buzbee's house for sale

High-power Houston attorney places River Oaks home on market for $27.5M

Buzbee is accepting Bitcoin as payment.

Photo courtesy of Josh Gremillion for Douglas Elliman

Power attorney Tony Buzbee, to put it lightly, is no stranger to going big. Take his bombastic, fists-up mayoral campaign or the $750 million lawsuit he filed against the Astroworld Festival. And how about the former Marine parking a $600,000 WWII tank in front of his River Oaks home?

His aforementioned home (1722 River Oaks Blvd.) has seen headlines thanks to a 2016 visit from Donald Trump and a 2019 burglary that resulted in the theft of $21 million in paintings, jewelry, computers, and even guns.

And the newest headline: it boasts a $27,500,000 price tag as it’s now for sale. True to Buzbee headline-grabbing form, Bitcoin will be accepted for purchase.

Nestled on one of the most prestigious streets in Houston (just three doors from River Oaks Country Club), Buzbee’s house is a five-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bathroom modern Tudor featuring a brick façade, slate roof, and imported French antique stone walkway.

Inside, the 12,209 square-foot home boasts a gym, wine cellar with a tasting room and storage for hundreds of bottles, theater, library, family room and adjoining wet bar, guest suite with a private entry, game room, temperature-controlled attic spaces, walk-in closets, a whole-house generator, six-car garage with car lifts, and more, per a description from Beth Cassidy of Douglas Elliman.

Meanwhile, details in the Tom Wilson-crafted home include interiors by Ginger Barber Nash, refinished hardwood floors, limestone tile, regal mahogany millwork, Segreto plaster walls, a stone gas fireplace imported from Italy, imported stone floors, and LED lighting throughout.

This $27,500,000 price is quite the jump, as Buzbee purchased the home in 2013 for $14 million. A current cryptocurrency converter puts the sale price at approximately 618 Bitcoin.

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housing news

This is how much longer Texans must save for a home than in 2016

Photo by Kostiantyn Li on Unsplash

It would take more than 7 years for a Texas household making over $84,000 a year to save enough money for a down payment on a home.

It's no secret that purchasing a home in 2026 has become an ever-shifting financial goalpost that requires a lot more money than it used to. And a new study has just revealed it takes 9 months longer for Texas residents to save for a down payment than it did a decade ago.

SmartAsset's new report, "Where the Down Payment Burden Has Grown Most," analyzed typical home values in each state in 2016 and 2026, and compared them with median household income to estimate how many years of savings would be required to afford a 20 percent down payment (based on the assumption that households set aside 10 percent of their annual income). The analysis also evaluated how long a minimum-wage earner in each state would need to save for a down payment in 2026.

For Texans making the state's median household income of $84,084 in 2026, it would take 7.2 years to save enough money for a down payment on a house with the state's typical home value of $302,187.

In 2016, it would have taken a little less than 6.5 years based on a median household income of $56,565 and typical home values at $181,155.

Texas ranks 41st nationally in SmartAsset's comparison of states with the highest increases in the amount of time needed to save for a down payment from 2016 to 2026. The report's findings proved how "saving for a down payment has become a moving target" for many Texas residents and Americans as a whole.

"As rising home prices outstrip wage growth, the amount of time buyers may need to set aside enough money has changed sharply in many parts of the country," the report said. "In some states, rising incomes have helped offset higher home values. In others, buyers may face a substantially longer path to ownership than they did just one decade ago."

Homebuying prospects for minimum wage earners
For a minimum wage earner residing in Texas, it would take 40.1 years to save enough money for a down payment at current home prices. Texas and 19 other states have a $7.25 hourly minimum wage, which amounts to just over $15,000 a year.

SmartAsset further confirmed that it's "essentially impossible" to save for a down payment on a minimum wage income alone regardless of which state you live in.

"Even in Missouri, the most favorable state, a minimum-wage earner would need 17 years to save enough for a home down payment," the report added. "In Utah, that timeline exceeds 70 years."

The top 10 states where the "down payment burden" has grown the most are:

No. 1 – Idaho
No. 2 – Rhode Island
No. 3 – New Hampshire
No. 4 – Maine
No. 5 – Utah
no. 6 – Montana
No. 7 – Washington
No. 8 – New Jersey
No. 9 – New York
No. 10 – Massachusetts

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