Front Elevation: Art House
Owning an architect-designed home is akin to living in a work of art.
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Consider the home designed by Kirk Shimazu in Playa del Rey, Calif.—a modernist masterpiece of three-dimensional forms and concrete, glass and steel. “We recognized that the right buyer would appreciate the house, and we sold it in the first five minutes of the sale,” Linder says, adding that local real estate agents maintained that the home would not sell for more than $800,000. The purchase price: $995,000.; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
The Na Xeman House, on the island of Ibiza, is a home
designed by Ramón
Esteve. It is available for lease for $25,000 to
$35,000 per month. (Click image to enlarge) Courtesy of Mossler Deasy & Doe“This field is like collectors of cars or art—the rare Ferrari or Picasso or Monet,” Horn says. “People appreciate that they appreciate in value, just like art.” Horn, who has been marketing architect-designed properties for 30 years, says this exclusive market accounts for 15 to 20 percent of all listings. “Fewer than 500 were sold in 2004—and not even 2 percent in Los Angeles County,” he says. “These are great architects—historically significant as well as those commanding a huge reputation now, including Gehry and Meier,” Horn says. “Their homes appreciate more than the market is appreciating.”
Horn cites the John Lautner property he sold for $2 million in 2004. “It had not been touched in 50 years and someone paid top dollar for it.” Another client bought the only Oscar Niemeyer in town for $6 million—a total fixer-upper—while another renovation buff set aside $4 million for his next purchase. “He said, ‘If it needs more work, the better,’ ” Horn recalls. “More often than not, homeowners want to buy totally renovated, which can cost more than $1,000 per square foot. But there is a submarket of well-heeled people who want to buy homes that need a lot of work.”
Jan Horn, Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate,
310.777.6200, www.janhorn.com, www.coldwellbanker.com
Martie Lieberman, Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate,
941.724.1118, www.modernsarasota.com, www.floridamoves.com
Richard Stanley, Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate
323.906.2417, www.richardstanleyrealtor.com, www.coldwellbanker.com
Douglas Newby, Douglas Newby & Associates
214.522.1000, www.significanthomes.com
Jolynne Ash, DreamStreet Real Estate
888.475.4040, www.jolynne.com
Scott Jarson, Jarson & Jarson,
480.425.9300, www.azarchitecture.com
Marmol Radziner & Associates,
310.826.6222
Mike Deasy, Mossler Deasy & Doe, 310.275.2222,
www.architectureforsale.com
Brian Linder, Mossler Deasy & Doe, 800.684.8862,
www.thevalueofarchitecture.com
Bill Kirk, Sotheby’s International Realty, 561.659.3555,
www.palmbeach.sothebysrealty.com
Susan Blabey, William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty
888.252.7488, www.williampittsir.com
