Neighborhood Home Values Holding Up Nicely

A month ago, in The Other Bubble, I mentioned that I live in Marin County, just north of San Francisco and commented on the surprising strength of the local real estate market. Well, things appear to be better than I thought.

Amidst all the talk of the subprime meltdown and impending financial calamities, I found it interesting that not too far from where I live, a house has apparently just gone into contract for $65 million – the full asking price. The Wall Street Journal broke the story this morning, but an old Forbes profile of The Most Expensive House in California is a better stop to read more about Locksley Hall, currently owned by Robert “Toxic Bob” Friedland, a global mining tycoon who earned his nickname by helping to turn Summitville Mine into one of the most notorious Superfund sites.

While I mentioned on Wednesday that I have had a good run with my trading lately, I hasten to add that I am not the buyer. So far, the buyer's name has not been disclosed. One locally famous name worth noting, however, is Olivia Hsu Decker, who handled the listing and whose web site makes for interesting browsing if you are into house envy.

Friedland has renovated the original house extensively and various sources list the current square footage at 10,000 or 12,000. I must say, however, that $6,000 per square foot is not outrageous for the area, especially considering that the views from the site are generally considered to be in the top five in the world.

If nothing else, this transaction will make for some interesting average home sale price statistics in the area. Perhaps some day I can try to sneak it in as a comp...