Cave house facing foreclosure

[proud2BlibKansan]

The housing crisis is now affecting cave dwellers.

At least, that’s the case for Curt and Deborah Sleeper of Festus, Mo. They have less than 90 days to pay off the $83,000 balance on their home, located just outside of St. Louis in a former mine that once produced limestone and sandstone.

The family of five — a new baby was born in the cave just recently — has put their dwelling, located at 215 Cave Drive, up for sale on eBay priced at $300,000.

The Sleepers bought the 15,000-square-foot cave through the auction site in 2004. They paid about half of the $160,000 purchase price in cash. The sellers loaned them the balance with a five-year interest-only loan. The initial idea was to build a regular home outside and use the cave as a place for the kids to play, Mr. Sleeper says. Later, he decided to build the house inside the cave. Mr. Sleeper says that he intended to refinance his mortgage, using the new home as equity once it was completed.

Then came the housing bust and the credit markets tightened up. Mr. Sleeper says he has been unable to secure a new loan. “I’m self-employed, my credit score is somewhere between 600 and 710, depending on who you talk to. I live in a cave with no comparable homes in the area and I gave up credit cards 10 years ago,” he says.

more . . . http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2009/02/

[marmar]

1. Between a rock and a hard place, they are.....

:hide:

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. .

:spank:

[kirby]

3. $300,000 for a place for the kids to play? n/t

[InvisibleTouch]

4. That looks like a cool home...

...um, no pun intended. But it's certainly climate-controlled by nature! It's a shame they will probably lose it, but I hope they come up with a last-minute miracle.

[wuushew]

5. Terrible, terrible financing plan

for what they paid you could have bought a lot of house in Festus, with a normal mortgage.