BenAffleck

As fires rage in the Montecito area several celebrity homes have been in danger. The LA Times reports that one of actor Christopher Llloyd's homes is involved. It is believed to be this 8.5 acre property, shown above, which was on sale last year for $11.275 million and was our estate of the day. Rob Lowe and Oprah Winfrey also have homes in the pricey town but their houses are safe. Our thoughts go out to anyone who has lost their home in this latest round of fires and to the firefighters bravely battling the blaze.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Justing Timberlake has gone to contract on a TriBeCa three-bedroom with a $5.25 million price tag. His new loft is in the Pearline Soap Factory condo building and has a 52-foot-long living/dining area, a gourmet kitchen with top appliances and 14 floor-to-ceiling windows.
--Braden Keil sets the price for Hugh Jakcman's deal on Perry Street at an even $21 million making it a great deal considering it was once listed at $40 million.
--Joel Klein, the chancellor of New York City schools and who has been mentioned as a candidate for secretary of Education under Barack Obama and his wife, Nicole Seligman, are about to close on the Sag Harbor home of author Harry Hurt III and chef Alison Becker for $2 million. The last asking price was $2.25 million.
--Tommy Mottola has finally sold his North Salem, New York home for $15 million. It was listed at $21 million when it was an estate of the day in 2006.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Brooke Astor's country estate in Briarcliff Manor, New York, is on the market for $12.9 million. It was our estate of the day on Friday.
--It's official Hugh Jackman has picked up the dazzling Perry Street triplex owned by Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy, who paid $17.57 million for the raw space in 2002. It is believed Jackman paid between $20 and $23 million. Not too shabby considering it was listed at $40 million when it was our estate of the day last November.
--Murat Ozyegin, son of Turkish billionaire Husnu Ozyegin has paid $6.2 million for an apartment on East 66th Street.
--Dean Vanech, whose New Jersey-based Delta Power Company was acquired by Bear Stearns subsidiary Arroyo Energy early last year, bought a five-bedroom apartment at 33 East 70th on the day before the election for $14.8 million. They may still also own a high-floor apartment on Fifth Avenue, bought three years ago for $5.07 million. The co-op was bundled with its next-door neighbor, the only other apartment on the floor, which made for a $30 million listing, which can be seen at Halstead but apparently Vanech and his wife didn't need quite that much space.
--In August, a limited liability corporation controlled by Charles Yassky, a developer and real estate investor, paid $13.2 million for a 36-foot-wide red-brick mansion at 122 East 78th Street. The building, which includes two floors of offices and three floors of small apartment units, just went back on the market two weeks ago for $18.9 million, he's since dropped the price to $16.9 million, still $3.7 million more than August's sale. The listing is here.
--A full floor, nine-room, three-bedroom apartment at the Ritz-Carlton on Central Park South is listed for $35 million. It ws bought only three years ago by one of the building's developers, Christopher M. Jeffries for $16 million.He sold on July 31 for $28.5 million to an anonymous buyer who may have paid in cash. Three months and two weeks later, that buyer wants to sell for $6.5 million more. The listing is here.

From Newday's Real LI:
--Natalie Portman, who is in the process of selling her Manhattan home is currently living with her parents in Cold Spring Harbor, New York.
--A price chop for Chateau des Thons, the transplanted 17th French chateau which is in Upper Brookville, New York. It hit the market for $6.995 million in 2006, was at $5.995 million when it was an estate of the day last year, and is now listed at $4.995 million.
--Lisa Kerkorian, ex-wife of billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, is still trying to sell her home in Bridgehampton, New York. It has been on and off the market for the last couple of years, starting at $16.3 million and now listed at $7.995 million.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
A five-bedroom house in Los Angeles' Toluca Lake neighborhood that Damon Wayans owned until 2006 is on track to get its fourth owner in less than 30 months, having been just listed for $4.5 million. The listing is here.
--Neda Mashouf, whose husband Manny founded the bebe women's retail chain has put her five-bedroom, solar powered house in the flats of Beverly Hills on the market for $4.7 million. The listing is here.
--A home in Los Angeles' Los Feliz area that was owned for a long time by singer Gwen Stefani has been sold by its most recent owner, TV show creator Mark Brazill, for $3.995 million. He paid $4.795 million for the home in 2007.

