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Author James Patterson Sells Palm Beach Home, $10M
By Aaron Crowe
Jun 18th 2010 @ 11:53AM
Jun 18th 2010 @ 11:53AM
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It's no mystery why suspense author James Patterson is moving to another oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach, Fla. He recently sold his previous Palm Beach house for $10.3 million -- perhaps another sign that the real estate market is moving again as another celebrity sells his home.Patterson, whose latest novel is "Swimsuit" and who also wrote "Along Came a Spider" along with 18 other consecutive No.1 New York Times bestsellers, bought the Everglades Island home at 686 Island Drive for $5.2 million in 1999. That makes its selling price almost double what he paid.
Was it worth all that scratch?
The 11,000-square-foot home has five bedrooms; seven-and-a-half bathrooms; a terrace surrounding a heated pool and spa and a built-in barbecue. The property also has 136 feet of frontage on the Intracoastal Waterway, which includes a dock with a boat lift.
Patterson isn't getting as much for property as he had hoped, however. It was listed for $14.95 million, and has a market value of $11.83 million. With closing costs, the total on the sale was $11 million. Still, not a bad take in the troubled Florida market.
His new home, according to the Palm Beach Post, is a 21,000-square-foot estate at 710 Ocean Blvd. in Palm Beach. He bought the oceanfront mansion on two acres last year for $17.4 million, a better deal than the old one per square foot. It is next to an estate once owned by John Lennon. Patterson's new neighbors include Ivana Trump, who owns a home two lots north.
Homes for sale are rare along the stretch of Ocean Boulevard where Patterson's new home is located. But only three homes back from the ocean, on Via Del Lago, one is selling for $12.7 million. It has seven bedrooms, eight full baths and two half ones in 9,271 square feet, making it slightly smaller than the famed author's house and without a direct ocean view. But the Mediterranean-style home with guest house is still beautiful.
When it comes to real estate, clearly Patterson has a clue: You don't need to be real estate sleuth to figure out that the Via Del Lago home is not as good a deal as Patterson's pad.
Find other great homes for sale in Palm Beach, Florida, at AOL Real Estate.
James Patterson's vapid work product is a perfect example of the dumbing down of what Americans read. Hey, reading a book takes up valuable time and the book should at least have some redeeming literary merit. But Patterson's novels are just continually regurgitated shallow crap. And now I note, he doesn't even write the crap any more but has some flunky write it for him. He throws just enough text into the book to permit him to put his name on the cover.
And for this, dull witted Americans cough up millions so that he can buy with impunity, a 21,000 sq. ft house with an air conditioning bill that probably exceeds the average American income. Now, THIS sorry syndrome really is worth a book!