ORLANDO, Fla. – Former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal’s Isleworth mansion is off the market and his realtor is sharing the details behind the deal.
The 31,000-square-foot home was put on the market in 2018 for $28 million. The price was reduced several times, with several different real estate agents before it finally sold in October of 2021.
The mansion features 12 bedrooms, a theater, an indoor basketball court and a 95-foot-long pool overlooking Lake Butler.
[PHOTO GALLERY: Look inside Shaq’s sold Orlando-area mansion]
Benjamin Hillman with Premier Sotheby’s International Realty was the agent that sold the home. According to the Orange County Property Appraiser’s website, the mansion sold for $11 million.
So how did he make the sale? Hillman said he had to “de-Shaq” the home.
“I had to put the potential buyers in the picture because Shaq doesn’t come with the house. I had to take him out of the picture, so they can visually see themselves in the picture. If you look at the listings prior to me. All the trophies, all the jerseys and the ‘Shaq this, Shaq that,’ it was gone. With the current listing you can see the buyers being able to visualize ‘I can live here now because I can see myself in the picture’ and that helped me tremendously.”
News 6 Anchor Matt Austin interviews Hillman about the big sale on ‘Florida’s Fourth Estate’ podcast that will be available on November 12. Listen to the full episode of Florida’s Fourth Estate on Apple podcasts here or on Sticher here.
Hillman said he would FaceTime with Shaq every week.
And he explained what it was like to get that first call from the superstar.