From the Real Estalker:
--The Richard Neutra designed Kaufmann House in Palm Springs which sold at Christie's Postwar and Contemporary Art auction in May is now back on the market because the deal fell through. It was our estate of the day on Saturday.
--More Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner real estate news, the high-profile pair is still shopping in Brentwood. They have been spotted checking out this home which is on the market for $14.95 million.
Vicki Gunvalson from the reality show, The Real Wives of Orange County Housewives is selling a home in the
gated community of Coto de Caza that she bought for $1.65 million last year. The property was listed for a time for $1.78 million but then was taken off the market. It is now back on the market for $1.695 million.
--Toby Keith has already dropped the price on his Nashville home from $1.595 million to $1.349 million. It was an estate of the day last week.
--The Times Online is now reporting that the Toprak Mansion on The Bishops Avenue in North London, wich was purchased for a rumored £50 million was bought by Nursultan Nazarbayev, the current president of Kazakhstan.You can find a couple of pictures from when we first talked about the home in 2005 here.
--According to the Herald Sun Australian tennis star Lleyton Hewitt has put his glass and concrete contemporary casa in Adelaide's Island Point at West Lakes up for sale for an undisclosed asking price.
--According to The Real Deal,Rosie O'Donnell has closed on her $1.97 million condo at The Platinum building in New York City.
--Country singer Tanya Tucker is flipping a house in Franklin, Tennessee. It is listed at $2 million.
--Has Michael Jackson finally sold Neverland Ranch? Santa Barbara County Assessor records show that Jackson's 2,700 acre ranch was transferred to a Delaware based entity named the Sycamore Valley Ranch LLC. TMZ reports that this is a joint venture between Michael Jackson and Colony Capital, the Los Angeles based company who holds the mortgage on Neverland Ranch which will be renamed Sycamore Valley Ranch.
--Martina Navratilova has sold her Nokomis, Florida home for $2.549 million.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--Red-hared television actor Timothy Busfield has listed his three-bedroom house in Malibu for $1.995 million.
--Former ABC President Alex Wallau recently sold his Brentwood home to country music singer Mac Davis for $4.9 million.
"Brothers and Sisters" cast member Matthew Rhys picked up a three-bedroom home in Los Angeles for $1,262,500.
--Actor Peter Wingfield has reduced the price of his Studio City home to $2.699 million from $2.995 million. The listing is here.
The Santa Monica home of the late Vivian Sheehan who pioneered speech therapy for people who stutter just sold for $2.185 million.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--In New York's Harlem neighborhood, a largely intact Romanesque Revival house built by circus co-founder James Bailey is on the market for the first time since 1951, with an asking price of $10 million.
--Hedge fund manager John Paulson has cut the price on his Southampton home yet again. It's now down to $13.9 million. We'll be checking this out as an estate of the day later in the week.
--A Los Angeles home that once belonged to John Barrymore is one the market. It will be our estate of the day later today.
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From the LA Times Hot Properties:
--Actor Christopher Lloyd has put his smaller house in Montecito, shown above, for sale for $3.6 million. The elegant home has two bedrooms, bamboo floors and a raised bamboo pergola overlooking the pool and spa. His other home in the area which was listed in 2007 for $11.27 million and was an estate of the day, has been taken off the market.
--Mark Wahlberg has listed his house in Beverly Hills at $15.9 million. The listing is here.
--Basketball player Elton Brand has sold his Hollywood Hills home for $4.55 million.
--Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon has listed his home in Brentwood. it's our estate of the day later today.
Another "Buffy" and "Angel" veteran, writer David Greenwalt, recently sold his house in the Pacific Palisades for $2.958 million.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--The asking price for the triplex penthouse at artist Julian Schnabel's, pink Palazzo Chupi building in the West Village has been cut by $5.5 million to $24 million. It was our estate of the day earlier in the year.
--Quarterback Tom Brady has cut the price on his Time Warner Center apartment from $18.29 million to $17.75 million. We'll be checking this one tomorrow.
--Cosmetics mogul Adrien Arpel and her husband, Ronald Newman, have paid $5.9 million for a seven-room co-op at 900 Fifth Ave.
--One of the Hamptons' premier properties, Fordune, will be listed for rent next year. This may be the first time since Henry Ford II owned the 42-acre oceanfront Southampton property. it will rent for $600,000 to use it from August through Labor Day next year and has 12 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a game room, a library, a large formal dining room, staff rooms and a commercial kitchen.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--Cher has paid $1,400,000 to purchase a two-bedroom, 1,455-square-foot house in West Hollywood,California. It may be a house for her daughter, Chastity.
--Regis Philbin has put his Greenwich, Connecticut home on the market for $5.4 million. It was our estate of the day on Friday.
--Brad Garrett finally has sold his 10,223-square-foot mansion in Hidden Hills, California. The most recent listing price was $8.35 million.
--Little more than a year after he sold it for $2.9 million, the former house of fashion critic Steven Cojocaru in the Hollywood Hills is back on the market, for $3.695 million. The property website is here.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--The home used to film ABC's "Bachelor" shows is for sale and the price has been dropped to $8.75 million, down from just under $13 million. You can see listing pics from when the home was listed at $11.5 million here.
--Last month, philanthropist Carroll Petrie sold a Palm Beach, Fla., house for $3 million, $500,000 less than she paid less than a year earlier, to investor John D. Firestone, of the tire-manufacturing family. In May, she paid $7.45 million for a 6,700-square-foot, five-bedroom home about a mile farther south.

