Helena, Montana is no doubt a gorgeous place to spend time. Nestled in the heart of Big Sky Country, it’s not too far from Bozeman, Missoula, and Great Falls. Homes for sale in Helena routinely have listing prices between $500,000 and $1,400,000. Then there’s the one at 1475 Cayuse Road with an asking price of $2,500,000. Nothing in the area comes close to that price but, of course, no other houses in the area come with a pair of Aston Martins, either.
To be clear, this isn’t a mansion set far from the road on its own expanse of several acres. From the road, which appears to be about 50 feet from the front door, it looks sort of like any other house on the block aside from being much wider. In fact, the entire 5,138 sqft home rests on a 0.26-acre lot according to Zillow.
Again though, it’s what’s inside that gives this home its real value. The house itself isn’t the only thing for sale. The buyer gets everything in the listing and the Aston Martins are just the cherry on top.
Encompassing over 5000 sq feet, the residence features four bedrooms, four baths, and a 2200 square foot showroom. Fronting an 8-acre park, the location combines leisure with convenience.
The sale includes an 83” Sony 4k TV in the theatre room, a Dimension One Spa, and a “state of the art” golf simulator with a Foresight Sports GC3 launch monitor. Evidently, golfers are even allowed to drive balls off of the back deck and into the public park. Reviews don’t include any mention of dodging golf balls while trying to enjoy the park, which honestly surprised me a bit.
All of this sort of undersells what might be the most exciting portion of the sale for die-hard wrenchers though. Sure, the pair of Aston Martins sound like a great treat but there’s no information about their condition (more on that shortly). How ever would one maintain them? With the gear in the tool room, that’s how.
That’s right, this house comes with a fully outfitted tool room that appears outfitted with just about everything Milwaukee Tools has ever made. In some cases it appears there are two versions of everything Milwaukee ever made. The tool room isn’t even the only place in the house with tools!
One of the three garages (you read that right) features another wall of tools. Who knows what’s in the storage bins? It could be more tools!
Now, let’s talk a little more about the cars in the equation. We’ve reached out to the realtor but, as of this writing, haven’t heard back. Here’s what we can confirm through photos alone. The older of the two coupes is a Vantage from between 2005 and 2017. Based on the visible badging it’s likely a V8 version and interior photographs show that it’s an automatic with paddle shifters on the steering wheel. Not knowing the exact year makes it tough to be sure of power output, but this generation of the Vantage V8 made at least 380 horsepower.
The other Vantage is a later model, somewhere after 2018 and again is likely a V8 that in this case makes 503 horsepower and 505 lb-ft of torque through the use of two turbochargers. In a sort of amusing twist, who we assume is the seller is wearing a shirt with a Genesis logo on it while sitting in one of the cars. This is likely because the seller is a huge golf fan and may have attended the Genesis Invitational golf tournament.
Interestingly, while the two cars are no doubt luxury items and exotics in their own right, they might not be as valuable as one expects.
Notably, we know nothing about condition, options, or anything else but a quick peek at recent auction results suggests that the older Vantage is probably worth no more than $50,000 or so. The newer one could trade hands for another $100,000 or so over that so in total, the pair is probably worth (charitably) $250,000 or less on their own.
Nevertheless, this is a house full of ways to kill time and at least a couple of ways to get out of the house and kill time in style. Is it worth $2.5 million when the houses right next to it don’t crest $600,000 according to Zillow? That’s up for the next buyer to decide but tell us what you think in the comments!
This place screams lottery winner, because any other option is somehow more sad.
Keep the house and cars. How much for the tools?
Drill press? Welder? Torch? Tubing bender? Bench mounted vice? Grinder? Metal chop saw/bandsaw? Those are tools to complete a workshop. This garage is “I bought 3 of everything in red at Home Depot”. That stuff and the rapidly depreciating Astons do not triple the value of the house compared to adjacent ones. What if the buyer isn’t into cars, tools and driving range assault on neighbors?
I notice that every single tool case is perfectly clean and appear untouched. Those definitely scream of fashion statement to me
That’s a nice view out back. Golf off the deck? I bet I can hit the neighbors’s houses with driver.
Yea all those windows on the other side of the park may as well have bullseyes painted on them.
The house directly across the park is about 550 feet away. You could probably hit it with a long iron.
All those weights – So why the spindly arms?
He couldn’t afford an Aston Martin badge for his golf cart – He had to get a BMW badge?
At least the wallpaper and decor reminds him of the old double-wide he used to live in.
And people blame us Realtors for the high costs of housing…
Ahem. Some of us lift weight and still have spindly arms.
This house screams Basic Douchebag who wants to cosplay as a car guy. It doesn’t look like a single one of those tools ever had any use.
