Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch Is Officially For Sale

Six years after Michael Jackson’s untimely passing, the pop superstar’s Neverland Ranch is officially up for sale, according to a piece by the Wall Street Journal. If you want to live where the King of Pop lived, you’re going to have to reach deep into your wallet: the legendary home and grounds have an astounding $100 million price tag attached to them.

$100 million may seem like a hefty price tag, but the purchase comes with a lot more than your average mansion. In addition to a 12,000 square foot main house that features six bedrooms, there are twenty one other buildings spread throughout the massive property.
The entire estate constitutes about 2,700 acres—an absurd amount of land for the area of the country where the property is located (in Los Olivos, CA CA -0.03%, which is in Santa Barbara County)—and has everything from swimming pools to tennis and basketball courts to two lakes.
General view of the front gate at Neverland Ranch on July 8, 2009 in Los Olivos, California.

While it is best known as the property that Jackson turned into something resembling a child’s fantasy land, the singer’s estate no longer owns the home or grounds. Instead, it is currently owned by real estate investment firm Colony Capital, which stepped in to help the singer when he defaulted on his loans in 2008, just a year before he died. Jackson couldn’t pay an almost $25 million loan he had on the ranch, so Colony entered into a joint venture with the King for $23 million, whereby they owned the note to the home. In the following years, the company has apparently spent millions on renovations, which have also helped raise the resell value.


Not only do the remaining Jacksons not own Neverland Ranch any longer, but it apparently doesn’t much resemble the vision that the singer made it to be. While a train is still on the grounds, the amusement park rides are gone, as are most of the wild animals he purchased.

Were he alive today, Jackson might be making a nice return on the home, as its value has skyrocketed. The “Thriller” singer purchased the home back in 1987 for a mere $19.5 million. While inflation helps explain part of the rise in price of the property, a valuation five times higher than what it was bought for less than three decades ago is impressive. Surely part of the estate’s value has to do with its massively popular former owner, though it’s tough to put a price on that