Celebrity Houses Regular People Can Afford

Taylor Swift is one of the biggest names in music, and today she owns mansions far beyond what the average Joe could ever dream of affording. But the storybook Pennsylvania home where shew grew up is now on the market for under $1 million. If that actually seems reasonable for such an iconic property, you may be surprised to know that other homes with celebrity cachet have been listed for decidedly more modest prices. Some stars forgo the glitz of the Hollywood Hills and lead frugal lives. Others may live large now but grew up in modest places. Here's our list of celebrity homes that regular people may actually be able to afford.

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Reading, Pennsylvania 
Asking price: $999,000
Before relocating to Nashville so Taylor could pursue a career in music, the Swift family lived in this classic six-bedroom home. The subsequent owners didn't know Swift had lived there until fans started showing up to take pictures outside. It's now on the market for the second time in the past 10 years.

Related: The Most Expensive Celebrity Homes of All Time

Pittsburgh

Sold for $866,000 in 2021

The star of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" passed away in 2003, but the 3,700-square-foot brick home where he lived in the late 1950s and early '60s lives on. The house is, as you'd expect from the most famous and beloved TV host of the 20th century, perfectly homey, with a basketball hoop over the garage and a library with built-in shelving.

Related: Sleek and Stylish Midcentury Modern Homes for Sale Across America

Kingsland, Arkansas
Bought and restored for $575,000
In May 2018, the home where the legendary Man in Black grew up was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Arkansas State University reportedly spent $575,000 to buy and restore the five-room house, which was featured in the film "Walk the Line."   

Related: 40 Famous People's Homes You Can Visit

Nutley, New Jersey
Estimated market price: $499,000
Martha Stewart grew up in this three-bedroom, 1,936-square-foot home built in 1930. In 2014, Stewart blogged about how she returned to the home in a quiet suburb of New Jersey after a film shoot so she could "could reminisce about the people and places of my youth. So much has changed, yet many things were just as I remembered."

Related: Movie and TV Locations Worthy of a Road Trip

Liverpool, England
Sold for $231,000 in 2015 
Paul McCartney's legendary music career has earned him a fortune of $1.2 billion, but he comes from humble roots. From age 4 to 10, McCartney lived in this three-bedroom house in a working-class neighborhood in Liverpool. 

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Lancaster, California
Last known asking price: $550,000
The Garland family moved to California in 1926 so Judy's father could buy a theater. They settled into this home, which had eight bedrooms — and a back house with another five bedrooms (and at some point after early 2017 came off the market). You could say there's no place like it. Sadly both properties were damaged by fire with the back house suffering extensive damage, but the house shown above remains occupied.

Omaha 
Sold for $230,000 in 2017 
The childhood home of the eight-time-Oscar-winning Marlon Brando was at one point offered for a cool quarter-million. Built in 1900, the home boasts five bedrooms and a third floor that's been converted into a master suite. It still sold for $20,000 under the asking price, though.

Chicago
Sold for $375,000 in 2018 
Oprah Winfrey may have a net worth of $3 billion, but the media mogul put her cozy little home in Chicago's Elmwood Park neighborhood on the market for less than $400,000. Bought in 2001 for $298,000, it was her last owned property in the city.

Omaha 
Estimated value: $650,000
Investor Warren Buffett, known as the "Oracle of Omaha," is one of the richest people in the world. So it might be surprising to learn that he lives in a relatively modest five-bedroom house in a quiet suburb of Omaha. Bought for $31,500 in 1958, he considers it the third-best investment of his life. 

St. Louis 
Sold for $159,000 in 2017
The late poet Maya Angelou spent her first three years in this simple two-story home just southwest of downtown St. Louis. The home, which has been given landmark status, was described as "super nice and cute," according to a property listing. It's now valued at $237,000.

