$1.2m house for sale that you can’t access

[jlt19]

It’s like a combo of a crazy real estate listing and climate control catastrophe rolled up in one.

www.zillow.com/homedetails/3560-Coastal-Hwy-Saint-Augustine-FL-32084/66755750_zpid/

[Michelle]

Very odd... how did they get current interior pics? Did they use old ones? Leverage drone technology? Climb up a ladder to get in the front door? so many questions!

[pierogigirl]

I think you wait for high tide and swim in.

[tacokick]

I think there are steps on the ocean side you can’t see from the angle and that weird hanging down bit. You can sort of see a opening in the railing a couple pictures in. You’d think they’d make that clear in the listing!

[icedcoffee]

Mar 28, 2023 18:16:40 GMT -5 pierogigirl said:

I think you wait for high tide and swim in.

😂

[icedcoffee]

I do not understand this at all. Why not clean it up a bit and take better pictures? Whoever buys this house is a dumbass.

[icedcoffee]

www.firstcoastnews.com/amp/article/features/famous-blue-house-along-a1a-is-up-sale-after-surviving-multiple-hurricanes/77-45b022d1-36e7-4a2d-9d56-948e7ecca3bf

More info

[pixy0stix]

Can they even sell it if it's not up to code? I know here the sale stops if it's been flipped and not up to code until the issues are fixed.

[agnes]

“Ruggeri says that he believes the home will stay up so long as the sand doesn’t continue to erode.” 🤦‍♀️

[seeyalater52]

Mar 28, 2023 19:42:42 GMT -5 agnes said:

“Ruggeri says that he believes the home will stay up so long as the sand doesn’t continue to erode.” 🤦‍♀️

“So long as” doing a lot of work in this quote…

[shopgirl07]

That house looks like it was built with the absolute cheapest materials. And why is it so filthy inside? My gosh.

[sonrisa]

Mar 28, 2023 18:49:49 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

I do not understand this at all. Why not clean it up a bit and take better pictures? Whoever buys this house is a dumbass.

lol. Yes. that's the issue. 

[basilosaurus]

Mar 28, 2023 18:21:12 GMT -5 tacokick said:

I think there are steps on the ocean side you can’t see from the angle and that weird hanging down bit. You can sort of see a opening in the railing a couple pictures in. You’d think they’d make that clear in the listing!

In the listing photo, there's no shadow that would indicate that. The pilings cast long shadows, but they're alone.

[basilosaurus]

Mar 28, 2023 20:35:29 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

Mar 28, 2023 19:42:42 GMT -5 agnes said:

“Ruggeri says that he believes the home will stay up so long as the sand doesn’t continue to erode.” 🤦‍♀️

“So long as” doing a lot of work in this quote…

And so long as there are no high winds or storm surges, either.

I'm not sure that advertising how many storms it's survived is a selling point. "Hi! We're in hurricane alley, and this house is a magnet."

[tacokick]

Mar 28, 2023 21:46:05 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

Mar 28, 2023 18:21:12 GMT -5 tacokick said:

I think there are steps on the ocean side you can’t see from the angle and that weird hanging down bit. You can sort of see a opening in the railing a couple pictures in. You’d think they’d make that clear in the listing!

In the listing photo, there's no shadow that would indicate that. The pilings cast long shadows, but they're alone.

That’s true! It looked to me that the pictures were taken at different times and poorly edited. I’m not sure what to take a face value. I know here some houses on stilts have very steep steps oceanside that I’m not sure would visible (nor their shadows) from that angle because of the depth of the house. It’s a horrible, silly house either way!

[basilosaurus]

Mar 28, 2023 22:08:25 GMT -5 tacokick said:

Mar 28, 2023 21:46:05 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

In the listing photo, there's no shadow that would indicate that. The pilings cast long shadows, but they're alone.

That’s true! It looked to me that the pictures were taken at different times and poorly edited. I’m not sure what to take a face value. I know here some houses on stilts have very steep steps oceanside that I’m not sure would visible (nor their shadows) from that angle because of the depth of the house. It’s a horrible, silly house either way!

