through. Merely painting over mold will not make it go away.


There are parquet floors in the ball room and the window you see in the upper photo is the location of the water-damaged, buckled parquet.

The ballroom sits about 2 feet below ground and mulch sits right up against the foundation. I'm not a fan of mulch up against the house because it tends to retain the water. Mulch attracts bugs, termites and invites dry rot. I'm not a fan. I much prefer gravel up against a foundation.

But no matter what your preference, proper drainage is key. And you don't have it with this house. The gutters are clogged, there are saplings growing in the gutters. Trees loom large over the house too close to the gutters and thus requiring constant cleaning. The drains are busted and consequently, you're going to continue to have problems until it's taken care of.

Buckled parquet in Jake Butcher Ballroom

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...

Whirlwind Home Owner's Association - Be Careful What You Wish For

I live in a neighborhood protected by covenants, codes and restrictions. My Home Owner's Association takes care of: the exterior of my home; all exterior painting; repairs; roofing; my landscaping; my driveway, sidewalk and, when necessary, my snow removal - basically, all the things I don't want to mess with. I pay $250 a month for that. And it's been great.

Great, that is, until my sister moved in across the street. Because my sister moved in with all 17 of her children (I'm exaggerating here, but only by a little), all the rules set forth by the HOA quickly changed. No more roller skating, no skateboards, no basketball in the street, no scooters, no dogs off leash, no dogs barking after 9 pm, no garage doors open unless you're physically standing there, no feeding the ducks, no skating on the pond, no toys in the yard, no sidewalk chalk. No issues, no problems, no noise, no nuisance whatsoever. Or, you will be fined. A lot.

Do all the rule changes bother me? Not really. My kids are older, the rules don't really apply to me. But I can see where it makes my sister a nervous wreck. A month or so ago she was fined $150 for a nugget of poo found on the outskirts of her yard. She took the poo to the board meeting and asked them to prove the poo was in fact dog poo and further, that if it were dog poo that the poo in question came from her dog. The board members weren't prepared for this line of questioning and the fine was removed. But my sister was pretty pissed off and she hasn't settled down much since. And now, for sport, she looks for ways to push the envelope. And unfortunately, we look enough alike that people mistake me for her.

Thanks, Amy.

When Whirlwind's previous owner, Charlie Hicks, and his partners subdivided the former Butcher estate and created a Home Owner's Association, they seriously diminished the resale value of the property. Specifically...

Is 182 Whirlwind Lane Off Market?

Is 182 Whirlwind Lane, the former Jake Butcher Mansion, off market? It appears so. At least, temporarily.

Sometime after my meeting with the bank Monday and my search Wednesday morning, the Jake Butcher listing was pulled.

I emailed the bank Wednesday and it appears Whirlwind is being pulled from the market temporarily only to be re-listed at the original price. The original price, at the time of my bid, was $1,200,000.

So why does a lender or realtor pull a listing only to put it back on the market a few weeks or months later?

Generally, there are two reasons:

Jake Butcher Mansion sunroom in current condition

1-The house needs repairs, isn't showing well or the market indicates the value isn't there. This scenario typically results in a price adjustment.

2-The house has been on the market too long. Showings drop off and a stigma develops that there's something wrong with the house. This scenario does not always result in a price adjustment. Typically, the home is removed from the market, staged, new photos are taken and the home goes back on the market at the original price a few weeks to a few months later.

In my opinion, the bank is off the mark in their approach to selling this house.

The Jake Butcher Mansion in Clinton, TN

Jake Butcher Mansion sales brochure from 1984.

The Jake Butcher mansion in Clinton, TN captured my imagination when I was 4 years old. I fell under its spell the first time I saw it, looming large on the hill surveying the river and valley below. Once I turned 16 and had my driver's license I drove by the mansion every day just to catch a glimpse of "the good life."

I'm 41-years-old now and the estate is up for sale.

On Monday, April 23rd, 2012 at 10 am, I presented my offer to the bank that owns the Jake Butcher Mansion.

Now I wait.