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Abandoned Castles & Buildings

Mattie

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I always get fascinated how humanity just leaves abandoned beautiful castles and buildings. You always wonder why people don't recycle the buildings into a bed and breakfast, hotel, shopping center, or apartment building. I watch these video's for ideas for my novel, and always just captivates me and blows me away how there's so many places which can be renovated, but just left to rot away and decay. I would love being an Urban Explorer just for fun. Just feel sad seeing so many places left behind.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eJLBrwpujs

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-knpFKvO8c
 
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The Abundant Man

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Who owns these buildings? Maybe I can give them a call or something.

I understand if something like Cherynobl is left behind but as you said these buildings can be recycled.

I can def imagine real estate for wealthy people. If you look on RoomPorn on Reddit castles are popular.
 

ljean

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Its generally because it simply costs too much to renovate and maintain these big old buildings.
 

MJ DeMarco

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I always get fascinated how humanity just leaves abandoned beautiful castles and buildings

Because you never own them, you just lease them from the government. If there was a huge castle here in the states, the property taxes alone would be $200,000 a year, not to mention anything else. Pay cash for the castle, get a big yearly bill.

They have a huge carrying cost.
 
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Mattie

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Who owns these buildings? Maybe I can give them a call or something.

I understand if something like Cherynobl is left behind but as you said these buildings can be recycled.

I can def imagine real estate for wealthy people. If you look on RoomPorn on Reddit castles are popular.
I don't know who owns them, you'd probably have to do some research on the blogs or vlogs, and research their location and find the land records. Usually there is a bit of history on the blogs about previous owners. I know sometimes if you look at the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, real estate sites, you can find some of them. I found a beautiful place one time up for sale. I can try to find some real estate sites here and post them on here for you. There all over the place in every country and culture. I just find it interesting small or big, you will find all kinds of houses, land, and property on you tube that has been abandoned. You can even find amusement parks, asylums, malls, and there just standing their vacant.
 

Mattie

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Its generally because it simply costs too much to renovate and maintain these big old buildings.
I would have to say it may be their location, the community, and the cost. I know in my local community back in Michigan we turned an Old Piano Factory on the waterfront into a mall with restaurants, small tourist shops, and you will find us turning old rail road stations and other buildings into things all over Michigan, but it's more of a tourist area, and wealthy people come in from Chicago and other places on yachts and boats in the summer.

That is seasonal though. Yet we have torn down old buildings and built new condo's, but they're empty for a good time on the water front, not really sure how those projects are doing lately. They did renovate the old theater into living space. But we have the Coast Guard Festival every year to bring in tourists, it's been nominated the best sea side town. So, I know it just depends on the location and what else it has to offer.
 

Mattie

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Because you never own them, you just lease them from the government. If there was a huge castle here in the states, the property taxes alone would be $200,000 a year, not to mention anything else. Pay cash for the castle, get a big yearly bill.

They have a huge carrying cost.
I suspect this is the truth. There are many castles wasting away, because the owner spent all their money and couldn't finish the job, or somehow some event came into play, the government became involved, and it gets kind of messy.

I don't see the point of building one though and investing in it and just leaving it there to rot away. I know one castle, I was just in awe of why they thought they could accomplish the job, but just failed with financing. And then you will find some love story behind some of them, and the women died and they just quit in the process. Just some of them are so beautiful, the work that went into them, and they just kind of die.

I would think when I see the Asylums, the Psychiatric centers, or factories it must be they didn't have the money to clean up the stuff either. But I was under the impression, there are real estate sales, liquidation, or some kind of sale of property and assets, although I don't know the technicalities of all the costs probably like you do.
 
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G-Man

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Because you never own them, you just lease them from the government. If there was a huge castle here in the states, the property taxes alone would be $200,000 a year, not to mention anything else. Pay cash for the castle, get a big yearly bill.

