Jeff Bezos’ Old House Is for Sale, but It’s Not the ‘Birthplace of Amazon’

realtor.com

“Jeff Bezos started Amazon in the garage in the 1990s!” proclaims the description of a just-listed three-bedroom home in Bellevue, Wash.

But the thing is, this property — priced at $1.48 million — is the victim of some seriously deceptive real estate marketing seemingly geared to a quick sale.

Although Bezos — the world’s richest man, who’s nabbed a gaggle of recent headlines over his X-rated sexts to his mistress, Lauren Sanchez — indeed rented this home in the ’90s, it doesn’t look the way it did when he lived there.

The craftsman spread, which was first built in 1954, was totally rebuilt in 2001.

Today, the listing says, the 1,540-square-foot, three-bedroom has an “enormous” great room and a granite and maple kitchen.

Moreover, the Seattle Times reports that the garage isn’t the one where Bezos built two desks out of $60 wooden doors purchased from Home Depot — and toiled for hours building Amazon.

It was a different structure entirely.

However, John L. Scott Real Estate told the Times the oversized mailbox that Bezos installed to get big catalogs remains.

Who cares?

“I think there’s a good chance an Amazon exec might buy this for bragging rights,” listing agent Pat Sullivan boasted to the Times.

In reality, what’s the point if it’s a fully rebuilt property? The pad where Bezos founded the famed company has long been gone. Plus, Amazon didn’t stay there long.

According to the book “The Everything Store,” which tracks Amazon’s history, the company had to move to an office in Seattle’s South of Downtown district once it started hiring more people. And that’s when Bezos and his soon-to-be-former wife, MacKenzie, ended up moving to Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood, which is home to the city’s famed Space Needle.

In essence, this seems like a misleading marketing strategy. To add insult to injury, the Times additionally notes that the home’s listing photos have been digitally altered to remove snow accumulated from recent storms and to show a bright blue sky.

If there’s one thing that’s good, it’s that the broker didn’t inflate the asking price to match the blown-out-of-proportion association to Bezos.

“We didn’t price any of that historical significance into it,” Sullivan told the Times.

The post Jeff Bezos’ Old House Is for Sale, but It’s Not the ‘Birthplace of Amazon’ appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

from DIYS http://bit.ly/2GsebeW