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Kurt Cobain’s childhood home sold for $210,000, five times its real estate value:
- The owners of late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain’s childhood home have agreed to sell the house for $210,000, ending an online auction for the property. Ed and Jennifer McKee turned down online offers of $40 million for the Montesano, Washington home. The couple decided to play it safe with the buyer who offered $210,000, rather than those pranksters who inflated the price to $40 million.
“It feels good to be a millionaire on paper at least,” Ed McKee told the Seattle Times. “It’s hard for us to take these huge bids seriously because there’s a lot of pranksters out there.”
The McKees emailed all the bidders who inflated the price to see if they were serious. The couple eventually confirmed the legitimacy of the $210,000 bid.
The home was purchased by the McKees of Oregon last month for $42,000. At the time, the McKees had no idea at the time of their purchase that it was Cobain’s childhood home.
As a fan of popular culture, I can understand the value of relics actually involved with the creation of pop history, but I am befuddled by the value some people put on items simply touched, or even associated with pop culture figures, such as this case.
This is the home Cobain lived in between the ages of 11 to 15, has nothing to do with Nirvana, had nothing to do with the creation of music, etc. Do the buyers think Cobain’s aura has somehow suffused the home? Is that aura worth $160,000? Are the new owners going to create a Cobain shrine? Are they brain-damaged?
