House that inspired Netflix’s new chilling horror series struggled to sell after people heard what happened in it
Netflix's newest horror stars the likes of Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale - just in time for Halloween.
Prepared to be creeped out? Take a look at the trailer:
The Watcher sees a couple who move into their dream home with their young family, only for it to quickly become a nightmare.
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Dean (played by Cannavale) and Nora (played by Watts) begin to receive disturbing letters from someone calling themselves The Watcher, who claims it is their duty to always watch over the house.
The series is in fact based on a true story surrounding the Broaddus family in New Jersey, US.
During their time in the house between 2014 and 2019, Derek and Maria Broaddus persistently received threatening letters from an anonymous stalker.
Before the Netflix series from Ryan Murphy was produced, the family's frightening ordeal was published by The Cut.
With all the stories circulating surrounding the house online, the Broaddus' struggled to sell.
After many agents failed, the couple approached David Barbosa, a listing agent and owner of David Realty Group in 2019 to sell their $1.4 million home.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Barbosa told the story on selling haunted house.
He said: "There were a million stories about what was going on with the house.
"There was such a stigma on the house. That was our biggest hurdle: Trying to get over that stigma. Plus, you had people riding by the house, taking pictures, walking up to the front door, it was crazy."
Despite those big hurdles, the agent said he and his team did not have any hesitation with trying to sell the house, but listed it at a cut-price of $999,000 in March 2019.
Due to many failed attempts by other agents trying to sell the house, the price made sense with a 'lot of interest in the house', according to Barbosa.
The agent did say it became difficult for potential buyers to be unaware of the house's history due to its media coverage.
Barbosa also insisted potential buyers would need to take another step if they were to submit an offer.
He continued: "The deal was that, if you were going to put an offer in on the house, you had to go down to the attorney's office and look at [all of the evidence], so you knew what really happened before we went into a hard contract."
Just four months after being on the market with Barbosa, the agent stuck a deal with a young couple in July 2019.
Barbosa said the couple had 'no concerns at all' with buying the house and sealed for $959,000 - $40,000 below the asking price.
Topics: TV and Film, Netflix
Callum Jones