Moments ago, there were six listings on Zillow for San Diego homes selling for $16 million and up. The top price was $30 million. But those gorgeous, frightfully expensive homes pale in comparison to the $150 million asking price for a palatial Bel Air beachfront home about 140 miles north of us.
The luxury home builder trying to sell that palace has recently filed a real estate lawsuit against Zillow after the home-sale marketing company’s active listing of the home was hacked and tampered with. The hackers “corrupted the listing price dramatically,” the seller said in the lawsuit, making it much harder to get anything close to the $150 million asking price.
The seller seeks $60 million in damages from Zillow.
The specs on the home are as spectacular as its view of the Pacific Ocean: 38,000 square feet inside and another 17,000 square feet of entertainment decks. The home comes with 12 bedrooms and 21 baths, three kitchens, five bars, a four-lane bowling alley and an 85-foot infinity pool, among other amenities.
The hackers apparently got through Zillow’s security measures and claimed to own the mansion – and then began listing false sales of the property, all of which were significantly below the asking price.
The hackers said the home was sold for $110 million, then days later said it had been sold for $90 million and then the next day said it had been sold for $94.3 million. They also invited people to attend an open house, though no such event was scheduled for the luxury abode.
The lawsuit alleges negligence by Zillow, saying that the real estate company’s security measures were unable to “prevent Internet trolls, criminals” from “logging into their system to post the false information.”
If you need to protect your interests in a purchase or sale, contact a San Diego attorney experienced in real estate litigation.