Why is Carson Palmer Selling his Laguna Beach House?

Lansner on Real Estate reports that Cincinnati Bengals (and former USC) quarterback Carson Palmer has put his Laguna Beach home on the market. In L.A., celebs who are selling homes like to keep a low profile, but this apparently is not the case here.  The listing agent, Andrew Karigan, is dropping Carson’s name as a selling point: i.e., “Luxurious home owned by pro football player Carson Palmer.”

The house came on the market 19 days ago.  It’s a four-bedroom, five-bath, three-level, 4,380-square foot home, jammed onto a 2,400-square-foot hillside lot.  It’s shown as being built in 2003, but the Redfin history shows sales for $100,000 in 1988, $210,000 in 1998 and $425,000 in 2000, so I think it’s safe to say it was a teardown.

Palmer purchased the house in 2004 for $2,850,000.  The home is listed for $2,949,000 — just $99,000 more than he bought it for four years ago.  After figuring in closing costs on the front end and the real estate commission on the end, it’s a sure bet that Palmer will be losing money when he sells this house.

And that begs the question: Why is he selling now? Certainly he can afford the house; his contract with the Bengals is reportedly worth $118 million. Sure, there’s no room on that tiny hillside lot to toss a football around, but he must have realized that when he bought it, no?  And isn’t that what the beach is for?

Maybe he thinks the neighborhood is going downhill — no pun intended. Right down the street is a home that’s been languishing on the market for more than 100 days. It was purchased in April of 2006 for $2,445,000, and now the owners want out.  It came back on the market in March at $2,895,000 (is that a mortgage reset I smell?); it’s now listed at $2,595,000. 

Meanwhile, the Redfin listing shows no sales of similar homes in the last six months, which means that Mr. Palmer could be looking at some serious lost yardage on this property if he truly wants to unload it. 

No one knows what the market is going to do, but why sell at a loss?  Winters in Cincinnati can be long and dreary; summers hot and humid.  The Laguna abode will be looking awfully good during the next Ohio blizzard. 

I guess people with lots of money don’t mind losing a few hundred thou here and there, but it all adds up. Perhaps this home purchase will teach Mr. Palmer that you don’t always score big when you buy a house, and he’ll be more careful next time.

Recent Redfin posts:

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Laguna Hills and Mission Viejo Home Values