From Newsday's Real LI:
-- A 4.08-acre property on Meadow Lane in Southampton will be listed soon for $38 million. According to public records, the oceanfront mansion was owned by Virginia Salomon, who died last month. She was married to Citigroup's honorary chairman William R. Salomon (and former managing partner at Salomon Brothers, Inc.) for more than 70 years. The 6,000 square foot house, built in 1992, has six bedrooms and eight baths, with a gunite pool and is located just west of designer Calvin Klein's home.
--Hairspray actress Nikki Blonsky may or may not be leaving Great Neck. Her family's home was recently seen on the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island for $649,000.
--Hilary Duff's longtime boyfriend, New York Islanders center Mike Comrie has purchased a condo in Garden City.


From the Real Estalker:
--Former Green Bay Packer quarterback Brett Favre has listed his Wisconsin home for $475,000. It was our estate of the day on Saturday.
--Technology guru Halsey Minor is not only trying to sell his home in Bel Air, he is said to be spending $15 million to renovate Le Petit Trianon in San Francisco, which he bought in 2007. The home was on the market for a while (I first got wind of it in 2005) and is said to be in some disrepair.
--The listing for the $24 million Goldwyn mansion has been temporary pulled from the market so that it can be renovated.
--Baseball player Tom Glavine and his wife Christine have put their home in Alpharetta, Georgia on the market for $3.75 million. We'll be looking at this one as an estate of the day on Monday.
--Cameron Diaz is said to be house shopping in Beverly Hills.
--More Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner real estate rumors, this time it is said that they have put their home in Brentwood on the market for around $8 million.
--Tae-Bo king Billy Blanks is getting a divorce and has put his Hidden Hills home on the market for $11.5 million. The listing is here.

From The Sun:
--Robbie Williams has picked up a seven-bedroom mansion in the Beverly Park community in Los Angeles for over $20 million.

From ONTD:
--Lauren Conrad of The Hills has been spotted house shopping in her home town of Laguna Beach.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
-- Kurt A. Locher, formerly a Lehman Brothers managing director recently bought a $5.25 million apartment at 500 West End Avenue. His old place on Park Avenue is still on the market for $2.495 million. We discussed this one earlier this week.
--According to numbers prepared for The Observer by research site StreetEasy, the days of easy luxury apartment sales are over. As of Monday, Manhattan had 168 super-luxury listings asking at least $15 million each which is nearly twice the number from autumn 2006.
--Former investment banker Jack Grubman has put his New York City townhouse on the market for $32 million. It was our estate of the day on Thursday.
--Sarah Allentuch, a former assistant to Woody Allen, and her husband, Greg Mottola, who directed Superbad recently bought a $2.6 million apartment at the new One York condo.
----An East River mansion, 7 Sutton Square, has sold for $32.5 million, well above its $25 million asking price. The seller is William F. Reilly, a retired magazine mogul and the buyer is listed anonymously, though a billing address is given care of Wildenstein & Co., which suggests that the house now belongs to the art collector Guy Wildenstein.

From the Daily Mail:
--James Bond star Daniel Craig has picked up a £4million apartment near Regent's Park in London.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--Entertainment lawyer and the mastermind behind the Hands Across America and "We Are the World" events, Ken Kragen, has listed his Beverly Hills home, shown above, for $5.595 million. The listing is here.
--Commercial composer Jonathan Elias has sold his 5,865-square-foot Santa Monica home for $4.395 million.
--Nicolas Cage has leased a unit in the downtown Biscuit Company Lofts with an option to buy. He may have picked up a 3,500-square-foot penthouse unit, which was listed at $4.9 million.