Liverpool, England 
Sold for $250,000 in 2014 
Harrison once said of his childhood home outside of Liverpool: "Our little house was just two rooms up and two rooms down, but, except for a short period when our father was away at sea, we always knew the comfort and security of a very close-knit home life." After the house was auctioned to a Beatles fan in 2014, Andrew Brown, a director at Countrywide Property Auctions, said: "There was interest in the property before the auction from potential buyers who lived in the UK and internationally. We are delighted to have sold such an iconic piece of the Beatles and Liverpool's history."

Saugerties, New York
Sold for $116,000 in 2014
When Jimmy Fallon's modest, 1,780-square-foot childhood home went on the market in 2012, the late-night host pitched the listing to his fans with a tweet that read: "Please someone cool buy it! Great place to grow up." But it would be another two years before someone (cool?) bought the house, which came with a guest cottage and a built-in keg, according to Zillow.

Port Arthur, Texas
Asking price: $200,000 in 2017
The Joplin family moved to this five-bedroom home after a previous home burned down. A historic Texas landmark, the home in a modest section of town is photographed frequently by fans of the singer. Janis' childhood signature is still visible in a cement slab inside the garage. The house had originally been listed for $500,000 in 2016, but the listing was taken down.

Detroit
Estimated market price: $206,300
The songstress' family left this four-bedroom North End home behind in 1958, so it's not too surprising the real estate broker who bought it — for $1,800 — didn't even know its history. The price didn't leap because Ross lived there, but because the broker improved it throughout, the Detroit Free Press said. Since being listed, however, it's been on and off the market, both for sale and more recently for rent. 

Gary, Indiana
Estimated market price: $43,700
Michael Jackson, the eighth of 10 children, had to share this 672-square-foot home with his siblings and parents until they all moved to Los Angeles in 1969 to pursue a record deal. The tiny size of the home, which fittingly sits on Jackson Street, attracts many tourists, one of whom told the Chicago Tribune: "I just wonder how did they fit all of those kids in there."

Midland, Texas
Estimated market price: $430,800 
Before moving into the White House in 2001, the former first lady lived in this simple three-bedroom ranch. Bush once described the small city of Midland as "a place of ice cream sundaes ... and Saturday morning pony rides." It sold for more than $100,000 less than the original 2017 asking price of $425,000.

Indianapolis
Estimated market price: $1.1 million
Legendary author Kurt Vonnegut, who penned books like "Slaughterhouse Five" and "Cat's Cradle," grew up in this 5,907-square-foot, four-bedroom brick home, which was designed by his architect father. About his hometown of Indianapolis, Vonnegut once said: "All my jokes are Indianapolis. All my attitudes are Indianapolis. My adenoids are Indianapolis. If I ever severed myself from Indianapolis, I would be out of business. What people like about me is Indianapolis."

Rochester Hills, Michigan
Sold for $411,000 in 2017
Madonna splits her time between homes in New York City and London, but grew up in this two-story Colonial home about 30 minutes outside of Detroit. She shared it with her parents and seven siblings.

New York
Estimated market price: $659,000
Singer, songwriter, and actress Jennifer Lopez might spend most of her time in L.A., but she grew up in this modest two-family home in the Bronx, a home where she "can remember dancing and singing in front of the mirror in my bedroom," Lopez told W magazine. The singer added that she got "all the strength that I needed for life" from growing up in the Bronx.

Orlando, Florida
Sold for $270,000 in 2017
A TMZ report once indicated that Shaquille O'Neal, who took up an interest in real estate following a successful NBA career, sold this suburban Orlando home for just $10. That was wrong, of course, and it turned out that O'Neal had simply paid $10 as a recording fee to the county appraisal office. In any case, O'Neal sold this home in 2014 for about $5,000 more than he paid for it. But that probably doesn't matter to the retired basketball player, whose net worth is estimated to be upward of $400 million.

Blytheville, Arkansas
Estimated market value: $121,000
George Hamilton, a Golden Globe-winning actor whose style was once described by Cigar Aficionado as "Cary Grant meets Pat Riley," spent his boyhood in this charming four-bedroom home in Arkansas. Hamilton is fond of his hometown, as he once told the (Memphis) Commercial Appeal: "It's where I will be buried, and it's where I come from. I buried my mother there, my brother there, my grandfather, my grandmother — it's the very earth where I'm going to be."

