Buyer Win With a Knockout or Just a TKO? Mike Tyson sells Paradise Valley Home

There are enough celebrities and captains of industry who call the Phoenix Metropolitan Area home that we barely notice when a high-end home sells. But when there’s a famous (infamous?) name attached – in this case, Mike Tyson – you can be sure the transaction will get some media attention and blog attention.

Tyson’s home in Paradise Valley, a suburb of Phoenix, has been on the market with a listing price of originally $2.45 million raised to $2.7 million. One of my clients made an offer on the house but it was not accepted. So when I read about the recent sale at $2.34 million, I wondered if the buyer got a good deal.

Looking at the photos, you might think it’s a steal, especially when there are many beautiful homes in Paradise Valley with much higher prices. And yes, the home’s location at the end of a cul-de-sac and its magnificent views make it desirable, but there’s more to the overall picture. For instance, the interior.

The home was built in 1988 and represents the architectural design of the time. This house is so 1980’s, you could almost expect Don Johnson to step out of the front door as if it were in a Miami Vice episode! There have been zero upgrades since then, and what was “in” 20 years ago is very “out” now. A four-car tandem garage, five bedrooms, pool, game room, library, and guest house cannot make up for an obsolete floor plan and loads of needed work. Not to mention the tiny swimming pool.

Many investors looked at the property, and the main concern was that it was too good to tear down, but very difficult to bring up to today’s standards because of the cost involved in changing the difficult floor plan. Some people argued that the lot itself without the house would be worth $1.5 to $1.8 million. But tearing the house down and rebuilding it would also be challenging because of the demolition cost and tedious permitting process. If the house were torn down and then completely rebuilt it would be priced quite high, and the competition in Paradise Valley is very stiff with many nice homes available in the $3 to $4 million range.

So did the buyers, a limited liability partnership called Oppenheimer Partners Properties, get a knockout deal or a TKO? Like beauty, that’s in the eye of the beholder. It will be interesting to see what happens next with this property.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!