From the Real Estalker:
--Rumor has it that Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner may have picked up a 1930s Hollywood Georgian in Holmby Hills which has been listed at $27.5 million for around $22 million. The listing is here.
--Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott have picked up a home in the Westwood area of Los Angeles for $2.275 million.
--Anne Heche and James Tupper have put their West Vancouver, Canada home on the market for $2,450,00 (Canadian). Heche and Tupper bought the home for $2.2 million in May, 2007.
--Michael Bolton has put his Westport, Connecticut home on the market for $11 million. It's our estate of the day on Monday.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
A five-bedroom house in Bel-Air that was once owned by Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O'Neal has come on the market for $9,500,000. The listing is here.
--Ryan Cabrera has put his Hollywood Hills home on the market, it's our estate of the day later today.
The four-bedroom home in the Hollywood Hills that previously belonged to Charlie Sheen's wife, Brooke Mueller is back on the market with a $2.395 million listing price (she sold it for $2.317 million last year). The property website is here.
--Actor Justin Long has listed his home for $1.495 million. The listing is here.

From the Luxury Property Blog:
--A home featured in the movie "Moonstruck" as Cher's character's house recently sold for close to $4 million.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Baseball player Mike Piazza will officially list his duplex TriBeCa loft for $6.8 million in September and is looking for a bigger place in Manhattan.
-- Jocelyn Wildenstein spent nearly $8 million for a 3,000-square-foot condo on the Plaza and now another Wildenstein, thought to be Guy Wildenstein, bought on the floor below his former in-law for $31.7 million. Two apartments - 409 and 411 - sold for $21.926 million and $9.787 million under Wildenstein & Company.
--Model Adriana Lima and basketball player Marko Jaric are looking for an apartment in New York. The couple has been seen checking out the penthouse at 40 Walker, a new residential building in TriBeCa, which is listed at $7 million.
--from Page Six, --Ricky Gervais and his girlfriend Jane Fallon have spent $1.66 million for a one-bedroom condo at the converted Barbizon hotel on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--President Ford's Vail, Colorado ski retreat is on the market for the second time in less than two years. Real-estate investor Kevin Hayes, bought the home in early 2007 after Ford's death for $6.65 million and says he spent over $4 million on renovations. He has listed the home for $14.9 million.
--NFL star Michael Strahan paid between $1.5 and $2 million for a loft in Manhattan's Tribeca neighborhood.
--Real-estate developer R. Donahue Peebles has listed his Washington, D.C., stone Tudor house for $8.3 million. It was our estate of the day on Saturday.

From Real LI:
--Baseball player Edgardo Alfonzo has reduced the price on his home in Little Neck, New York. It went on the market in late 2006 for $8 million and has now been lowered at least four times since then is now listed at $5.3 million. Alfonzo paid $900,000 for the property in 1999 and has spent nearly as much in remodeling. The listing is here.
--New York Jets linebacker Bryan Thomas has taken his Huntington home off the market and has decided to rent the property instead of selling.

From TMZ:
Michael Phelps spent $1.69 million for a condo on the waterfront in Baltimore, Md.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--The Kress family penthouse, a 17-room Fifth Avenue apartment with ballroom ceilings imported from 17th-century Venetian palaces and marble staircases carved from Michelangelo's quarry was previously listed for $50 million then pulled off the market. Next month, the penthouse will be back on the market again with a listing price of around $45 million with Leighton Candler of Corcoran.


From AOL Real Estate:
Remodeling Myths: Water Your Plants at Night?
Dying Cities
Web Sites Let You Check Your Neighbors
Smalltown USA: America's Dreamtowns
Overpriced ZIP Codes

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Brooke Shields and Chris Henchy are buying a Greek Revival townhouse on West 10th Street.. The townhouse currently has four apartments with 18 rooms total and had a $5.6 million asking price. The listing is here.
--Director Ang Lee has been spotted checking out a a building in Chelsea with a $5.195 million asking price. The listing is here.
--Joy Behar has bought one apartment at Astor Court on the Upper West Side for approximately $3.5 million and is selling another unit in the building.
--Donald Trump has already dropped the rent on the $200,000 a month penthouse apartment rental/sales listing on Park Avenue. Trump has lowered the price to $175,000 a month but the for sale price is still $45 million.
--Neil Simon's wife, Elaine Joyce, has just bought an apartment at the new Platinum condo complex at Eighth Avenue at 46th Street. She is said to be paying approximately $1.8 million for a mid-floor two-bedroom apartment.


