President Obama Moving to a Garage? His Odd Renovation Plans Revealed

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President Barack Obama will soon be moving out of the White House and into a potential construction zone. According to copies of permits obtained by TMZ, the new home that the first family will soon be inhabiting in the DC neighborhood of Kalorama is undergoing some major renovations to bring it up to snuff.

And the upgrades they’re getting go far beyond your run-of-the-mill kitchen cabinets. The nine-bedroom, nine-bath, 8,200-square-foot house—which is valued at $6 million and sits on a half-acre lot—is getting new fencing (all the better for privacy and security), new utilities, and a variety of hush-hush Secret Service–ready protective additions.

But by far the weirdest renovation afoot has to do with what could end up being Obama’s new home office. According to the permit, contractors will “temporarily convert one garage stall into an office with new bathroom.”

A garage? That’s quite a downgrade from kicking back in the Oval Office. And not all real estate agents we spoke to agree that this home improvement is, well, much of an improvement.

“The garage transition is one of the worst return on investment projects an owner can make,” points out Rachel Valentino, a Washington, DC, real estate agent and owner of Valentino Associates Team at Keller Williams. “Plus, in the photos, it looks like it’s only a two-car garage, so taking away one of these will be very challenging for future residents of the house.

“If you’re paying over $5 million for a house, most buyers expect a two-plus-car garage,” she adds. “The future owners will eventually have to take space away from the parking area to add more garage space once the Obamas move out.”

This garage-turned-office may also be a bad idea from a safety perspective.

“The garage appears to be right off the street, which is something that I would have tried to avoid for security reasons,” says Valentino, adding that she has a much better idea. “Given there are nine bedrooms, I would think one or two of those could have lent themselves to be a more private and secure office setting versus taking away one of the garage spaces.”

Plus, at the end of the day, this is just a rental—more than likely a mere pit stop until first daughter Sasha finishes high school in 2018. Generally landlords hate when tenants knock down walls and overhaul rooms in ways that could make it harder to lease to future residents (which is why they may not return that security deposit).

Although in this case, we’re guessing this homeowner—Lockhart, Joseph P. & Giovanna—doesn’t mind one bit. After all, a former president is no ordinary tenant.

“I’m sure this particular owner will gladly allow that adjustment given the upside of having a presidential seal of approval for eternity,” Valentino says. “That value will never diminish, so basically as the owner, it’s not surprising that he is letting the man do whatever he deems necessary. He just hit the jackpot. This Kalorama house’s stock just bounced big-league style, if we wanted to talk Trump style.”

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