Vinny Testaverde’s Odessa mansion finally sells for $2.8 million

More than three years after it was first listed on the market, Vinny Testaverde’s massive Odessa mansion has sold.

The final price was $2.8 million, substantially less than the $4.55 million the former Buccaneers quarterback paid to build it in 2007, not including more than $1 million for additional renovations and purchase of the adjoining lot.

Evan Pedone, who along with his wife and real estate partner, Ashley, represented both Testaverde and the buyer, said this sale did not come easily. The couple launched an aggressive marketing campaign to other luxury real estate firms in Tampa Bay as well as out of state. Pedone even pitched this property to potential buyers in Manhattan, and at one point an interested buyer from China came to look at the property, he said.

There was also a highly touted auction for the lakefront estate last year, but it didn’t generate any offers high enough. Over the years, its asking price has gone as high as $7 million, but the final sale was higher than Testaverde’s latest asking price of $2.59 million, Pedone said.

“The Odessa market is a real challenge,” said Pedone, who works for Engel & Volkers Madeira Beach. “When it came down to it, it really was me bringing the buyer. That’s what needed to happen.”

The more than 12,000-square-foot house has six bedrooms and 11 bathrooms, and had simply become too much for the Testaverdes, who have recently become empty-nesters. They plan to relocate to Tampa.

The home, which sits on six acres, also includes a gym, movie theater, dance studio, sauna and wine cellar.

Pedone has said previously that Odessa can be particularly difficult for selling expensive listings because it’s inland and many affluent buyers want to live on Tampa Bay or the Gulf of Mexico.

But the eventual buyer, who’s listed on the official deed as Dominic Leinen, “fell in love with the home,” Pedone said.

Leinen is from Iowa but has lived in the Tampa area “for some time,” according to his attorney, Keith Skorewicz. He plans to move in with his family.

“We did a substantial amount of inspecting ... It’s a great house on a great piece of property,” Skorewicz said. “It’s well built.”

Skorewicz declined to provide information about the source of Leinen’s wealth, only saying that his current occupation is “raising his kids.”

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