Where’s Samuel L. Jackson when you really need him?
That’s a question J.P. Morgan Chase may be asking itself right around now, thanks to a home at 675 West 5000 North near Rexburg, Idaho, which Chase foreclosed on last year. The home then became available for a steal (listed at $109,200, about $66,000 below market value) but had no takers because there’s that, uh, problem.
No, not nosy neighbors. No alleged spirits haunt the house. The place is in good structural shape.
It’s just that there’s snakes. A lot of snakes. I mean, a lot of snakes.
So many snakes in fact that Chase finally pulled the five-bedroom home off the market.
The home is infested with garter snakes. No, they aren’t dangerous, they’re just everywhere. In the yard. In the crawl space. In the walls. The ceiling? Yes. Slithering across the floor? Yes. Thousands of them. And if you’re still interested but haven’t spent much time around garter snakes, be aware that they stink. When they get scared, they, well, secrete, and it’s not a pleasant smell.
Two families have already had enough of the house. One said they were unable to sleep because of the snakes – which is pretty understandable. The next family appeared on “Animal Planet” earlier this year on the show “Infested.” They said they thought the story about the snakes was just an excuse by the previous owners as to why they stopped paying their mortgage. But, as it turns out, it wasn’t just an excuse.
If you want to see just what the deal is, check out this video.
In listings on real estate websites for the house, snakes are conspicuously absent from the description (though it does apparently have a large kitchen with center island!).
The house was built in 1920 and was remodeled in 2006, but in between then and now, it became a hibernaculum where snakes converge in huge numbers for the winter. The snakes are just beginning to awaken from their hibernation.
Now the question for Chase is just what to do about the home and, more specifically, the snakes. Chase said it has contracted to have the snakes trapped and released. The foundation will then be sealed and a barrier installed around the foundation to prevent the snakes from gaining access.
The irony is not lost on many people that one of the world’s largest banks is having trouble dealing with snakes. Wait until Letterman gets word of this story.
What do you think? Would you be willing to take a great deal on a home but have to live with some kind of animal infestation?
