The White House Listed On Real Estate Website

Forget visiting the White House, if you have $10 million you can own it. At least that is the price for the president's home on the real estate website Redfin. From the article: "Obviously this is an error. It looks like Redfin software pulled an example listing from the website Owners.com by mistake. That example listing was the White House. We have e-mailed Redfin for comment." I know it's historic but it still looks a bit on the high side according to the comparables in the area.

Comments

So

[G2GAlone]

John Doe lives there, right? =D

Re:So

[cayenne8]

This isn't news really, I mean we all know that the white house has been for sale to the highest bidders for that last few administrations.

Re:So

[DesScorp]

This isn't news really, I mean we all know that the white house has been for sale to the highest bidders for that last few administrations.

The White House... and every other government center of power... has been for sale on and off since they all came to exist. That's the rotten nature of politics. The more a politician claims to be cleaner than his opponents, the more skeletons he has in his closet.

Re:So

[TheCarp]

I heard someone say once (it may have been Ira Glass on TAL but, I am not sure), "If I told you that I am basically a decent guy, you would instantly know that I am not to be trusted, and you should probably keep your kids away from me".

Overall, I don't think that reaction is as common as it should be, because the sentiment seems to be dead on.

I am certainly not the first person to point out that the politicians and commentators who get caught with prostitutes or having affairs, all seem to be the ones that crowed the loudest when someone else did it. The same goes for the ones who get caught with gay prostitutes or soliciting men, they so often seem to have opposed gay rights in some way, or even talked about how immoral homosexuality is.

Certainly, not everyone who has a problem with homosexuality or infidelity is an offender, I can't prove that by a long shot but, it does seem to be the ones who are loud mouthed about it, the ones with a particular interest in the cases of others, who turn out to be doing the same thing.

-Steve

Re:So

[MoeDumb]

The entire nation will be in hock soon and up for grabs anyway. Why should Pennsylvania Avenue be any different?

Cheap at twice the price

[loftwyr]

Ten Million is a steal if you realize how much you can make off renting it out. All those bedrooms, a huge garden, round the clock military security!

And close to historical sites for educational purposes!

I'm making an offer today!

Re:Cheap at twice the price

[tomhath]

Ten Million is a steal if you realize how much you can make off renting it out.

Heck yes!. Clinton was getting $100k per night for the Lincoln Bedroom alone.

Re:Cheap at twice the price

[Stephen Samuel]

... not to mention the prestige factor of being able to say that you live there.

It's also an incredible place to base your business. If you leave a message saying "Pleasd call Bill Smith at The White House 773-555-1376", You're almost sure to get a callback.

Re:Cheap at twice the price

[eugene ts wong]

Hmm, I don't know. It still seems expensive. Does it come with a laundry machine?

Re:Cheap at twice the price

[Kenoli]

The $10 million price was clearly an error. It takes much more to become president.

Re:Cheap at twice the price

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Re:Cheap at twice the price

[Pharmboy]

I don't think that is ALL Clinton was getting out of the White House bedrooms....

[rimshot]

Re:Cheap at twice the price

[Miseph]

I regret to inform you that you have been outbid. Privacy regulations and campaign contribution rules prevent me from telling you who the bidder was by name, sorry.

I can, however, tell you that all of the Dow Jones Industrial Average companies outbid you. Have a nice day, and don't forget to vote in November :snicker:.

The answer....

[Pharmboy]

Is the White House for sale? No, but you can certainly *rent* it for four years at a time, if the price is right.

Re:The answer....

[Pharmboy]

Renting doesn't necessarily imply that you live there. Perhaps you are just renting the services of the current resident, which is even better than living there as you don't have to go from fresh to gray in 4 years.

Comes with the debt?

[courteaudotbiz]

If so, I don't want it even if they give me a billion to own it! ;-)

Deficit solution

[ollie231]

I didn't know the US budget was in such dire straits =P

Re:Deficit solution

[DeusExMach]

Then you haven't been paying very close attention...

Check Comparable Sales First

[DieByWire]

I think the price is a little high. You can buy a senate office for a lot less than that.

Re:Check Comparable Sales First

[Nemyst]

I think the price is a little high. You can buy a senate office for a lot less than that.

Hell for that price the office with come complete with your own Senator.

Yeah, that's why the price went down that much.

Re:Check Comparable Sales First

[cyberzephyr]

Please tell that to Meg Whitman

World Wide Wed of Scraping Data

[Orga]

Must have been to pricey to hire Indian resources to even screen the data coming in. Congrats to refin for being another duplicator instead of innovator.

