At 228 Tater Hill Road in Searcy, Calvin Bittle has listed for sale his underground home, a 2,584 SF, three-bedroom, three-bath house on almost 53 acres.
Bittle, 70, told us that his dream of a below-ground home took shape when he was in the 10th grade. He and a couple of buddies were skipping school when they came across an underground house near Harrison, and it entranced him. “In my mind, I always thought that would really be neat,” he said.
Bittle, who has a plumbing business, bought the acreage on Tater Hill Road when he was about 30 because he wanted land on which he could raise horses. Building the house, which was completed in 1989, took him about four years because he didn’t want to take out a loan and so worked on it as his funds allowed. “We just went room to room,” he said.
Now, however, “I’m 70 years old and it’s just way more than I can take care of,” Bittle said in explaining his decision to list the property for sale.
There are definite advantages to an underground house, he said. The cost of utilities is half or less of the usual expense, and sheltering from tornadoes, of which White County has seen its share, is not a problem. In fact, Bittle offers shelter to his neighbors when the weather turns threatening. “We’d all just hang around till the storm went through.”
In addition, “It’s perfect for people that work nights or sleep during the day,” Bittle said, “because you can’t hardly hear anything in the back rooms.”
The property, which includes a pond, a creek, a shop and a barn, is listed with Re/Max Advantage and has an asking price of $425,000.
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