Ted Koppel Closeout: Desperate To Sell Home, Slashes Price 50 Percent

Ted Koppel could be the king of all price-slashers.

The former "Nightline" host has chopped the price of his suburban Washington, DC-area home by more than half since he first put it on the market in 2005 for $4.1 million.

He's now asking $1.94 million for the nearly 9,000-square-foot spread in Potomac, Md., after lowering it to $2.3 million last August. The six-bedroom Contemporary on 2.5 landscaped acres includes an indoor pool, a gym with a sauna, maid's quarters and a horse barn.

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Comments

[Tommygun264]

I sincerely doubt that Ted Koppel will be applying for food stamps any time soon. My guess is that he's slashing the price because he can afford to. I'm not saying he's impervious to the pain of cashing out on what turned out to be a bad investment - especially when it not only gets publicized in print and on the web, but every slob who fancies himself/herself the next Trump gets to post insulting comments about it (and that includes jerks like me). I'm just saying that some people are lucky enough to reach a comfortable place in life where they realize the don't need to focus on the accumulation of wealth and they figure life is too short to spend the rest of the time they have on this earth holding on to something which may or may not go back up in value within their lifetime. I hope this is the case for the Koppels. I have no reason to believe they don't deserve to be content with their lives.

[fignozzle]

investments.........

[fignozzle]

this was not supposed to happen to the rich folk was it george?

[michelv]

What wasn't supposed to happen? Are you insinuating he is in trouble? The headline is misleading. The article makes no mention of him being in financial trouble.

[adzeman]

I think that was an appropriate dig at the nitwit occupying the White House.

[drblack]

If Koppel isn't in trouble why would he sell when it is a buyers market?
A person who is fine financially will hold their properties until the market stabilizes.

[fignozzle]

omg!
poor ed mcmahan is suffering the same disgrace!

[NotBeatenYet]

Thank you, President Bush.

[likeicare]

Anyone who has lived in Maryland know how obscenely over-priced housing is there.

It's about time real estate values came back down to earth. That's all.

[Pippilangstrumpf]

You want obscene? Try Chicagoland.

The property taxes in some of the suburbs here alone will kill ya.

[Tommygun264]

Try Honolulu. So-called "affordable" two-bedroom units in a new high-rise condo development near downtown went on the market a few months ago starting at $440,000. It's common for people in their 30's and 40's, many of them married and with kids, to still live with their parents. Only a fraction of Hawaii residents own homes. Most private land owners here are Bush's top 1% and foreign nationals who gobble up foreclosures during lean times and whose Hawaii properties are not their primary residences.

[Wulfstan]

Liberal Communists is right up there with Compassionate Conservatives.

Double plus good speak.

[Wulfstan]

Liberal Communists ! Wow.

[Balto]

I live near Baltimore and I have been to Potomac for estate sales on occasion (no antiques--everything tends to be new and overpriced). Now Potomac, Maryland, is a rather upscale area. The Avenel (PGA) Golf Club is there. But what you have to realize is what the move from landlocked Potomac to the Potomac River represents. The Potomac River sports 100-million-dollar residences such as that of Senator Kennedy and a large compound owned by the Saudi Arabian embassy where the royal family stays when they're in town. That Koppel can afford to have neighbors like that says something about the economic viewpoint he represents when he reads the news.

[PennLawyer]

The most under reported aspect of the housing bubble is the impact of plumeting prices on people who were NOT speculating (standard 20% down, 30 year fixed rate mortgage). When they're forced to sell for ANY reason (moving into assisted living or nursing home; job transfers; lose job and relocate to find employment; retire to smaller place), the selling prices they get are so low, they have to come up with an additional $50,000-100,000 or more just to pay off their mortgages. In many communities, once there are a few abandoned properties in the neighborhoods - NOBODY will buy. Home values have dropped so steeply that one can't even offer an assume-my-mortgage deal.

Case in point: townhouse community in Ft. Myers, FL. My friend's office closed. There was no local employment for her. She took a transfer to another state and considered herself lucky to find a renter who paid 1/2 my friend's monthly tax/insurance/association fees/mortgage. After nearly two years, similar units are selling for 42.5 % OF THEIR PURCHASE PRICE. ($98,000 for a $230,000 unit).
Truly a national nightmare - thanks to the failure of the federal government to oversee the lending industry. I feel no pity for the speculators who were flipping properties, or the ever-voracious McMansion home building industry - or the very wealthy, multi-estate owners like Koppel. But there are now millions of families who have lost their homes, And that is beyond tragic.

[dora rice]

There is no relationship left between those two. I can tell. I am an old fox at this. Big pretense in public.
He didn't even take her in his arms after their announcement they won. They touched knuckles. Even though that seems hip and young, it shows something much more sinister. A realtionship that is only a front in public.

[bitterinsc]

You must have missed the shot where she whispered "I love you." You've been watching too much of the Clinton marriage of convenience.

[ibsteve2u]

"There is no relationship left between those two. I can tell."

Hey, isn't that the same thing you said about Obama and Michelle (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-ford/michelle-obamas-rocky-roa_b_105538.html)?

[granamica]

What else do your tea leaves tell you?

[Dannydel]

'The View' just called, they want you to be Elizabeths sidekick (Dumb & Dumber).