Re:World Wide Wed of Scraping Data

[Myopic]

It might be 'to' pricey, but you can buy 'to' of them if you want 'to'.

Re:World Wide Wed of Scraping Data

[Deag]

This seems to be evolving into the standard how to promote your real estate site stunt. Zillow did the same a few years ago.

Re:World Wide Wed of Scraping Data

[ShaunC]

Must have been to pricey to hire Indian resources to even screen the data coming in.

It was most likely not scraped, and almost certainly not screened.

I'm the DBA at a large (annual revenue in the billions) real estate firm, and we have feeds negotiated with all sorts of websites to syndicate our listing data around the web. Regional MLS boards operate under strict sets of rules surrounding what you can distribute and where. However, the onus is never on the publisher to screen listing data coming in; instead, a disclaimer such as "Information is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed" must be displayed along all property listings.

The sheer volume makes it impossible. We have approximately 20,000 listings within our own company and another 400,000 IDX listings. No company in the world could afford to screen anywhere near that much data. It's possible that whatever broker or firm originated the bogus listing could be fined, though the fines aren't generally noteworthy.

that's pretty cheap....

[nycguy]

Considering that the current occupant paid $740.6 million for a 4-year lease....

Re:that's pretty cheap....

[shikaisi]

Well, property values have gone right down ever since those colored people moved into the area.

Re:that's pretty cheap....

[Nobo]

Actually his friends paid for him.

Compariables?

[jandrese]

What buildings near the White House are being used for comparison on this sale? My guess is that 10 Million is on the low side given the amenities in the house. Hell, there are places half that size out in Arlington that are going for a couple million, and they don't have anything like the primo location the White House enjoys.

Re:Compariables?

[bjourne]

On the other hand, isn't the White House located practically in the middle of a ghetto? Obviously that lowers the property value. Someone who knows more about Washington can correct me if wrong.

Re:Compariables?

[oddTodd123]

The biggest problem is you can't drive a car within a few hundred yards of the front door. Unloading groceries must be a pain in the ass!

Re:Compariables?

[magarity]

What buildings near the White House are being used for comparison on this sale?
 
Depends if you are considering it a residence only or an office building with attached living quarters. If the latter then there are lots of office buildings nearby and I bet a lot of them have apartments or similar in among the offices. So since the WH wastes a lot of space on a huge lawn and garden and is only a few stories tall, it isn't worth much as a commercial office structure.

Re:Compariables?

[tibman]

It is surrounded by monuments and museums.. i don't think anyone lives around it. Unless you count bums.

Re:Compariables?

[blair1q]

its immediate vicinity isn't so bad. But that lousy Congress lives down the street. Hard to keep prospective buyers from finding that out before they make an offer, too.

Re:Compariables?

[tibman]

Hah, thank you for the correction. It should read: "Unless you count bums and congress-critters."

The one detail they neglected to mention

[mysidia]

It's to rent the place (for a maximum of 2 4-year lease terms). And $10 is just a down payment of a small portion of the cash required for the buyer vetting process.

Generally the vetting process requires over 6 months, and requires the owner's special board they like to call the "Electoral College", to approve of you.

They also have to approve you renewing the lease.

Re:The one detail they neglected to mention

[HBI]

The 300 million member HOA is also very annoying and intrusive.

Re:The one detail they neglected to mention

[hedwards]

Fortunately if you just promise half of them to nuke somebody they dislike and the other half to save the endangered snails. Er, the snails endangered when you dropped that nuke, you're virtually guaranteed in.

Mistake?

[hipp5]

Mistake, or really good way to draw attention to your website?

Up for sale?

[CAIMLAS]

I'm sorry, it can't be up for sale. They sold it off some time ago (to the highest bidder)...

Finally

[retardpicnic]

Ross Perot stands a chance of being able to get into the white house!

What are they comparing to?

[damn_registrars]

From the summary:

I know it's historic but it still looks a bit on the high side according to the comparables in the area.

What else in the DC area has an indoor pool, indoor bowling alley, private basketball court, and a private helicopter landing site?

You misunderstood

[elrous0]

The $10 million isn't the *cost* of the house. It's what lobbyists and big business will *give* you if you live there.

Flip it!

[Drakkenmensch]

Buy it, slap on a coat of white semi-gloss, resell it to the federal government for a cool 100 mil!

