Sold At a Marx-ed Discount

The former Hollywood Hills home of the late, great comedian Groucho Marx has sold for $3.67 million, according to listing records.

The famed moustachioed television, radio and film star—best known as one of the stars of the iconic comedy group The Marx Brothers—called the Regency-style property home during the 1940s and sold the property in 1949 for $35,000, the equivalent of roughly $375,000 in 2019 dollars.

But the Hollywood legacy had little impact when it came to finding a buyer for the four-bedroom home which sold July 5, according to listing agent Jason Woodruff of Woodruff Realty Group.

“I was surprised in this case how many didn’t know who he was,” Woodruff said. “The current buyers were aware, but I don’t think it was something that made a difference.”

The 3,700-square-foot home, built around 1935, has a two-story foyer, a formal dining room and a master suite with a balcony, office area and walk-in closet. The house sits on around one-quarter of an acre, which encompass a swimming pool, a spa and a changing room with a steam shower and sauna, according to the listing.

The sellers of the property, a husband and wife from Houston, bought the home in 2017 for $3.81 million.

Though they made a number of changes to the home during their tenure, little was cosmetic, Woodruff said. “They rebuilt the chimney, removed one of the bathrooms, but mostly it looks the same as when they purchased it. They put money into the house, but not the stuff you would see,” he said.

The sale price is a little less than the $3.8 million the home had been asking since May, and further below the $4.2 million the home listed for in February.

The discount is indicative of the soft real estate conditions being seen across the Los Angeles market.

The median price across the city’s downtown and west side fell 4.5% in the first quarter of the year, marking only the second time annual price growth turned negative in Los Angeles since 2011.

Meanwhile, at the luxury end—the top 10% of the market—house sales fell by roughly one-third in the first quarter compared to a year.