With an asking price of $785,000, the house anchored above a quiet cove on Lake Allatoona in Georgia isn’t a typical fixer-upper. But make no mistake, the place needs some work.
“You need to have some vision when looking at this house,” concedes real estate agent Joyce Hall, who estimates that vision might cost an additional $25,000 or so to make the house livable for a family.
Built as a set for “The Man Made Movie,” a home improvement/manly movie program on TBS, the 3,700-square-foot house is designed for a man with lots of buddies and no wife. And probably no girlfriend.
Now that the house has been completed, the “Man Made Movie” crew has moved to Seattle to build a “guy house” there. So the home on the shores of Lake Allatoona is for sale.
The kitchen has no oven because guys don’t bake. The bedrooms have no closets because, presumably, guys don’t hang up their clothes. There are, however, plenty of TVs, one in virtually every room.
Don’t use the main level bathroom if you need to sit down–the room only has urinals–three of them, each with cup holder and plasma TV.
The downstairs bathroom is an upscale locker room, with a sauna and two showers. This bathroom does have toilet stalls. Three of them, each with a theme. One features a $14,000 aquarium. One is a library, and the center refuge features an ornate, handcarved walnut and mahogany throne.
The living room features a mounted water buffalo head that, with the touch of a remote control, rotates to reveal a basketball hoop. The yard has a batting cage and a string of putting greens and golf tees.
The house was built before Steve Koonin arrived at TBS as executive vice president and chief operating officer. Of those who held the job before him, he says: “One can only imagine they never thought about resale.”
But that’s OK. The house, Koonin said, “functioned as a TV studio. Our biggest objective is great television. The byproduct is a cool house.”
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The house offers many qualities almost anyone would want–a primo location, first among them.
Lakefront lots are precious, said real estate agent Steve Fahl, Hall’s partner in marketing the property. The quarter-acre lot where the “Man Made Movie” house sits would go for about $250,000, Fahl said.
The house takes advantage of its perch with three decks. The uppermost has a hot tub and gas grill. Oh, and a firefighter’s pole for quick trips downstairs.
There are two stone fireplaces, a dumbwaiter and stainless-steel appliances. The foyer has slate flooring, with hardwood floors everywhere else. “Low maintenance,” Fahl said. “Just sweep everything out.”
There is a bowling alley on the lower level and a media wall to fulfill the wildest dreams of any couch potato.
Some of the elements that make the place “the quintessential guy house,” as Koonin describes it, may give many prospective buyers pause.
Matt Logsdon, attracted by the location, toured the house earlier this month.
“The thing that was going through my head was how much was it going to cost me to undo what was done,” Logsdon said, noting that he really doesn’t need a bowling alley in the basement.
Fahl and Hall have a partial answer. They asked a contractor for a rough design to remodel the two bedrooms and main-level bathroom–the one with standing room only. Adding closet space to the bedrooms and remodeling the bathroom with three urinals to serve all family members would cost $25,000 to $35,000.
The house, as is, would be a great weekend getaway or corporate retreat, Koonin said.
“In time,” he said, “the right buyer will surface.”