Celebrity

Jon and Kate Gosselin's Old House Still for Sale

The five-bedroom Pennsylvania home has been on the market for almost three months for $325,000

Published on June 8, 2009 09:00 AM

Trending Videos

Are Jon and Kate Gosselin victims of the nation’s poor housing market? Their Cape Cod-style home in Elizabethtown, Pa., has been on the market for 89 days – and counting – records show.

The price for the 5-bedroom 2½-bath house has stayed constant at $325,000. (They paid $280,000 for it in 2006). On season four, of Jon & Kate Plus Eight an episode showed contractors getting the house in tip-top shape – including removing lighting that had been installed for filming purposes – before it went up for sale.

The home is in a suburban neighborhood where the houses are built fairly close together on approximately 1/3-acre lots. It’s a family-friendly area where kids ride bikes, skateboard and play outside when the weather is warm. But it wasn’t always a peaceful place for the family of 10: Former neighbors say that curious fans often drove by the Gosselin’s house to gawk.

“Fans were dangerous, fans were always coming right up to their house,” says Marilyn Soutner, 49, who lived next door to the Gosselin home. “I’d stand outside with my phone staring at the door like I was calling the police … It was making it a very, very dangerous neighborhood. You don’t know who [was] in those cars.”

Then one day, “Someone flattened the tires to their black van, and that night they were gone,” adds Soutner.

Last fall, the Gosselins moved into a $1.1 million, 6,000-square-foot home in Wernersville, Pa. The closing for the 5-bedroom, 5½-bath home was on Oct. 23, 2008, records show. Unlike their old house, the family now has plenty of privacy. The nearly 24-acre property is fenced in and has a metal gate at the end of the driveway, about a half mile from the front door. Still, that hasn’t stopped paparazzi from hanging out down the road waiting for a glimpse of the family.

As for their former Elizabethtown neighbors, Soutner says people are aware of the couple’s well-publicized marital troubles, and she is pulling for the pair. “I really hope they can get through this,” she says.