$106 Million According to HouseValues After Surveying Real Estate Agents Nationwide to Determine the Market Value of the World’s Most Famous Residence
The average price of a home in America these days is $223,000 – a lot of money, but nothing compared to the $667,000 monthly mortgage payment for what would undoubtedly be the most expensive home in America – if it were only for sale. What house? The White House.
Top real estate agents nationwide were asked to estimate what the White House’s listing price would be if it were for sale in today’s hot real estate market.
After scouring price-per-foot data, reviewing the home’s features and historical significance, the agents’ collective answer is that the world’s most famous residence would command an asking price of $106 million, according to a national survey by Bellevue-based HouseValues, Inc.
To qualify for a jumbo 30-year, fixed-rate loan at 7.5 percent, and assuming 10 percent down, the proud new owners of the 132-room house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue would need to pull down an annual salary of at least $18 million. “We’ve provided home evaluations for just about every size, color and style of property imaginable,” said Ian Morris, HouseValues president and CEO. “However, we don’t see a lot of homes with their own dentist office, movie theater, running track and bowling lane,” he added.
Knowing that the American people are the real owners of the White House when all is said and done, the chances of it ever coming on the market are negligible.
A booming real estate market, combined with Americans’ ongoing fascination with the value of their most significant asset – their homes – were reason enough to ask some of the nation’s top real estate agents to estimate the market value of what Morris called “the ultimate listing.”
Agents who accepted the challenge faced a couple of formidable obstacles. First, the White House is truly incomparable, so there were no comparables or “comps” – an agent’s stock in trade in helping to determine a home’s market value. Second, there was the problem of trying to put a price on the White House’s stature as a national treasure and perhaps the world’s most enduring symbol of democracy.
Susan Zagorsky, a Re/Max agent from San Diego, said there were a number of things she considered before coming up with her estimated asking price, including:
• Anyone can visit free of charge, so privacy is somewhat restricted.
• The West Wing was added after the initial construction.
• Contrary to popular belief, George Washington never lived there.
Staci Dancey, a top producing real estate agent with Century 21 Masters in Walnut, California, looked overseas for the nearest residences she could find to use as comparables. In a detailed letter addressed to the President, Dancey provided witty descriptions along with features, historical tidbits and listing and selling prices for several other well-known residences, including Prime Minister Tony Blair’s 10 Downing Street in London, England and Horst Koehler’s Federal Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. [24×7]
