As one of the original sharks on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” Barbara Corcoran is used to negotiating when she wants to land a deal.
And having that skill has also come in handy when it’s come time for Corcoran to buy a new home.
In a video tour released on YouTube last week, the real estate mogul gave host Caleb Simpson a look inside her Los Angeles mobile home. Corcoran bought the two-and-a-half-bedroom, two-bathroom trailer with a terrace and view of the Pacific Ocean for $800,000.
Corcoran says that when she first saw the double-wide trailer, it wasn’t for sale, but she was able to convince the previous owner to sell using a tactic that she says many people wouldn’t think to use.
“I knocked on the door, she said, ‘I’m not selling, but I’ll sell in a year,’ I said, ‘No, I really want it now; I said, ‘What if you could use it whenever you want?’ But she said, ‘What you do mean? next year?’ I said, ‘Whenever you want you, you come back and use the place for your life,'” Corcoran said. “She’s about my age. She said, ‘Yeah, that would be good,’ and she sold it to me. I’ve gotten a lot of vacation homes with that line.”
Since buying the place, Corcoran said the previous owner had returned twice in four years.
“She likes it much better now than when she lived in it. She said it was a dump. She’s right. It was a dump.”
Corcoran revealed she pays $800 a month in maintenance after dropping $150,000 on renovations.
“That’s really a cheap way to live in LA,” she said. “Here’s my Taj Mahal.”
According to the New York Post, Corcoran purchased the trailer about five years ago and still loves that the previous owner continues to use the trailer from time to time.
“It’s a part-time home for me … I use it a number of weeks a year and I would be thrilled if she wanted 12 weeks a year honestly,” she said. “I like to see people use where I live and make it warmer, and you know, they just leave a little puddle of happiness I feel behind when they move out at the end of the week.”
Representatives for Corcoran did not immediately respond to CNBC Make It’s request for comment.
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