Last year when Elton John sold his pair of West Hollywood condominiums, the buyer got more than the space once occupied by the music legend. They also got all of the singer’s designer furnishings, tableware, as well as some truly flamboyant knickknacks. He even left his snakeskin covered bed frame.
It seems move-in ready homes are becoming quite the fad in today’s ultra-luxury market. “Even though Elton doesn’t own them anymore, they still have cachet,” said Paul Czako, the listing agent.
Though celebrity move-in homes at this level are more or less a bit of an anomaly, it is becoming quite clear that move-in homes are no longer strictly the stuff of rentals or corporate housing.
This trend is catching on nationwide, especially for the mega rich. The appeal of the move in home is multifaceted, whether the home buyer is challenged in the fashion department or just simply lazy when it comes to the smaller home details.
It is particularly gaining traction in the Los Angeles area where convenience and style seem to easily trump expense.
“You are buying an instant lifestyle,” said Mauricio Umansky, a listing agent with the Agency, a real estate brokerage in Beverly Hills.
Though the move-in home has the appeal of eliminating stressful moving and stylistic concerns for home buyers, it does have some drawbacks and potentials complications. This difficulty arises in the estimation of the actual furnishings inside the home.
In worst case scenarios, disagreements about these estimations have scuttled entire deals.
For example, “If the seller spent a half-million dollars on new furniture 15 years ago, it could be worth only 25 cents on the dollar now,” said Rick Ojeda, one of the Partners Trust agents representing Chambers’ lease house.
Michael Bain is an analyst for Move New Homes.
