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Odessa home hits market for $38.5M, setting record for Tampa Bay area

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Published  April 7, 2025 7:27pm EDT
Hillsborough County
FOX 13 News

Tampa Bay area's most expensive home hits market

Aaron Mesmer reports.

The Brief

    • An Odessa home is setting the record for the highest-priced home to ever hit the market in the Tampa Bay area.
    • The $38.5 million house located along Jiretz Road is owned by two local attorneys.
    • They initially bought a cabin on Island Ford Lake in 2017, and a couple of years later, the family purchased two adjacent lots and began building their home.

ODESSA, Fla. - A home for sale in the Odessa area of Hillsborough County is setting the record for the highest-priced home to ever hit the market in the Tampa Bay area.

The $38.5 million house is located at 18725 Jiretz Road and is owned by local attorneys Stacy and Brandon Kemp.

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"It's definitely worth [the asking price]. We built this house like a hotel," Stacy Kemp told FOX 13. "Everything is top-notch quality to sustain hurricanes, and it's all steel and poured concrete everywhere."

The backstory:

Stacy Kemp said her family initially bought a cabin on Island Ford Lake in 2017. A couple of years later, the family purchased two adjacent lots and began building their home, which was completed in March 2024.

By the numbers:

The six-bedroom, 10-bathroom home is more than 16,000 square feet and includes a guest house connected to the main house, a movie theater, massage room, exercise room, massive walk-in closets and a 50-meter Olympic-size pool with a water slide.

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What they're saying:

"My favorite part is right here outside. There's always a very beautiful breeze that comes off the lake and so you can sit out here with your laptop and work, watch the kids play," said Stacy, who owns the Kemp Law Group. "We wanted to live like we were in a resort. And so that's how he came up with all the water features and just the design of all the rooms facing the lake and having the waterfront view and it took about four or five years from when we decided."

RE/MAX realtors Christian Bennett and Sallie Swinford said it's difficult to pinpoint a price point for a home like this.

"This is unique from the standpoint that your comps aren't right down the street from you. This is very much where it takes more of a national and international analysis," Swinford said. "What we look for is that global clientele."

Dig deeper:

Yankees legend Derek Jeter's former home on Davis Islands in Tampa was listed for $22.5 million, while a home on Mandalay Point in Clearwater Beach was originally listed at $37.5 million last year.

The Source: The information in this story was gathered through interviews with the attorneys who own the home in Odessa as well as RE/MAX relators Christian Bennett and Sallie Swinford. 

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