The Wacko Castle: Historic Waco Castle up for auction four years after being renovated by Gaines duo on Magnolia Network https://t.co/u1beF671wf

— Texas Business (@TexBusiness) June 25, 2023

Was that always the plan?

Marlin3030 said:

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3 million is a lot of money, it's nice but I wouldn't pay that to live in a house where the backyard backs up to Franklin ave.

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And only three and a half bathroom...

I don't see that selling for 3 million unless it is a celebrity who can afford it just for the hell of it and wants to have it for some quirky reason.

Seriously ... if I am spending $3M on a house, there are about 3 million better options ... I guess they're banking on some stupid Karen paying a premium since it is "Chip and JoJo" ... some fool will pay $2.5M and be lucky to unload it for $500K.

The Castle is pegged at $1.7M on the tax rolls, up from $350,000 when the Gaines' bought it in 2019.

MrGolfguy said:

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The Castle is pegged at $1.7M on the tax rolls, up from $350,000 when the Gaines' bought it in 2019.

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That is probably either reasonably accurate or over valued as the appraisal district seems to keep doing to see if they can get by without someone filing a protest at which point they start negotiating (essentially negotiating something lower). In otherwords in my non professional judgement it is probably worth somewhere between 1 million and 1.7

Not worth the money due to its location just literal feet away from high crime (for Waco) areas. But Waco is really odd that way. Entire streets or neighborhoods that are nice areas just a block away from not nice. Especially as you get to "north" Waco/Lakeshore area.

Driving around one day I stumbled upon a dead end street up there with a house back off the street behind a gate that had probably an acre of property inside the fence, little pond, basketball court, etc. and was just a few blocks from some bad areas.

Kind of like the area of ridgewood on lake shore. There's an old gas satiation after some pretty good sized homes, followed by apartments. All within 75 yards.

House flippers buy house to flip.

News at 11.

Lot of cities like that, especially as they start to grow. From Nashville and have friends in East Nashville. Cool neighborhood with many of the best restaurants and bars. But you've got homes selling for 600k+ a block away from streets where you can find yourself dead in a ditch real quick.

Simply a deal gone south for Chip and Jo. A single home. They should be fine. You can't win em all

Hob Howell said:

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Harrison Bergeron said:

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Seriously ... if I am spending $3M on a house, there are about 3 million better options ... I guess they're banking on some stupid Karen paying a premium since it is "Chip and JoJo" ... some fool will pay $2.5M and be lucky to unload it for $500K.

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Tell me you don't know anything about real estate without telling me you don't know anything about real estate.

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I'm thinking about getting this video game so I can become an expert at this niche market

Had no idea they made a show out of it. Perhaps it paid for itself then.

The historic home was purchased and renovated by Chip and Joanna Gaines in 2019, and now it can officially be yours. https://t.co/OPoS6CuodH

— KCENNews (@6NewsCTX) July 20, 2023

They are selling because the City of Waco and Castle Heights neighborhood refused to remove deed restrictions allowing tours. That is, they could not charge for spectators to view their work.

It would be an amazing place to own but I'm going to guess maintaining it costs a small fortune and then there's the whole backyard issue that's been discussed.

Big price cut already

That is the highest auction bid right now with no reserve and ends on Aug 3rd.

Hob Howell said:

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Harrison Bergeron said:

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Seriously ... if I am spending $3M on a house, there are about 3 million better options ... I guess they're banking on some stupid Karen paying a premium since it is "Chip and JoJo" ... some fool will pay $2.5M and be lucky to unload it for $500K.

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Tell me you don't know anything about real estate without telling me you don't know anything about real estate.

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Tell me you don't know anything about real estate without telling me you don't know anything about real estate.

Biscuits_and_Gravy said:

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Harrison Bergeron said:

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Hob Howell said:

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Harrison Bergeron said:

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Seriously ... if I am spending $3M on a house, there are about 3 million better options ... I guess they're banking on some stupid Karen paying a premium since it is "Chip and JoJo" ... some fool will pay $2.5M and be lucky to unload it for $500K.

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Tell me you don't know anything about real estate without telling me you don't know anything about real estate.

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Tell me you don't know anything about real estate without telling me you don't know anything about real estate.

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Tell me you're an ass without, oh….

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Every accusation is a confession.

Harrison Bergeron said:

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Seriously ... if I am spending $3M on a house, there are about 3 million better options ... I guess they're banking on some stupid Karen paying a premium since it is "Chip and JoJo" ... some fool will pay $2.5M and be lucky to unload it for $500K.

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I doubt the house ever drops to that low of a value unless it goes through lots of years of disrepair. The homes on Austin avenue sell for above that usually. Even before prices skyrocketed.

But we will see what happens if there is a huge drop or crash in real estate I guess.

Agreed - hyperbole gets lost online sometimes ... but for a guy that knows nothing about real estate pretty shocking the auction settles $500K from my price and $1.9M from where the real estate genius predicted.

Something tells me Jo Jo won't be back to share some crow in one of her Chinese-made Magnolia bowls.

Where are the real estate experts now ? LOL

Harrison Bergeron said:

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Where are the real estate experts now ? LOL

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Did it sell for 500k like you predicted?

Harrison Bergeron said:

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Agreed - hyperbole gets lost online sometimes ... but for a guy that knows nothing about real estate pretty shocking the auction settles $500K from my price and $1.9M from where the real estate genius predicted.

Something tells me Jo Jo won't be back to share some crow in one of her Chinese-made Magnolia bowls.

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Has the final sale amount been released?

My wife and I drove by the house the other day. Does anyone know if the car lot building used to be part of the property or was it just built to sort of mimic the castle as they both have similar stone/construction?

Yes, originally part of the castle. I believe the story is that in the1960's (?) the owner of the castle was a car dealer & it was his great idea to turn the garage into a car dealership.

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I doubt the house ever drops to that low of a value unless it goes through lots of years of disrepair. The homes on Austin avenue sell for above that usually. Even before prices skyrocketed.

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Have not been to Waco in years but surprised homes on Austin Ave are that expensive

cowboycwr said:

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My wife and I drove by the house the other day. Does anyone know if the car lot building used to be part of the property or was it just built to sort of mimic the castle as they both have similar stone/construction?

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When originally platted, the lot where the castle was built and the lot where the used car business is located were one tract. Somewhere way back it was subdivided and both show up as the only two lots in the Cottonland Estates plat. Jack Schwan, (a high school friend of my parents, WHS 1955) bought the castle in about 1970 to renovate it. At about the same time he also acquired the lot on Franklin for his used car business. He thought it would be cool marketing to have his sales office look like the castle, so he built the sales office to look that way at the same time as he started the castle renovation. Jack still owned the car lot when he died 5-6 years ago, but I think that his widow sold the car lot not too long after.