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The eye-popping Kessler mansion in Indianapolis is back on the market, priced at $1,750,000. The 29,500-square-foot compound comes with 11 bedrooms, eight bathrooms, and one extremely strange history.
The home wasn’t born this way—it became supersized over the decades. A former owner, Jerry A. Hostetler, had an overarching goal of grandeur. In this case, one man’s grandeur is another man’s gauche.
Known as “Mr. Big,” Hostetler actually started small, with a three-bedroom ranch house in the 1960s, according to the Indy Star.
A pimp who eventually transitioned into a construction career, Hostetler gradually bought up neighbors’ houses and, according to the Star, “cobbled them together, dug a swimming pool, dug ponds, imported fountains, added ballrooms, added life-size statues of gorillas, added—of all things—a stone grotto (into which he installed a hot tub).”
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After Hostetler’s death in 2006, the eclectic “Midwestern Vegas Versailles,” as the Huffington Post called it, fell into a sorry state. Bills went unpaid and creditors were circling by the time internet domain entrepreneur Chad Folkening picked up the shabby Shangri-La in 2006.
Rather than raze it, Folkening put resources into repairs and a restoration. The property now includes the main house, a guesthouse, a pool and pool house, fountains, and a dolphin statue. The main house features a huge kitchen, dining area, game room, and multiple balconies. Outside, there’s a grilling area.
Having relocated to Florida, Folkening has placed the palace back on the market—again.
He tried unsuccessfully to sell the place for $2.2 million in 2012, $1.3 million in 2013, and even $862,000 in 2014. The mansion hosted an estate sale in 2015, but has remained relatively dormant except for appearances on vacation rental sites.
Three years away from the market have been beneficial to the price tag, and the home’s list price has more than doubled. It’s ambitious, but perhaps there’s a buyer willing to go all the way this time.
The remarkable residence has had a fair share of publicity over the years due to its staggering strangeness, but it bounced back into the public eye this week after a tweet thread by Gabriel Rosenberg, a professor at Duke University, went viral. In the thread, Rosenberg called the estate a “famously heinous mansion” and “notably ghastly.”
Hello there. May I show you the greatest real estate listing in human history? This is a thread about it.https://t.co/mRzplQQJI0
— Gabriel Rosenberg (@gnrosenberg) August 19, 2017
If you’re thinking viral fame could make this wacky residence a wise investment, you might be on to something.
The current owner has listed the place on Airbnb, and the listing suggests the property could be turned into a family compound, income rental, or even a vacation getaway.
In 2010, the compound made local news when the Baha Men stayed there during a comeback tour. It was also featured on the HGTV show “Extreme Homes.”
But for a not very extreme price, the next owner could own quite a spread—and a story.
The post Social Media Star: ‘Famously Heinous Mansion’ in Indiana Racks Up the Retweets appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.
from DIYS http://ift.tt/2vW9l32
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