Obamas Buy Kalorama Abode For $8.1M

It was on 20 January, 2017, that the former US President Barack Obama moved out of his then official home, White House located in Washington DC to his new abode in Kalorama. After his second term ended in January 2017, the Obamas rented a nine-bedroom mansion located in the upscale Washington DC's Kalorama neighbourhood, just two miles away from the White House.

It is now after five months of renting the property for $20,000 a month, the family has bought the mansion for $8.1 million. 

Though the Obamas already own a house in Chicago, they planned to live in Washington so that their younger daughter, Sasha, can complete her high school. During his Milwaukee visit in March this year, he told a group of people at a restaurant, "Transferring someone in the middle of high school — tough."

The 8,200-sq ft property was owned by Joe Lockhart, a former press secretary and senior adviser to ex-US president Bill Clinton. The property was bought by Lockhart in 2014 for an estimate of $5 million.

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The red-brick mansion was built in 1928. PropGuide elaborates more on the unique features of this mansion:

• Tony neighbourhood: The nine-bedroom and eight-and-a-half-bathroom mansion has a distinguished address, surrounded by many embassies and other diplomatic offices. Interestingly, the official home of Hillary and Bill Clinton is about half-a-mile away from the property.

• Sprawling garden: The house has a spectacular terrace and a formal garden area featuring well-trimmed lawn

• Elegance: The entire décor is very classy. It also has a blend of contemporary, draped in muted pastel shades. The living room embraces a fireplace that is welcoming and can be best put to use during winters.

• Central hall: The lobby features marble flooring followed by a wide-open wooden staircase that takes you to the upper levels.

• Culinary: A gourmet kitchen highlighting two ovens and a six-burner stove, has a huge area for breakfast, too.

• Fitness corner: The upper floor boasts of a room that is transformed into a gym. A room that the fitness lovers, Barack and Michelle Obama, would love.

• Master suite: The master bedroom will feature a king-size bed, a sitting area, two bathrooms and a dressing area with widespread private space.

• Exclusive space: One of the many rooms in the mansion are likely to be transformed into Obama's office from where he would operate.

Special security
Former US presidents have always been assigned continuing safety by the Secret Service after they leave office. But for Obama's new abode, the security will be reformatted and a security plan will be implemented that will shield the property and the residents.
After an over-all assessment of the entire property such as the neighbours, street and the parks will be done before a plan is put to place. The modification that are likely to be implicated include bulletproof doors and windows; cutting down of the bushes across the street to give path for clear visions; well-lit outdoors; changes in the parking rules and installing electronic devices to monitor the entire space.

With inputs from Anindita Sen