REVEALED: Why fast-food heiress who survived two abductions sold her mansion at a loss

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

It was curious why the billionaire heiress to the In-N-Out fast food fortune sold her massive California estate for a loss.
Lynsi Snyder, CEO and president of the burger chain, first listed the seven bedroom, 16 bathroom mansion — a gated, ultra-private 4-acre estate with a golf course, home theater, and its own vineyard — for $16.3 million in March 2021.
She purchased it for $17.4 million in 2012 from former LA dodgers player Adrián Beltré.
There's a reason Snyder took a $900,000 hit.
Snyder revealed that she is relocating her family from California to Tennessee, since the popular burger chain has started an eastern expansion.
'There's a lot of great things about California, but raising a family is not easy here,' Snyder shared on Allie Beth Stuckey's 'Relatable' podcast.
'Doing business is not easy here. We're building an office in Franklin, so I'm actually moving out there.'
Snyder, who has served as the company's president since 2010, revealed there will be a new office in Franklin, Tenn., located just south of Nashville.
'It will be wonderful having an office out there, growing out there and being able to have the family and other people's families out there,' she said.
The company is planning to open its first Tennessee restaurants by 2026.
Snyder hinted that In-N-Out could expand into other places on the East coast.
As for the house she sold, it's spectacular.
The main residence has 11 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms, spread over multiple wings.
A grand circular driveway sits outside the front door and a massive portico sits at the entrance.
A dual staircase sits in the foyer with a massive chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
There's a chef's kitchen with double islands, high-end appliances, and walk-in pantries.
There's also a temperature-controlled wine cellar and tasting room.
The home also has a theater, a game room with a wet bar, a fully equipped fitness studio, and a built-in hair salon in the primary suite.
A separate 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom guest house with its own garage is ideal for visitors.
Snyder, current CEO and president of the burger chain, had also built a 3,400 square-foot recreation building with another gym and a batting cage.
Outside sits an infinity pool with a cabana, an outdoor kitchen, multiple dining areas, a firepit, a two-hole golf course, sand traps, a putting green, tennis and basketball courts, and a vineyard with fruit trees.
The home provides so many amenities, it's like you never have to leave – and Snyder rarely did.
She's been called one of the most private billionaires in the US and withdrew from public life early after she survived two kidnapping attempts as a child from criminals trying to extort her family for millions.
The reclusive heiress is the only child of Lynda and H. Guy Snyder and the only grandchild of Harry and Esther Snyder, who founded In-N-Out in 1948.
A massive soaking tub sits in the bathroom off the primary bedroom
Snyder, who has been married 4 times and has 4 children, had purposefully remained hidden for years until 2013, when she was ranked a billionaire for the first time by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
In 2014, Snyder talked about the kidnapping attempts, telling Orange Coast magazine that the first attempt took place when she was only 17-years-old and still in high school — just months before her father died from an accidental drug overdose.
The second took place when she started working in the family business full time at age 24 — the same year that her grandmother Esther died after taking over the company following her son's death.
Snyder, 43, escaped the second kidnapping attempt by running across an expressway near the In-N-Out headquarters in Baldwin Park, California.
She said that she was able to sense something off about the men because 'they had a van with boarded-up windows.'
Her rise to CEO of In-N-Out began when she was a teenager.
Snyder grew up in Northern California where her father had a ranch.
She she was hired at a new In-N-Out spot in Redding, CA, where she washed lettuce and sliced onions after school and on weekends. Only the store manager knew of her family ties.
The home has a game room with a wet bar and a pool table for guests to enjoy
The massive primary suite in the main residence was used by Snyder
When Snyder was 11 years old, her uncle Rich Snyder was on board a private jet in 1993 when it crashed near Los Angeles. After he died, the company was then handed to Snyder's father, who died of a drug overdose six years later.
Her grandmother was then given control of the company until she died in 2006, at which point Snyder was 27 and called to take over.
Her first husband was Jeremiah Seawell, her high school sweetheart, and they married when she was only 18.
The marriage only lasted two years, but by the time she was 25 she remarried Richard Martinez, a man who was working at In-N-Out at the time.
They had twins before their marriage ended in 2011 and she went on to marry race driver Val Torres Jr a few months later that same year and had another baby.
In 2014, Snyder married Sean Ellingson (July 7, 2014 – present): In May 2014, Snyder became engaged to Sean Ellingson and she gave birth to their son, her fourth child, later that same year.
Snyder is deeply involved with a Christian charity called Healing Hearts and Nations and still works with the group.
Her kids attend private Christian schools, but she keeps their lives private out of fear that they too could become targets of kidnapping plots.
An ariel view of the California estate Snyder just sold at a nearly $1 million loss
Snyder, whose current net worth according to Fortune is $7.3 billion, did give a rare interview in April, describing how she leads the fast food chain.
'I'm a pretty tough person,' she told the 'How Leaders Lead' podcast.
'Now not going to say that I don't get surprised at times … there's been a fair share of betrayal and stuff like that, but I'm not going to let the few people that screw me over change the positive and connected close relationships I could have with all the good ones.
'Because there are some that will take advantage or hurt me, I'm not going to make everyone else miss out on what we could have.'
She's been told by colleagues who worked with her family members that her leadership style is a lot like her father and uncle.