Woman accidentally buys former marijuana grow house in Cape Coral

A great deal turned into a buyer’s worst nightmare. A woman bought a home at auction but when a realtor entered the front door for the first time, he found out the home used to be a sophisticated hydroponic marijuana grow house.

“She just bought it blindly and completely totally regrets it because she doesn’t want to do all this work,” said Mike Lombardo, a broker at Old Glory Realty.

An Arizona woman looking to retire in Florida, bought her new home for less than $80,000 but Lombardo knew the deal was too good to be true.

“That’s when I found that it was a grow house. My first reaction was I called the police first. Then I called her to tell her what I found. We sent her pictures and stuff and she was very upset,” said Lombardo.

Until then, the buyer had no idea what was behind closed doors.

“She thought maybe she would put a little paint and spackle and it was going to be a good house but it’s a massive rehab and you’re going to have to get a new certificate of occupancy,” said Lombardo.

He says the buyer is distraught and embarrassed. Now Lombardo is working with the owner to help her gut and fix up the home to put it back on the market. WINK News walked through the house. We could see the components used to grow the pot along with bags of dead marijuana plants left inside, just sitting there for over a year.

Police tell WINK News they’re not required to clear the home out but simply take what they need for samples for the investigation. By law, no one has to disclose that a home used to be a grow house. Lombardo says buying a house on auction can be a gamble but you should always at least go check out the outside of the home ahead of time. As for this new homeowner, she says she will never buy a home from auction again.