Bunker baby buyer
It’s a unique historical English property that could be perfect for a doomsday prepper. In fact, it was built to survive a nuclear blast. A Cold War era bunker is going up for auction later this month in the Bristol area in western England with a low starting bid of US-$26,740. The entrance sits amid what looks like blackberry brambles on a hillside in the village of Hallen overlooking farm fields and the mouth of the River Severn. But don’t expect a view from the underground chamber. The bunker is one of about 1,500 shelters built across the U.K. for the Royal Observer Corps, a civil defense organization, to safely monitor blast waves and fallout from nuclear attacks that never came. Most now sit empty, though they occasionally come up for resale since they were decommissioned and sold to the public in the 1990s. The bunker is located 14 feet below a field in Derbyshire.
From the outside, the relics are more eyesore than architectural wonder — just a couple steps and a block of concrete with a chain securing the entrance. On the inside, there’s also not much to look at. The writers of the promotional materials had to dig deep to put some polish on the drab, cramped and isolated quarters. “Ideal for those with a unique taste for historical relics and rare investment opportunities.” A floor plan shows Room One — the only room — and describes it as a “discreetly integrated underground room, perfect as a private wine cellar, safe room, or secure utility area.” It’s a spartan space of 128 square feet (11.8 square metres) with peeling paint, a stained floor, some shelving, a small desk-like surface against the wall, two plastic chairs and a single metal bed frame with no mattress. SDL Property Auctions said the bunker, which opened in 1960, formed part of a UK-wide network of 1,500 Cold War underground monitoring posts operated by the Royal Observer Corps. Take the tour in the video below.
The bunker, which is about the size of a garage, comes with some of its original items, including vintage binoculars and a “red communications hotline phone,” reports BBC News. An asbestos fire blanket still hangs on the wall. However, the current owner has also made some unusual upgrades. According to the statement, the hideout has been “refurbished and decorated” with features such as “wall-to-wall velvet curtains, a cream carpet, a made bed, a log burner, storage and even a rug to make it as homely as possible.” The market for bunkers may be unique, but it’s also growing. In recent years, ultra-wealthy homeowners have become increasingly interested in constructing secure shelters on their land, with some customized dwellings costing millions of dollars to build. “This is the third one of these that I’m selling, so I’m getting a bit of a reputation for myself,” the auctioneer says in the walkthrough video. “But this is probably the best one of the lot.”
Real estate really?
I saw a homeless man pushing a grocery cart filled with cardboard boxes down the street. Walking up to him, I asked, “Are you homeless?”
The man looked at me and with a wave of his hand over the boxes said “Can’t you see? I’m a real estate agent!”
My job is selling houses in places like Narnia, Middle-Earth, Neverland, Oz and Wonderland.
I’m a Not Real Estate Agent.
“I heard you just bought a two-story house?”
“I’ll say I did, the agent told me one story before I bought it, and another story afterwards.”
Seller to Agent: I was so excited after reading the great job you did describing my house in your real estate listing that I’ve decided to keep it!
September 5th Birthdays
1990 – Kat Graham, 1996 – Caroline Sunshine, 1950 – Cathy Lee Guisewite, 1940 – Raquel Welch
1952 – Michael Keaton, 1992 – Shandar Keynes, 1929 – Bob Newhart, 1986 – Colt McCoy