For sale: The home Chris Watts murdered his pregnant wife in
There’s some new news in the twisty saga of the Watts family murders. For those of you who haven’t heard of this horrific and heart-wrenching case, Chris Watts murdered his pregnant wife, Shannan, and his two young daughters. For days, he pretended like they were still alive but missing. It wasn’t until Watts confessed that investigators knew the horrible truth.
Shannan and her daughters were dead, buried on the property of Watts’ former employer. His young daughters’ bodies were in oil drums while Shannan, pregnant with the couple’s first son, was found in a shallow grave nearby. Rather than face the death penalty, Watts pleaded guilty to multiple counts of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to five life sentences.
In a civil suit against Watts, Shannan Watts’s parents were awarded $6 million USD for the deaths of their family. This has yet to be paid out to Shannan’s parents. There are many assets left behind in the wake of this tragedy. This includes the two-story family home at 2825 Saratoga Trail, which has been in the strange legal limbo since.
And, you know, is also for sale.
Murder house
You can understand a home buyer’s reluctance to own a house with a reputation behind it. Think of the people who own the Amityville Horror house, they had to get the address changed to prevent looky-loos from coming by. The more widely publicized the story? The harder it is to sell the house. It’s unsurprising that the house where Watts murdered his family would be difficult to sell.
In an article on The Denver Channel, an unnamed neighbor said that people are coming by to see the house for themselves, especially with the release of Netflix’s American Murder: The Family Next Door. “Literally hundreds of cars have come by. They’re curious, they’ve been coming from out of state,” the neighbor said.
It’s gotten to the point where neighbors are putting up No Trespassing signs on the property and are asking people not to leave memorials on the front porch. The neighbor said, “I totally understand everyone’s interest in the home. I just want would ask that people just be respectful because you are coming into the neighborhood of, you know, other people that live here.”
Can’t sell this house
Unsurprisingly, after the murders and Watts’ arrest, the bank foreclosed on the home and put it on the market. No one, obviously, bought it. Weld County took the home out of foreclosure. Denver based bankruptcy attorney, Clark Dray said, “It’s a strategic decision that the bank has made. This is, this doesn’t have to be our problem. We’re OK not getting paid on this property for the foreseeable future.”
Another issue that comes from this is that the price to buy the home? It’s super high. Currently, the listing for the house is $600,00 USD. They bought the home in 2013 for $399,954. Real estate appraiser, Orell Anderson, said to The Denver Channel that is a grossly inflated price.
In fact, Anderson said that if they really want the home to sell, then they need to be lowering the price. He said, “You see a pattern that tells you that when there are children involved in the murder, the discounts go higher.” He thinks that the price needs to be cut by 40% at least.
In addition to everything else, several creditors have placed a lien on the property. The largest of which is Shannan’s parents, who placed a $6 million USD lien on the home, which is the same that they were awarded in a wrongful death civil suit. In order for anything to sell, the buyer would have to make a deal with creditors and pay out the original mortgage.
Should they even sell it?
The last issue, and the most important one, is should anyone even buy it? The neighborhood has some mixed opinions on the issue. Many people would given the history of the home. Some would like to see the house knocked down and be made into something else.
Others, however, feel that the house should be sold and maybe a new family would give it new energy. It all comes down to who would even be comfortable living in such a home. Either way, the Watts house will probably be on the market for quite awhile.
