Joey Bosa has bought two houses that matter, and the difference between them explains a lot. In October 2021, he paid around $5.85 million for a waterfront home in the Idlewyld neighbourhood of Fort Lauderdale, the city he grew up in. In July 2024, he paid $3.5 million for a modern house in the Westport Heights area of Los Angeles, close to where the Chargers were based.
One was bought because it is home. The other was bought because of a job, and once the job moved, so did the house. Bosa left the Chargers in March 2025, signed a one-year deal with the Buffalo Bills, and put the Los Angeles house on the market that June. A year later, the Bills let him reach free agency, and as of late August 2026, he remained unsigned.
This guide covers both properties, the numbers on each, and what his unusual employment situation means for where he is actually living.
Properties at a glance
| Property | Location | Key figures | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waterfront house, 5,482 sq ft, five bedrooms, boat dock | Idlewyld, Fort Lauderdale, Florida | Bought October 2021 for about $5.85 million, through a trust | No public report of a sale |
| Modern house, 4,427 sq ft across three levels, five bedrooms, built 2023 | Westport Heights, in the Westchester area of Los Angeles | Bought July 2024 for $3.5 million through an LLC; listed June 2025 at $3.695 million | Listed; no confirmed sale reported |
Who is Joey Bosa?
Joey Bosa is an American football edge rusher, born in Fort Lauderdale in 1995, who played college football at Ohio State and was drafted third overall by the Chargers in 2016. He was NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year that season and has been selected to five Pro Bowls.
Football is the family business. His father, John Bosa, played in the NFL for the Miami Dolphins; his uncle Eric Kumerow also played professionally; and his younger brother Nick Bosa is a defensive end for the San Francisco 49ers. The family’s base has always been South Florida, which is directly relevant to the property he chose first.
He spent nine seasons with the Chargers before signing a one-year deal with the Buffalo Bills in March 2025, reported at $12.61 million with $12 million guaranteed. He played well in Buffalo, but the Bills chose to let him reach free agency in 2026 and signed Bradley Chubb instead.
The Fort Lauderdale house he bought at home
In October 2021, at the point when he was among the highest-paid defensive players in the league, Bosa bought a waterfront property in Idlewyld, a small peninsula neighbourhood in Fort Lauderdale, sometimes described in coverage as the Sunset Lake area. The price was reported at about $5.85 million, with some outlets rounding it to $6 million, and the purchase was made through a trust, which is standard practice for athletes and carries no particular significance.
The house runs 5,482 square feet with five bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, in an open modern layout. Published figures vary slightly depending on the listing, with some counts putting the interior at 5,409 square feet and the bathroom total at six, so the numbers should be read as close approximations rather than exact. Outside, there is a lap pool, an outdoor kitchen, and a fire table, with direct water frontage and a boat dock. Inside, the home also includes a movie room and a floating glass staircase.
The choice of city is the notable part. He was playing in Los Angeles at the time and bought a house 2,700 miles away in the town where he was raised and where his family is based. Plenty of NFL players do exactly this, keeping an off-season home in a low-tax state with a family connection while renting or buying more modestly in the team’s market. South Florida holds a large concentration of players for that reason, including Tyreek Hill.
The Los Angeles house, bought and listed within a year
In July 2024, Bosa bought a house in Westport Heights, within the Westchester area of the South Bay, for $3.5 million. Records show the purchase went through an LLC, another routine privacy step for a public figure. The house was built in 2023 and spreads across three levels, with 4,427 square feet, five bedrooms and five bathrooms, a pool and spa, a barbecue area, a cinema room and a gym.
The location was part of the appeal. It sits close to the Chargers’ base at SoFi Stadium, which made it practical for a player reporting to work in Inglewood every day. His listing agent later said the proximity to the stadium was a benefit, but that Bosa also valued the architecture, the flow between indoors and the custom backyard, and the chance to build out a personal training space. That training space was not incidental: the lower level was given over to a pro-standard gym, and the equipment stayed with the house when it was listed. Other details include a Miele-equipped kitchen, a wine and wet bar, an infinity-edge pool and spa, a fire pit, and an 8KV solar system.
