The weird world of X Factor houses
September 29, 2010 at 12:05 PM Lawrence Hall 18 comments
This is a legacy post from the findaproperty.com blog which is now maintained as an archive within the Zoopla blog. Links have been preserved.
Great excitement among X-Factor fans this week after the address of the contestant house was revealed as a ‘Spanish style’ mansion in Hyver Hill near Borehamwood, Hertfordshire (pictured, above).
The property, which is up a private road and among thick woods, is a world away from previous X Factor contestant houses, which are usually in suburban areas of North London.
But one thing millions will be wondering is – what’s it like to be in the house when the show is in full swing? Earlier this year I had a rare peek into this high octane world of TV stardom, tabloid headlines and dormitory living when the owner of last year’s house gave me a tour of the property.
It was, at the time, on the market for £5.65 million after being rented out to X-Factor for £50,000 a week.
That house (pictured above), which is a starkly modern new-build on West Heath Avenue, Hampstead, was famously mobbed by local school children day and night as the X-Factor final loomed and neighbours including the Chinese ambassador looked on in horror at the fans’ antics, which included writing lewd graffiti on its perimeter wall.
But aside from the hysteria that the contestants attract, what’s the property story behind these houses? Simon Cowell’s production company usually approaches owners through local agents and in the Hampstead property’s case owner (and developer) Matthew Frayne was asked if X Factor could rent the house for 16 weeks.
The production company’s usual strategy is to find large and upmarket homes that are for sale and then offer to rent them out at fairly inflated prices. And given that owners can make around £600,000 in rent from the deal, no wonder they are happy to take their properties off the market and submit them to the X-Factor hysteria.
In reality these houses are not ‘homes’ but a boarding school crossed with a TV studio. The contestants, however glamorous, sleep in bunk beds in ‘dormitories’ and the rest of the house is used to film interviews for each week’s show and as a photographic studio for publicity stills. Only the really young or vulnerable contestants get their owns room, I was told.
The latest X-Factor house is a sprawling, seven-bedroom villa in Borehamwood, Herts that until Simon Cowell’s henchmen turned up, was on the market for £3.5 million. Then the owner, lawyer Stephen Goldberg, “decided to rent it out” and make a fortune from renting it out to X-Factor. It had been listed by agent Stattons at £2,500 a week but X Factor will probably be paying a lot more than that.
One thing I would warn Mr Goldberg – the house will be trashed by the end of the show if last year’s house is anything to go by. But on the other hand the exposure might help sell it; the 2009 X-Factor house in Hampstead now has a new owner.
UPDATE: The house is now on the market, according to the Daily Mail, for the same asking price early on in 2010.
Entry filed under: General. Tags: borehamwood, House, property, simon cowell, West Hampstead, x factor.
18 Comments Add your own
Why not leave us a comment or share this with the buttons above?
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed
1.
Manchester Estate Agent | October 4, 2010 at 4:22 PM
Out of interest, did the 2009 house sell for more than it was originally on the market for off the back of being the X-Factor house, do you know?
2.
Nikki Sheehan | October 5, 2010 at 12:42 PM
Hm, rather Mr Goldberg than me.
According to the DM this year’s wannabe shenanigans come with the full blessing of Mr Cowell himself.
Apparently, “Simon Cowell is encouraging bad behaviour from the X Factor hopefuls…The music mogul said he wanted the final 12 contestants to ‘be their age and do what they like’ rather than ‘sitting in the library until three in the morning’.”
He is said, by an un-named source that I have just made up, to be concerned that the potentially boring and un-newsworthy behaviour of this years’ contestants could bring the whole show into direpute and provoke damaging headlines, such as, “Cowell risks new X Factor outcry by giving finalists licence to return books late, talk loudly and mess up the periodicals.”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1316677/Simon-Cowell-risks-new-X-Factor-outcry-giving-finalists-licence-behave-badly.html#ixzz11U1M8b4l
3.
Northern Ireland Property | October 7, 2010 at 2:31 AM
Always find it funny that the judges take their singers to exotic properties round the world and where do Louis Walsh’s singers get, Ireland! And every single year too!
4.
nancy1000000 | October 9, 2010 at 3:49 PM
Yeah but Cheryls contestants went to Ascot !!!
5.
RANDR | October 15, 2010 at 12:20 AM
OH ISEE IN MY DREAM. NICE PLACE NATURAL
6.
George | October 18, 2010 at 5:57 PM
Can someone please help me, does anyone know the actual address of the 2010 X factor house? I know it’s hyver hill, borehamwood, but what is the rest of the address eg postcode? Thanks.
7.
Nigel Lewis | October 19, 2010 at 1:07 PM
HI Manchester Estate Agetn – no the house didn’t sell for more but the developer was really looking for publicity for his development company, which given the huge amount of national press coverage, he got!
8.
Nigel Lewis | October 19, 2010 at 1:09 PM
Hi George – yes, the postcode is NW7 4HU.
9.
property lady | October 20, 2010 at 2:49 PM
I live near the 2009 house and never realised it was used for the X factor contestants. I guess all the mobbing by school kids took place when I was still at work and so I missed it all.
I did notice the property was on the market about a year ago for £7 million. Not sure if it will be worth more because of the X factor – if I were a buyer I would be worried it wasn’t as well looked after compared to if someone had actually rented it to be their home.
10.
George | October 24, 2010 at 6:25 PM
Thanks Nigel, out of interest how did you find the postcode? I’ve been trailing the net for days! Do you think if I sent mail there, that it might actually be given to a contestant?
11.
Nigel Lewis | October 25, 2010 at 9:29 AM
Hi – I managed to find it by tweeting estate agents, a couple of whom were able to help. I suppose there’s no harm sending mail there – I guess the house manager will have a look at it!
12.
Pretty Girls : | October 26, 2010 at 5:08 PM
bunk beds should be made from strong materials like steel or better yet composite fibers’-:
13.
maisie | November 7, 2010 at 4:05 PM
Hi nigel,
Just wondering if you know the number/name of this house? thanks
14.
EPC | November 11, 2010 at 9:19 PM
i dont think i would be that happy with it for fear the house being trashed and putting off potential buyers
15.
chara | November 22, 2010 at 9:38 PM
hey Nigel,
do you know a number of the house?
I can’t send a letter without it
Thanks:)
16.
Nigel Lewis | November 23, 2010 at 3:38 PM
Sorry Chara – don’t have a number. But there aren’t many houses there – just a dozen big mansions. It will probably get there with a postcode and evertying bar a number.
17.
hannah | December 2, 2010 at 7:47 PM
do you have any idea on how to get there?
18.
Nigel Lewis | December 3, 2010 at 9:49 AM
There’s a link within the story to a Google Maps page which will show you, more or less, the exact location.