11 Houses That Went Viral This Year

Discover the homes that captured our collective imagination this year, whether they housed a creepy collection or benefited from a bit of presidential elbow grease.

This year, article after article announced Amazon’s bold new role as the go-to purveyor of do-it-yourself tiny house kits, some selling for as little as $6,000. What do customers think? Reviews are extremely mixed, ranging from “glorified dog kennel” to “Awesome!”

Related: 22 Tiny Houses We Love

This “mystic house” in Magill, South Australia, went viral on Twitter, thanks to its ornate gothic interiors and a creepy doll collection straight out of a horror film. That said, the property has been a family home for generations and is full of potential and appealing features, including a pool and a wraparound veranda.

Another Australian house that caused jaws to drop this year is owned by Jamalate Saleh of Melbourne. Her red velvet, dripping-with-chandeliers living room was compared to “a real life Barbie dream home.” She chose pink, gold, green, and lilac hues to wow visitors.

From the outside, this modest bungalow near Austin, Texas, is subdued and unassuming. Inside, however, is another story. When photos of the pink, gilded, and ruffed rococo interiors went public, the Twittersphere went wild. “My eyes, my eyes…” exclaimed one horrified Tweet.

“My goal was 1,000 views. I just wanted people…to smile, laugh, and have fun with it.” So says real estate agent James Pyle, who dressed up as the killer from “The Scream” franchise in order to promote a house in Lansing, Michigan. The result? More than 20,000 views across multiple platforms.

How would you feel if your Airbnb booking turned out to be a cramped mattress on the floor? This is what happened to Zoe Reeve, 26, who visited Brooklyn, New York, over Labor Day. When she posted photos online, people started comparing the “room” to Harry Potter’s cupboard under the stairs.

When former Pittsburgh Penguins player Phil Kessel put his home on the market, one of the photos went viral—and not for a good reason. To show the generous size of their home theater, Kessel and his wife placed a single chair in the room, leading to headlines like “The Loneliest Home Theater in the World.” True? Not really.

Will real estate agents do absolutely anything to get a house noticed? An Australian house went viral for the wrong reasons, after the agents released a “crazy suburban romantic spy thriller musical” video to promote the listing. Amused viewers noted, among other criticisms, that the bathroom was clearly visible from the kitchen.

When Jeff Hopkins tore down his second home in South Dakota, he didn’t expect he would attract so much attention. As a joke, he spray-painted the words “Got the spider!” on the roof of his demolished property. A stranger took a photo, and before long it was all over Reddit and Facebook.

That’s right, a house in London, England, went viral because of its absurd number of electrical sockets. Even more outlandish, the property listing didn’t even mention the dozens of outlets in each room. So, the mystery remains—why would anyone need so many plugs? 

Related: 8 Warning Signs of Dangerously Outdated Electrical Wiring

Our 39th president is still going strong! At 95, Jimmy Carter was recently filmed at a Habitat for Humanity building site in Nashville, Tennessee. Only a day after falling and injuring himself in his own Georgia home, the indefatigable Carter was out using a power drill on his 36th Habitat project.