Selling 24 Sussex Drive?

Run a blog and eventually you get on the lists of a surprising number of publicists and promoters who invite you to cover whatever it is they are publicizing.  The pitches are mostly for coverage of items largely if not exclusively of American interest, and I mostly ignore them - which is no doubt the usual expected fate for these scattershot emails.

But this pitch from San Diego Mateo, California has a Canadian connection, and the writer actually mentions a post on this blog from several years ago (one entirely forgotten by me).

Hi Christopher. I'm Nick at Movoto, a real estate research blog down here in the United States. Our blog has become known in part for research in valuing properties. Today, we published a study which values 24 Sussex Drive at more than $7 million: http://www.movoto.com/blog/novelty-real-estate/24-sussex-drive/
Thought it might be a fun and interesting story for Canadians. I saw you wrote about Paul Wells' motion to tear 24 Sussex Drive down back in 2009.

 Looking around, I see a lot of media bigger than this blog also bit.  Nice work, Nick.

Update:  Now that I have actually reread Paul Wells's report, I'm thinking Movoto hasn't at all got the value of 24 Sussex Drive right. Wells reports that several years ago the renovation budget just to fix the place up a bit was $10 million.  So just $7 mil for the house and the four-acres of grounds?

Even if it's a tear-down, there's gotta be more value there than $7 mil. Movoto finds its price estimate by a square foot valuation based on other large houses in desirable parts of Ottawa, but it has not allowed anything for the unique riverfront location, the prestige value, and other factors.  There just ain't a bunch of homes in Ottawa to compare 24 Sussex to, and that's gotta cost.  I'd say $20 million for openers, Nick.


Further update, November 27:  Nick proves he's a real American person and not some spambot program:

Hey Chris. You’re right…the two that spent time on this probably didn’t take into account the true overall value of the land and historical nature of the residence. That can be hard to peg. Perhaps we should’ve consulted with a local realtor? It’s great that such a powerful person in Canada lives so modestly. I want to visit Canada…I’m gonna move it higher to the top of my list. I live in Indiana, where we have cold winters, so vacation is usually to warm places! But I love me some snowboarding! Nick