Sometimes what looks like a good investment actually turns flat on its face. Of course, no one would say buying a house in danger of being consumed by the sea to be a sound investment. Still, a Connecticut millionaire couldn't help but swipe up a beach home at a bargain. Its owners were selling the $2 million property for just $200,000. Well, fast forward six months later, and the millionaire is feeling buyer's remorse.
He called it a "terrible investment." The beach home is now gone, and owner Don Vaccaro, CEO of TicketNetwork, is now quite distraught. Nantucket condemned the waterfront mansion after the tide got within just five feet of the home. The water line has been slowly eroding the coast in the region, and the home is just the latest causality.
Of course, Vaccaro knew all of this when he decided to buy the home. Afterward, the millionaire spent some $200,000 to keep the house up. But it all proved to be a waste of time.
Beach Home Destroyed
Vaccaro told Business Insider that he regrets buying the beach home. He said, "Not only the $400,000 but the time suck of having to deal with it." At the time, the owner hoped that he could fight Mother Nature and keep the beach home for longer. However, the condemnation order came down by the city.
"I hoped to have the summer of 2025, but that will not happen," he wrote. The beach home is being demolished and destroyed. It was previously owned by Jane Carlin and Ben Gifford for 36 years. They ultimately sold it to Vaccaro for a fraction of what it was worth. Still, somehow they made out like bandits in the whole thing.
"It was so emotional the other day leaving the house for the last time," Carlin said. "But we are really just fortunate also. I'm not feeling sorry for myself at all. Given the dire housing situation on Nantucket, we're just grateful for the time we had there."
The homeowners had been fretting about finding an owner when Vaccaro stepped forward. .
"All winter I had been really frantically trying to see if any of the organizations would consider taking the house and moving it, and we would help with the cost of moving," she said. "I didn't want to see it fall into the ocean or get demolished. But I had no luck whatsoever."
Sadly, the beach home ended up destroyed anyways.
