Demolition crews set fire to a luxury home teetering precariously along a crumbling cliffside, destroying it before the home can collapse into the lake more than 75 feet below.

The Hill County Sheriff's Office decided to demolish the endangered luxury cliffside home in Whitney, Texas, after the home's owners, Robert and Denise Webb, decided that would be the best course of action.

The Webbs were forced to evacuate and abandoned the home a few weeks ago after the home and cliffside began to crumble back in April. The couple told WTSP that an inspection was done on the house when they first purchased it back in 2012 and that they were assured by geologists and inspectors that the house was "perfectly stable."

Unfortunately the pair's insurance policy doesn't cover earth movement, meaning they'll have to shoulder the financial blow. Tax records show the home in the White Bluff Resort subdivision near Whitney was built in 2007 and is worth more than $700,000, according to the Associated Press, a sum the couple took out of their retirement funds.

But the emotional blow may be even more costly for the pair.

"It's, it's really tough—that house was special and I don't even know why it was so special but it was special to me," Denise Webb told WTSP.

"I wanted to leave that to my grandchildren. It's a big hit," Robert Webb added.

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In this photo taken from video provided by WFAA-TV, a luxury house teeters on a cliff about 75 feet above Lake Whitney in Texas.

(AP Photo/WFAA.com)

The 4,000-square-foot home sat above Lake Whitney, apopular vacation destinationabout 75 miles south of Fort Worth.

Neighbors told WFAA.com they heard a loud crash Tuesday evening, and they first thought it was an earthquake. Then they saw "smoke, dust, water ... a huge cloud of stuff," coming from across the lake.

Initial photos and video showed part of the cliff had washed away. A portion of the foundation, a back deck and other pieces of the home were also missing.

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