President Ford's Calif. Home Fetches $1.68M
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (WWJ/AP) - The Southern California desert home of former President Gerald Ford has been sold for nearly $1.7 million.
Ford and former first lady Betty Ford lived in the Rancho Mirage five-bedroom home for 30 years. The former president was 93 when he died in 2006 and Mrs. Ford was 93 when she died last July.
The single-story home sits on 1.4 acres overlooking the 13th fairway at the Thunderbird Country Club.
The Desert Sun of Palm Springs reports escrow closed on Thursday. HK Real Estate's Nelda Linsk says the property fetched $1.68 million, $24,000 less than the asking price.
The new owners are Los Angeles celebrity business manager John McIlwee and DreamWorks Animation executive Bill Damaschke. And, according to the Desert Sun, the pair plans to keep the home pretty much the way it is.
Ford represented western Michigan in Congress before President Richard Nixon chose him to replace the disgraced Vice President Spiro Agnew.
He became the onlypresident in America's history who was not elected either president or vice president when Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 amid the Watergate scandal.
(TM and © Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
