Never-occupied ’90s home for sale in St. George goes viral for being ‘time capsule’
Jan 31, 2024, 11:23 PM | Updated: Feb 1, 2024, 6:06 am
ST. GEORGE — A home that recently went on the market is mystifying millions on TikTok, because of what’s inside the house — or rather, what was never in it.
The house was built in 1998, but no one ever moved in. An instruction manual still sits in the microwave, and the dishwasher still has a sample soap packet inside. Plastic wrapping covers the door strike plates. Construction dust sits in the bathtub and bathroom drawers.
Despite being 26 years old, the house in the Emerald Springs community is totally brand-new.
Homie Real Estate agent Shane Jourdain recently took a video walk-through, telling KSL TV he was touring it for a client in the neighborhood.
His video shows the inside of the house in pristine shape. The carpet looks fresh and unworn, the laminate countertops completely stain-free. The kitchen appears to feature peak ’90s trend oak cabinets and all-white appliances.
“It is what a brand new home would have looked like in 1998,” Jourdain says in the video, chuckling.
The house was built and bought the same year the show “Seinfeld” ended, the year Mark McGwire broke the homerun record, the year “Titanic” won an Oscar for Best Picture, and the year Google was born.
A lot has happened in the quarter of a century since, but if those walls could talk — they probably wouldn’t have much to say.
“Not a piece of furniture has ever been put in here,” Jourdain said in his video, as he walked over to the living room with a ’90s gas fireplace surrounded by light stone tile and an oak wood mantle.
Jourdain’s video on TikTok quickly racked up 10 million views, with more than 25,000 people commenting. Many asked why the home sat vacant for so long, and wondered how someone could buy a house they never lived in.
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In an interview with KSL TV Wednesday, Jourdain explained the owner traveled a lot for work and visited St. George with plans to permanently move there.
“Just never happened, for whatever reason,” Jourdain said. “In fact, he would visit the home but would stay in a hotel because he had no furniture, no clothes, no nothing here.”
He said the owner would use the community’s pickleball courts and pool and even made friends in the neighborhood.
The owner passed away, Jourdain said, and didn’t have a spouse or children to inherit the property. He described how the homeowner’s association made the realization when the owner stopped making HOA payments.
The house then went on the market, and Jourdain said it sold. For the first time this century, people are now living in it.
It’s unclear if it was marketed as ’90s nostalgia or new construction, but either way, it was move-in ready all these years later.
“It’s still brand new, so everything that looks old is actually new,” Jourdain said. “It’s like a time capsule.”
