Your very own Batcave

Kerry Lauerman

Location: New York, New York, USA
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MARCH 4, 2009 1:14PM

Rate: 23 Flag

cve

How can you turn down your very own 17,000 sq. ft. cave house, for just $300,000 on eBay? Who could say no to this peculiar adventure in modern design, landscape engineering and three internal, bubbling springs? Not to mention a 400-sq. ft. gourmet kitchen?

The owners are facing the end of a 5-year balloon loan, and are on the brink of foreclosure. They don't seem, in the video below, too distraught about possibly losing their rocky investment, so doubt you will be, either. And I suspect we'll get so used to seeing this story -- someone's mini-Versailles suddenly ripped from over their heads -- that it soon won't register anymore, if it even still does. Sympathy is in increasingly short supply for people who dreamt too big, thinking they could outsmart a daunting financial risk.

So, here's to you, Caveman. Your dreamy lair inspires me, and I hope you figure out a way to hang on to our dream. Because when your dream dies, a lot of others will, too.

Author tags:

cave house, economy, open, ebay

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You think with all this publicity some lender, in the effort to improve their tarnished rep, might step up and bail them out. Oh the public relations opportunity. But no, that would be soooo stooopid. Rated Kerry.

OEsheepdog

March 04, 2009 01:21 PM

I think I saw this place on a Discovery (or such) channel show about unusual dwellings. It gives me the heebie-jeebies, but then I'm a real sunshine and fresh air girl.

Nelle Engoron

March 04, 2009 01:24 PM

I think ill pass on this purchase.. I like the sun.. and if my room didnt have atleast a couple windows I would never wake up..
I think i know a vampire or two that might be intersted..

Barbra anne

March 04, 2009 01:40 PM

Ahhh. I hope the two boys do get to grow up in their cave. It's heartening when people follow their dream, however quirky.

Ellen Hawley Roddick

March 04, 2009 01:44 PM

If I lived in a cave I'd be hibernating in it for the winter and sleep in until late June at which point I'd be pretty hungry and be like, "Hey where's all the berries?" but there wouldn't be any left because the squirrels got to them first and then I'd have to eat my young. So no, caves are out of the question.

One Bark At A Time

March 04, 2009 01:49 PM

Man, there is no end to the wonderful lunacy some people are capable of. And that kid in the video is something else. At that age, all I can remember is trying to fit in w/the other kids. I wonder if, because of his home, he’s, well – in or out. Thanks for the spelunking post, Kerry!

David Decker

March 04, 2009 01:50 PM

Sigh. I'm 299,995 bucks short.

zumalicious

March 04, 2009 02:18 PM

Looks neat and come on, people, lots of windows at the front. Where's it located anyway? (I love houses that are not *conventional* houses. I still mourn that lovely little stone church I could have bought....)

Myriad

March 04, 2009 02:32 PM

Geez. I wish I had about a million dollars just lying around, I could pick from my choice of dream houses that were 6 million dollars a year ago.

But alas, I don't.

Very little sympathy for anyone who thought a balloon mortgage was going to work out. I understand when toothless high-school dropouts with a gambling addiction go for the sales pitch, but these folks had no excuse.

Allie Griffith

March 04, 2009 02:38 PM

I think I've found a new purpose in life.
I shall now go back to school to become an architect. That way I can build my own bat cave!

Mungular

March 04, 2009 02:42 PM

As Mr. Osama Bin Laden's personal realtor, I have been instructed to initiate negotiations to purchase the cave dwelling for Mr. Bin Laden, his thirty-eight wives, two hundred-seventy-four children, and one mother-in-law.

ClosureIsaMyth

March 04, 2009 02:50 PM

I like caves.

1_Irritated_Mother

March 04, 2009 02:52 PM

I missed this, but my mother told me about it. How far is the commute to Gotham City? Every time I sleep hanging from the ceiling I wake up with a headache. Now I have to find my eBay password. Crap.

Michael Rodgers

March 04, 2009 02:53 PM

Aren't caves drippy? The constant 59 degrees would save on energy costs, though.

I hope that either lender will work with them, or a new lender will take their loan. Even people who live in odd digs deserve to be able to keep their home.

Lisa Kern

March 04, 2009 03:13 PM

and yet the banks still get bailed out.

Chuck A. Stetson

March 04, 2009 03:16 PM

LuLu&Phoebe, au contraire.

The New Madrid fault is one of the biggest, baddest muthahs in North America, and it's RIGHT THERE.

Verbal Remedy AKA Denise

March 04, 2009 03:23 PM

I don't understand why anyone would get a balloon or adjustable rate mortgage. It was a gamble he should not have taken. He also looks old enough to be retired and should not have a mortgage at all. What was he thinking? I could go on but won't (just one more--who supports the young children?). I don't feel sorry for him at all.

This house could be heated for almost nothing in the winter and stays cool in the summer because of the constant 55 degree temperature. I toured a similar (not near as nice looking) cave house or more accurately called in the 1978, a earth sheltered house in northern Iowa. I am surprised this house is getting so much publicity. It's as if we forgot all the innovative energy-efficient and passive solar houses back then. Oh yeah--Reagan came along! I better stop commenting right now.

Joan K

March 04, 2009 03:36 PM

Wasn't there a cave house in that Bruce Willis Hostage movie?

Vac

March 04, 2009 03:58 PM

I can't imagine any bank ever lent money on this in the first place, but I certainly wish these nice folks the best of luck.

Tom Cordle

March 04, 2009 04:13 PM

Homes like these really appeal to my inner child. I would love to live in a tree house, actually.

JustJuli

March 04, 2009 04:38 PM

Verbal Remedy--yeah, I was going to say something about it being in an earthquake zone. But I couldn't think of the name. Thanks.

Joan K

March 04, 2009 04:48 PM

Strangely enough, I do desire a Batcave. And, as you observe, a cave may be where many homeowners are bound~

scoubidou

March 04, 2009 05:12 PM

Last month I posted about Dick Cheney moving out of his undisclosed location aka "cave" in CT. Anyone interested in the place should contact the General Services Administration, but remember Joe Biden has first dibs on it if he should so desire, but I don't think that's likely. It also doesn't boast quite the number of amenities of the cave house described here.

designanator

March 04, 2009 05:34 PM

I heard there weren't enough "batrooms" for the occupants...get it? "Batrooms!" Yuk, yuk, yuk,...Oh, a wise guy...Why I awtta..someone went a little batty on that one.

Texas Bubba

March 04, 2009 05:52 PM

This is exactly the type of home that will be needed in our soon to be post-apocalyptic Road Warrior world! However, living in Festus, MO? That would be the difficult part of this arrangement.