I responded before seeing the second link. Those pics make it very clear there are definitely no stairs

[1yeartogo]

It’s simple you bring a super long ladder with you to enter and exit. You hope every day that one of the pillings doesn’t give up the ghost and there you have it a beautiful ocean property. Lol if anyone has read the Light Pirate this looks like I imagined the town did during the early years.

[aspentosh]

Anyone who is stupid enough to buy this deserves what is coming at them. That may make me an asshole, but so be it.

Just last month (this month??) there was that article in WaPo about houses washing into the ocean. It's only a matter of time before this house has the same ending.

[lpcats]

Check out the google street view. Ground used to be at the first floor and there was a garage.

[macmars45]

Any idiot willing to buy this house deserves the day in the not so far future when their house falls into the ocean.

I thought it was a typo with the 2 beds and 4 baths. Apparently not.

[tacokick]

The article doesn’t make sense. They were told to bring it up to code so they are selling it with no way to get into it? But also seem to have put in a new jacuzzi and fireplace?

“St. Johns County officials gave the owner of the famed Vilano Beach blue house two options; repair the home and keep it up to code or demolish it.

John Ruggeri, who built the home 21 years ago, previously told First Coast News the homeowner decided to make the necessary repairs. “

Literally how?

[notreal]

Mar 29, 2023 9:04:58 GMT -5 lpcats said:

Check out the google street view. Ground used to be at the first floor and there was a garage.

Crazy, that was only in 2015 too.

[Michelle]

Mar 29, 2023 9:04:58 GMT -5 lpcats said:

Check out the google street view. Ground used to be at the first floor and there was a garage.

That is pretty common in beach towns. The bottom floor is basically a place to park your car and store your outdoor gear, and then you take stairs up to the main part of the house. A lot like a basement in the northern states, but at ground level instead of underground.

Then when a hurricane comes through, you only lose the basic walls/siding and your cars, but anything worth anything can be hauled upstairs during the hurricane or evacuated when you leave.

This is not a life I want to live, but i know a lot of people in Galveston who do this.

My aunts had a house on a canal in Galveston and Hurricane Ike basically took it from looking similar to the before and after of this house. The upper levels had minimal impact so they just rebuilt the downstairs and did it all over again. People put in cheap tile flooring on these floor levels, or just cement if it is a garage, and you just don't invest a lot in that level of the home.

[pixy0stix]

I was looking at the google street view earlier. Several houses there are just gone it looks like. Built in 2004, still all there in 2015, and now in 2023 it's the house falling into the sea. It didn't even last the life span of a 30 year mortgage.

[icedcoffee]

This house is essentially in the water even on a good day. Why not just live on a boat?

[sent]

I know a potential buyer. My landlord lives there and was complaining to me last summer that there was nothing he could buy quick enough when he sold one of his properties up here and had to 1031 exchange the money or whatever it's called. So I'm guessing this is going to sell.

[pixy0stix]

Mar 29, 2023 12:46:58 GMT -5 sent said:

I know a potential buyer. My landlord lives there and was complaining to me last summer that there was nothing he could buy quick enough when he sold one of his properties up here and had to 1031 exchange the money or whatever it's called. So I'm guessing this is going to sell.

"A fool and his money are soon parted."

[SmartyCat]

Mar 29, 2023 12:46:58 GMT -5 sent said:

I know a potential buyer. My landlord lives there and was complaining to me last summer that there was nothing he could buy quick enough when he sold one of his properties up here and had to 1031 exchange the money or whatever it's called. So I'm guessing this is going to sell.

"I'd rather invest in ocean-floor real estate than pay any fraction of that amount in taxes." Oof. I've had the exact same conversation with someone who's holding onto a rental property they dislike and would love to be rid of, and also feeling cash-poor, but wouldn't dream of selling it without doing a 1031 exchange.

[sonrisa]

It isn't even discounted. That is above the price on similarly sized houses nearby.

[lpcats]

Looks like they already have an offer. Zillow is showing its status as “accepting backup offers”.