A decrepit house that once belonged to former Kansas City Chiefs star Tony Richardson has sold for $278,000, county records show.
Aside from families of raccoons, the Overland Park home has remained abandoned for several years, after it went into tax foreclosure due to Richardson’s failure to pay $48,000 of property taxes and fines, The Kansas City Star reported.
In July, it finally sold at a county auction for a price that shocked residents, who estimated that it might go for between $50,000 and $100,000. Considering the state of the house, their ballpark figure was reasonable.
"The soffit above the front porch has collapsed for the third time because of the amount of feces from the wildlife that’s occupied the attic," said Sheila Rodriguez, a neighbor and a board member with the Lexington Park Home Owners Association. "There’s an entire family, an extended family, of the largest raccoons you’ve ever seen. They’re living large."
Rodriguez recalled how, after the front porch collapsed, the pile of raccoon feces reached up to her thigh.
"That might give you a mental image of what the interior might look like," she continued, adding that the home was riddled with black mold and guessed that repairs could come up to at least $150,000.
The home's buyer, Miluska Del Pozo, was surprised to discover what the interior of the home contained. She had eyed the home for several years, hoping for a possible sale, and finally managed to secure the property when it went up for tax auction. However, due to policies that do not permit bidders inside a house without the owner's consent, had only ever seen the exterior. Only after her purchase did she learn of the raccoon problem.
"After I purchased it, I told my family — my husband, my brothers — and my husband came over and said, 'Do you know what you bought? Look at this.'"
They showed her photos and although Del Pozo was shocked, she was not overly concerned.
"I know I paid a lot. More than I should," she said. "At the same time, people (bidders) kept pushing up, pushing up on that house. … I was surprised to see it on the tax sale, to be honest."
Del Pozo says renovations could cost anywhere from $60,000 to $80,000 and once that is done, she will decide whether to put the house up for rent, sale, or rehab it for her father to live in.
"We’ll have to see what’s inside," she said.
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Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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