I think it’s a fair question.

And if you feel the question is silly and the answer is obvious, I think you’d be surprised to hear that some people assign an intangible value to a home previously owned by somebody in the limelight.

Let’s run through a couple of examples, shall we?

Remember the episode of The Family Guy when Peter goes shopping for a new car?  He’s eyeing a red hatch-back when Lois draws his attention to the fact that there’s no engine under the hood, but rather a drawing of one.  The salesman tells Peter, “Sure….but the previous owner was none-other than…..James Bond!”

“I’ll take it!”

Sure, it’s a cartoon and it’s not very realistic when the previous owner of the car is also a fictional character, but we’d be naive to think that this sort of thing only happens in fiction.

I’ve witnessed this happen before in the real estate industry – a celebrity’s house goes up for sale and a buyer overpays for it.  Almost as amazing is the amount of people that go through the property even though they have no intention of buying it.

Well, perhaps you could accuse me of doing this, but real estate is my industry and inspecting properties is my job, so don’t tell me that I never had a right to check out T.J. Ford’s luxury condominium!

Everybody who follows the Toronto Maple Leafs knows that the re-building process has begun and that there has been, and will be even more turnover within the roster.  Well, I’ve watched all the Maple Leafs sell their houses and condos one at a time as they’ve been traded or run out of town.

And you’d be surprised how much interest there is from serious buyers when they see a former TML’s name on the listing.

Earlier in the Fall of this year, Bryan McCabe’s house was put on the market in Leaside after he was traded to the Florida Panthers in what was a move we all knew was coming.  I saw the house two years ago when it was first purchased by the McCabe Estate, and I watched the construction on what was a complete gut-renovation over the course of more than a year.  The end product was nice, but was it worth the final selling price?

The house was a 4-bedroom, 5-bathroom, red-brick dwelling on a 35 x 120 foot lot.  The location was prime, and the quality of the construction and the features and finishes were top-notch.

But since they clearly went to the Committee of Adjustment and received approval to build further back on the property than existing building codes would have permitted, the result was a backyard where you could almost reach out and touch the fence from the deck.  The house was gorgeous, but the backyard left something to be desired for sure.  My overall impression of the property was that it was severely disproportionate because of the tiny backyard.

In any event, the high-end houses in Leaside were not selling very well during this time period, and there simply was no comparable sale in the history of Leaside to justify the asking price.

There had only ever been one recorded sale price that high, and it was for a house on a double-lot.

But wouldn’t you know it – after only two days, this former Maple Leaf, who signed a 5-year, $28.75 Million deal back in 2007, sold his house for a new record in the Leaside area.

Coincidence?

Look at the facts: a house sold in a soft market for a new record price in only two days.

Is this because the house is fabulous, or because some sycophant decided he really wanted to keep his suits and ties in the same walk-in closet where Bryan McCabe kept his suits and ties?

Here’s another example.

In this aforementioned “soft market” we now find ourselves in, the toughest product to sell is the VERY high end stuff.  Anything over $5,000,000 is never that easy to move simply because there are fewer and fewer buyers for houses as they get more and more expensive, but in the last three months, almost nothing has moved in this price range.

So why was Mats Sundin able to sell his $5,700,000 Forest Hill mansion after only eleven days?

Another coincidence?

There is no shortage of $5,700,000+ houses on the market, yet this one in particular sold in less than two weeks.  Sure, it’s absolutely stunning from top to bottom, but aren’t all $5,700,000 houses?

A quick check on TorontoMLS shows me that there are currently 12 houses on the market in Central Toronto for between $5.4 – $6.0 Million.  Here is how many days each of those houses has been on the market respectively: 160, 4, 28, 155, 94, 52, 195, 23, 50, 10, 84, and 90.

My point?  It usually takes a while for houses in this price range to sell.  Save for those two new listings of 4 & 10 days, everything else has been on the market for quite some time.  And who’s to say those 4 & 10’s won’t become 160’s and 195’s like the others?

I think that somebody specifically bought this house because it previously belonged to Mats Sundin.  This person wanted to say that he bought the house from Mats Sundin, he lived in the house after Mats Sundin, and he swam in the pool that Mats Sundin used to swim in.

Plain and simple.

But I’ve also seen celebrities that buy properties because they belonged to other celebrities!

Imagine!

Former Toronto Raptors star, Vince Carter, first listed his 6000-square-foot waterfront condo in January of 2005.  It sat on the market for more than a year, until it was purchased…..by Toronto Blue Jays star, A.J. Burnett.

Aaaaah, celebrities!  The air they breathe is purer, the prayers they make are more significant, and the houses they own are so special that they need to be purchased by other celebrities.

Surely A.J. Burnett thought, even for just a second, “This condo is owned by Vince Carter?”

Surely A.J. Burnett got a kick out of walking through Vince Carter’s condo with his buyer’s cap on.

Surely A.J. Burnett thought, “If it’s good enough for Vince Carter, I’m sure we can make do here.”

Surely.

Yes, I’ve come to the conclusion that a famous person’s house sells faster and for more money than that of a Joe Q. Public.

So perhaps there is even a buyer for Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch?

Well I am in the market for a ranch, but I’m not sure I own enough pet monkeys to necessitate something of Neverland’s calibur…