BillyJoel

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--A Hollywood Hills home once owned by actress Dorothy Dandridge is on the market at $3,495,000. The restored 1926 Mediterranean has three bedrooms and three terraces with city views. The property website is here.
--Singer Melanie Brown, otherwise known as Scary Spice, has bought a five-bedroom home in the San Fernando area for about $3.15 million.

From the Chicago Tribune's Elite Street:
--Former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon has sold his mansion in Northbrook, Illinois for $2.85 million and moved to Florida.
--Former Chicago Bulls forward Antonio Davis has taken a loss on his three-story house in Naperville, Illinois selling it for $1.4 million. He Davis also has a contract to sell his mansion in Burr Ridge, which is listed for $3.299 million, and he has a waterfront lot in Plainfield on the market for $399,000.
Former Chicago Blackhawks center Alexei Zhamnov has sold his 11-room home in Lincoln Park for $2.725 million.



From the Boston Channel:
--Add Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez to our list of slow sellers. He's cut the price on his condo at the Ritz Carlton in Boston from to $8.5 million $7.9 million.


From the NY Post:
--While in New York City Jeremy Piven stayed for a week in a triplex penthouse at the Prime condo building at 333 W. 14th St. which is listed for $5.9 million. The listing is here.
--Rolling Stone founder and publisher Jann Wenner has closed on a Hamptons home 6,300-square-foot, three-story waterfront home on Old Montauk Highway for $11.9 million. The home which was listed for $14.9 million, is within a half-mile of Bernie Madoff's old beach house.
--After rejecting Related Companies President Jeff Blau's $31 million bid last May, the co-op board at 820 Fifth Ave. found a buyer for homebuilder Ara Hovnanian's full-floor fourth floor unit. The new buyer is Kenneth Griffin, the founder, president and CEO of Citadel Investment Group in Chicago who reportedly paid just under the $35 million asking price. Tommy Hilfiger once owned the apartment, though he never lived there and the co-op board also rejected Ron Perelman and Steve Wynn.

From Christie's Great Estates:
Legendary director Ingmar Bergman's family compound in Fårö, Sweden, has been sold.


From Brickwork: The London Property Blog:
-- An Edwardian villa in Sheffield Terrace, Kensington W8 which was once the former London home of Madonna is listed for rent for £13,000. The listing is here.
--R&B singer-songwriter Craig David's Hampstead penthouse is for rent at £6000 a week. Earlier this year it was for sale for £6.25 million. The listing is here.


From ShelterPop:
--Grammy winning Dixie Chick Emily Robison has listed her large loft in the old Duerler Candy Factory in San Antonio, Texas for $1.5 million. The 4,800 square foot loft was purchased as raw space and converted into a four-bedroom family home. The listing is here.

From Homes and Property UK:
--Prince Harry's girlfriend Chelsy Davy has moved into a two-bedroom Belgravia flat which cost £1.65 million.
--Perthshire landowner Jamie Montgomery is selling Kinross House, his 17th century ancestral home overlooking Loch Leven, for £4.25 million through Strutt & Parker. The mansion has 15 bedrooms, a ballroom, 80 acres and a cricket pitch. The listing is here.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Julian Schnabel has finally sold the triplex penthouse at Palazzo Chupi. Artist and director turned developer Julian Schnabel once wanted $32 million for the unit but settled for $10.5 million. The buyer is William J.B. Brady who bought a $15.5 million unit in the building several years ago. The Chupi duplex remains on the market for $12.95 million.

--Katie Lee is paying Billy Joel $3 million for their West Village townhouse as part of her their divorce. The couple purchased the home in 2005 for $5.9 million.
--More than a year after art dealer Daniel Wildenstein sold his family's mansion at 11 East 64th Street for $42.5 million, the 29-foot-wide townhouse has reportedly gone back on the market for $37 million.
--Ex-Morgan Stanley vice chairman Bruce D. Fiedorek has listed his fifth-floor apartment at 998 Fifth Avenue for $34 million. The listing is here.

From the WSJ's Private Properties:
--Real-estate mogul Steven Roth of Vornado Realty Trust was the buyer of Bernard Madoff's beach house in Montauk, N.Y.
--Real-estate investor Jeff Greene bought a Beverly Hills property out of receivership for $35 million in 2006 and then put another $15 million into the renovation. Now, instead of selling in a slow market he has put the 25-acre estate up for lease for $250,000 a month. The 43,000-square-foot main house has 11 bedrooms, 14 baths and a 6,000-square-foot ballroom and the property includes six acres of wine-producing vineyards. The listing is here.

From Rented Spaces:
--Madonna sued by her neighbors for noise.
--He works so his tenants have homes.
--Comfort tops fall home decor trends.
--Cash in on wine mistakes.
--Do you live in one of the most stressed-out cities?
--Is mustache decor a hot trend?

Celebrity divorce often leads to celebrity real estate up for sale. Billy and Katie Lee Joel are headed to divorce court and seeking to divest themselves of a pair of charming oceanfront properties in Sagaponack, New York. They bought the properties in 2007 for $28,385,000, in cash, says the Real Estalker.

The two properties were listed last month but listing pics just recently hit the internet. Both properties on Gibson Lane have gorgeous ocean views. The first home belonged to the late Roy Scheider and has been given a thorough going over by decorator Nate Berkus. The four-bedroom home is lad out for top ocean views, meaning that the public rooms are on the second floor. There are three bedrooms plus the master suite on the first floor. The second floor has a living room that runs the width of the house and has two wood-burning fireplaces and French doors that open to an oceanside terrace. The home has a large dining room, gourmet kitchen and a home office with built-in bookshelves. The home does not have a pool but the property has a usable variance for a swimming pool on the east side of the property. This home is listed at $22.5 million.

