EXp agent Jeff Rubenstein hadn’t even been to his new listing yet when he got an alarming text on Tuesday.
The home immediately next to his new listing had exploded, erupted into flames and burned to the ground.
“I got a text message from the agent who’s referring it to me,” Rubenstein said. “She was like, ‘Oh hey, just so you know, your client’s house exploded and burned down last night. You may want to go check it out,” he said. “Then she texted right after that. She goes, ‘Just kidding, it was actually the neighbor’s house.’”
With the Front Range of Colorado under a blanket of fresh snow that was still falling on Wednesday morning, Rubenstein found himself with a pre-foreclosure listing and a potential problem on his hands.
“I hadn’t even been out there,” he said. “I was supposed to go out there this morning, go put my sign out there, my lockbox.”
News reports show that a house in the Denver suburb of Dacono exploded and burned down on Tuesday as the snowstorm rolled into the region. There were no reports of injuries or deaths.
Courtesy of Mountain View Fire Rescue
The owner of the home for sale is living out of state on the East Coast, Rubenstein said, and the house itself is being sold out of pre-foreclosure.
That process typically has a 120-day timeline to get the home sold, and with the clock already ticking, Rubenstein has to assess his next steps.
“I’ve gotta get this thing sold. The other agent couldn’t get it sold, and now I have a timeline,” Rubenstein said. “I have 100 days to get this thing sold, and now I have this burnt down house next door. I’ll get it done.”
From early reports from the local fire department, Rubenstein and his client may be in luck as fire crews quickly put out the fire and protected nearby homes.
Rick Tillery, spokesman for Mountain View Fire Rescue, told Inman that fire crews were coincidentally already in the neighborhood at the time of the explosion.
“Thankfully all of the homes that were right next door were able to be saved,” Tillery said, adding that a cause of the explosion had yet to be determined, in part because of the heavy blanket of snow.
Even if there was damage to the home, Rubenstein said it is very likely still covered by insurance.
Damaged or not, the prospect of selling a house next to rubble may be a slight headwind.
“If somebody moves in, there’s going to be a burned house next door,” Rubenstein said. “And construction going on — how long is that going to take?”
Rubenstein is trying to go assess the property in person as soon as he can.
But first, he has to wait for the weather to clear.
