A house for sale in Maumee has gone viral on the “Zillow Gone Wild” Facebook page for an eccentric feature originally meant to deflect unwanted attention: the house is covered — floor to ceiling, inside and out — with bulletproof Lexan paneling.
The house, previously owned and occupied by Trudy Stranahan of the Champion Spark Plug Company’s founding family, also boasts a robust driveway that cost an estimated $300,000 to build, plus $100,000 in fences. Breezeways connect the house to two outbuildings, one of which hosts a gym with myriad equipment, in addition to more workout equipment inside the main house.
“She was just a unique person,” said Hanna Modene, a Realtor with the Jon Modene team at Re/max Masters, which listed the property. “I don’t think she liked not having security.”
The property sits on five acres overlooking the Silver Lake and bordering Side Cut Metropark. It was listed last week for $399,900.
Matt Frey, a longtime Maumee resident who has lived next door for three years, said he only ever met Ms. Stranahan one time before she died about a year and a half ago.
“She barely left the house. We have an old neighbor, who just moved and lived here her whole life and only saw Trudy four or five times ever, and that was like leaving for doctor's appointments,” Mr. Frey said. “Clark [her caretaker] did everything. Clark did all her grocery shopping, everything. She did not leave.”
Mr. Frey also reported hearing that Mrs. Stranahan was “nuts about working out,” explaining the preponderance of gym equipment, and that she was a germaphobe, which is why many of the doors and windows were sealed closed. To him, the house looks like a horse stable.
According to Mr. Frey, Mrs. Stranahan outfitted the house with the Lexan about 15 years ago after local children repeatedly vandalized it. Ms. Modene also reported hearing that people used to throw rocks through the windows.
There also had once been an Olympic-sized swimming pool in the backyard, Mr. Frey and Ms. Modene both said, that Mrs. Stranahan had filled in because of trespassing and vandalism at the adjacent pool house or barn.
Mr. Frey also remembers people vandalizing Mrs. Stranahan’s father’s house just down the street while he grew up in Maumee.
“She was a nice lady, but definitely didn't want to talk to anybody ever,” he said of Mrs. Stranahan. “But when you did talk to her, you wouldn't know that she was that way.”
Mr. Frey actually considered buying the property for about six months after Mrs. Stranahan died, as the home was first offered to the next-door neighbors. He considered transforming the picturesque property into a wedding venue, but ultimately decided renovating the house would cost too much.
According to Ms. Modene, the original Zillow listing went from about 3,800 views to more than 25,000 overnight following its appearance on the Zillow Gone Wild page .
“Somebody commented [on the post] like, ‘I feel bad for that realtor.’ But, we're not here to have a good looking portfolio. We're here to serve our clients,” Ms. Modene said. “ I'm not here to have pretty-looking houses on my Zillow-sold.”
She said neither she nor her father Jon, who has been in the business for more than 30 years, had ever seen anything like this.
“But it’s unique, and it’s cool to see,” Ms. Modene said.
The next closest thing she’d ever worked with was a listing in Waterville with a vault encompassing a safe.
Ms. Modene expects the house to be sold and under contract this week, having already received multiple offers and expecting a few more Tuesday.
“I think the main appeal for this is going to be the land, granted it's five-plus acres and you pretty much have a private lake back there. It feels like you're in your own park,” she said. “It's beautiful and quiet and very serene. I think that's going to be the main selling point.”
“Finding and figuring out how to sell and really target the buyer for a home like this is one of my favorite parts of the job,” she added. “Someone who likes a midcentury floor plan or layout and is excited to renovate, or someone who likes nature and tranquility and quiet, or someone who wants land but wants to be by a town could be a buyer for this home.”
The inside of the home has floors, walls, and ceilings in every single room covered with panels of the bulletproof Lexan. Rubber mats lined the floors because the material would be so slippery to traverse on its own.
There were only a couple of windows in the entire house, and Ms. Modene estimated that each panel of Lexan could sell for around $100. She said the material has a lot of industrial uses, but it is quite uncommon to see it used in residential homes, especially to the extent it’s used in this property. Theoretically, she said, the panels could come right off, having been placed right over the original framing and carpeting.
According to Jon Modene, the listing’s team leader, the driveway was built of concrete six to eight inches deep and outfitted with reinforcing steel rods.
“Nobody does a driveway like that. There's probably half a million dollars of concrete there. It looks like a turnpike,” he said.
Mr. Modene also pointed out the custom polyvinyl fencing surrounding the property, which he said was both “expensive and very beautiful.”
Thanks to having its own septic system, the house will also not have to undergo hefty expenses when it comes to complying with Maumee’s new sewer inspection ordinance. To a wave of controversy and mass public disapproval, Maumee recently passed an ordinance requiring all home sellers to undergo sewer inspections and pay for any work necessary to ensure their sewer system complies with city regulations. Many repairs are totaling tens of thousands of dollars , heavily cutting into equity for home sellers and making it impossible for some to afford to sell.
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