The world of luxury real estate often sees longer spans of time in between listing properties for sale and actually finding a buyer, a natural by-product of a market that's off-limits to so much of the population. But even by those standards seven years on the market is a long time, which is how long Michael Jordan has been trying to sell his huge, 56,000-square-foot estate in the Highland Park neighborhood of Chicago, with some real estate experts recently telling Business Insider it may be "unsellable" – even after four price cuts bringing it from its initial $29 million asking price in 2012 to the $14.9 million it's listed at today.
What's the problem? As always, it comes down to price, with analysts saying that Jordan is still asking to much for the home. It's not that there's anything wrong with the house, of course, but just that it's overloaded with touches that personalized it to its famous owner, making it a tougher sell than a typical mansion of its size. As Bruce Bowers of Bowers Realty Group explained:
"It's clearly his home…It's a tough sell. There's a lot of work that would have to be done to make it your own."
Those touches are evident before you even set foot on the property, once you get your first look at the giant "23" (Jordan's jersey number for the most famous parts of his legendary basketball career) emblazoned on the entrance gates. Then there are the multiple basketball courts on the property, fine for a lifelong lover of the sport like Jordan but perhaps less enticing to a typical home buyer in the area.
Then there's the tough-to-crack vicious cycle that any home that's been on the market for several years can fall into: the sometimes unspoken stigma of it having taken so long to sell. If a house has been for sale for seven years, a prospective buyer might think, there must be something wrong with it, which in turn means lower bids and a continued failure to close the deal.
The house itself is pretty impressive, though, even if most people probably don't want to spend their home lives surrounded by reminders that they aren't Michael Jordan. The home's indebtedness to His Airness even extends to its official real estate listing, which somewhat unusually doesn't shy away from its celebrity owner, maybe because doing so would be futile once anyone takes a look at the house:
"NBA Superstar Michael Jordan's seven-acre estate is as legendary as His Airness himself. The 56,000 square foot property-equipped with every conceivable luxury amenity-is a physical monument to his tireless dedication and hard work. The custom designed property includes a regulation-sized basketball gymnasium, circular infinity pool, putting green, tennis court, and cigar room, each with Jordan's signature touch."
You can take a look for yourself at Michael Jordan's possibly unsellable mansion in the video below from The Agency:
