Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch going for $100M US
Almost a year ago, in May 2015, Michael Jackson’s former Neverland Ranch hit the market. The 12,598- square-foot French Normandy-style home sits on 2,698 acres in the Santa Ynez Valley, northeast of Los Angeles. It has six bedrooms, a four-acre lake with its own waterfall, an outdoor barbecue, a pool house, three guest houses, a tennis court, and a 5,500-square-foot movie theatre and stage.
Asking price back then? $100 million US.
Asking price 10 months later? $100 million US.
The reason for the lack of movement on the price tag isn’t a stubborn seller or the lack of draw — it really does have a fairy tale feel. Homes in the highest echelon of the real estate market — everywhere — aren’t selling fast. The key to unloading a $100-million US property these days? Be patient.
“The uber- luxury high- end market is not anywhere near where it was three, four, five years ago,” says Brendon DeSimone, real estate expert with the listings site Zillow.com. “That market has just really slowed down.”
Dropping oil prices, fluctuating stock markets, and weak currencies have led to slowdowns in the world’s priciest markets. International buyers are still a force in the American real estate market, in part because high net worth individuals are looking for safer places than the stock market to park their cash. But it’s a little more risky to invest in a property that’s off the beaten luxury path, no matter how storied its pedigree.
The property — purchased from a financially ailing Jackson in 2008 with a $23.5-million US note from Thomas Barrack Jr.’s Colony Capital LLC — is located in Los Olivos, a town of 1,100, about 200 kilometres northeast of Los Angeles. That’s pretty far from the proliferation of the highest-end homes. “Most of the homes in these price ranges are waterfront, or with ocean views, or they’re in the cities,” says DeSimone.
“When Michael Jackson was up here, he didn’t go around the community much,” says local realtor Wayne S. Natale.
Even if he wasn’t a presence in the town, MJ’s legacy could still help the property fetch a premium price.
“If somebody wants to buy it and thinks that because Michael Jackson owned it that has monetary value, it’ll sell for $50 million or above,” says Natale. “It’s going to take somebody that falls in love with it, and then the $100 million doesn’t make any difference to them.”