By Amy Lavalley, Post-Tribune correspondent
VALPARAISO -- According to the Greater Northwest Indiana Association of Realtors, a Valparaiso home for sale is one of a handful in a five-county area listed for between $3 million and $6 million.
The house, at 3331 Pepper Creek Bridge Parkway in the Pepper Creek subdivision on Valparaiso's northwest side, went up for sale May 10. Laurie Popovich, a real estate broker associate with Rubloff Residential Properties who is listing the house, said it's 90 percent complete, in need of electrical and plumbing work and fixtures, some flooring, and other trim work.
Popovich hopes a buyer will come forward and finish the home. She is optimistic about the mansion's prospects, and that someone will complete the builder's unfinished dream.
"We've had showings and we have people who are very interested," she said. "It's a unique opportunity someone could take advantage of."
There are 65 homes currently listed for more than $1 million in Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton and Jasper counties, said Peter Novak Jr., the Greater Northwest Indiana Association of Realtor's CEO. Five of the homes are between $3 million and $6 million, including the one in Pepper Creek.
"It's tough to say what that market's doing because we only have a handful of comparables," Novak said, adding those few homes are spread out over the region.
People in the market for homes of that magnitude are not usually hit by the economy as hard as the average person.
"I don't think a recession has as big of an impact on homes like that," he said.
The builder's goal was to construct a French country, old-world mansion, complete with exquisite dark wood cabinetry and detailed coffered and honeycombed ceilings.
"It was a builder who got into financial difficulty," Popovich said. "He was building it for himself and his wife and kids."
An online search of the Porter County Assessor's Office records listed Signature Construction Inc. as the home's original owner. The Valparaiso firm's phone has been disconnected.
Construction on the home began about two years ago and stopped in April because the builder got into financial difficulties, Popovich said. An Illinois investment company then took over the property.
"It's not a foreclosure property. It's owned with the full intent to pass a clear title to a buyer, so a buyer won't get stuck with liens. That's not going to happen," Popovich said. "What the buyer is going to have to do is finish it."
Popovich estimated it would take $1 million to finish the house. In addition to the interior work to the main house -- much of it is already painted in earth tones -- the pool and tennis court were never built, and the interior of the guesthouse is not framed in.
Depending on the number of workers involved, the home could be complete in three to six months, Popovich said. It's listed well below market value and, finished, could easily fetch between $4 million and $6 million.
"For the person who has the money and the wherewithal, they're getting a good deal," said Popovich, a Valparaiso native licensed to sell real estate in both Indiana and Illinois. Rubloff's main office is on Michigan Avenue in Chicago.
Plastic film covers the large paneled windows, and construction materials from unfinished projects are in several of the rooms. The floors and other surfaces are covered with dirt, and some of the staircases are made of plywood; a spiral staircase spanning all three stories of the home was never installed.
Concrete evidence of the builder's vision dots the home. In the master bath is a black and white copy of what he hoped the unfinished vanities would look like. Tacked on the wall in the wine tasting room is a page from Beautiful Homes magazine summer 2005 edition, titled "A tasteful space," with a picture of such a room.
Novak can't remember seeing a house on the market as large as this one. He called the apparent circumstances around the home's sale "unfortunate."