pHOTO BY BRUCE RUSHTON
Lions and an iron gate guard the entrance to Jeffrey Parsons’ home on the outskirts of Athens.
Lions and an iron gate guard the entrance to Jeffrey Parsons’ home on the outskirts of Athens.
pHOTO BY BRUCE RUSHTON
No more.
A federal bankruptcy court is poised to approve the sale of Parsons’ palace for $500,000, a fraction of the $699,000 asking price and considerably less than the $2.8 million that Parsons once told a judge was invested in the three-acre estate that comes with an annual property tax bill of more than $25,000.
The home-cum-compound is invisible behind a tall stone wall that surrounds the property guarded by an iron gate across the front driveway. Sculptures of lions sit on either side of the drive, and the gate is decorated with depictions of medieval knights’ helmets and the moniker Pro Deo Et Rege, which is what people who speak Latin say when they mean “For God and King.” Not to mention the Internal Revenue Service, one of hundreds of creditors clamoring to be made whole in Parsons’ bankruptcy case.
The IRS has a lien of nearly $3.2 million against the property for delinquent income taxes. The state Department of Revenue has an additional $884,000 in liens for unpaid state taxes. Parsons and his defunct company, THR and Associates, owe tens of millions of dollars more to former employees, customers, vendors and others who are listed as creditors in court filings. Now a resident of Texas, Parsons made his fortune through buying and selling precious metals and collectibles, and he claims the money is all gone. Bankruptcy trustees have accused Parsons of hiding assets, and a trial on his bankruptcy petition is set for this month.
Parsons’ estranged wife, Jennifer, apparently still lives in the Athens home and has stayed current on the mortgage that has a payoff of $57,000. Under terms of an agreement between her and bankruptcy trustee Charles Covey, Jennifer Parsons will receive half the net proceeds from the sale plus $10,000 in reimbursement for mortgage payments for a total of $184,800, and the bankruptcy estate will get less than $161,500 after delinquent property taxes are paid.
The home had been on the market for a year. Michael and Jennifer Armitage, who own an auto body shop in Athens, signed a $500,000 purchase agreement in August that included a closing date of Nov. 17. Reached by telephone, Michael Armitage declined comment.
Photographs of the home in an online advertisement reveal lavish furnishings that include a suit of armor, swords, Persian-style rugs and wooden club chairs with tufted leather upholstery. The home features a hand-carved marble fireplace, two balconies, guest quarters and a master bedroom, but it could be a six-figure fixer-upper, judging by filings in the Parsons’ pending divorce case. The 6,000-square-foot house had a litany of problems ranging from a broken doggie door to a damaged garage to a two-story indoor fountain that had damaged the interior due to insufficient waterproofing, according to court documents filed in the divorce case in 2012, and repairs were estimated at nearly $300,000.
Go online to take a virtual look inside the Parsons home at http://www.thegroup.com/property/property.asp?PRM_MLSNumber=132209&PRM_MlsName=CAAR&VAR_AgentCode=2242&VAR_OfficeCode=205
Contact Bruce Rushton at [email protected].
