At the end of the third season of the beloved Netflix hit “Stranger Things,” Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) packs up her things and moves her two sons, Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) and Will (Noah Schnapp), and her adopted daughter, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), out of their longtime home to relocate to a new place in the hopes of escaping the constant terrors of Hawkins, Ind. once and for all. And in a case of life imitating art, the real-life homeowners of the property that plays the Byers pad on the show (which is actually located in the Atlanta, Ga. area) appear to be doing the same, as the modest one-level residence just hit the open market this week!
Situated about 20 miles south of downtown Atlanta on the far outskirts of Fayetteville, the residence is the true definition of rural. Standing against a heavily wooded backdrop at the end of a dusty, winding driveway on a sprawling 6.17-acre lot at 149 Coastline Rd. (a little under a mile away from Bethany United Methodist Church Cemetery, where Will’s funeral was held in the episode titled “Chapter Five: The Flea and the Acrobat”), the pad proved a perfectly spooky spot for the events of the series’ first three seasons to play out. And now it can be yours! Repped by Michael Smith (aka Mickey the Realtor) of eXp Realty, the dwelling is being offered for a cool $300,000. (Please remember this is a private home. Do not trespass or bother the residents or the property in any way.)
Originally built in 1900, the clapboard structure comprises three bedrooms and two baths in 1,846 square feet. While the listing notes that the sale includes a barn on the grounds, no mention is made of a Castle Byers being stationed anywhere nearby.
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Image Credit: eXp Realty Prospective buyers don’t need Joyce’s alphabet wall to spell out the fact that the home needs some major TLC. Outside of the above photo, interior imagery is virtually nil, and the listing advises that the place requires “a full rehab” and is “being sold ‘AS-IS’ with no seller disclosure.”
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Image Credit: eXp Realty Limited number of pictures notwithstanding, Mickey the Realtor did a fabulous job of doctoring the few published with the full Upside Down treatment.
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Image Credit: eXp Realty The residence makes its first “Stranger Things” appearance in the 1980s-set series’ premiere episode, titled “Chapter 1: The Vanishing of Will Byers,” as Will returns home from a Dungeons & Dragons session with his friends one dark night only to be confronted by The Demogorgon and winding up stuck in the Upside Down. The property has since gone on to become one of the show’s central locations, featured extensively throughout the initial three seasons.
In selecting the pad for the series, production designer Chris Trujillo told the Interiors website, “When we found the Byers house exterior, there was no question in anyone’s mind that it was exactly what we were looking for: a ramshackle old house built between the wars, clad in grey-blue faux-wood asbestos siding, across the tracks, at the end of a grim gravel drive, pressed up against the woods on the far edge of town. Before you get through the front door, you start to know who the Byers are and maybe what Will has been through.” The pad does undoubtedly tell a story in just one glance!
Despite its naturally rugged aesthetic, Trujillo and his team dress the place down considerably for the show, outfitting the yard with a plethora of detritus and overgrown foliage prior to each shoot, thereby giving it a far more dilapidated and lived-in look than it has in real life.
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Image Credit: eXp Realty “Stranger Things” makes copious use of the home’s exterior and forested surroundings, frequently shooting on the porch and in both the front and rear yards.
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Image Credit: Netflix Only the outside of the pad is featured on the series. The retro wood-paneled interior regularly seen onscreen is a set designed by Trujillo on a soundstage at EUE/Screen Gems Studios in Atlanta.
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Image Credit: Netflix Incredibly, only one Byers residence set was crafted, meaning that for the scenes occuring in the Upside Down version of the house, the production team has to thoroughly transform the space – a rather painstaking endeavor, especially considering that the vast majority of the show’s effects are carried out practically and not via CGI. Of the elaborate process, Trujillo told Tudum, “It’s a total pain in the ass in terms of scheduling because we didn’t duplicate that set. We’re always working with that same space. It was a real ordeal choreographing with all the departments that are necessary to make those big changeovers, do big lighting changes, change walls out and just physically destroy things. It’s a challenge. It’s a logistical headache and a continuity nightmare, but ultimately really satisfying because everybody thinks about that set when they think about ‘Stranger Things.’”
Indeed, the Byers’ house is one of the series’ most iconic locales, likely worth far more than $300,000 to uberfans – particularly since the sale brings with it the potential to follow the lead of so many filming location owners as of late by turning the place into a themed Airbnb à la the Swan house from “Twilight,” the Stark cabin from “Avengers: Endgame” and the Byers’ new California home from season four of “Stranger Things.”
The current residents are apparently very unamenable to fans. Stories of people visiting the property to take selfies out front and receiving a very unfriendly welcome are legendary amongst location aficionados. So the listing provides a unique opportunity for different-minded buyers to wholeheartedly embrace the pad’s notable small-screen role.
Those who can’t afford to spring for the actual residence can always opt to purchase the Lego version instead. And fans in San Francisco, London, New York and Atlanta can avail themselves of Stranger Things: The Experience, an immersive attraction that, as NBC describes, “combines the special effects of a 3D Universal Studios ride with a telekinetic escape room,” fully submerging participants into the deep dark world of the Upside Down.