Warren Buffett’s Neighbors Selling House, Asking 10 Berkshire Hathaway Shares
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is famous for his frugality, living in the same Omaha home he purchased in 1958 for $31,500, yet his neighbors across the street have a slightly higher, and slightly tongue-in-cheek, asking price in mind for their five-bedroom house.
Homeowner Phil Huston says that though the property has been recently valued at $866,000, he and his wife are asking for 10 Class A shares of the company their famed neighbor has helmed for half a century, Berkshire Hathaway. While at first glance, this may not seem like a lot, Warren Buffett has famously never split Berkshire Hathaway’s stock, as Yahoo Homes points out. This means that each individual share of the conglomerate currently sells for $215,800 as of closing Friday, making the asking price of Huston’s home $2.158 million.
What’s the asking price to be Warren Buffett’s neighbor? http://t.co/btZLhvoDfD #HouseForSale pic.twitter.com/bTJgyGxlIX
— Vittoria Logli (@vlogli) May 9, 2015
While the difference between value and asking price may be shocking to some, Huston points to his famous neighbor as a driving factor in the “bit of a premium” that he acknowledges is included in the price.
“You’re 100 feet away from the strongest financial karma in the entire universe,” he told a local Omaha TV station. “Location, location, location.”
Huston placed the home for sale ahead of Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting, which was held last weekend, as the Inquisitr previously reported. The event, often called the “Woodstock of capitalism,” temporarily swells the city’s population by roughly 10 percent as nearly 40,000 people travel to see Buffett from all over the world. This year’s meeting celebrated the 50th anniversary of Berkshire Hathaway with Warren Buffett at its helm, setting it apart from past events.
Photos: Want to be Warren Buffett’s neighbor? House is available for 10 shares http://t.co/V7mAiSr3jq pic.twitter.com/MFurYcqZin
— Siva Paladugu (@sivappaladugu) May 5, 2015
Though Huston and his wife have been Buffett’s neighbors since 1994, he points out that they don’t know him, meaning potential buyers shouldn’t expect an introduction. With a man from Singapore shelling out more than $2 million for lunch with Buffett, and another fan buying his old Cadillac, as CNN Money notes, Huston expects that they will likely find an interested buyer. Since the couple are in no hurry to sell the property, they have toyed with the idea of making the sale a yearly occurrence, though they doubt that will happen.
“Once and done is probably pretty good, but we’ll see,” Huston said.
Though buyers have shown some interest in the property, the Hustons say they haven’t had any solid offers yet. While unusual, they assert that the asking price is indeed real, noting that for many of the people who would desire to be neighbors with Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway stock represents “the currency they have.”
[Image: Amoura Productions via CNN Money]
