Sarah Palin can now call Arizona one of her homes. The Wall Street Journal is confirming rumors that surfaced earlier this week that the former Alaska governor purchased a home in the Southwest where she may base a 2012 presidential run.
Former Alaska governor and vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin has bought a roughly 8,000-square-foot home in North Scottsdale, Ariz., for $1.695 million, according to people familiar with the deal.
The walled and gated house sits on 4.4 acres and has a home theater, billiard room, walk-in wine room and "resort style backyard" with a gazebo and pool, according to the listing. The brown stucco-and-stone house, which was renovated this year, has several fireplaces, a six-car garage and mountain views. The property has a circular driveway and desert landscaping.
A series of recent moves by Ms. Palin, coupled with the decision by several of her fellow Republicans not to run for president, have amped up speculation—and hope in some circles—that she is preparing for a White House bid.
In recent days, she rehired two logistics aides, Jason Recher and Doug McMarlin, that she had dismissed, a Palin aide said Wednesday. She is planning to increase her public exposure. In addition, a full-length feature film focused largely on her time as governor is in the final stages of editing by conservative filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon.
A few months ago, the aide said, Ms. Palin and her staff discussed releasing a series of short Internet videos to put her term as governor into a more favorable light than the mass media has portrayed it. The idea was shelved when complex issues such as her tussles with the oil industry over a natural gas pipeline could not be distilled into a 60-to-90-second clip. They were then approached by Mr. Bannon, he said. The Palin staff helped him contact key players in Alaska, but he said the former governor did not pay for or participate in the production of the film.
Palin seems to be keeping her personal style by moving to a remote part of Scottsdale and will be able to escape brutal Alaska winters for a warm spot next to the pool from now on.
The neighborhood is "as rural as Scottsdale gets," said broker Bob Hassett of Russ Lyon Sotheby's International Realty, who wasn't involved in the deal but said he was approached in 2007 by a previous owner about listing the home, which he described a "Southwest in feel." Within a square mile of the home, he said, houses are priced between $500,000 and $5 million. Real-estate agent Jeff Sibbach of John Hall & Associates described the area as "low-profile; most of the stuff in there is horse property."
Considering Arizona has the worst housing crisis in the country, I'm sure residents appreciate the investment.
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