ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A dilapidated St. Petersburg home where the owner's skeletal remains were found years after his death has been transformed from a neighborhood eyesore to a dream home.
The house sat seemingly abandoned for years during the COVID-19 pandemic, with neighbors unaware that the reclusive owner was dead inside. The body was discovered only after the bank sent a representative to investigate when automatic payments stopped.
"The representative went inside the house and thought they saw a Halloween decoration. It was not a Halloween decoration. It was the skeletal remains of the owner, and they had been there for a while," said Alex Jandick of 131 Cash Home Buyers.
St. Petersburg police told Tampa Bay 28 reporter Michael Paluska the case is inactive, and that the body was too decomposed for the medical examiner to determine the cause of death.
"During COVID, when a lot of people just weren't outside and just staying inside, no one went to check on him, and they said he was a bit of a recluse anyway, so he's just a private person, didn't go outside and was not close with any of his family," Jandick said. "It's just kind of like the perfect storm, essentially."
Jandick specializes in finding the most run-down houses and sold this property to Andrew Strong, a real estate investor who spent more than seven months gutting and renovating the home. The project transformed the one-bedroom, one-bath into a three-bedroom, two-bathroom family home.
"This house got the full nine, everything," Strong said.
When Tampa Bay 28 reporter Michael Paluska first visited the house in 2024, it was infested with rats and roaches, piled high with trash, and had an overwhelming smell. The transformation is stunning.
The room that was once piled high with trash is now the master bedroom. The living room has been completely transformed. What was once a study full of junk is now a bedroom. The kitchen didn't just get updated – it went through a complete metamorphosis.
"I think in the beginning it's always a little overwhelming at the beginning stages, because you're putting together your budget, you're trying to envision the house coming together," Strong said. "You have to be creative. You have to have confidence that you're turning this blank slate into something beautiful."
The renovation represents more than just a house flip – it's about changing communities one property at a time.
"This has literally gone from the by far the worst house on the block to by far the best house on the block," Jandick said.
Strong described the finished product as "a beautifully rehabbed home, a home that's waiting for a buyer and that's gonna spend several years in here. Very happy, yeah, no more zombies, no more zombies. No critters, just a home waiting to be lived in."
If you are interested in the home at 5820 Fairfield Ave S., St. Pete, you can reach out to the realtor, Laura Marie 727-350-7003.
This story was reported on-air by Michael Paluska and converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Paluska and our editorial team verify all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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