
“Queer Eye for the Straight Man” inside designer Thom Filicia has bought his Skaneateles, New York, residence in an off-market deal for $4.6 million.
The TV host not solely discovered a purchaser for the five-bedroom upstate lakefront unfold, however a purchaser who’s a longtime pal.
“They individually purchased about 60% of the furnishings they usually wish to reupholster and replace some items,” Filicia, who hails from close by Syracuse, instructed The Publish. The customer, who requested anonymity, additionally needs to work with Filicia on renovating the boat home, making the house extra child-friendly (they’ve a younger daughter) and customizing an outside cooking space.
Filicia bought the property, the place he spent weekends when away from his Chelsea condo, for $965,000 in 2008, Syracuse.com reported. He came across it whereas driving again from a pal’s wedding ceremony and recognizing a “For Sale” signal.
“I used to be not out there to purchase the home,” he mentioned — a theme for Filicia, who additionally simply purchased a Sag Harbor residence after discovering a property by happenstance.
“My brother was in search of a brand new home within the Hamptons and asking me my opinion,” he mentioned. Filicia discovered a home he preferred — on the water, gated and with three trendy barns — and prompt it to his sibling.









Then, a number of weeks later whereas in Los Angeles, his telephone rang. It was the childhood pal, and he or she wished to know if she might purchase his home and enlist his experience for personalizing it.
“I made a decision that as a substitute of getting two properties in Skaneateles, I’d work out one thing else, and I believed, ‘Wait a minute, there’s the home I discovered with my brother in Sag Harbor. Perhaps I ought to see if that’s obtainable,’” he mentioned.
It was, and now it’s his. (His brother went with one other residence within the space.)
“It was sort of like this storybook” of natural coincidences, Filicia mentioned of the collection of real-estate offers.
He now plans to separate his time between fixing up the Sag Harbor residence, spending time in New York Metropolis and persevering with to take pleasure in Skaneateles, the place he nonetheless owns a federal-style mixed-use constructing he’s within the technique of changing into flats.
As for his extremely good luck with property acquisition processes, all he can supply by the use of a proof is just that “[rescue] canine and homes at all times discover me.”