A New Orleans historic house sold for $4.2 million in 2020, and after the owner failed to sell it at a profit or a loss, it went into foreclosure

Louisiana real estate broker Sean Mercer (seanay_boyyy) recently shared the story of a historic New Orleans home that was foreclosed on after years of failed listings. Mercer often posts about properties around the state, and in his Instagram caption, he said this one shows “The realities for real estate. From 4.2 Million to 0.” The video has racked up hundreds of thousands of views.

In the video, Mercer walked viewers through how the property changed over time using the photos attached to each listing on the Matrix Portal. The story began in 2020, when a couple bought the house for $4.2 million. At the time, the home still had its historic finishes, and Mercer said, “I really didn’t think that they had to do much to it.” A year later, the house was relisted for $4.5 million, but he described it as looking “rough.”

Scrolling through the images, Mercer speculated that the owners “got themselves in a financial pickle,” pointing out that they had started a gut renovation and stripped the kitchen down to its walls and floor. “I think they got themselves in trouble, so they needed some cash flow,” he said. The next listing, in 2023, was for $5 million, but the photos showed an overgrown garden and gutted interiors with torn-down ceilings.

The price kept dropping as the interior photos got harder to find

Mercer said a later attempt to sell involved a new agent and a price drop to $3.7 million. He pointed out that the agent appeared to mask the renovation damage by trimming the bushes and painting parts of the exterior, with fewer interior photos placed at the end of the listing. Imitating the agent’s approach, he said, “Let’s focus really on the exterior and the historic finishes. So we’re going to take a million pictures of kind of all that.”

Mercer noted that the house’s 2025 listing, priced at $2.85 million, expired in July, but that wasn’t the end of the story. Opening another document, he said, “And guess what? It got foreclosed on. So Bank Plus owns it now.”

Many commenters couldn’t understand why the owners had tried to renovate the house. One user noted that historic houses are unique and should be respected, writing, “They ruined the house, then the house ruined them.”

One user who claimed to have worked on the house said, “It looked incredible before.” Another, who identified as a neighbor, said the previous owners had spent $2 million to $3 million and fully renovated it in 2012 and 2013. One person shared, “This place was my dream house in 2020,” adding that they had watched the listings get “wilder” over the years.

Attack of the Fanboy was unable to independently verify the owners’ side of the story, as this account originates solely from Mercer’s Instagram post.