Boston real estate news stories last week was filled with rumors about our newest area celebrity.
It was bad enough last year when my hometown paper speculated for weeks about whether Tom and Gisele would buy a home in Sherborn. Then last week the Herald revealed so many details about the home Shaquille O’Neil is purportedly buying that the place became a tourist attraction in the days afterwards.
Sure, I know it’s hard to feel bad for people who practically live in the spotlight but really, can they have even a modicum of privacy in their own home?
After seeing yet another article today that all but gave readers “a map to the stars,” I began to wonder, how did the word get out about Shaq’s supposed home purchase? Where was the weak link? (I feel like I’m playing Clue: “It was the Realtor, in Sudbury Farms, with the megaphone.”)
Seriously though, I have no idea who let this slip, and for all I know, Mr. O’Neal had no intention of keeping the whereabouts of his new home private, but it did get me thinking: Can we really keep a secret these days? In an age of Facebook, endless privacy breaches, and pourous security measures, can a celebrity home purchase remain confidential?
After blogging last week about ways to provide discretion in real estate transactions, I was tickled to read an article in the New York Times about amusing names celebrities give to LLCs (limited liability companies that individuals sometimes use to shield their name from public real estate records).
Certainly these measures are just the start, however. Ultimately it comes down to the people involved in the transaction and how much they value and are willing to protect their client’s privacy.