The Brady Bunch House Renovation And Thoughts On Value

What Can The Brady Bunch House Renovation Teach Us About Value

Are you a fan of the old Brady Bunch show? If not you may be a little lost with my topic this week but I hope you’ll stick around to the end because I’ve got some things I’d like to share that may be helpful to you when thinking about your home’s value. The Brady Bunch house renovation show provides some good insight into cost and value.

A Little Background

First, let’s discuss a little background of the Brady Bunch. This popular sitcom from the 1960s was on the air originally from 1969 to 1974. Even though it went off the air in 1974 it has been in syndication ever since.

The Brady Bunch is one of those shows that have many memorable and quotable moments from each episode, kind of like Seinfeld was for the 1990s. If you want to learn a little more about it you can check out the Wikipedia page.

Through the years one of the running discussions about the show among fans was the home that the family lived in. As was typical of this type of show back then the exterior of the home that was on the show was an actual home that the producers found around the area that they liked.

When fans started taking a closer look at the exterior and compared it to the interior that was built on a set they soon discovered that the two really didn’t match up. The front of the house didn’t have a second floor but the inside of the home did.

The reason I wanted to discuss it this week is that the Brady Bunch house has been in the news recently. HGTV bought the home last year with the hopes of renovating it and to keep it from being torn down to make room for a larger more modern home.

The HGTV network debuted their show “A Very Brady Renovation” this week. The show is similar to other HGTV programs in that it documents the renovation process from beginning to end. The show was so popular that the network had the highest viewer ratings in several years.

The interesting twist in this show is that in addition to Jonathan and Drew Scott (Property Brothers) and other members of the renovation crew, the original Brady Bunch cast members who played the children on the show will be assisting in the renovation to make sure that the home is built as close to the original set as possible and this includes the second floor that everyone talks about.

I thought it would be interesting to look at the purchase of the home and the renovation process to see how it relates to home value in the real world.

They Paid How Much?

The home was put on the market for sale in July of 2018 for $1,885,000. The owners did not expect the interest to be as much as it was but once people found out it was for sale they would get as many as 50 calls a day.

One of the high profile potential buyers was former NSYNC member Lance Bass. He would have probably been able to buy the home had it not been for the over the top cash offer from HGTV of $3.5 million.

In addition to the inflated purchase price, renovation costs are estimated to be over $350,000. Barring any unforeseen increase in cost the total investment in the property will be around $3.8 million.

So how does all of this relate to home values and what are some important points we can take away from this? Let’s take a look and see what we can learn.

Is It Market Value?

As I stated previously HGTV paid $3.5 million for the home. If we take a look online at other nearby homes, it appears that the majority of homes in the immediate area have been selling for between $760,000 and $2.6 million. The home sold for almost double its asking price, which is almost one million dollars higher than the highest sale in the neighborhood. Here are some of my thoughts (I’d like to hear yours too so leave a comment below):

• The iconic nature of the house definitely influenced the sale price.
• The fact that HGTV has deep pockets and offered cash allowed them to offer more than a typical buyer could offer.
• Since you have a willing seller and a willing buyer does the sale price of $3.5 million indicate market value?
• Can the home now be used in the neighborhood as a valid sale comparable or would it just be considered an outlier?
• Does the new focus on this house in the media and the possible increase in tourists negatively affect the property value or even the neighborhood?

After renovations are complete the Home and Garden network have said that they will probably use the home for network promotion and corporate events. If they change their mind and decide to sell the home do you think they will be able to sell it for the money they have invested?

While this is not your everyday run of the mill home it still illustrates a good point about cost versus value. Just because you pour $350,000 into a home remodeling it does not mean you will recoup that cost when you sell. Of course, if you find the right buyer, as was the case this time with HGTV, you may be able to get most if not all of it back.

The Right Buyer Profile Is Important

This situation also helps us to understand that for every home there is a certain set of buyers that will be interested in it. If your home is such that it will appeal to buyers with a lot of cash then you may very well be able to get a positive return on your investment, however, this does not necessarily mean that the home would appraise for what you are asking, but to cash buyers, this may not matter.

The opposite is also true. If your home will be purchased by buyers that require financing and an appraisal then it is very important to keep in mind the improvements you make and the money you spend because the cost may be greater than the appraisal value.

Questions?

I hope this discussion about The Brady Bunch house renovation has helped shed a little light on market value and the relationship between cost and value. If you have any appraisal questions feel free to contact me or if you have any Brady Bunch stories you would like to share please share them in the comments section. As always, thanks for reading.

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