MEDINA, Wash. -- In nearly any other neighborhood, Rick Neuheisel's $4.2 million home would stand out. It sits on 130 feet of Lake Washington shoreline, has four bedrooms, a dock and sweeping views.

But this is not just any neighborhood. Here, his house is modest -- smaller, in fact, than neighbor Bill Gates' underground garage. Nevertheless, Neuheisel might have a tough time keeping the home after the announcement Thursday that he's being fired from his $1.2 million-per-year job as Washington's head football coach. Athletic director Barbara Hedges said the university intends to have him repay a $1.5 million loan that he could have kept if he had remained coach through 2007.

According to property records cited by the King County Journal, Neuheisel refinanced his home on July 5, 2002, with a $3.6 million mortgage. The current balance on the home was not available. It underwent a $50,000 remodel in April.

Medina, a waterfront community across Lake Washington from Seattle, is loaded with Microsoft and other corporate executives and retirees who are loaded themselves. The town's 3,011 residents have a median household income of $133,756, according to the 2000 Census, compared to Seattle's $45,736. Of Medina's 973 homes, 383 are worth $1 million or more.

Neuheisel's 5,360-square-foot, three-level home is on a half-acre. Built in 1988, the house and property were valued at $1.9 million when Neuheisel purchased in 1999; today the county assessor places the value at $4.1 million. Assessments typically lag behind actual market value.

Though a far cry from Gates' 48,000-square-foot Medina estate with its seven bedrooms, 24 baths, five acres of property and valuation in excess of $109 million, Neuheisel's place is not without its advantages.

In the summer, Neuheisel has commuted to campus in a 24-foot purple-accented speedboat. When Neuheisel brought Washington recruit Reggie Williams to visit by seaplane, Neuheisel's wife, Susan, was waiting shoreside with homemade cookies.

Williams joined the Huskies.