They have a huge carrying cost.
A good friend of mine paid $600k cash for a nice home when he sold out of his first business about a decade ago. 10 years later, when his current business fell on hard times and eventually went under, he found himself borrowing over $1k/mo from family just to pay the damn property taxes. Something to think about. On a house he paid cash for and "ownded" You never actually own anything.
 

Mattie

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Mattie

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A good friend of mine paid $600k cash for a nice home when he sold out of his first business about a decade ago. 10 years later, when his current business fell on hard times and eventually went under, he found himself borrowing over $1k/mo from family just to pay the damn property taxes. Something to think about. On a house he paid cash for and "ownded" You never actually own anything.
I have to agree. I've learned that already.
 
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biophase

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[QUOTE="Mattie, post: 761773, member: 23749”]
I would think when I see the Asylums, the Psychiatric centers [/QUOTE]

These are all probably haunted!
 

biophase

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I think with the popularity of Airbnb that there will be opportunities for some of the more unusual or historical ones to sell and get remodeled.
 

MJ DeMarco

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Not sure if anyone remembers that the Pontiac Superdome was sold super cheap... A) The carrying cost was ungodly and B) Renovations would cost a fortune. For the price of a Lambo, you could have owned the Pontiac Superdome. Sold at auction for $550,000.

After the opening of Ford Field in 2002, the stadium was left without a permanent tenant. It first closed in 2006, but after multiple attempts to solicit redevelopment plans, the city sold the stadium at auction in 2009 for only $550,000
 
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MTF

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I once thought that it would be a cool idea to buy an old castle/mansion/beautiful historic building and renovate it (to sell or perhaps to rent). But it's much, much harder and cumbersome than you think.

In addition to extremely high costs of renovation (this is pretty much the reason why so many of these places are abandoned) you usually can't do whatever you want.

If a building is considered an object of cultural heritage, then (perhaps it depends on a country, I'm not sure about that) you need to work with a governmental conservator-restorer who tells you what you can and can't do.

For example, you can't put in any windows you want - perhaps they need to be wooden windows of a specific type, only sold by one or two companies for an exorbitant amount of money. Same with everything else - even though the building is yours, it actually all depends on the conservator-restorer. According to the government, the moment you buy a monument is when you become its custodian (with countless obligations).
 

TonyStark

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A good friend of mine paid $600k cash for a nice home when he sold out of his first business about a decade ago. 10 years later, when his current business fell on hard times and eventually went under, he found himself borrowing over $1k/mo from family just to pay the damn property taxes. Something to think about. On a house he paid cash for and "ownded" You never actually own anything.
That’s sad.

I guess invest that money into gold?

Or back into your business?

Maybe just lease a house and never buy in full? Lol
 

Xeon

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Couldn't you (if you happen to be rich) buy these castles and then commercialize them? Conduct tours, fun programs, castle-themed food, castle merch, Live-Like-A-Royalty sort of experience for visitors. Probably even rent out the rooms for tourists and stayers etc. Who knows, if run well, it could even cover the costs and make a profit.

Probably even cook up a horror story to drive more traffic lol. It could blow up big.
 
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MTF

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Then you see these video's, and you're like there's something behind it like your saying M.J. , because they wouldn't be for $1.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0fwMkwgFhI

The government schemes in which they offer homes, estates, or sometimes entire small villages for $1 has been getting more and more popular, particularly in Italy, France, and Spain.

The catch is that they require you to renovate the building in a specific time frame - and it's usually extremely expensive, even for a single house (these are usually very old buildings in which you need to replace everything).

In most cases, you also need to move there physically (or launch a business and keep it running for at least a few years once you renovate the building). The governments know that it's better to give away some buildings and attract money into the area than let the buildings completely fall apart. I believe there might be a lot of potential in this, given that you're really, really good at math and forecasts.
 

Mattie

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[QUOTE="Mattie, post: 761773, member: 23749”]
I would think when I see the Asylums, the Psychiatric centers

These are all probably haunted![/QUOTE]
ha ha...yes...never stopped the business college I went too from building their business in an old developmentally disabled building from the early 1970's. I remember the professors telling us sometimes weird things would happen in certain rooms. Although, I never had any experiences. I just went to class, ate my food, and studied.

