We continue our thorough Sister Wives real estate coverage with a look at the financial numbers for Robyn Brown’s house — aka Brownton Abbey.
In our prior post, we shared detailed information about the physical aspects of Brownton Abbey, including square footage, number of bedrooms, etc. In this post we will use official property records to reveal just how much the Browns have paid out of pocket for the house, and also how much they owe.
For those of you wanting the information fast and concise, I will include a timeline at the bottom of the post that summarizes all of the data.
HOW MUCH DID ROBYN BROWN’S HOUSE COST?
Kody Brown and Robyn Brown initially bought Brownton Abbey for $890,000 in August of 2019. From our previous post:
The incredibly large purchase seemed a bit ill-advised given that the Brown family hoped to start building on Coyote Pass. As is ALWAYS the case whenever a decision involving Robyn might not go over well with viewers, Robyn and Kody had a narrative that painted her as innocent and forced to go along.
Robyn was renting a large house and the owners decided to sell it. Robyn and Kody looked for another rental, but there were none (lol) available in Flagstaff. Robyn was willing to move 30 minutes out of town into a rental house she found, but Kody refused to move that far away from his kids. As a result, the ONLY alternative the couple had was to buy a lavish $890,000 mansion in Flagstaff. (lol again)
“Buying this house makes me feel like I’m betraying my family and my kids,” Robyn said during an emotional confessional, “because buying this house will actually delay us moving out onto the property.”
According to property records, Kody and Robyn took out a mortgage for $667,500 in August of 2019. That would mean that the couple (and the rest of the Brown family?) made a down payment of $222,500, which equates to 25% of the price.
If you read our previous post about how much the Brown family paid for Coyote Pass, then you know that they needed $292,400 to pay off all the properties. So yes, purchasing Robyn Brown’s house does appear as though it delayed the family’s ability to pay off Coyote Pass and alter the property lines so they could start building.
However, Kody and Robyn freed up some funding by taking out a home equity line of credit in April of 2020. If you’re curious what a home equity line of credit is, here is a brief definition from Next Advisor (in partnership with Time):
A home equity line of credit (HELOC) is a line of credit secured by your home that you can use for anything. A HELOC works similar to a credit card in that you can continuously tap into the line of credit, up to the credit limit, during the draw period. You have access to the entire credit line and can spend as much or as little as you want, and you’ll only pay interest on the amount you spend. This makes it different from an installment loan — such as a home equity loan or personal loan — where you receive the full loan amount in a lump sum upfront.
According to NerdWallet, “most HELOC lenders will let you borrow up to 85% of the value of your home (minus what you owe), though some have higher or lower limits.” Using that formula, Kody and Robyn were eligible to take out a loan up to roughly $190,000.
KODY & ROBYN BROWN’S SECOND MORTGAGE
It appears that Kody and Robyn refinanced the property and got a new mortgage in November of 2021, which is very different than taking out an additional second mortgage. Property records indicate that the couple took out the new 30-year mortgage for $548,250 on November 30, 2021. That is a decrease of $119,250 in principal in a little over two years.
At the same time that the couple got the new mortgage, they also took out another home equity line of credit for $130,000.
In December of 2021, Kody and Robyn paid off their original mortgage and closed out their initial HELOC.
Property records do not indicate how much of the mortgage has been paid since December of 2021. I am guessing that it is safe to assume Kody and Robyn still owe more than $540,000 on the mortgage, and however much of the HELOC they have utilized.