New Orleans
Estimated market value: $374,000
Filmmaker Tyler Perry grew up in this little shotgun home in New Orleans. Two blocks north were mansions; two blocks south were housing projects. Perry once told The New York Times that living between the two "became my metaphor for life." 

Austin, Texas 
Asking price: $1.85 million  
"Lord of the Rings" star Elijah Wood exchanged his Santa Monica, California, property for this large Victorian mansion in the hip Bouldin Creek neighborhood of Austin. Priced well on the high side for most folks and checking in at 3,285 square feet, it's not exactly a hobbit house. Wood bought the property for $1 million in 2012 and listed it for sale last fall. 

Katy, Texas
Estimated market price: About $650,000
Renée Zellweger is now well known for starring in movies like "Chicago" and "Jerry Maguire," but in high school she was known as a "Dream Date" to her fellow classmates, who gave her the title in a homecoming contest. She spent her childhood in this four-bedroom, ranch-style home in Katy, near Houston. The home sold in September, according to Zillow.  

Los Angeles
Sold for $880,000 in 2011
John Krasinski, perhaps best known for his role as Jim on "The Office," took a loss when he sold this three-bedroom "Country English" home in West Hollywood, purchased in 2008 for $1,050,000. But Krasinski and his wife, film star Emily Blunt, probably aren't sweating it — the couple later moved into a spectacular midcentury home in the Hollywood Hills.

Aberdeen, Washington
Sold for $190,000 in 2018
Cobain spent much of his youth in this little four-bedroom home in suburban Washington. The house was originally listed at $400,000 — a high price compared to nearby homes that have recently sold for about $50,000 — but its price was reduced several times before it ultimately sold for $190,000 in 2018.

Ada, Oklahoma 
Sold for $156,000 in 2018 
Before becoming a chart-topping country musician, Blake Shelton grew up in this modest ranch-style home in Ada, a small town that's sometimes featured in Shelton's music videos. Its sale price was nearly $100,000 less than its original asking price of $250,000.

Kalamazoo, Michigan
Bought for $510,000 
Designed by American modernist architect George Nelson, this home was bought sight-unseen in 2017 by musician Jack White. He considers himself a custodian of the home, as he told The New Yorker: "I'm a believer in nobody owns anything. … If you could take care of it and pass it along, it's good."

Eden Prairie, Minnesota
Sold for $539,000 in 2018
Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson put his five-bedroom home on the market a couple of years ago and saw it sell for $156,000 under the original asking price. It was already a relatively cheap home for an NFL MVP.

Cleveland 
Sold for $510,000 in 2017 
Chef Michael Symon, cohost of ABC's "The Chew," parted with this 1920s Tudor in Cleveland Heights for below the asking price of $549,000. Accessible by footbridge, the rustic-chic home boasts three stories, a wine room, and (of course) an incredible kitchen.

Hampton, Georgia 
Bought for $149,000 
Mama June Shannon bought this four-bedroom suburban home in 2015 with the intention of keeping it clean — she reportedly established strict chore rules for her daughters to follow in the new home. Alas, it wasn't to last. She sold the property at a significant loss: $100,000 cash. The new owners fixed it up for $30,000 and put it back on the market for $225,000.  

Kenosha, Wisconsin
Sold for $299,900 in 2017 
After moving to a $1.25 million home in Alexandria, Virginia, the former White House chief of staff looked to sell his three-bedroom Cape Cod-style home just outside of Milwaukee. It sold about as fast as the White House ousted Priebus, and whoever bought it didn't stay long: It sold again in 2019 for $325,000.

Los Angeles
Sold for $795,000 in 2012
Just outside of L.A.'s Koreatown, this 2,569-square-foot, five-bedroom home once belonged to Simon Helberg, aka Howard Wolowitz on "The Big Bang Theory." The star apparently had difficulty selling the home, as he ultimately sold it for about $150,000 less than he paid.

Related: Famous Movie Homes That Will Bring Back Memories