I can imagine in Asylums they can be kind of creepy, but isn't that why as a fiction writer I look at the video's. I don't know if I'd go in one in person, but it gets your mind being creative, the imagination, and in most movies or novels, that is what people love. Like Stephen King, He wrote some awesome stuff that sold and so did Speilburg. Us writers have to get in weird spaces to get unusual ideas to stand out from the crowd.
 

Mattie

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For example, you can't put in any windows you want - perhaps they need to be wooden windows of a specific type, only sold by one or two companies for an exorbitant amount of money. Same with everything else - even though the building is yours, it actually all depends on the conservator-restorer. According to the government, the moment you buy a monument is when you become its custodian (with countless obligations).
This is very true with the building codes.
 
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Mattie

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Maybe just lease a house and never buy in full? Lol
That's what I keep thinking. Just enjoy the house while someone else owns the house. But I think even if you lease or rent, you're still screwed if something happens to the owner.
 

Mattie

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Couldn't you (if you happen to be rich) buy these castles and then commercialize them? Conduct tours, fun programs, castle-themed food, castle merch, Live-Like-A-Royalty sort of experience for visitors. Probably even rent out the rooms for tourists and stayers etc. Who knows, if run well, it could even cover the costs and make a profit.

Probably even cook up a horror story to drive more traffic. It could blow up big.

i think you'd have to charge a lot of money for an entry fee, and not sure it would even cover the costs of renovation. I went on tour at a castle on the Rhine in Germany. They had part of it shut off, another part they were working on, and you could tour a certain amount of it. I don't remember the price exactly, but seems like when I've been in Castles they usually charge you around $25.00 Euro's or more over here. I'm not sure how many tourists they get a year. That is why I said, I believe it probably matters what location. If you have a prime tourist location where tons of people come every year, you might break out even, but I'm not sure you'd make money off of it, because you have to remember, you'd have staff to do all the work around the place. Whether yard work, maintenance, security etc.
 

Mattie

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I found this one interesting. Why would someone leave their safe with their passport, jewels, and other personal stuff with the safe code and key right there. And then the Urban Explorers are just excited they found a treasure. This is what I mean. Sometimes people are idiots, and just leave their stuff behind or their parents. I think no matter what happens you still have time to take what is necessary and important. I'm not a judge or police officer, so I can't say what the laws may be.
I think that would be my first objective is grabbing my passport and expensive items.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMVnF5qD824
 
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Mattie

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Like something like this one with 600 rooms, you could open a hotel, a new entrepreneur Fastlane community, or re-invent a new silicone valley. The place kind of died, and would have to be totally gutted out, but It's such a shame. I must just be weird. I kept thinking this back home when I'd watch all the builders put up these condos and tear down the old ones.

A lot of work and man power though to renovate such a place.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7n3J2A6nHc
 

Mattie

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I always see these ghosts towns and for whatever reason the place died, but even it would be nice if you could actually revive a whole resort town, but of course that would be super expensive. There's so much potential if you have an entrepreneur mind.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KcaIoA56PE

This is really got my idea for my novel from watching these video's. I won't elaborate on it until I get it finished, but gees...I've watched a lot of these video's to get the feel and ideas. If walls could speak? I think that's what I love about it. The mystery, the history, the story, the blending of the complexity of the way nature itself takes over these places, wildlife, and also the tragedy, the adversity, the complexity of human nature, the unexpected events, the drama, the trauma, and the wealth. The possibility using the imagination for a series of books is there.

And like them they do a vlog, but it's actually more fascinating when you have an abstract mind and can visually change it into a masterpiece.

Some Movies who used abandoned places for movie sets.
7 abandoned movie and TV sets that are still standing years after the cameras stopped rolling

One of my favorite movies back in the day was Rose Red.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8nLZ7ZGUYI
 
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