I think I would take it...

[qrv9412]

It does have one hell of a finished basement.

Wow

[damn_registrars]

I didn't think things had gotten so rough for Halliburton that they would need to start selling some of their properties...

Foreclosure?

[bigdaddyhame]

maybe the bank's foreclosing and listing the property preemptively. Did anyone check to see if the Obamas were in default? Just another black family getting tossed out by heartless corporate fatcats, nothing to see here.

Re:Me

[demonlapin]

That sounds like a pretty reasonable valuation for house and grounds.

Well, this thread is predictable

[GodfatherofSoul]

Nothing but bait for lame "buy the President" puns and a flood of partisan counterattacks. Nice work, editors.

Re:Well, this thread is predictable

[kaizendojo]

Nothing but bait for lame "buy the President" puns and a flood of partisan counterattacks. Nice work, editors.

I knew someone would say that..

Re:Well, this thread is predictable

[nschubach]

I knew someone would say they knew!

cheap

[confused one]

I know it's historic but it still looks a bit on the high side according to the comparables in the area.

That statement most certainly does not account for all the "extras" the house comes with. Has several floors that extend below ground level. Security facilities. Built-in armageddon proof bomb shelter. State of the art communications. and so on.

Re:cheap

[confused one]

It's not proofed against the "armageddon" of global warming. It's only about 12 feet above sea level and might be underwater in 100 years

If it comes to that, the capital will be like New Orleans... surrounded by sea walls and leeves.

How much would it really cost to duplicate?

[192939495969798999]

This does prompt a good question: How much would it really cost to make a copy of the white house, including the known grounds and security stuff presumably inside, as accurately as possible minus the one-of-a-kind artifacts?

Re:How much would it really cost to duplicate?

[cowscows]

It's pretty tough to come up with an accurate number for a building that complicated without a decent amount of work, but we can ballpark some numbers just to give us something to think about. According to whitehousehistory.org, there's about 55,000 sq. ft. worth of space in the building. The typical american stick-frame house usually runs somewhere between $100 to $200 per square foot, depending on the design/finishes/etc. If we split that, and go with $150 per sq. ft., we're already up to $8.25 million. I think once you add on the fact that it's not 2x4 wood framing (there's actually a steel frame that replaced the original heavy timber framing), and that you've got stone facade rather than vinyl siding, probably some very nice finishes, plus the fact that a bunch of people work there all day, plus all the security stuff, plus facilities for tours coming through, etc...you'd probably be looking at at least three or four times that. Buildings are expensive.

Re:How much would it really cost to duplicate?

[Dahamma]

Yeah, but that's just for duplicating it as a "normal house". I think you MASSIVELY underestimate the "security stuff"... ie, the giant underground bunker underneath the East Wing known as the "Presidential Emergency Operations Center". Not to mention all of the security systems (laser blinders? Stinger batteries? Flying monkeys??) we don't know about...

(also, it's probably not necessary for a back of the hand calculation like this, since it seems to have been done by expert real estate appraising companies already - they estimated it at approximately $300M - again not including any bunker(s) or security systems they don't know about)

Re:How much would it really cost to duplicate?

[Relic of the Future]

Problem #1 with your analysis is that "the typical American house" and "the typical American house in the Washington D.C. metro area" cost VASTLY different amounts.

As they say: location, location, location.

Re:How much would it really cost to duplicate?

[cowscows]

While construction costs do vary by location, the bigger premiums in houses generally have more to do with the cost of the land, which is a separate issue from my little cost exercise.

No doubt that big chunk of landing the middle of dc is quite valuable.

Full Disclosure

[skogula]

In the interest of full disclosure. We have to report a major structural fire on August 24, 1814. Most of the interior was gutted, and some exterior walls had to be re-built. The fire was ruled to be Arson, perpetrated by a gang of disgruntled Canadians. Since that time, there have been 40 other owners. Mostly white professionals although persons of a mixed ethnic background have been moving into the area in recent years.

would be a felony in my state

[peter303]

To try to sell something this expensive without title to it. Obviously this is a hack. But there have been cases of "title identity theft" in the past by shady characters in my town. The county clerks dont rigorously check all the documents. If you after a change of mortgage lien along with owner name change, they assume the banks have worked it out. The shady cahracters would disguise this during a refi.

Re:would be a felony in my state

[socsoc]

Did you even read TFS? Aside from that county clerks have nothing to do with a listing, it wasn't a hack or anything intentionally shady.

