A devoted fan of The Brady Bunch has bought the iconic Los Angeles home that was used on the beloved 1970s television series for all the exterior shots.
Tina Trahan, 53, bought the property for $3.2 million – 9 percent less than what the television network HGTV had originally paid for the property back in 2018 and refurbished it with retro authenticity.
The television network had hoped to sell the property for $5.5 million having spent almost $2 million in renovations since it last sold for $3.5 million – but instead they’ve had to settle for a huge loss.
When the home last sold in 2018, the house famously sparked a bidding war with stars including Miley Cyrus and singer Lance Bass lobbying to buy the $1.8 million property.
HGTV ultimately swooped in with the winning offer at $3.5 million on the Studio City, California, abode – double the original asking price.
This time, it is Trahan who is the new owner. She is the wife of former HBO chief executive Chris Albrecht and has a passion for historic homes together with a love for the original TV show and the 1995 movie.
Fan Tina Trahan has bought the iconic ‘The Brady Bunch’ home in California for $3.2million in a recent sale.
The latest: The home featured on the famed series The Brady Bunch is back on the market, five years after HGTV purchased the dwelling and refurbished it with retro authenticity.
Tina Trahan, 53, is the wife of former HBO chief executive Chris Albrecht and has a passion for historic homes together with a love for the original TV show and the 1995 movie.
Nobody will actually live in the house and her intention is to use the home for fundraising and charitable events, comparing it to a life-sized dollhouse.
The Brady Bunch debuted on ABC on September 26, 1974, and the series proved to be groundbreaking for the time as it saw a blended family take center stage.
Created by Sherwood Schwartz, it initially ran for 117 episodes from 1969 through 1974 and spawned a number of spinoffs, films and specials.
It saw Mike (played by Robert Reed) and his three sons Greg, Peter and Bobby move in with new wife Carol (Florence Henderson) and her three daughters Marcia, Jan and Cindy, along with live-in housekeeper Alice Nelson (played by Ann B. Davis).
The series opted against providing any political commentary of the time, a surprise given the USA was in the midst of the controversial Vietnam War.
While it only performed moderately during its five-season run, The Brady Bunch has become an icon in TV history, thanks to huge success in syndication and reunion TV movies.
The cast of the Sherwood Schwartz television series, which ran from 1969 through 1974, was pictured on a staircase.
The TV network put $1.9 million into remodeling, refurbishing the house’s trademark floating staircase and retro kitchen, putting another 2,000 square feet onto the property.
The exterior home was also used in The Brady Bunch movie, released in 1995.
The refurnished home is a one-of-a-kind blend of modern amenities with retro nostalgia.
The second level is an exact replica of what was seen on the series.
The two-bedroom, three-bathroom house featured notably in the opening credits of the show and, as a result, is said to be the second most-photographed home in the United States, surpassed only by the White House,
Following the 2018 purchase, HGTV implemented a gut renovation of the midcentury-built house, recreating the interior and exterior of the house as seen on the popular TV series, which has run for decades in syndication.
The renovation included the iconic staircase seen on TV sets across America for decades.
HGTV televised the conversion of the home on its 2019 special A Very Brady Renovation, which garnered strong ratings and an estimated 28 million viewers spanning four weeks, according to the outlet.
The TV network put $1.9 million into remodeling, refurbishing the house’s iconic floating staircase and orange and avocado-green Formica kitchen, the ‘groovy’ attic, and the stone-covered entryway.
The network, which is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, upgraded the home considerably and also added a second story to it.
The home has been refurbished down to the detail to look just like the TV show.
A Discovery subsidiary documented the remodeling on 2019 special A Very Brady Renovation.
The second level is an exact replica of what was seen in the series, including the living room and bedrooms, as the scenes in the latter areas had been shot at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles.
The network has showcased the abode, located at 11222 Dilling Street, in specials and on the Discovery+ reality series Trixie Motel.
Before HGTV owned the house, it remained within the same family for nearly half a century.
Trahan’s realtor, Marcy Roth of Douglas Elliman, said she was initially surprised when Trahan expressed her desire to acquire the ‘Brady Bunch’ house and assumed it was a joke – only later realizing her passion was indeed genuine and unwavering.
She was like, “No, I’m not kidding, I’m obsessed,” Roth explained.
Trahan said she believed the house was overpriced because of its lack of modern amenities and appliances and believed it could never be used as a typical home without major modifications, which would then reduce its value as a work of art.
Despite HGTV taking a loss on the sale of the home, the network more than made up for it by generating substantial amounts of revenue from TV shows and events associated with the house.
The property still remains a popular tourist attraction and Trahan told WSJ.com how she hopes to use the home to help with fundraising and host charitable events.
‘It’s almost like a life-size dollhouse,’ she said.
The 2018 sale of the home marked the first time it had hit the market in 45 years, as it was last purchased in 1973, according to the report.
The home first hit the market for an asking price of $1.85 million, with NSYNC singer Lance Bass among those who plunked down bids.
However, HGTV prevailed in the real-estate showdown.
Among the mementos in the home included with the purchase include a green floral patterned couch seen in the living room, and a horse sculpture on the show that was recreated via 3D printing.