He owned it for well under a year as an active Charger. He was released, signed with Buffalo in March 2025, and the house went on the market in June 2025. The listing was handled by Stephanie Younger and Chloe Nash of Compass, with an asking price of $3.695 million, usually rounded to $3.7 million. Some coverage described the ask as nearly $4 million; the figure most consistently reported is $3.7 million.
Against a $3.5 million purchase eleven months earlier, a $3.7 million ask is close to break-even before costs, and it was never intended as an investment. It was somewhere to live while working in Los Angeles, and it stopped being useful the moment he was employed in New York. No confirmed sale has been reported, so it should not be described as sold. The South Bay is a common landing spot for professional athletes working in Los Angeles, as the coverage of Anže Kopitar’s Manhattan Beach compound shows.
The year in Buffalo
For the 2025 season, Bosa lived in the Southtowns, the area south of Buffalo that includes Orchard Park, where the Bills play and train. He spoke positively about it at the time, describing the region as a pleasant surprise. The details he gave were domestic rather than professional: a yard, space for his dog to run, a family of geese in the backyard that he and his fiancée had been following, and a partner who liked the area as much as he did. By August, he was saying it felt like home.
On the field, he was a starter on the edge. A mid-season report had him yet to miss a game, playing 68 percent of defensive snaps, with four forced fumbles and two sacks to that point in the year.
There is no indication he bought property in western New York, which would be unusual on a one-year contract. Players on short deals almost always rent, and nothing in the record suggests otherwise here.
Where does Joey Bosa live now?
The most likely answer is Fort Lauderdale, and the reasoning is unusually clear for once.
He has no employer. The Bills allowed his contract to expire after the 2025 season and replaced him, and as of late August 2026, he had not signed with another team. Without a club, there is no city he is required to be in. His Los Angeles house has been on the market since June 2025 and, whether or not it has sold, is plainly not where he intends to be. Whatever housing he had in Buffalo was almost certainly a one-season rental.
That leaves the Fort Lauderdale house: bought in 2021, never reported as sold or listed, in his home city, near his family, in a state with no income tax. For a free agent in the off-season with no team to report to, it is the obvious base.
This is an inference from the surrounding facts rather than a direct report of his residence, and it should be read that way. If he signs with a team during the 2026 season, the practical answer will change again, which is precisely the pattern his property history has followed throughout his career.
Where does Nick Bosa live now?
Nick Bosa, Joey’s younger brother and a defensive end for the San Francisco 49ers, is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was drafted second overall by the 49ers in 2019 and has played there since. After signing a record five-year, $170 million contract extension in 2023, he said he planned to buy a house in the Bay Area, calling it a big purchase for the region. A 2026 report on his ACL rehabilitation noted he was doing his recovery work in Santa Clara, where the team is headquartered.
He also owned a condominium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, his hometown. He bought it for $1.24 million in 2019, shortly after his rookie contract, and listed it for sale at $1.75 million in July 2024. The listing was handled by his mother, Cheryl Bosa. Forbes lists his residence as Fort Lauderdale, which may reflect his official state of residence or an off-season base rather than where he spends most of the year during the season.
In short: Nick Bosa’s working base is the Bay Area, where his team and his rehab are, while his family and property ties remain in South Florida.
Sources
- The Real Deal and South Florida Agent Magazine on the 2021 Fort Lauderdale purchase, its price and the property’s details.
- Front Office Sports and Robb Report on the July 2024 Los Angeles purchase at $3.5 million, the LLC record, the property’s build year and layout, and the June 2025 listing.
- Haven Lifestyles and Realtor.com for additional detail on both properties and their features.
- Sports Illustrated on his move to the Buffalo area for the 2025 season, his comments on living there, and his mid-season role and statistics.
- Spotrac for his Bills contract terms and 2026 free-agent status.
- Forbes for Nick Bosa’s listed residence and contract details.
- Robb Report and Realtor.com on Nick Bosa’s Fort Lauderdale condo purchase and 2024 listing.
- KRON4 on Nick Bosa’s stated plans to buy a house in the Bay Area after his 2023 extension.
- NBC Sports on Nick Bosa conducting his 2026 rehabilitation in Santa Clara.
