Sunday Real Estate Round-Up

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Feb 19th 2006 at 9:03AM

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--Now this is a strange one. It seems that when Liza Minelli's father, Vincente died in 1986 he left the house to Liza provided that his widow Lee could live in the house as long as she wanted until her death (she's now 98 and still lives there). In 2000, Liza put the house on the market. Lee sued Liza in 2002 for breach of contract and elder abuse but later dropped the lawsuit. The home lingered in escrow for four years due to the issue of Lee. The 5800 sq. ft. house was listed at $3.5 million and probably sold for close to that. According to the agent, Sheila Rose, the buyers will "eventually move in and refurbish the house." And you thought your escrow was a pain.
--It pays to be nerdy, Rainn Wilson who plays Dwight on "The Office" is picking up a four-bedroom farmhouse in Agoura Hills with his wife writer Holiday Reinhorn. The home was purchased for close to $1.2 million and also has an artist's studio and stables. Meanwhile they have listed their 1920s Craftsman bungalow in Van Nuys at close to $625,000. The listing is here.
--Grammy-nominated art director George Mimnaugh restores houses. In 2004 he sold a Craftsman in Venice to Elijah Wood now he has just finished a two-year restoration and conversion of a Rodney Walker-designed property on the Silver Lake reservoir. It's was photographed by Julius Shulman in 1954 and is on the market for $1.5 million. The listing for the gorgeous (but a bit small at 1800 sq. ft.) home is here.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Andy Warhol's Montauk estate (shown above), Eothen is back on the market for $50 million. The oceanfront estate has four cottages and a main Colonial house with 12 bedrooms. The listing is here.
--The former wife of restaurateur Bruce Colley, famous for busting up the power marriage of Kerry Kennedy and Andrew Cuomo, has gotten the couple's Upper East Side condo as part of the divorce deal. The apartment which was bought in 1999 for $2.89 million was given to the ex-Mrs. Colley for just $2.5 million. Not a bad deal at all.
--Former Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen has picked up a one bedroom apartment at One Kenmare Square, Andre Balazs' new condo development for $746,00.
From the NY Times Big Deal:

From the NY Times Big Deal:
--Jimmy Fallon is selling a set of apartments at 34 Gramercy Park East for $3.75 million.The apartments can be combined for a good family apartment. The listing is here.
--Angela Lansbury has signed a contract to buy a two-bedroom apartment with a balcony at the Windsor Park for close to $2 million for the apartment.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Russell Simmons really wants to unload his 7,000-square-foot duplex on Liberty Street. Before Sept. 11, 2001, Sean (Diddy) Combs was set to buy the penthouse apartment for $5 million. The home was listed last year for $11 million, then $10 million, then $8.2 million and now it's listed at $7.2 million. The listing is here.
--Frances Kazan, the widow of On the Waterfront director Elia Kazan sold the family’s 95th Street townhouse for $4.6 million.

Tags: california real estate, celebrity, homes, luxury real estate, new york real estate, real estate, RealEstate

Filed under: Estates

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steamboatsprings Feb 19th 2006 4:36PM

Thanks for the interesting post. It look like Liza was given the property subject to a life estate. Life estates are not too common (except when people have a lawyer on retainer) but you see the from time to time for older relatives and even in the name of trusts that are setup to provide for a pet like a dog, cat or horse.

I've heard of one here in Steamboat Springs for a herd of cattle after a rancher died. In real estate we see quite a few interesting twists expecially out west. Land is one of the few things you can permanently alter the use of forever even if you only own it for 5 minutes and don't make a single phyical change. Life estate fall somewhere in between.

steamboat mls