In a housing market as notoriously expensive as the Bay Area’s, it can be easy to forget that people in other states who sell their homes — and even wealthy celebrities — are doing so at an entirely different pricing scale.
Across the Bay Area, the trends follow similar patterns, with nearly every single city in the region seeing its home values go up during the pandemic.
Just this week, former Giants Star Buster Posey sold his Lafayette home for $9.3 million. What will the buyer get for that sky-high price? An acre of landscaped grounds, and a 6,038-square-foot, six-bedroom, five-bathroom home — that’s certainly luxury territory, but perhaps not the type of mega-mansion one might expect elsewhere for that amount of money.
Perhaps it’s time to get some perspective: compared to the $9 million someone may pay for Posey’s home, many celebrities in other states aren’t even spending the $1.6 million that an average home gets you in the Bay Area.
Here are just a few examples of notable homes and home sellers from around the country — all going for less than a typical home here.
Carlos Correa, baseball player
Location: Montrose, Texas
Bed/bath: Three bedrooms, 4 1/2 bathrooms
Size: 3,657 square feet
Listed for: $1.599 million
According to The Houston Chronicle, the former Houston Astros shortstop’s home in Rosemont Heights, an area in the Montrose Area of Houston, is a contemporary home on a 6,200-square-foot lot that includes a basketball court and swimming pool. The master bedroom has a two-sided fireplace and opens out to a balcony and the kitchen is equipped with waterfall-style stone slabs across a vast island.
Gutzon Borglum, Mount Rushmore sculptor
Location: Stamford, Conn.
Bed/bath: Three bedroom, 2 1/2 bathrooms
Size: 2,000 square foot
Listed for: More than $1 million
A log cabin owned by one of the sculptors of Mount Rushmore has been listed in Connecticut for just over $1 million, according to The Stamford Advocate. The formidable cabin has a two-story “great room” that includes a large stone fireplace, and a remodeled kitchen with cathedral ceilings, distinctive countertops and multiple Brazilian architectural features throughout the home. It even has a toilet that’s rumored to be in the $12,000 range.
Alec Baldwin, actor
Location: Arlington, Vermont
Bed/bath: seven bedrooms, five bathrooms
Size: 5,400 square foot, 55 acre lot
Bought for: $1.75 milion
The star actor recently purchased an 18th-century farmhouse — on a 55-acre property — that also includes a guest cottage, horse barn, tavern room and other outbuildings in the mountain town of Arlington. The estate was previously sold for $549,000, in 2014.
Arnold D’Angelo, Bigelow Tea entrepreneur
Location: Easton, Conn.
Bed/ bath: Six bedrooms, five bathrooms
Size: 8,764 feet
Listed for: $1.7 million
Sitting on three acres of land, this Italian-style home home was previously owned by D’Angelo, a business executive who formerly worked for Bigelow Tea, according to CT Insider. His custom-built mansion includes hand-painted walls, antique flooring throughout, a 500-bottle wine cellar, a pool, an outdoor entertaining space, and even a lodge-style game room. It was listed on the market for $1.725 million.
Jackson Rathbone, “Twillight” star
Location: Pflugerville, Texas
Bed/bath: Five bedroom, 3.5 bathrooms
Size: 3,929 square feet
Sold for: Around $800,000
The actor and musician, most notable for his role as Jasper Hale in the “Twillight Saga” film series, recently sold a multi-level home in Texas, according to The San Antonio Express-News. The home boasts a variety of entertaining spaces, including a barn-style loft area (complete with a pool table), a media room with a bar area, an outdoor playhouse, and a large, farmhouse-style kitchen. The couple traded that house for a six-bedroom brick house, on an 1.17-acre lot, which they bought for $920,000 in a suburb of Atlanta.
Ralph Alswang, Gershwin Theater designer
Location: Westport, Conn.
Bed/bath: Four bedroom, 3 1/2 bathroom
Size: 2 acres
Listed for: $1.498 million
Alswang, who was a Broadway scenic designer and created the Gershwin Theater, lived in this mid-century classic home located in Westport, Conn. The home was custom-built for the Knopf publishing family and has floor-to-ceiling windows and a large living and dining room area complete with a fireplace, butler’s pantry and a deck. The outside also has a heated pool and a blue stone patio.
Annie Vainshtein (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: avainshtein@sfchronicle.com
Read More:Celebrity houses you can buy elsewhere for the price of a typical Bay Area home
2022-03-26 11:03:19