HGTV Brady!

by | Aug 11, 2018 | Frenzy, Historic Homes, Jim's Take on the Market | 6 comments

The bidding for the “Brady Bunch” house got down to a horse race, listing agent Ernie Carswell said, but it was HGTV that ultimately pulled away from the pack. So, just how much did the cable network spend to secure the television-famous property? About twice the asking price.

HGTV paid $3.5 million to buy the Studio City residence, or $1.615 million more than the list price of $1.885 million. The sale closed Friday.

The home received eight offers, Carswell said.

The players included stage and television producers, corporate parties and entertainers such as singer-dancer Lance Bass, who was “heartbroken” to learn he had not submitted the winning bid.

All of them planned to keep the home basically intact.

“Every [bidder] intended to retain the front facade as a historic preservation, but most of them intended to renovate the interiors,” Carswell said. “No developer submitted a bid for the property.”

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Brady House

by | Jul 19, 2018 | Historic Homes, Jim's Take on the Market

The Brady Bunch house, a Traditional-style residence near the Colfax Meadows neighborhood, was used for outdoor representations of the beloved television family’s abode. That included the show’s opening and closing scenes as well as numerous interludes to denote the time of day. Interior scenes for “The Brady Bunch” were filmed in studio.

Violet and George McCallister bought the two-bedroom, three-bathroom house in 1973 for $61,000, records show. The series ran from September 1969 to March 1974 before moving into reruns in syndication.

The desirability of the property is enhanced by its size, a 12,500-square-foot lot that abuts the L.A. River. It sits in an area that has been ripe for tear-downs and new development in recent years. But the owners will give first consideration to bidders who want to keep the home intact, Carswell said.

“We’re not going to accept the first big offer from a developer who wants to tear it down,” he said. “We’re going to wait a few days, in case there are others who want to purchase it as an investment to preserve it.”

Carswell expects to see overwhelming interest in the property. “We’re preparing for an avalanche,” he said. “Emails, telephone calls — we may see upwards of 500 calls a day.”

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Ghost-Town Result

by | Jul 17, 2018 | Auctions, Bidding Wars, Historic Homes, Jim's Take on the Market | 5 comments

Hat tip to Eddie89 for alerting us to how the sale turned out:

A bidding war recently broke out over a prime piece of California real estate — and it wasn’t for a tiny San Francisco condo.

In this case, a dozen offers were made for an entire town, the 19th-century mining hub of Cerro Gordo, on 300 acres in the Inyo Mountains outside Lone Pine, Calif. It was listed for for $925,000 in June and closed on Friday the 13th for $1.4 million.

“I would say the date was very coincidental,” says listing agent Jake Rasmuson of Bishop Real Estate. “Strictly by chance but very fitting for the property.”

The seller accepted an offer from a group of Los Angeles investors who plan to preserve the relic of the American West and keep it open to the public.

“We did have higher offers, however the sellers really liked the buyers’ proposal and liked the buyers’ plan,” says Rasmuson.

Cerro Gordo has been in the hands of the same family for decades, and though privately owned, it was open to the public for tours. The owners were hoping to sell to someone who appreciates the property’s history.

The buyers are Brent Underwood, who founded the youth hostel HK Austin and Jon Bier, who runs a public relations firm catering to athletes. The two teamed up with other investors to make the purchase; they include Ryan Holiday, former director of marketing at American Apparel; Tero Isokauppila, CEO/founder of superfood company Four Sigmatic; Brendan Gahan, CEO/founder of Epic Signal; George Rutolo, owner of The Whisky Bars; and Kelley Mooney, an en executive at Hulu.

“We want to maintain the historic nature of the property while introducing amenities that will allow more people to enjoy this piece of American history,” Underwood says. “We have spent a lot of time with the current owners and caretaker to learn the history of the place. I’ve read all the books I can find on the town. I can’t express our excitement to be able to continue the care of this beautiful location.”

He adds that they also hope to eventually add overnight accommodations and events such as writing retreats, concerts, photo shoots, theater and more.

Silver was first discovered in the hills of Cerro Gordo in 1865, and in the following years prospectors flocked to its rich veins of silver. It became known as the “silver thread” to Los Angeles and silver was loaded onto mule trains and taken to the city. The town population swelled to some 5,000 at its height and quickly dwindled when silver prices dropped in 1877.

“We want to create a place that pays tribute to this historic part of American history,” Underwood says.

https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Cerro-Gordo-California-ghost-town-real-estate-13079866.php

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