Raw Story: Karl Rove's Next Move - Million-Dollar Home On Florida's Emerald Coast (PICS)

[Hissyspit]

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Rosemary_Beach_Karl_Roves_next_move_0328.html

Karl Rove's next move: A million-dollar home on Florida's Emerald Coast
Lindsay Beyerstein and Larisa Alexandrovna
Published: Friday March 28, 2008



Karl Rove's carriage house in Rosemary Beach, Florida. Only the carriage house is visible from the street; the house proper lies behind it.

ROSEMARY BEACH, FL - The abrupt resignation of President Bush's top adviser and long-time mentor, Karl Rove, in August 2007 in August 2007 raised many eyebrows inside the beltway and as many questions. Rove had been a fixture in the political life of George W. Bush for decades and had weathered innumerable political scandals.

Rove was tight-lipped at the time of his resignation about his reasons for leaving the White House, telling reporters simply that it was “to start thinking about the next chapter in our family's life.”

Whatever the next chapter of Rove's life has in store, some of the action will probably take place in Rosemary Beach, Florida, where he bought land in 2002.

A $165,000 lot becomes a $1 million home
According to political journalist Jim Moore, many factors probably influenced the timing of Rove's resignation--including the desire to cash in on lucrative speaker's fees and the prospect of reinventing himself as a political pundit on the national stage.


"Ultimately, though, what probably appeals to Karl the most is being a sort of freelance Dr. Evil," Moore –- a Rove critic -- explained in an email to RAW STORY. "He can do his work now for hire under the guise of any organization that wants to hire him or he can do it for fun and generally avoid the restraint of party or candidate. Have darkness. Will travel."

Rosemary Beach, Florida bills itself as a vacation community, but Rove's home is no beach bungalow. His Dill Lane pad is a 2,578-square-foot cedar and white stucco structure with a stoop, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, and an outdoor shower. Opposite the main house, separated by a small walled courtyard is a two-story carriage house with a two-car garage on the ground floor.

The stoop outside Rove's Rosemary Beach home.

The setting is equally upscale. Rosemary Beach is a 107-acre development along a stretch of Highway A-30, between Destin and Panama City, Florida. The centrally planned community bills itself as a town. In fact it's an exclusive real estate development in an unincorporated part of Walton County--although the developers have erected a "Town Hall."

All homes and businesses in Rosemary Beach are designed and laid out according to a master Town Plan. Marketing materials describe the architecture as "Pan-Caribbean."

"Residents of Rosemary Beach are lucky to not only live and work here, but also to have the opportunity to play here. When work is finished and the rest of the errands can wait, Rosemary Beach is the perfect location for a vacation," the official website proclaims.

RAW STORY spotted Rove in Rosemary Beach in February on two occasions. During our trip, the house looked lived in--bikes cluttered the stoop and cloth cushions graced outdoor furniture.

MORE

[Cooley Hurd]

1. He should be raising BAIL, NOT buying homes...

:grr:

[sharesunited]

2. Triumph the insult comic dog

caught up with Rove. "You're Bush's brain? I was expecting a much smaller man."

[thereismore]

3. The man has no taste. Looks like a prison. nt

[eShirl]

4. nice if you like the neighbors' houses and yours all crowded together

actually no, it's like a mini fortress

[Javaman]

5. Meh, between climate change and the uptick in hurricane intensity, it won't be there long. nt

[bluesmail]

26. HA! It's funny because it's true.

and in the pic from rawstory reminds me of the WH even funnier.

[jpak]

32. Unfortunately, FEMA throws bags 'o money at FL beach front McMansion owners hit by hurricanes

Own a house in N'Orlins' 9th Ward damaged by Katrina???

SOL

[malaise]

33. Well that's hurricane territory

http://geography.about.com/od/physicalgeography/a/2008names.htm

If I were picking names for his karma, I'd go for Ike or Laura.

[soundguy]

6. Just Think For 600k More He Could Have Had This

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/03/27/obamas-former-pastor-builds-a-multimillion-dollar-retirement-home/

Hatred sells. Who's Buying?

[Libby2]

7. It's uglier than hell, just like Karl. n/t

[elizfeelinggreat]

21. so true!

Really, really ugly.

Hope he rots.

[L. Coyote]

29. Looks like he got the rich guy price. What a cardboard looking construct.

Good thing winds don't blow there LOL

[wtmusic]

8. Can't wait to see him frogmarched down that beautiful front walk. nt

[pompano]

9. That area has grown....

Hell! I am old enough to remember that stretch between Destin and Panama City used to be nothing but an old two lane Hwy., a couple 2 or 3 redlights and a fishing village here and there.

Believe it or not, that is not top of the line, fancy real estate for that area. For someone like me it would be fancy as shit, but certainly not what you would expect.

Just saying.....

