An Historical Event

[DRN]

Are the sellers offering the option to purchase the houses separately?
That would widen the pool of potential buyers and reduce the possibility of an overburdened homeowner in the future.

[fishigan]

Are the sellers offering the option to purchase the houses separately?
That would widen the pool of potential buyers and reduce the possibility of an overburdened homeowner in the future.

That has been discussed. The goal is to sell together, But.... we all know $ talks.

[fishigan]

As for "what are the other homes going for?" and "you can build the same house for less" That may be true, building for less, but that would be the same as buying a new Corvette because it looks like a Ferrari. It's never going to be a Ferrari.
As for the market in the area, it does not matter. And that is why 99% of realtors in this area cannot get the full potential price for a Wright home or a Carver home. They do not know what the true value of the homes are. The comp them to traditional ranch homes. That is like valuing a Rembrandt with a J. Jones. If you are wondering who J. Jones is.... that's because he is local painter that sells his painting at the farmers market with 6 other guys that have the same painting of the same sunset on Lake Michigan.
The FLW homes are art. Architectural works of living, breathing art. I love The Acres. I have been involved there for over 25 years. I knew Mrs. Weisblat on a personal level. She told me so many things about these homes, the owners and Frank that nobody else will ever know. I am in the Pratt & Eppstein homes at least once a week and have been for the last 10 years. It is amazing the work that Tony and Marika have put into bringing these homes back to life.

[Matt2]

I agree they are art, but they are art rooted in a place that can't be moved. So trying to position a work of architecture like a painting or a Ferrari is silly. Your pool of buyers is limited to those who want to spend some time in that location enjoying that work of art. Maybe there will be some billionaire who will jet in to enjoy the home for a couple weeks a year. But that's a small pool of prospective buyers. Location location location.

[fishigan]

I will say that until recently 4 of the owners did not live here at all. They owned the homes and stayed in them here and there. This is not anywhere near as rural as some people indicate. You are quietly and privately located about 2.5 miles from I-94 and 15 minutes from downtown Kalamazoo, 15 minutes from downtown Battle Creek, Gull Lake and the Gilmore Car Museum are 15 minutes away. Gull Lake homes range from 800k to 4.8 million. With the average being around 2.2 million. This is 2 hours form Detroit, 2 hrs from Chicago, 1hr 25 minutes from South Bend, 1 hr from Grand Rapids. The Kalamazoo airport is 10 minutes away and Duncan Aviation Airport is 15 minutes away. Duncan aviation is the largest privately owned jet service provider in the world.

[Roderick Grant]

Olfelt sold for a hefty price, though not for $2.25m ... and look what happened: Of comparable size to the Eppstein house, it was not big enough for the new owners, so they enlarged it. Olfelt was actually considerably larger than Pratt. Find a buyer willing to fork over 2.2 for Pratt. Moreover, who would pay 4.5 for the 2 if they planned to rent them out to Air B&B? Nor are apples and oranges the subject. Location, location, location is.

The billionaire class are not relevant in the long term. They might buy them to flip for a quick profit, like the Microsoft previous owners of Storer, but they are more likely to go Mega-McMansion when shopping for a domicile ... like Aaron Spelling's Holmby Hills cottage.

[DavidC]

Two Frank Lloyd Wright houses for sale together in Southwest Michigan


David

[Paul Ringstrom]

Virtually ANY architect designed home that is being market-valued on "comps" is ridiculous! There ARE NO COMPS for custom designed homes, only for subdivisions full of cookie-cutter copies.

Let's face it: Realtors are lazy and ignorant when it comes to architecture.

[Roderick Grant]

But there are Comps when it comes to $$$.

[jay]

I kinda baffled by this discussion. If these two homes were in, say, Bay Area California, they'd be selling for perhaps $5m each. You might not base FLLW house pricing via direct comps (the way that traditional real estate does), however the location is clearly reflected in the price....as is already the case with these two homes.

[Roderick Grant]

The difference in price between the Bay area and the Bible Belt is extreme. Midwest major urban areas have much higher prices, but they, too, don't compare with the coasts. Kalamazoo (pop. 73.5k) doesn't measure up to a major urban area. One entry on WC, "A Prairie School Oasis," at ~$3M, is an example. in SF it would be at least 6m.

[DRN]

The more I look at the sumptuous photos of these houses, the more I see how individual the designs are, and how the layout and character of each might appeal to different potential buyers.

The double sale is unique and makes a big media splash, but it is clearly focused on buyers looking for an investment. Not all Wright homeowners are investors. I’m not. I purchased and restored a Wright home because I loved the house’s design, its history, and it needed and deserved to be saved. Passion for the particular house, and the desire to live in it full time was an important factor.

There might be the “perfect” potential owner for each of these houses that may be turned away by prospect of having to buy two houses at once. What if a buyer wanted one of the two, but not the other? Sure, it could be said the buyer could just sell off the other house, but who wants to buy two houses for $4.5M and then immediately go through the ordeal of selling one them...potentially while a prior house is waiting to sell?

I suppose my middle class upbringing and FLW enthusiast mentality are showing again. But, Usonian houses should not just be an investment, toy, or trophy for the uber rich. They work well as homes for average people, much like they did for their original owners. I hope the sellers of these houses will consider separate sales of them if the prospect arises. The next owner/steward the respective houses need may be the one who can't or won't purchase two houses at once. The preservation of Wright houses is paramount. Stable ownership by passionate and motivated owners is most often a key to a successful preservation "save". A sale of a Wright house should be made as attractive as possible to preservation minded buyers.

[Roderick Grant]

There is also the difference between the two. Are they really equal in value? Would be as easy to get $2,25m for Pratt as the same price for Eppstein? I doubt it.

It might be illuminating to ask Weisblatt and Meyer owners to weigh in.

[DRN]

An RE marketing video of the two houses...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykZQQe62tas

[KevinW]

The marketing of these kind of properties generally exclude the locals, and even regionals. It also tends to exclude most that are looking to use for their original intended purpose. I understand the desire for a big payday though.