Shocker: HGTV Sells Iconic Brady Bunch House at Huge Loss
Wanna bet someone’s gonna try to pin this on Jan?
TVLine has confirmed that the iconic and massively renovated Brady Bunch house — which HGTV put on the market last May — ended up selling for $3.2 million. Not only is that $2.3 million less than the $5.5 million listing price, but it’s $300K shy of the $3.5 million HGTV paid for it in 2018.
HGTV poured a staggering $1.9 million into the North Hollywood, Calif., property in an effort to recreate some of the series’ iconic interiors, including the floating staircase, the burnt orange-and-avocado green kitchen and the kids’ Jack-and-Jill bathroom. (Remember, the 1970s-style home was used only for the exteriors of the classic sitcom.)
The extensive renovations were depicted in HGTV’s 2019 series A Very Brady Renovation, which saw hosts Drew and Jonathan Scott working alongside surviving original Brady Bunch cast members to add all the nostalgic bells and whistles.
As to why HGTV ended up taking such a loss on the pop culture time capsule, Compass’ Danny Brown, the listing agent on the property, tells TVLine, “This is a one of kind property which was impossible to comp. This is not a home anyone would ever live in, and savvy investors understand that Airbnb rental laws are nuanced and restrictive. We felt the property was worth about $3-$3.5 million and that’s exactly where it landed; there are no intellectual property rights that are included in the sale. HGTV spent about $5.5 million purchasing and gutting the house which is why we listed it at $5.5 million, even though we knew it was an aspirational list price.”
The Brady Bunch, which ran from 1969-1974 on ABC, followed Mike and Carol Brady and their blended family of six children and live-in housekeeper Alice as they tackled everyday problems while living under one roof.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report news of the abode’s surprising sale price.
Did they ever think that maybe not enough people left these days cared enough to spend millions on a recreation of the Brady Bunch House?
Why is this a shocker? Who thought people were clamoring to spend millions on The Brady Bunch house? That is extremely niche.
Money is spent to produce a TV show. They’ll take a tax write off on this. Sounds pretty familiar to me… Wonder Twin Powers – deactivate :-(
They likely expected great interest. They didn’t get it – likely because a buyer will likely make changes to the house. They wanted the asset off their books. They got that. Plain & simple.
It was probably already counted as an expense toward the filming of the renovation show, since it’s the only reason the show existed. It’s the ren show’s set, so it would be expensed the same way a scripted show’s set would be expensed. So, having already been literally accounted for, the sale of the property is pure profit.
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I hope that Lance Bass bought it. He’d likely keep it the way it is.
I agree. Selling the house wasn’t the point (or at least only part of the point).
Selling the show is where most of the actual revenue was coming from.
I never watched the Brady Bunch so I was totally not interested.
Yet you took the time to read the article and comment.
Apparently not “totally.”
“It’s unclear why HGTV ended up taking such a loss on the property, especially given Los Angeles still-overheated housing market.”
I’d venture to say the people paying a ton to live in Los Angeles aren’t looking to live in an outdated house
That strangers will visit daily…
It’s still a house that a widowed architect could never afford these days.
HGTV’s star designers always say that a flipped house needs to be kept neutral to appeal to the widest range of buyers. Plus you shouldn’t over-improve for the neighborhood, since comps won’t support a house worth twice as much as every other house in the neighborhood. They made it EXTREMELY buyer-specific and spent too much on the flip, against their own advice. Live and learn, HGTV…
Ummm… the kitchen was orange and avocado. That’s a big reason why they took a loss. If I walked into a house and the kitchen was Orange and Green, I would walk right out since it would be clear that I would have to completely redo the kitchen. There is absolutely no way I would live in a house with an Orange and Green kitchen and a dining room is wood paneling. The sunken living room is okay, but the stairs are red brick and there are 3 different rock facades… they’re not the same rocks. There’s an intense amount of avocado green in this house. Avocado green, brown and orange. Nobody is going to look at this house and be like “yep, I’ll leave this decor as is”. It would be a huge new renovation project for anyone not wanting to live in the 1970s.
