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In May, Savvas and Amy Savopoulos;
their 10-year-old son, Philip;
and their housekeeper, Veralicia Figueroa, were brutally killed inside.
Now, less than six months after the shocking quadruple homicide that horrified Washington,
the house is for sale.
ASKING PRICE: $3.25 MILLION
Even if you had the money,
would you pay that price?
The mansion is what real estate experts call a “stigmatized property” —
jargon for a listing with a grisly back story.
Such houses combine two of
America’s great obsessions:
Real estate and true crime.
You would think a real estate agent would have to tell you of such a grisly history to a house.
You would be wrong.
In 2003, Brian Betts paid $324,000 for a cute four-bedroom brick Colonial on Columbia Boulevard in Silver Spring.
Within days of his moving in, a neighbor shared something that his agent had not:
A year earlier, Gregory Russell and his 9-year-old daughter, Erika, had been shot and killed during a robbery in the house.
Betts, hysterical, called his agent.
He couldn’t live there, he told her, and he wanted out of the contract.
But the deal was done, and Betts was stuck.
He asked two ministers to bless his new home and began renovating it.
In fact, his agent was under no obligation to disclose the home’s tragic past, even if she knew every detail.
The District and most states (including Virginia and Maryland)
have laws that shield real estate professionals from personal liability for failing to share “non-material” facts
— such as anything that doesn’t deal with the home’s physical structure or improvements —
with a prospective buyer.
In April 2010, Betts
— then a beloved middle-school principal —
was shot and killed during a robbery in the house.
The Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast in
Fall River, Mass.
— the original site of the 1892 double murder
immortalized in a children’s rhyme —
is now a popular tourist
destination.
The bedroom where Lizzie’s stepmother was bludgeoned to
death is the most requested room.
The gift shop offers souvenir hatchet
key chains, earrings, T-shirts and more,
but the best-selling item is
the Lizzie Borden bobble-head doll.
WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS SAYS
OF OUR SOCIETY?
Appalling!
ReplyDeletePretty much. Real Estate agents who lie by omission and sad individuals who thrill to sleep in a room of an ax murder. Appalling is the word all right. Always good to see you at my cyber-home, Hilary. :-)
DeleteA Borden bobble head doll, for the ill of mind?
DeleteMy very 1st bachelor's pad, was unoccupied after the death of an elderly man inside of it. This very Apt. were in today had an elderly woman pass in it.
In both cases, I was very surprised the Manager's/Real Estate agents, even said as much, or spoke at all of those who came and went before us. Like you said, its not required to inform possible tenants of past experiences, other than the shape & discrepancies of the house or Apt.
Then again, I've seen a couple homes sit vacant, after very violent murders here in town. Those homes sat empty for over ten years, until they were bulldozed and rebuilt. Yet, spirits of the dead seem not to offend me. Touche-Roland.
PS: I saw an "Undercover Boss" show the other night, which was filmed in part at Ryans in Lake Charles. Good always to see LCS. Stuck inside of Mojave with the Bayou Blues again. :-p
Good of the agent to speak to you of the incidents. Yes, death tends to stain a dwelling in the minds of prospective renters. If you are at peace within, the troubled spirits usually leave you alone. :)
DeleteWas show about poor employer or employee conduct at Ryan's? That segment hardly showed Lake Charles at its best!! :-)
Yes, You got it, on both counts. Poor employee performance, and It did not show enough of Lake Charles. Only one external shot of the CEO talking 'out back'; under those blacker than black Tropical 10 mile high+ Cumulus Storms, a-brewing over the CEO's shoulder.
DeleteI was wishing for an entire Buffet of the people and City itself, Le Charpentier at least. Or a Casino Southern Paddle Boat on the water, lit up at night, in those eerie Lake Charles deafening Thunderous Tropical Lightning Storm Explosions, and blinding light shows.
The show was only focused on showing the bad not the good of Lake Charles. Sadly, as with most cities, Lake Charles has a lot of bad! :-(
DeleteIt says our society is obsessed with the grisly, the desire to see but at a distance, that misfortune that occurs to others. Interesting that both owners were shot during a robbery - that brings up the old gun argument. I wonder if demolishing that house and rebuilding would have helped, or do the undead from violent deaths haunt the ground upon which the house is built or just the house?
ReplyDeleteMankind has always seemed to have sick interests in the pain of others. Bread and Circuses. Rubber Necking at sites of car accidents. :-(
DeleteSome believe that the vibrations of violence soak into the very fabric of walls and ceilings. Yet we hear about Indian Burial Grounds being unsafe to walk upon. We know so little of the paranormal rules.