My bet is all those batteries on the chargers are under 25% capacity.
Exactly what I was thinking. Show me a guy with shiny new tools, and I’ll show you a guy that doesn’t know how to use them.
Also, Aston martin is a brand I have zero interest in wrenching on.
A perfect example of the perils of being the nicest trailer in the park.
I hate everything about this.
Eh, the golf simulator would be sweet in winter.
Let me guess. By the looks of the house a tech or crypto bro who left California during Covid and is now moving back.
I was thinking the exact same thing. This whole setup screams “new money douchebro”. Probably gotta pack up and move back to The Bay.
From what I’ve heard, there’s a bit of that starting to happen with some of the tech bros who moved to places like Idaho or Montana or Central Oregon during The Plague.
They found out that Montana is really fucking cold in winter. Which I would love, but it has to be a shock to the system for folks from temperate California.
Montana is also really fucking hot in the summer. I just spent a week in Kalispell after flying into Missoula and it was basically 100 degrees everywhere, every day.
They’re all moving to Texas now aren’t they?
LOL, I just looked up the property tax information. It looks like the owners are delinquent.
To be fair, it’s only a little over $100 delinquent on a >$5k tab. So, there could be something weird.
Absolutely none of this stuff looks used, it reminds me of a store display. I don’t get it.
I had a similar thought. It looks more like a collection, in the way that people collect action figures.
Exactly, bizarre to me. I use my tools (and try to refrain from buying if I won’t use it).
Unless it’s at a yard sale and it’s dirt cheap. I still haven’t used the scroll saw I bought for five bucks ten plus years ago, but I might some day.
Selling the cars with the house makes zero sense. Side note: nice to see MT plates on exotic cars parked in actual MT.
As someone else pointed out, this suggests someone moved back to southern California or some big city they were getting away from. They may have decided it wasn’t worth dealing with the cars somewhere that big garages aren’t the norm.
They also may have thought a gimmick would help the house sell for that ridiculous price.
For a while in the LA mega-mansion market, sellers would throw in a new Aston Martin or Ferrari with their $50,000,000 house.
Kinda like you’d leave your old washer/dryer and fridge in the sale of your $400,000 house.
Wow, all that Packout. I really don’t get the guys that want to have their garages and shops completely decked out with Packout stuff like that if they don’t need the mobility. Sure, they are great for a guy in the field working out of a truck or someone regularly on the move; but they are a total pain for stationary/regular use storage. Like, I get it, this guy is way too much of a snob be looking at high value Icon or US General tool boxes, but sheesh, a garage worth of Packout has to be the worst value out there. The shear number of boxes/modules/whatever you need to get means your practically paying SnapOn tool chest prices but only getting plastic boxes with a fraction of the durability, functionality, and way lower quality of life. At least flexing with SnapOn boxes would make more sense.
Yeah, that is a super weird setup. And who knows what kind of garbage is in all those Packouts. Could very well be nothing of value.
I’m on bad internet and the images aren’t loading, but of all the things that distress me about this (and there are a lot), the fact that it’s not even Snap-On tools bums me out the middlest.
That said, if someone thinks a $300 set of medium/medium-lowish quality Kobalt sockets & mechanics’ tools is worth anything, I have a $50,000 shed to sell you.
An odd kind of hoard, is all that crap is. If any work ever happened there we’d see some heavier tools. I once had a friend who last I knew was moving up the ladder at Harbor Freight (Corporate)…and incidentally was kind-of a thief…and I bet his garage looks just like that.
I can see Xibit saying “Yo Dawg, we heard you liked Milwaukee tools”
Helena is Montana “not too far” from Bozeman which means “pretty damn far” to most people.
Distance is different out there. Our Wyoming friends say things like ‘only 6 hours away’ which boggle the mind.
Reminds me of how differently I interpret a “long drive” compared to my East Coast city friends. Less than 2 hours (one-way) is just a quick jaunt.
I need to know the backstory of why this sale is so comprehensive. Owner fled the country? Divorce? Estate sale? Usually, people who sell their houses don’t leave their cars and a wall of new-looking nearly-untouched tools behind.
It is laughably overpriced no matter which angle you consider.
All that money to practically be able to stretch out and touch the neighbors’ houses in a state known for being expansive with a low population and you have to play dodgeball with golf balls. I wonder if the guy worked for Milwaukee and got some heavy discounts. Cars don’t really require that many tools (and I don’t even see a lift or cranes in the article pics), so all those tools and no wood shop (I see some wood on a rack on the ceiling that might just be left overs from some remodeling project and with inconvenient access telling me it’s not meant for projects)? For that money and all those tools (most of which look fairly redundant and none of which look used and neither do the garage spaces for that matter), I want a primo wood shop with a CNC router and a serious collection system.
