Lance Armstrong has sold his Austin, Texas home, at a price well below its listed market value of $10 million. The disgraced cyclist is believed to be liquidating assets as he prepares to defend himself against a string of lawsuits, reports the New York Daily News, which adds that the purchaser, oil and gas rights agent Al Koehler, has told the Austin-American Statesman that he paid nowhere near that price.
The house includes the ‘mancave’ in which Armstrong reclined, surrounded by seven framed Tour de France maillots jaune in a photo he tweeted after being stripped of those very victories. Here’s a Through The Keyhole-style look at the house.
The transaction came to light after Koehler filed a deed of trust last week for a loan of $3.1 million to finance the purchase of the property, although it’s likely that he will also have paid an element of cash, making the actual transaction value higher.
It’s certainly not unusual nowadays for someone to retire, find their nest egg is disappearing faster than they expected and their pension isn’t providing as much income as they expected, and decide to downsize and release some of the equity in a home they can no longer afford to service.
Armstrong of course isn’t your typical pensioner.
His retirement came as he entered his 40s, and the reputed $125 million nest egg is being depleted by lawyers’ fees and potential liabilities from a series of lawsuits plus a Department of Justice investigation.
His ‘pension’ evaporated when his sponsors deserted him after the United States Anti-Doping Agency issued its Reasoned decision last October after banning him from sport for life.
Armstrong’s spokesman Mark Higgins confirmed that he had sold the property, but he planned to remain an Austin resident.
That news hasn’t been greeted with universal enthusiasm, with one local resident, Anna Zimmerman – author, coincidentally, of pro cycling-themed novel 150 Watts of Awesome – tweeting: “I'm glad I don't live in the fancy part of Austin. Least I don't have to worry about Lance Armstrong moving in next door… oh wait… crap.”
9 thoughts on “Lance Armstrong sells $10 million Austin, Texas home… at a loss, according to reports”
Nice house, but I suppose if
Nice house, but I suppose if I’d swindled my way to a fortune like that I’d have been able to buy myself some class.
Had to laugh at this line from that website which the link takes you to:
“Jerseys from the Tour de France, which Armstrong won seven times, from 1999 to 2005, are displayed in the media/game room. “He didn’t want them in a prominent place,” says Materanek….”
If he didn’t want them in a prominent place why didn’t he just keep them folded up in one of the draws in his wardrobe, like the rest of us then, rather than framing them and hanging them on the walls?
I guess it’s a bit like
I guess it’s a bit like having a counterfeit Mona Lisa in your living room.
Gasman Jim wrote:
…and then tweeting the picture that appears in this article?
Love that kitchen. I’ve seen
Love that kitchen. I’ve seen those pictures before, never get tired of admiring the kitchen though!
Rest of the house I can take or leave to be honest, not a fan of OTT opulence.
a house bought by years of
a house bought by years of lies and cheating, deserves everything he gets now
Serves the b’stard right. I
Serves the b’stard right. I hope they take everything off the lying, cheating shithouse. There is NOTHING classy about Armstrong. Nothing at all. I hope he gets all that is coming to him – he sure as shit deserves it!!!
Louse Armstrong – the biggest shithouse – ever- in cycling!!!!
It makes you think though, he
It makes you think though, he wasn’t the only one cheating yet no witch hunt for all the others.
Dont get me wrong here i completely agree with taking everything from him won by cheating but it should be done to everyone thats caught whether they admitted to it or were caught out.
stumps wrote:It makes you
I think the issue here is that he defrauded his insurance company, which some of the other riders didn’t (I don’t suppose they got win bonuses because he was winning everything).
SCA made a very sure bet – it would be inconceivable that LA, coming back from cancer, would at his age do 5 TdFs in a row. And so having to pay the accumulator bonus to LA on that was not likely…..except for the drug taking. LA had the chance to admit it all in court, and perjured himself by denying it at the time (back in 2005). But now it’s all coming back to bite him in the arse.
Not many other cyclists have heaped a pack of lies as high as him, and so when the metaphorical house started to fall, it’s going to fall pretty far and hard.
I admit that there is a part of me that is beginning to feel an iota of sympathy for him. That said, I’m sure he’s not quite eating out of bins yet.
I’ve just surprised myself,
I’ve just surprised myself, after checking him on wikipedia, other than the TdF wins, he did not win a great deal.
I was never a fan of his so didnt really take much notice of what he was doing outside of the TdF. Mind you he won a cracking named race in 1994 – 1st Thrift Drug Classic. :))