A look inside Westfield, NJ’s most infamous real estate deal

David Barbosa is one of the most prestigious real estate agents in the idyllic suburb of Westfield, NJ, with regular listings numbering in the millions.

But in 2019, he got the strangest listing he’d ever had: a beautiful 1905 Dutch colonial building at 657 Boulevard, which had been at the center of one of the city’s most chilling mysteries.

The problems started then in 2014 Derek and Maria Broaddus bought the $1.35 million, six-bedroom dream home, but became the target of a series of anonymous, blood-curdling letters from a stalker calling himself “The Watcher.”

Eight months later, fearing for their safety, the couple put the house up for sale at a modest 10% appreciation. But even after several price cuts, the house would not move.

The house remained on the market for five years, and in May 2019 it landed on Barbosa’s desk.

“We had to find a buyer who didn’t care about the story,” Barbosa says Realtor.com® exclusively.

The battle to unload the house of ‘The Watcher’

The couple struggled for years to get the house virtually empty. Obstructed, the couple finally indicted the previous owners, who claimed they also received a note from The Watcher and failed to disclose it. The former owners denied this and filed a complaint counterclaim for defamation.

Both lawsuits were rejected in 2017. According to the judge in the case, the Broaddus couple thought the letters were written by someone who was “mentally unbalanced.”

The couple resorted to renting out the property for $5,000 a month while periodically retesting the market. In May 2019, the troubled listing’s fortunes changed when it was given to Barbosa, owner of David Real Estate Group.

This time, the house sold within a few months for $959,000, a significant discount from the original sales price.

The buyer was a man who was already in town and familiar with the sinister goings on.

“He knew it and he didn’t care,” Barbosa says. “He thought it was a great deal.”

Property records show the buyers were a married couple who have so far declined to speak to the press.

The agent says the house has “never had a problem since,” in terms of strange letters.

The case has not been resolved. Police, FBI and even private investigators investigated various neighbors and other leads, but were never able to discover The Watcher’s identity.

According to New York Magazine The cutFemale DNA was found on several envelopes, but that still did not lead to a suspect.

How to sell a notorious house

The subsequent Netflix series based on the case had not yet disappeared when Barbosa took over the list, but the bizarre mystery of ‘The Watcher’ had already made international headlines.

In fact, the story had received so much media attention that it inspired a 2017 Australian horror film called “3rd night”, starring Naomi Wattswho later starred in the Ryan Murphy–oriented Netflix series. (The series was filmed in Westchester County, NY, not Westfield.)

“We have no idea why they targeted that family,” Barbosa said of the letter writer. The owners “rented the house for a year, and the tenant got nothing either.” (In 2017, NJ.com identified the tenant as a man named Chris who seemed unfazed by the story of strange messages and said, “That’s not my problem.”)

When asked if he thinks the writer focused specifically on the family and not the house, Barbosa says, “That’s really the only conclusion you can draw.”

Although there was speculation that the owners sent the letters to themselves as part of a hoax that allowed them to split the house’s land into two lots, there was nothing to support these theories. Indeed, the family once went to the planning council to get permission for the division, but did not receive it.

Barbosa says he was well aware of what happened to the house when he agreed to put it on the market.

“The sellers had listed it with another agent,” he says. ‘The biggest in town. They couldn’t sell it.’

The first thing the new broker did was “massage the price,” bringing it below $1 million.

But moving into the house meant more than a nice staging and a good price. Each potential buyer was also referred to a lawyer.

Interested parties had to read a non-disclosure agreement that cataloged every ominous thing that had happened.

“If you wanted to buy it afterwards, you’re in the right place,” says the broker.

Considering that the sellers themselves had sued the former residents for not disclosing their alleged run-in with The Watcher, letting any potential buyer know in advance what had happened was a solid legal defense.

After reading the detailed explanation of events, Barbosa says some potential buyers were put off.

‘One man fell [to the lawyer’s office] and said, ‘I’m not buying this house. This is crazy. ”

Barbosa says he was not allowed to read the documented summary of events himself, but he suspects more happened than the public knows.

“Like I said, a guy walked out and said, ‘Holy cow, there’s no way I’m buying this house.’”

The eventual buyer, however, was not concerned.

“He looked [the NDA]read everything and just thought, ‘Wow, we’re getting a great house on a great street. I just don’t believe the hype. ”

The buyer still lives in the house to this day, despite the occasional crime buffs coming up and “knocking on the door,” the agent says.

Westfield, NJ: A red-hot market for multi-million dollar homes

As for Westfield in general, he says things have softened on the high side. However, it is still a seller’s market in the $800,000 to $1.5 million range, where homes are quickly snapped up in bidding wars.

He says the city’s appeal is due to its beautiful historic mansions, convenient location with rail connections to New Jersey and New York, top schools, easy access to highways and a vibrant shopping district.

“Westfield fits all those boxes,” he says.

In retrospect, the buyer of The Watcher house seems like an understated genius who scored a prime home in a warm suburb for well below market value.

“He got a great deal,” Barbosa said. ‘He knew. The man was smart.

“Isn’t real estate about opportunity?” he decides. “Those who make the money in real estate are the ones who take a chance.”