Meet the family calling viral $1.5M Zillow listing home after purchase

FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WZTV) — It was certainly one hot listing!

WZTV tracked down the man who bought the burned mansion in Williamson County, Tennessee after it was listed on Zillow for only four days.

We went there Friday morning, about 11:30 a.m.,” said Mike Thakur, who bought the home with his wife and three children. “By 1:30 p.m., we got a deal and shook hands on it. Signed a contract about 30 minutes later."

The first picture house hunters saw on Zillow featured the mansion with flames shooting from the roof. The sellers listed the property “as is.”

The listing went like quickfire online, raking in more than 360,000 views and several thousand saves. Despite the home being declared a total loss, it sold in just four days for a cool $1.5 million, proving that Nashville is one scorching market.

“Is this the most interesting Zillow posting you’ve ever seen?” WZTV asked longtime Nashville realtor Craig Edwards.

“Probably so, probably so,“ he said. “I understand the new owner walked up with his family. They went into the house, and within an hour or two, had come to a deal to purchase it."

Thakur is an entrepreneur and internet blogger, originally from England. He and his family have been living in Houston.

But several months ago, they began looking into relocating to Nashville, where Thakur and his wife once worked years ago. As they were visiting the Music City last week, the home listing went live. It featured a sprawling, five-acre property in Williamson County, including a guest house and space for a 10-car garage.

"Being able to live there, start a rebuild and restore this thing, and just live through the journey -- I think that combination just excited us," said Thakur.

Thakur said he plans for his family to live in the guest home while they rebuild. He’s also going to document the whole journey of remodeling the charred home on his YouTube channel.