Taylor Swift Drops Nearly $18 Million on Rhode Island Mansion: Report
For Taylor Swift, Cape Cod is so 2012. The country singer has reportedly dropped nearly $18 million for a new seaside mansion in the coastal village of Watch Hill, Rhode Island.
After being photographed house-hunting on April 15 in the exclusive area, which is part of the town of Westerly, the 23-year-old has purchased an eight-bedroom estate, with over 700 feet of shoreline, for $17.75 million, according to TMZ. The website reports the "I Knew You Were Trouble" singer paid cash for the transaction – and she seemed to get a decent deal, paying well under the $24 million asking price.
Real estate agent Jim Michalove from Seaboard Properties in Stonington, Connecticut, confirmed the sale to the Providence Journal, but wouldn't identify the buyer, citing a confidentiality agreement.
According to the listing, the 17,000-square-foot oceanfront home is called High Watch – and at 65 feet above sea level, it is touted as the highest point of direct waterfront land on the entire Eastern Seaboard.
Because of the amazing scenery, the four-story home, which was built in 1930 and sits on 5.25 acres, features floor-to-ceiling windows in many of the 16 rooms. While Swift is writing her songs, she can gaze out at the "beautiful ocean views" from her master suite, which has a marble fireplace (there are eight total in the house) and two en suite full baths (one with a whirlpool tub).
The lavish home also features a "cheerful sitting room," library, game room, service kitchen, and extra-large five-car heated garage. And let's not forget the pool, pool house, many terraces, and a widow's walk/roof terrace.
High Watch was sold by Jim Benson, the former chief executive of John Hancock Life Insurance Co., and his wife, who bought the property in 1996 for $3.5 million. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Benson described the house by saying, "It's like being on a large ocean liner, only it doesn't go anywhere."
Swift, who is based in Nashville, has taken an interest in real estate as of late. Last summer she became the butt of jokes after dropping $4.8 million for a house in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, which bordered on the famed Kennedy compound, because she was dating 17-year-old Conor Kennedy at the time. But she had the last laugh, flipping the house after a few months and making a nearly $1 million profit.
And she certainly has the money to spend. Currently on tour supporting her album "Red," Swift came in No. 2 on Forbes magazine's Highest-Paid Female Musicians list for 2012, earning a reported $57 million last year. So $17.75 million is drop in the bucket, if that is in fact what she paid. (omg! has not yet heard back from Swift's rep – or the realtor – regarding the real estate transaction.)
In an interview with Vanity Fair earlier this year, the singer, who details her personal life in her chart-topping songs, quipped, "Apparently I buy houses near every boy I like." So now that she has the house, we can't wait to see who her love interest in Rhode Island will be.
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