With a $15 trillion national debt, one idea that some members of Congress sometimes kick around is selling the federal government’s excess building. It’s an idea that’s come up as recently as March, when Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) teamed up on a bill that would promote the selling of as many as 14,000 buildings the federal government owns and maintains “unnecessarily.”
That might raise a few shekels, but what about selling some buildings that, despite being in use, would fetch the prettiest of pennies. That’s what the real estate blog Movoto suggests, and it does so by trying to determine a fair-market value for the White House.
Jason Koitz, a local real estate agent, tried to put a price on the 55,000-square-foot executive mansion, which features 132 rooms and 35 baths across six levels. (That’s just the residence; the West Wing, for example, would add an additional 40,000 square feet.) The 212-year-old structure, designed by the Irish architect James Hoban, has endured its share of the elements, including fires in 1814 and 1929. And its position and symbolism at the heart of the nation’s capital makes it a common spot for noisy public gatherings.
Still, Koitz came up with a handsome sum for the White House were it to be sold like any other property. “I think just based on the size and location; the list price would be in the low $100 million range. It would probably be $110 or $115 (million). This would be an extreme luxury home,” he told Movoto. And that’s not counting the “historic value.”
That’s the list price. It would probably sell at closer to $75 or $80 million.
But how did Koitz come up with the number? He checked out some of the most expensive homes in the D.C. area—the toniest one being a $45.5 million Frank Lloyd Wright house in McLean owned by AOL co-founder Jim Kimsey featuring, among other effects, a 40-car underground garage.
Perhaps he also took a gander at another house in McLean, specifically the fake White House that went on the market last year for $4.65 million.
Yet $75 million or $80 million or even $115 million seems low. After all, one would have to consider the White House’s historical value, to say nothing of any state secrets that might be permanent fixtures of the residence. Surely that would add to the listing price. In fact, The real estate website Zillow cheekily keeps a record of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, and estimates the place’s value at $243,839,600.
That’s actually down from a few years ago. Like many homes, the White House reached its peak value on the eve of the financial collapse of the late 2000s, hitting $332.3 million in March 2008.
What do you think? Good deal or not?
