In the summer of 2019 Zenning with Zay & I came across this mysterious abandoned dream mansion. Why is it mysterious? Well first, its situated in a affluent neighbourhood with a huge lot which is unheard of these days. Secondly, once inside it appeared that the mansion was built on top of a pre-existing foundation! I went in & had a quick look around back then but felt it was in the midst of renovations so we decided to check in on it whenever we were in the area.
As we made our way around the back there was a huge room right behind the garage that was quite mysterious. The door ways were several feet above the ground & there was a cut out which may have been planned as a window into the garage & then a higher up window overlooking from inside by the stair case. Some suggest this could have been made for a basketball court which I never thought of. My thinking was some sort of indoor pool.
The basement was unfinished & flooding which is never a good thing for a house. It was uninteresting so I only took one photo but the video shows it all. From there were headed upstairs to find a partially dismantled washing machine just sitting there on a partially installed laminate floor. Dead ahead was a bathroom that was frozen in a state of being built & has looked the same for months. To the left of that was a small room with a giant old & very heavy flat screen tv. Then another small room with windowed door which I really have no idea what it could have been.
Moving to the back of the mansion we entered an absolutely massive kitchen! I absolutely love cooking & was head grill guy in a cramped kitchen at an amazing BBQ joint for several years so when I see a big kitchen I get excited! It was here where I really started to notice cut corners & cheap workmanship. The pillars had cheap baseboard nailed to it that didn't even reach the ceiling. I was as if they had some off cuts & just tacked them on there to protect the edges but at the same time making it look like crap!
We now headed upstairs of the Mysterious Abandoned Dream Mansion where the weirdness continued however I discovered a piece of information that has shed some light on to why this dream mansion has sat in limbo for several years. I found a cheque from a company paid to the previous owner of the mansion. Although the name of the cheque turned up nothing, the company that was paying provided plenty of insight!
The company was a direct selling company that started approximately 15 years ago & had explosive growth over the years with profits reaching close to 1 Billion Dollars in 2012. Then the bottom fell out the following years with profits dropping 50% & this trend continued when the company went public. The company was flagged as a pyramid scheme & many layoffs & lawsuits followed. New recruits where deceived at pep rallies where the company brought top distributors on stage brandishing massive six plus figure cheques & promises they too could earn this sum. The security director of the company was indicted conspiracy and aiding & abetting the accessing of a protected computer which landed him 3 years in prison. Later a class action suit was filed alleging racketeering & fraudulent pyramid scheme selling of distribution rights.
Based on the date of the cheque & the numerous articles I was able to find the timing is bang on for when this place was abandoned & when the pyramid scheme was revealed. The vast majority of the company's profits were from recruitment rather than actual customers making it 100% a pyramid scheme. The owner was broke & had to give up his dream sadly. It really makes you wonder how many other places are out there which suffered from the same fate as this. It also serves as a good reminder that getting rich quick doesn't happen without hard work or a winning lottery ticket.
Thank you so much for the research and insight on this mansion. So often I wonder what could possibly have happened that a place becomes abandoned and/or everything gets left behind. I appreciate all of your effort.
Came to get “the rest of the story” after seeing your YouTube vid. I love the way the one big is 2 stories high with the catwalk thing on the side for the upstairs.
I said this on the vid, but the little figurine on the sill is a cheetah. You can tell by the black “teardrop” marking under each eye. 😉
I dont understand why it would not have gone to rental or power of sale , or straight sale. Why is it just sitting?