For some buyers, the desire to either get close to the rich and/or famous drives interest to luxury real estate listings when a “name” has lived there, currently lives there, or has endorsed a property in some way (sometimes by just viewing a home they are considering buying).

 

But does the Fame Effect translate to an increased sales price or shorter sales timeline? Not always, says a report out this week from the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing. The report says that when a property is priced right, some previous or current owner attachment might help it stand out from the competition so that the right buyer sees it that may not otherwise have done so. “Media feeds on the concept of ‘who slept where,’ so agents for such properties could see a runaway train of attention that they can’t otherwise create.”

 

Out this week (pictured and hot-linked here), the former home of “Brave New World” author Aldous Huxley and his wife, Laura, a noted musician. Huxley’s international standing as a writer and thinker has long drawn interest to his Hollywood Hills home, which has only been offered for sale once since his family’s ownership. It was the site of legendary gatherings when he lived there, as well as recent ones, including a group of his fans from San Francisco who held a book reading on the terrace. Huxley’s other claim to international fame, a fledgling L.A. band, The Doors, named themselves after one of his books, “The Doors of Perception.”