Buy high, sell low

Purchased for $15.5 in 2015 and just sold for $8.5 million. Worse, they purchased it as a “white box”, meaning they probably put another couple of million into building it out.

A sad tale, but not unheard of in real estate, and besides, the residence in question was Paul McCartney’s 5th Avenue co-op, and he can probably afford to take the hit: net worth $1.2 billion, according to this site.

he’ll miss the view, surely, but he probably owns a few more just as good

“Paul’s” sale illustrates a point: celebrity ownership doesn’t add value to a house. My grandfather’s own house in Beverly Hills, where Greta Garbo slept when she didn't want to be alone, and Marlene Dietrich (not at the same time as Greta), was later owned by David O’Selznick and after him, Elton John, but the next buyer tore it down and began again; so much for sentimentality.

Here in Greenwich, George Scott’s place on Meadow Road languished for years, and up in New Canaan, Paul Simon’s house has been on the market for eons, with several price cuts since it was originally listed. Hell, not one of the listings for the Fountain Boy’s homestead on Gilliam Lane has ever even mentioned that we spent our formative years there — ah, fortune is so fickle, and fleeting.