Anyone looking for a property to buy is about to make one of the most important decisions of their life.
In general, modern purchasing relationships are guided by trust. Thus, the customer prefers to buy from someone who has already proved themselves to be trustworthy. However, in this case, the seller was honest to the extreme!
A beautiful mansion in Franklin, Tennessee, was heavily damaged by a fire, and its owners have laid it all out to their potential buyers. In addition to the images of the fire and the interior of the damaged house, they also show what the house was like before for possible renovation plans. Luckily, the guest house was untouched by the fire, so this could be a good place to live while the house is being rebuilt.
The burnt-down mansion listed for nearly $1.5 million was under contract only three days after the listing went live with a British family.
Here is the most honest mansion listing shared on Zillow that was available for almost $1.5 million
Image credits: Zillow
The owner of this mansion disclosed that it suffered damage from fire
Image credits: Zillow
The mansion in Franklin, about 21 miles (33 kilometers) south of Nashville, caught fire last September due to a tiny spark from a paint sprayer that ignited the fumes from the lacquer paint being used. The entire home quickly went up in flames and caused the roof to collapse before firefighters could put it out.
“The photo was taken just moments after we arrived at the scene … I stood there weeping,” seller Danny Duvall told The Post.
After the disaster, the couple was still unsure how to recover from this loss and as a result, they decided to sell everything and leave the house.
Image credits: Zillow
Image credits: Zillow
The owner listed that a lot of things could still be potentially saved
Image credits: Zillow
The damage is difficult to assess because this mansion was filled with exquisite details, the majority of which have been destroyed— and some of which have been spared. The foundation could also be saved.
Image credits: Zillow
Image credits: Zillow
Even though this burned-down mansion costs a bit less than 1.5 million dollars, the buyer could potentially save on "Williamson County Impact fees," shared the owner
Image credits: Zillow
Image credits: Zillow
Image credits: Zillow
Besides that, the owner has also shared some of the before images to show how the mansion looked prior to the incident
Image credits: Zillow
Image credits: Zillow
Image credits: Zillow
The guest house was untouched by the fire and is left in mint condition
Image credits: Zillow
After the listing went live, the Thakur family decided to buy this mansion in only a few days and they are going to share the process of rebuilding it on their YouTube channel
Image credits: realmikethakur
Bored Panda got in touch with Mike Thakur to learn more about him and his family. He shared: "My wife and I are originally from Manchester, England, and moved to the US in 2001, and again in 2007. We have 3 children, Troy, Chloe, and Zak, and have lived in Houston the whole time until now, when we moved to Tennessee."
I’m an entrepreneur and also founded a non-profit that helps the underprivileged locally and beyond through a number of different projects we’ve been a part of. Right now, we’re helping open an eye clinic in Africa with some other amazing folks. "
Image credits: realmikethakur
When asked what motivated them to purchase this mansion in particular, Mike Thakur shared: "we’d been thinking about making a move to the Nashville area and we were flying out to view some homes when this listing appeared online. As we were already going to be in town we figured it might be fun to look at, thinking that maybe the damage wasn’t too bad!
After seeing it we just fell in love with what it could become, and the idea of restoring something and bringing it back to life. So that’s what we’re working on now, although the interior will be upgraded a little."
If you are interested to see how this project will turn out, follow Mike Thakur on social media for the updates
Image credits: realmikethakur
Restoration is a huge project and Mike shared that they will take on it mostly themselves. He shared: "we intend to be hands-on as much as we can but we’re not home builders, so framing a roof isn’t something you’ll see me do. So far, we’ve been able to help with some of the demos and things like restoring some of the amazing light fixtures, for example, we’ll definitely attempt."
He added: "we’ve just been so humbled by the interest we’ve seen in the home. We genuinely appreciate everyone that wants to join us for the journey so they can follow along on YouTube (weekly videos) and Instagram (daily updates) if they’d like."
Image credits: realmikethakur
As for the prior owners, even though it was a big misfortune for them, they are happy to see Mike and his family working hard to rebuild the house.
"We’ve actually been able to meet all the owners of the home, from the family who originally built it right to the previous owner. We’ve learned a lot about its history, being able to view photos of its transformation over the years and it’s humbling to now be able to take this home into its next phase of life."
And lastly, when asked to share what they have learned from this experience so far, Mike wrote: "go with your gut! We’ve had many folks telling us all kinds of opinions and it’s hard to know who’s right and who’s wrong because they can’t all be right! So we’re leaning into our gut feelings on much of this and trusting that to make good decisions based on the data available to us."
This is what people had to say about this listing on 'Zillow Gone Wild' Twitter post:
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Image credits: Jess P.
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Image credits: Linnethia Targaryen
Image credits: Shaun Pilkington
And here is what people wrote under Thakur's Instagram posts:
Image credits: jamielynnbdesign
Image credits: thompson.patriciaann
Image credits: livinglifelikeandrea
Image credits: tatianasabater
Image credits: quakermama