[DemoTex]

15. I remember when parts of 30A along there were just an old gravel road.

In fact, my mother and most of her eight sisters celebrated the end of WW-II at Grayton Beach (where my brother now has a beach house). We used to take the gravel 30A from Blue Mountain beach to Grayton Beach (2 miles) to play pool while our dads drank beer in the old general store there (it's now The Red Bar!).

[pompano]

19. Demo Tex

Yup! ol' Seagrove Beach/ Laguna Beach/Phillips Inlet all that. We used to skip school and go there. About 1 1/2 hr. from P'cola? Gas was .60 a gal and I had a V8 candyapple red Cutlass with a drop top an ol' 350 4bl. It would pass everything but that gas station down at the Inlet. I stuck a push rod through a rocker arm down yonder and about 4 of us pushed that heavy Olds. about 20 miles down that slag top Hwy. Best gas mileage that car ever got.

I hadn't seen you posting in years. :toast:

[Hissyspit]

16. Trying to keep a low profile, I guess.

Knowing what he knows about what he has done.

[livvy]

10. Nice interest rate.

Must be nice to take out a 7-year mortgage on $250,000 to $500,000.

(from the link in OP)

"Today, Walton County tax assessors value the home at $866,403. Rove's Public Financial Disclosure Report, filed with the Office of Government Ethics, estimates the value of the home at over $1 million. Rove's mortgage is somewhere between $250,001 and $500,000, according to the same report. (That's a 7-year mortgage from Wells Fargo at 4.625% interest.)"

[Botany]

11. Don Siegleman is gonna own that house

Bush might have fixed the criminal courts but the
civil courts and good old fashioned trial lawyer
might very well be a Rove's nightmare.

[Hissyspit]

14. Woo hoo!

I would SO like to see that to happen.

[madrchsod]

12. google earth has good resolution

on rosemary beach....nice place if ya have money...

[DemoTex]

13. Tainted money .. tainted man.

I've said for years that the money for this house came from Rove's sleazy dealings in Alabama. Excellent article by Lindsay Beyerstein and Larisa Alexandrovna. Great pics, too.

BTW: My brother ran into Rove at Sun Dog Books in Seaside (just west of Rosemary) a few months back. My brother said that everyone in the store, especially the staff, looked ready to pounce on Rove and pummel him. Readers, however, are not normally fighters. The clerk did tell my brother that Rove bought a book from the military history section. Figures.

K&R

[DrDan]

17. here is the property appraisers description

http://64.234.218.210/cgi-bin/walton_alsearch.cgi

hmmmmm - link does not work - so go here

http://www.waltonpa.com/

select "Search Records" on the left
accept the statement
then search by owner name
"rove"

[KingOfLostSouls]

18. Freelance Dr Evil, Fulltime Douchebag

[Hissyspit]

20. .

[RedCappedBandit]

22. Plenty of space to paint a big FUCK YOU! nt

[lpbk2713]

23. So crime really DOES pay after all.

What a weasel.

[girl gone mad]

24. Guess there will be a lot of whale sightings..

on Rosemary Beach.

[demobabe]

25. Boy, that guy has a penchant for ugly houses...

And in hurricane land! He can have it!

[MadMaddie]

27. Bet a Sub Prime loan wasn't pushed down his throat?

[seafan]

28. Here's more research from my files about Rove's Rosemary Beach house in the Florida Panhandle.

I am very glad this is getting more attention. I suspect there is much to be unearthed about this fishy little house of Karl's.

Here is the photo I found last year of Karl's Rosemary Beach house:
http://images.google.com/images?q=karl+rove+beach+house+florida&gbv=2&hl=en&start=20&sa=N&ndsp=20

(Second row, second image)
(Karl's done a little work since then, it appears.)


It's time to scrutinize Karl's little beach house in the Florida panhandle, once again., August 13, 2007



Thanks to Raw Story for looking at this.

Karl Rove's next move: A million-dollar home on Florida's Emerald Coast, by Lindsay Beyerstein and Larisa Alexandrovna
Published: Friday March 28, 2008

[L. Coyote]

30. ***** Welcome Home Gov. Don Siegelman ***** Official SHOUT OUT Support Thread *****

***** Welcome Home Gov. Don Siegelman ***** Official SHOUT OUT Support Thread *****
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3078585

[Riddler]

31. If there's a god, this house will be right smack dab in the path of a category 5 Hurricane

with turdblossom trying to ride it out.

[dysfunctional press]

34. maybe we'll get lucky, and the entire west antarctic ice sheet will slip into the sea next spring.

or maybe there will be a hurricane Don(siegleman) this year to pay him a visit...:shrug:

[applegrove]

35. Nobody is living near *. He's all alone in Crawford. Rummy and Cheney

are retiring on the East Coast somewhere. Poor *. LOL!

[riverdeep]

36. Enjoy it while it lasts, pasty pig boy.

Your future home is a bit less accommodating, and the help has a tendency to be somewhat surly.

[Initech]

37. That asshole scumfuck should be behind bars, not living on the beach.