Hopefully whomever bought it keeps it in the renovated Brady Bunch look
5+ mill for a dated and redone to look even more dated RANCH in North Hollywood? The market isn’t that hot.
Aside from all the other reasons listed here. I lived near there and it’s a total tourist trap. So who wants people stopping in front of your house all day long to take pictures? No one.
After they outbid Lance Bass for the house, really?
I was going to say they should have just stuck to the deal they had with Lance. Would have saved them a crap ton in the end.
The intellectual property rights were a significant hindrance for commercial buyers. The owners were prohibited from using the Brady Bunch name in any way. “Rent the Brady Bunch house” wasn’t allowed. I don’t remember the other restrictions, but I remember that they were extensive.
So they didn’t get all the props that HGTV added to the house?
Mega-corporation lost some money?
How very sad.
Ha, Ha. With the direct revenue from the show itself and the follow-on revenue from marketing and incorporating the Brady cast in various other ventures, along with tax write-offs, tax incentives, etc., Mega-corporation most definitely DID NOT lose money on this project.
Should have turned it into the Brady Bunch Museum – charge admission for the people who would flock to it anyhow – add a gift shop or photo package and voila –
I was going to post something similar. And since no intellectual property rights were included, I guess there’s no chance of a museum.
I am sure the neighbors on this residential street would not appreciate having a museum (and the traffic it creates) situated in between their houses. never mind the fact that the street is zoned for residential – not commercial – properties.
only suggested a museum because even before the reno & show the house was attracting people who would stop and take photos – obviously zoning isn’t correct but it already draws tourists
If it has to be strictly residential I hope a superfan such as Lance Bass is the purchaser
You can’t just open a commercial business in a residential neighborhood. There’s an expensive approval process to change zoning that inevitably would have been drawn out by a lengthy legal battle from neighbors who would just as much want Peter to build a life-sized volcano in the back yard than see a museum there.
That makes sense with the zoning regulations, though HGTV’s usage wasn’t really residential either.
Great lede, Michael Ausiello!
The answer is simple, somebody call Billy Porter, let em’ know.
;)
the people who bought this will probably just end up using this as air bnb and people would go.
While there are probably ways around this, there are limits to putting a home in Los Angeles up for short-term rentals, and it has to be your primary residence.
When I first moved to L.A., I lived in apartments that looked kind of like the “Brady Bunch” house on the inside, because they hadn’t been remodeled in decades. (If you’ve ever seen the movie “Slums of Beverly Hills,” you know what I mean.) Since then, many of them have been completely modernized so they could be sold as condos. HGTV did the opposite of that with this house — so it’s no surprise that the value didn’t rise, even with the sitcom connection. I’m guessing it’s fun to look at, but you wouldn’t want to live there.
What this doesn’t take into account is any profit the series made. I’d be surprised if they actually lost anything at all.
Exactly! It’s like all the other HGTV reno shows. In other words, it’s about putting on a show and getting money from advertisers and sponsors. Not about the sale price.
No surprise really, any house that has a level of customization that requires a specific taste to like doesn’t sell that high and a lot of times sells for less because the buyer pool is small. With that said since they made a limited series about the renovation, they probably made a decent profit. The same will be with the Barbie themed house HGTV recently did which I think was only green-lit because the Brady Bunch house did well in the ratings.
The Barbie house was apart of the multi million dollar Barbie promo campaign.
wouldn’t be surprised if the person who bought it renovates the interior to modern & makes a profit since they don’t have to worry about whay behind the walls.
Most people alive today weren’t alive when the Brady Bunch aired. And it never caught on with younger people, like Friends or The Office did. 3.2 million for a middle class home is more than enough.
Let’s be honest, in 20/30 years from now Friends and the Office most likely won’t be popular with the kids being born today either. Very few shows are popular 50 years after they ended.
Instead of profiting from this whole thing, why not take all the necessary steps to ensure this iconic house is recognized as a Culturally Significant Historical Landmark?
It deserves that much at least.
Is it really all that shocking that a super-niche, completely-outdated house had a hard time selling?