It looks like Redfin software pulled an example listing from the website Owners.com by mistake.

Seems like a steal.

[Nobo]

Per the District of Columbia Assessor, the property is assessed at $995 million -- $963m for the 18 acres of land and $31.1m for the building.

Re:Seems like a steal.

[Chris Mattern]

Not that the US government pays property tax to DC on anything it owns, of course.

Re:Seems like a steal.

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Yay to DC for pulling a completely fictional number out of their ass. A billion dollars for 18 acres?

Re:Already for sale

[StillNeedMoreCoffee]

No sorry, this is an old listing, from the previous administration, you know the Chaney White House. Say look their oil spill is starting to soil the lawn.

Sounds like Rod Blagojevich strikes again

[dspkable]

First it's his Senate seat, then he tries to sell Obama's house right out from under him. Cold-blooded :)

Sold!

[YesDinosaursDidExist]

Don't be silly - China already owns it.

Move in

[axehind]

I just want to be there and watch when the people try to move in! I would be sure to record it.

It is foreclosed?

[hackingbear]

I didn't know the foreclosure problem getting this worse. or maybe we should have expected its coming, given our trillion dollar debts.

Selling the Trevi Fountain

[pmontra]

It reminds me this famous scam (English subtitles) in a 60s Italian movie. "Selling the Trevi fountain" has become an idiom in Italy since then.

Re:Selling the Trevi Fountain

[canajin56]

The same thing is true in the USA, and older than the 60s: Selling the Brooklyn Bridge. Though jokes about it abound, several different Con men have "sold" it many times over in the past. It invariably ends with a sucker trying to build a toll both, waving a deed at the police, then being hauled off the bridge.

Wait a minute,

[warGod3]

Does it come with the security detail and the cooks?

Re:Wait a minute,

[zill]

For some reason Nixon's face popped into mind when I read your post. Then I realized I misread "cooks" as "crooks".

There's still unrepaired damage...

[EWAdams]

... from the War of 1812. You should definitely ask for a discount.

Re:There's still unrepaired damage...

[H0p313ss]

... from the War of 1812. You should definitely ask for a discount.

Damned tourists!

Re:There's still unrepaired damage...

[blair1q]

I seriously doubt that.

The building was gutted and rebuilt from the basement to the roof 60 years ago.

http://www.trumanlibrary.org/abierowe/whitehse.htm

But you might want to check for pretzel crumbs under the sofa in the residence.

It's just a sample listing

[gord0001]

This is the sample listing used on the open source software Open Realty. I installed it via Simplescripts and the white house listing is automatically created as a demo record.

A lot of commotion over nothing. I'm sure Open Realty is loving all the publicity though. I've been developing a property management site with it, and it's a great piece of software.

A White House that you can actually buy

[digiplant]

Want to live in the White House but hate Washington politics? Check this out: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/us/08atlanta.html

Americathon coming true

[nexttech]

They have rented a less expensive Condo in california Americathon

"...looks a bit on the high side..."

[John Hasler]

I've heard that it has a nicely finished basement.

Re:As if the jews would unhand their grip on banks

[camelrider]

Anyone who has worked with steel knows that most alloys will bend more easily with a relatively modest application of heat.

With a lot of weight above bent structural members structural failure is guaranteed!

1600 Pennsylvania Ave: $270,050,000

[Doc Ruby]

Zillow.com has a detailed listing for the White House saying it's worth $270,050,000. Interestingly, its purchase value peaked at $331M on April 1, 2008.

Re:1600 Pennsylvania Ave: $270,050,000

[blair1q]

Does that figure include the secret tunnels or the AA batteries on the roof?

He will be acquitted

[ub3r n3u7r4l1st]

He has provided honest services to its people. The honest services law will be challenged and strike down by SCOTUS.

How it happened...

[MattGoyer]

Matt from Redfin here... For those curious we blogged about how the White House came to be for sale on Redfin, No, No, the White House is Not For Sale.

Flip THIS house

[kungfugleek]

Subject says it all....

Crime Rate

[gebbeth]

I dunno, its kinda in a high crime neighborhood, considering that most of the laws that come out of Washington these days aren't authorized under the Constitution.

Au contraire, mon frère.

[EWAdams]

There are still scorch marks and soot on the exterior. They are left there intentionally as a reminder.

Oprah?

[RightM]

I thought Oprah bought the WhiteHouse....