Stars add luster to metro Phoenix housing market
- Many celebrities didn%27t have to search for a home to rent for Super Bowl
- Hall of Famer Randy Johnson%27s 25%2C000-square-foot house is priced at %2425 million
Athletes, celebrities and sports fans converged in metro Phoenix during the past week for the Pro Bowl, Waste Management Phoenix Open and Super Bowl XLIX.
Some sports celebrities didn't have to search for a hotel or house to rent. Many well-known athletes and sports commentators own Valley homes.
Race car driver and GoDaddy spokeswoman Danica Patrick has a 9,000-square-foot mansion in north Scottsdale. Baseball pitcher and Cy Young-award winner Max Scherzer owns a penthouse condominium in central Scottsdale's Optima Camelview Village. And San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum owns an 11,000-square-foot Paradise Valley home. That's just to name a few.
Boxing champion Muhammad Ali and Globetrotter legend Meadowlark Lemon are among the other sports giants with homes here.
The Valley is also popular with musicians. Rockers Alice Cooper, Bret Michaels of Poison and Rob Halford of Judas Priest, as well as rapper and actor Ice-T and jazz great George Benson have homes in the Phoenix area.
Checking out celebrity homes is a fun pastime for many. But having famous homeowners is also good for an area's housing market.
Big-name athletes are often more inclined to buy houses from other sports stars. Other homebuyers often like the idea or even prestige of living near celebrities. And houses sold by famous, but not infamous, people can fetch higher prices.
But one housing analyst said famous homeowners don't hold enough sway with buyers to really push up prices.
"They (celebrity athletes) like to live in a great environment and in wealthier areas in markets that are already established and where other athletes are," said Mark Stapp, director of the Master of Real Estate Development program at Arizona State University's W. P. Carey School of Business. "Their homes have a minor impact, but not enough to shift values overall."
A few well-known athletes have Phoenix-area houses listed for sale now, partly to catch the attention of the many potential wealthy buyers visiting for the sports events.
One of the most expensive Valley houses for sale now is new Baseball Hall of Famer Randy Johnson's 25,000-square-foot Paradise Valley mansion.
The left-handed pitching legend's five-acre estate with 12 bathrooms, a poker room, Western-themed bar and dog-washing suite can be yours for $25 million.