[fcsakes]

Gracious, are you a real person my dear? Do you sniff anything faintly gluelike?

I believe that the only thing you are an old fox at is faux.

[Ihaveadream]

I remember driving north up Rt 1 in northern VA, getting off at Fredericksburg, due to major congestion on I 95, in 2005 and seeing new townhouses advertised for starting prices of $800K 5 miles south of Ft. Belvoir VA and thinking, " what military family could afford anything around there." And there were thousands of these expensive, cookie cutter new homes on postage stamp lots, that all looked the same lining Rt 1 because the developers got the land cheap. Those were the days of the "deals" that mortgage companies where offering so people could afford to buy those inflated houses. But now the people who bought at those prices are stuck with them because they don't appraise at what they paid and they can't refinance either.

[Lvm]

My daughter and husband were moving to northern, va in '03. We would drive by a two bedroom tract house bungalow that was being "snatched" for the bargain price of 750,000. They would have signs saying, "Too Late" in front of them. Like you, I was thinking who can afford this? Then I pick up the real estate mags, and see...no money down...second morgage...interest only, etc., etc,. Where were the banking regulators. Not being an expert in economics, I could at least deduce that there was some major scam going on. Wall street, the banks, the fed, and the Bush administration were high fiveing behind closed doors. This collapse comes as no surprise to the average thinking person. Where the hell was Congress.

Poot Ted Koppel, sounds to me like his price is still higher than what it's actually worth. He's just upsizing capitalizing on someone else's mistake or misfortune. I'm sure he's getting a good deal.

[researcher]

the have mores have more while most americans stuggle to make ends meet.

but what i find interesting is the have nots defend unchecked capitlalism to the nth degree.

one sixth of our population do not have medical coverage and many more have insurance that is terribly inadequate or have a special clause that exempts them from the very illness that need coverage for. absolute insanity that the rest of the industrialized world looks at us in dismay for our ignorance.

some people are working two and three jobs to make ends meet and many are losing their homes.

and instead of looking at the economic system that is causing all this hardship we blame people and even slap the taxpayers in the face with a bailout of the saving and loans and now bear sterns.

brad and jolie pay 70 million for a home in france and claim to care for the poor.

when jesus said it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven never was a more true statement made.

so few if anyone will understand that quote. in fact religious folks have made up an excuse about the eye of a needle to deny and overcome this profound statement.

jesus was one of the most profound mytics this world has every known and the religious folks have turned him into a religious figure which he was the least of.

[KOisGod]

I'm UR latest fan -

[ChristianEcon.com]

Well said--so many are so easily misled by the church of capitalism, promoted by a very narrow segment of beneficiaries.

[dora rice]

well at least I finally have proof what comes together here at this post. A bunch of liberal leftist communists. I suspected this for a long time, and by who they were rooting for.

[billkarwin]

How are these plummeting house prices going to affect property assessments, and subsequent property tax revenue for local governments? The implications for sustaining locally-funded government services like roads, police and fire, libraries, schools, etc. seem gloomy.

[MoeJava]

I think this entire crisis is illustration of what the *less government folks* were waiting for!
They probably are getting a chubby thinking their dreams are becoming reality - starve that very same government they hate.

What they fail to realize, and this includes all the *poor* people who vote republican, that our commons is being systematically destroyed through neglect.
First thing you know - let's *privatize* and let some cost-plus contractors rebuild our infrastructure - just as competently (not!) as they do in Iraq. When we are spreading democracy with the muzzle-end of a gun, we can also provide substandard work in rebuilding our own country. That will ensure them years of repeat business. Oh joy......

[JoeBlough]

But we will have a new stadium!

[michelv]

9,000 sqft, an indoor pool, on 2.5 landscape acres, for $1.94 million??? That is unbelievably DIRT cheap. No, it is insanely cheap!

The best part is that the article mentions they "have since moved to a larger place on the Potomac River a few miles away." A larger place?

[mediamarv]

Maid's quarters??? It has a Maid's Quarters???

Why would he need a maid?? I wonder if he would have paid SS for the person>> Linda Chavez, another talking head, thankfully long missing, had a maid, and, oops, forgot to pay taxes. Nannygate all over again.

[voicefromafar]

Why wouldn't he need a maid? Do you have any idea how much time it takes to keep a house clean?

[larry278]

Nobody wants to emulate Ed "Pouge" McMahon to stop a forclosure. Mr K is a motivated seller as the realtors say. If the Dems win-he can find a buyer. The RePoopLieCons won't need to pay a retainer to their defense attorney's till they get indicted. Propery prices in Md, DC & Va will drop as soon as W & cohorts are indicted. If they are tried in a US Court & are convicted of treason they'll have to pay for endless stays of execution to avoid the hot shot in the Fed Pen in Ft Wayne, In. They could cop a plea for a long sentence or being tried by an Int'l Tribunal at the Hague or elswhere. Int'l Tribunals no longer have access to the death penalty for war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, etc. Doing time in one of Europe's pens beats time in an American pen. W & cohorts could face time at a US, Federal, Super Max-if they beat the death penalty- with a plea bargain. Even a US minimum security pen, aka Club Fed or a country club, has a bad rep for less than humane treatment of prisoners. This may not be so off thread after 1/20/09.

[larry278]

Typo mea culpa, I should have spelled Propery as Property.