Did that more-than-half-off sale on the Piney Point Village bayou-front estate of Doug and Melanie Johnson work any magic? The cozy 8-bedroom, 10 full- and 3 half-bath playhouse recently disappeared from the MLS, but a Swamplot reader suspects something’s up:
I don’t think it sold because I watch it and I never saw it go into sale pending. I think they gave up trying to sell.
The 21,640-sq.-ft. home at 11682 Arrowwood Circle debuted on the market as a $19 million divorce listing back in 2007. According to a Chronicle blog post last year written by Shelby Hodge, that price was set by now-bankrupt broadcast executive Doug Johnson (his company, Johnson Broadcasting, is the “debtor in possession” of local TV station KNWS). After a couple of uneventful years at the top of the listings, the home’s price was eventually cut to $9.5 million — and the commission doubled to 12 percent — after Melanie wrested the right to control the sale herself.
What does it matter that it’s out of the listings? Really, don’t you think a quirky little property like this would do better in a . . . uh, private offering?
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- Mega mansion: Asking price reduced by $10 million [Social Climbing]
- Previously on Swamplot: Piney Point Village Megamansion: Now $10 Million Off!
Photos: HAR
Another teardown candidate!
Is ‘tacky opulence’ an official style?
Baby, I wanna lay you down before the flat screen, and make sweet love to you….
needs a moat so I can hire a venetian to pole around a gondola and serenade me to sleep.
I think the bubble that never was burst. Unless I’m mistaken, there have only been two homes that sold for approximately $10 million and everything else has been between $5 and $7.5 million. The two that sold for $10 million were on Lazy Lane and River Oaks Boulevard. There was another one on Lazy Lane that was a “swap” and is currently on the market. With a “price on request” price. And both involved some “swaps” of other property. Despite astronomical appraisals by both HCAD and everyone’s favorite River Oaks realtors, I think the magic number is $10 million. Rarely if ever to be reached.
We aren’t Los Angeles or New York. And our “nouveau riche” ain’t that “riche.”
Oh. And you have to have a magic house to get the magic number. And this monstrosity is not a magic house.
The Jerry Moore house on Friar Tuck is a magic house. Have no idea if it sold, has been reduced, taken off the market. But it was worth $10 million. And listed for far less. So there is no method to the madness. Although anything over $10 million is madness in Houston. Regardless of where it is.
That is not an attractive house.
Hmm… 2009 county appraisal @ 5,739,294.
Last Sale Date: 5-31-1996 for 955,000.
That’s some nice appreciation.
@NWH: It’s not appreciation until it actually sells. :)
GoogleMaster- SHhhh! You musn’t inform others that the entire concept of ‘equity’ is a myth until a sale happens. No such thing until the check clears. My friend likes to talk about his house’s ‘debt to equity’ ratio…LOL – only one of those numbers is known, so how can an accurate calculation be made!?
Melanie is hott.