From The Wall Street Journal Online's Private Properties:
--It's looking more and more like movie producer Sidney Kimmel has sold his Palm Beach, Florida house for a number close to the astronomical $81.5 million asking price.
--Meanwhile in Palm Beach, Donald Trump has finally dropped the asking price for his Palm Beach spec house to $100 million.
--British music producer Nellee Hooper has relisted his former London house for £2.6 million (about $5.2 million). The listing for the 1,400-square-foot, 19th century carriage house is here.
--In Santa Barbara County, an 80-acre ranch has sold for $21 million, more than 10 times what the sellers paid in 1993.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Tennis player Andy Roddick has just bought his first Manhattan apartment, a condo, at East 22nd Street near Gramercy Park, which was listed for $1.195 million.
--Princeton alum Naomi Waletzky (class of '98), who sings as Muffy Nixon and is Laurence Rockefeller's granddaughter has bought an apartment at 40 Bond which cost $9.25 million. There is no record of a mortgage so she may have paid cash.
--Art collector Adam Lindemann and his wife, Amalia Dayan have bought a slim townhouse at 64 East 77th Street for $5.2 million.
The 12.5-foot-wide brick-front house was bought for Ms. Dayan's private art dealership.
--Brazilian Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil have bought a new two-bedroom condo at the A Building on East 13th Street for $1.34 million.
--Laura Blankfein, the wife of Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein has paid $701,000 for Suite 807 (a staff apartment) at 15 Central Park West. The Blankfeins closed on a 16th-floor duplex condo in the building back in January.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--Dr. Phil McGraw has paid $2,560,000 for a two-bedroom contemporary-style house in the Hollywood Hills. it may be a house for a member of his family.
--the Los Feliz area home that was Gwen Stefani's house until last year is back on the market for $4.885 million. The listing is here.
--A Hollywood Hills that former NFL quarterback Cade McNown had owned until last year has come back on the market for $3.595 million. The property website is here.
--A Los Feliz home the was owned by the late actor Paul Winfield until his death in 2004 has been listed for $4.295 million. The property website is here.
--Richard Dreyfuss has paid $1,500,000 to purchase a home in Encinitas, Califorina and has listed his Carlsbad home for $1.1 million. The listing is here.
--Shannen Doherty has listed a five-bedroom house in Malibu for $4.4 million. The listing is here.

From the Real Estalker:
--Olivia Newton John has dropped the price on her Malibu home from $14 million to $12.95 million. The listing is here.
--The price on the large home in Holmby Hills that Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner were spotted checking out has been reduced to $19.5 million. The property website is here.
--Orchestra conductor Jonathan Sheffer has put his shingled Hamptons compound on the market for $18.5 million. The listing is here.
--Reese Witherspoon has bought a Wallace-Neff-designed country retreat in Ojai. The home which belonged to designer Kathyrn Ireland was listed at $6.95 million.
--Actress Khandi Alexander has reduced the price on her Hollywood Hills home to $3.495 million. The listing is here.
--Chris Tucker has put a Tarzana home on the market, it's our estate of the day later today.
--via the Nashville Post, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban paid $3,470,000 for a 10,925 square foot house in a gated community in Nashville, Tennessee.
--Rumor has it that Dr. Phil McGraw may be putting his huge Beverly Hills mansion on the market for around $15 million.
--The old Cecil B. DeMille estate in Laughlin Park has hit the market for an astounding $26.25 million. The listing is here.
--Sean Hayes has already dropped the asking price of his Hancock Park home from $8.95 million to $7.45 million. It was our estate of the day back in March.
--via the Daily Mail, Heather Mills has been looking at apartments in New York City and is reportedly checking out One Jackson Square.

From the London Times:
--Designer Patrick Cox is selling his selling his London home for £2.25 million.

From the Sun:
--English soccer player, Peter Neville has put his Versace-decorated 18th century Grade II listed home in Lancashire on the market for £4million.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have bought a $7-million, contemporary-style home in Brentwood. Turns out this one wasn't true, Kidman is still house hunting.
--Coco Crisp, center fielder for the Boston Red Sox, has purchased a $3-million getaway in a gated Rancho Mirage community.
--The former Los Feliz home of Universal Studios staff composer the late Herman Stein and his wife, Anita, has come on the market at $1,049,000. The listing is here.
--A 10,000-square-foot French Regency-style compound on a 1.5-acre ocean bluff in Malibu has been sold for $14 million.