Is America’s First Family buying a multi-million dollar home in the tony desert town favored by the rich and famous?
A slew of media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, Variety and the Desert Sun , have reported this week that various realtors, speaking anonymously, say that the Obamas are buying a $4.2 million, 8,200-square-foot house in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
The seven-bedroom house in the gated Thunderbird Heights community was once owned by the novelist Joseph Wambaugh and is located near the home of Michael Smith, the interior designer of the Oval Office. President Obama has visited the area three times in the past year, including twice to meet with world leaders at Sunnylands, the posh estate of the diplomat Walter Annenberg.
Not so fast.
The White House denies that the Obamas are buying the house -- or that anyone is buying it on their behalf.
“I've seen those reports, too,” Earnest said. “Those reports are not accurate.”
While many people speculate the Obamas would move back to their longtime home of Chicago (where they already own a home), the president has himself said he may have set his sights on staying in Washington or moving back to New York after he leaves the White House.
Earlier this year, the White House disputed reports that the Obamas were buying a house in Asheville in the North Carolina mountains.