Best Home Sale To A Neighbor EVER!

Hugh Hefner, now 90 years old, gets to stay in his home, formerly the infamous Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles. But his business entity, Playboy Enterprises, will enjoy the profits from its sale, as reported by Kusisto and Taylor in the Wall Street Journal, and will “… set a record for the highest-priced residential sale in Los Angeles.”

Hefner reportedly sold his mansion to Playboy Enterprises in 1971 for $1.05 million, but the sale price to the adjacent property owner has not been officially announced. Apparently there was a bidding war, and his next door neighbor won. The listing price was $200 million, but the sale price may very well be higher.

Now, I’ve always told other investors to make sure they consider next door neighbors as potential buyers. That goes for residential property as well as commercial. It’s only logical that a neighbor might want to control the adjacent property as a rental, or perhaps demolish a house or a building simply to acquire more land.

But Daren Metropoulous, Hefner’s neighbor, definitely doesn’t intend to demolish the mansion. It’s reported he wants it because it was designed by a famous architect in the Los Angeles area, Arthur Rolland Kelly, and it will increase the size of his existing estate.

Assuming Hefner stays in his home a few more years, which is certainly possible, I guess that means Metropoulous becomes his landlord. Despite the record-setting price he’s paying (not typical of real estate investors I know) he has a tenant.

Besides the notoriety involved in this story, and the ghosts of Playboy Parties Past that may inhabit the mansion and grounds, I’m hoping the idea of selling a property to a next door neighbor becomes one of the first thoughts you might have in the future. It surprises me when real estate professionals don’t think about the neighbors as prospective buyers.

They always think of neighbors as prospective sellers of course. That’s a given. But the flipside is often overlooked.

I just heard about a commercial property that suffered a fire, and the absentee owner/landlord was surveying the damage in person, months after the fire occurred. The next door neighbor saw him, walked over, introduced himself and said, “I’m glad to meet you. I’d like to buy your property for a parking lot.” Recent true story.

Nobody had suggested he get in touch with the neighbor. Not the fire chief, or the insurance adjuster, or the city inspector or the real estate agent he’d contacted. It seems really odd to me…

Anyway, now you can think about Hugh Hefner and his sweet deal, and you’ll never forget to consider next door neighbors as potential buyers for a property you’re selling.

Leo Kingston
President/Founder
18002SellHomes