Buying a Starter Home

Two Things You Should Consider Before Buying A Famous Home

29 December 2016

Capucine Leroux

There are a number of homes on the market that either belonged to famous people or are iconic in their own right. For instance, a home formally owned by Prince went on sale in Toronto, Canada, for $12.8 million. It can be tempting to purchase one of these houses just for the bragging rights, but you may want to consider these two issues before you make an offer on a famous home to ensure you know what you're getting into before you sign the sale contract.

You May Constantly Have Unwanted Visitors

One problem you may experience after purchasing a home made famous by a celebrity, movie, or television show is you may have unwanted visitors constantly stopping by. It's not unusual for celebrities to have super fans drop by unannounced and unwanted. Since the press follows celebrities' every move and real estate records can be accessed by the public, you can be sure your address and its connection to the celebrity will be broadcast to the world, possibly making your home a tourist stop.

Iconic homes have similar issues with tourists. For instance, the owners of the home that inspired the movie "A Haunting in Connecticut" reported being plagued with tourists looking to get a glimpse of the purportedly haunted house. Not only can unwanted visitors be a nuisance for you, they can also cause problems with the neighbors and lead to legal problems down the road as a result.

In either case, you may need to take extra steps to protect yourself and your family. The owners of the Connecticut home removed the house numbers and police conducted more frequent patrols to scare off potential trespasser. You may need to hire private security or install a fence to keep people out if you're not interested in playing tour guide to curious fans who may show up. It's a good idea to speak to a security consultant about this issue before making an offer.

It May Be Harder to Sell

Another challenge you may face with owning a famous house is it may be harder to sell it. Celebrity homes tend to be supersized. For example, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony owned a 9-bedroom home in Hidden Hills, California, that was worth $17 million. The average family doesn't need that much space or can afford to pay that much money. Therefore, your pool of potential homebuyers may be a lot smaller than is desirable and selling the place may take a lot longer than you anticipated.

Famous homes that have bad or eerie reputations are also difficult to offload. For instance, the Amityville Horror house where a series of gruesome murders took place in 1974 that inspired a novel and film has been challenging to sell because of it dark history, tourists, and reports of strange activity occurring in the home by previous owners.

However, just because a home may be more difficult to sell doesn't mean no one will be interested in buying it. You may need to make a special effort to attract the type of buyers who would be interested in your home. For instance, there's a trend of people buying purportedly haunted houses for a variety of reasons, including the thrill of possibly living in a place where spirits dwell. It's important to know who your market is likely to be go into the sale and allow yourself enough time to attract and convince another family to move in when you're ready to move out.

For more information about the challenges of living in a famous house or assistance with finding homes for sale, contact a real estate agent in your area.

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