LOS ANGELES — The “Brady Bunch” house, renovated by HGTV, has sold for more than $2 million below its original asking price.
After spending the summer on the market, the Studio City property just closed escrow. Historic home enthusiast Tina Trahan, whose husband, Chris Albrecht, was once chief executive of HBO, scooped up the sitcom gem for $3.2 million.
In May, after purchasing the home for $3.5 million in 2018 and overhauling it in the series “A Very Brady Renovation,” HGTV listed the groovy digs for $5.5 million.
As to why HGTV accepted an offer more than $2 million below asking (and $300,000 shy of what it paid in 2018), Compass’ Danny Brown, the listing agent on the property, told the Los Angeles Times in an email, “This is a one of kind property which was impossible to comp. This is not a home anyone would ever live in.” Savvy investors, he said, understand that laws governing short-term rentals are “nuanced and restrictive,” limiting the value of the property for that use.
“We felt the property was worth about $3M – $3.5M and that’s exactly where it landed because there are no intellectual property rights that are included in the sale,” Brown said.
Built in 1959 with Late Modernist architecture, the house was used only for exterior shots during the sitcom’s five-season run from 1969 to 1974, followed by decades of syndication that cemented the mixed family of eight in the annals of American pop culture.
When HGTV bought the home, its interior bore no resemblance to the place where audiences watched the Brady children grow up. Scenes shot inside the Brady residence were filmed on sets built on Soundstage 5 at Paramount Studios in Hollywood.
In 2018, HGTV looked to meld the two realities and bought the house at 11222 Dilling St. for nearly double the original asking price. The channel outbid Hollywood celebrities, including former ‘N Sync member Lance Bass.
The network spent an additional $1.9 million to re-create the TV home where America came to know the Bradys. HGTV even added a second story to accommodate all the rooms that were seen in the show.
HGTV documented the process on “ A Very Brady Renovation, “ which featured the six actors who played the Brady children. The cast, alongside HGTV hosts Drew and Jonathan Scott, worked to gut the house while the crew painstakingly reproduced the set’s rooms and 1970s decor — down to the cabinet hardware. The online listing for the house invited buyers to “own a piece of pop culture history” and showed images of its detailed and polished 5,140-square-foot interior, which has five bedrooms and five bathrooms.
HGTV said the home came equipped with “many of its contents, including customized pieces such as the green floral living room couch and the credenza with a 3-D printed horse sculpture.”
“HGTV spent about $5.5M+ purchasing and gutting the house which is why we listed it at $5.5M even though we knew it was an aspirational list price,” Brown said via email. “By the way, HGTV did fine making revenue on ‘The Very Brady Renovation’ show and several other ancillary revenue streams. As for my brother from another, Lance Bass, perhaps third time’s the charm?”
