Perception vs. Reality: Celebrity Edition

As US Magazine highlights each week, celebrities are just like us! They ride their bikes! They shop for groceries! They go out for a stroll! Here’s a new one we can add to the list: They overprice their homes!

We recently did a blog post about a Zillow survey that showed 77% of homeowners believe their homes have maintained their value - or even increased in value - over the past year, while in reality 58% homes actually depreciated over the last year. Rapper Kanye West recently listed his home for $8.7 million, or 22% higher than the price he paid less than a year ago, illustrating that even celebrities fall victim to this warped sense of reality. In fact, one could even speculate that celebrities somehow think their homes command a premium due to the fact that they’ve lived there. It’s possible that many people would probably love to live in a home that was previously occupied by someone famous. But then again, I’d be willing to bet a lot of people wouldn’t want that kind of attention - the paparazzi driving through your neighborhood, peering through your bushes, trying to get a glimpse of who now owns the pad previously inhabited by one of their prime photo subjects. But, remember what happened to Karen Carpenter’s home — would you want that?

In the end, Mr. West sold his home for $8 million - a more modest, yet still respectable 12% gain - to a buyer who plans to tear the place down and rebuild. Seems a little bit of both theories may have been at play here… the seller’s celebrity status may have attracted the buyer, but in the end it seems the buyer wanted to make the place his own.

On a related note, I wonder what celebrity real estate agents must have to deal with during their listing presentations. I’ve heard from several real estate agents that too often their clients are way too optimistic about what their listing price should be. I can only imagine the resistance agents must meet from their celebrity clients! God knows some celebrities aren’t exactly known for listening to those around them!