If you look there are three chainsaws, the tiny pruning chainsaw, the larger one and the full size, if you also look there are no trees on the property. This guy either worked for Milwaukee in some capacity, of was a total wanker and said “one of everything” as a flex.
I’m guessing wanker.
Maybe they won a Milwaukee sweepstakes or something, and the prize included one of everything that they made. It’s the only thing that makes sense.
Or the owner’s a pro/semi-pro golfer sponsored by Milwaukee and they send him one (or two) of every new product.
Oh plot twist
I remember seeing this on Reddit and just thinking the world’s douchiest person lives here. The listing photos included the guy’s Oakley sunglasses display, never mind the Milwaukee tools so clean you could eat off of them, hitting golf balls into land you don’t own, and of course two Aston Martins because one of them wasn’t cool enough right guys?
The “selling everything” approach is weird too. Who bundles their Aston Martins with a house? Is this guy up to his eyeballs in debt and this is his last attempt to avoid bankruptcy?
I’m sure the neighbors will be thrilled when this house has a “Sold” sign in front of it, if it ever does at this pricing.
They’re probably going to part this out. I’ll take the tools if they’re free, but they are not free at that price for this home.
Fronting a park where I might get head-shot by a golf ball while walking the dog isn’t exactly a feature in my book. And, a neighborhood where that’s acceptable is not where I would want to buy anyway.
So 1) I need more land. 2) how do you have that many tools but no lift? If you have that many tools you’re the type of person who likes to do their own work. And I’ll argue OK, even if you’re not a big car guy, maybe you’re a carpenter or something else…. where’s the workshop. You don’t fill a garage bay with that many tools without some ancillary work space. 3) it’s not a tool room it’s a garage bay and that means 1 less place to store a car [see concern number 1].
All in all I can’t figure it out. Small property, a bunch of garages but none tall enough to really put in a lift or hold an RV like many people have out there and no really workshop for the tools… are we sure this guy just wasn’t the local Milwaukee regional sales guy?
A Milwaukee employee was my first thought.
ADDvanced here used to design tools for them: he may have some insight
I bet this guy was a sales rep for Milwaukee. They look like ultra low mileage tools.
How overpriced are Milwaukee if their sales reps can buy 2 Astons and a house like this.
You can do a lot of damage with a decent credit score and some creative debt loading. Maybe the house of cards fell for this guy though.
Remember, this is a $600k – $700k house. Only the seller thinks it’s worth $2.5 million.
I doubt he did the work on the Astons, and I don’t see a lawnmower so I doubt the M18 chainsaws are getting much use. There aren’t even trees.
There’s definitely an HOA with such a large home on such a small lot. They kjnd of share the land behind the homes as a common area that’s maintained by the HOA. I wouldn’t be surprised if the HOA takes care of the rest of the landscaping.
I think the Zillow link is wrong as it takes you to a different house.
Thank you Handro! Fixed!
It seems like there is precisely one person who enjoys golf, aston martins, milwaukee tools, and living in normal suburbia as much as the owner of this house. And that one person is…. the owner of this house. Tools and golf simulator do not a $250,000 markup make.
One question. How does 50 +100 = 250 for the cars?
I was trying to be charitable just in case they’re more special or in pristine condition that I don’t know about… the Realtor still hasn’t called me back…
So 50+150 or so is 200 or so. Rounding up to 250 seems okay here.
My immediate reaction is too much money for a measly 1/4 acre. Sure the tools are nice but I want land, and I could care less about anything golf that isn’t a VW, nor do I value huge TV screens.
I can get more acreage for less money in any number of places so I have room to play with my motorized toys.
Yeah, who spends $2.5M on a 1/4 acre suburban lot in Montana? You could easily find some property where you don’t need to hit golf balls onto a public park.
Case in point, spend the other $1mil on cars and tools:
5 acres:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1825-Wooten-Rd-Helena-MT-59602/216401616_zpid/
30 acres:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7828-Austin-Rd-Helena-MT-59602/216382203_zpid/
11 acres and a lake!
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4055-Short-Line-Ln-Helena-MT-59602/216386468_zpid/
Sign me up for the lake house + $1M in spending cash.
Lake seems pretty generous word for that retention pond…. but the point still stands.
Ehhh 35 second of clicking.
Here you go if you like land and actual lake access:
5496 Soaring Eagle Dr, Helena, MT 59602 | MLS #30013625 | Zillow
Yeah, I’ll take this one instead of the other lake house.
Oh yeah, that’s a winner