The other property is a more modest three-bedroom cottage on 1.2 acres. It is listed at $12.5 million. The simple home is decorated simply with white walls. It's an adorable abode but as the Real Estalker speculates, this one might be a teardown.

From Big Time Listings:
--Actor Brad Sherwood has re-listed his Encino home, shown above, for 3.595 million. It was listed last year for $4 million.
--Singer Lisa Loeb has paid $1.125 million for a four-bedroom, Cape Cod-style house in Los Angeles' Valley Village area.
--A six-bedroom mansion in the Beverly Hills Post Office area once owned by Ricky Martin is back on the market for $26.9 million. The listing is here.From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Actor Daniel Craig is renting a three-bedroom apartment in the Park Imperial building on West 56th Street for $38,000. This apartment was previously rented by racecar driver Jeff Gordon who rented it for $26,000 a month before moving into a condo he bought at 15 Central Park West.
--At the Waldorf Towers on East 50th Street a six-bedroom apartment is listed for $140,000 a month, the highest price for a rental in the city. The listing for the 33rd-floor unit, which was once the home of Cole Porter, is here.
--Ballroom dancer Karina Smirnoff has been staying at the Visionaire, a 36-story eco-friendly luxury condo building at 70 Little West Street in Battery Park City, and likes it so much she wants to buy.
--Matt Damon is the latest celebrity to check out the Apthorp building and may be looking to combine several apartments. The Apthorp must sell 25 units before September 15. If that doesn't happen the building will lose the chance to convert from rentals to condos. So far 22 contracts have been signed.

From Newsday's Real LI:
--An Oyster Bay Cove estate that once belonged to aviation pioneer James T. Pyle is on the market for $1.99 million. The listing is here.
--Football player Vinny Testaverde has dropped the price on his home in Oyster Bay Cove. It was first listed at $6.995 million and is now listed at $3.995 million.


From Cityfile's Buyers and Sellers:
--Don Trump Jr. and his wife Vanessa already bought an apartment on the 12th floor of The Sovereign on East 58th Street, for $1.125 million and they've now paid another $1.595 million for the apartment next door.
--via the NY Times, Douglas Lebda, the founder of LendingTree, has gone into contract to sell his penthouse at the Legacy on East 84th Street. He bought the home for $8.6 million in 2007 and is selling for close to the listing price of $7.5 million.
--via the NY Times, Peter Buffett, the son of Warren Buffett and a musician, and his wife Jennifer, are reportedly about to close on a three-bedroom condo and separate studio at One Madison Park.
--via the Real Deal, builder Greg Konner has increased the price of his Bridgehampton mansion. It was listed for $14.995 million and is now priced at $15.795 million. The listing is here.
--Mariann Florio, the widow of former Condé Nast CEO Steve Florio, has paid $1.65 million for a three-bedroom apartment at 235 East 73rd Street owned by former Bear Stearns exec Leo Tilman. Her Key Largo home remains on the market for $8.9 million.
--Richard Bressler, the former CFO of Viacom and now a managing director at the private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners, went into contract to sell his duplex at 850 Park last month and has bought a new place. Bressler paid $7.15 million for a four-bedroom condo at 170 East End Avenue.
--via the NY Post, Billy Joel is looking to sell two properties he bought for his wife Katie Lee Joel in Sagaponack. Now that they are splitting up he plans to list the properties for $35 million.
--via the Real Deal, fomer Bear Stearns chief operating officer Alvin Einbender has cut the price on his Charles Gwathmey-designed apartment in the Police Building at 240 Centre Street. It went on the market for $30 million in May 2008 and is now listed for $19.95 million.
--Developer and former investment banker Keith Jacobson has relisted his duplex at 173 Perry Street. He bought the property for $3.74 million in 2007 and put it up for sale in July 2008 for $11.5 million. He took the property, which was once owned by Vincent Gallo, off the market for a while but now it is back on the market.
--via the NY Observer, Johnson & Johnson heiress Jaime Johnson has paid $2.654 million for a two-bedroom loft at 285 Lafayette Street. The seller, Lucy Waletzky, is the daughter of Laurence Rockefeller and a great-granddaughter of John D. Rockefeller.
--via the NY Observer, Lyor Cohen, who runs Warner Music, has taken a loss on the UES co-op he owned with his ex-wife, Amy. In 2006, they paid $7.75 million a duplex at 8 East 96th Street. They sold to Google executive Julio Pekarovic and Maria Vasconcelos for $6 million.
--via the NY Observer, Susan Bloomberg, the ex-wife of Michael Bloomberg has put her 4,472-square-foot penthouse at One Kenmare Square in SoHo on the market for $11.5 million. The listing is here.
--Celebrity hairstylist Orlando Pita has sold his former co-op at 2 Fifth Avenue for $2.95 million to Razorfish co-founder Craig Kanarick and his wife, Rebecca Odes.


From The Real Estalker:
--Action star Jason Statham has picked up a home in Malibu for $10.95 million. His two-bedroom condo at the Broadway remains on the market.
--Bjork and Matthew Barney are reportedly buying a four-bedroom condo at 160 Henry Street in Brooklyn Heights that was listed recently for $4.25 million. They're also trying to sell their a one-bedroom co-op which went on the market in July for $1.7 million and Bjork has listed her home in Sneden's Landing for $1.8 million.


From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
The Maryland estate of Eunice Kennedy Shriver has sold for $7.81 million which was 34% less than its original offering price last fall. It was listed at $11.8 million when we checked it out as an estate of the day.
--Former Lehman Brothers Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Fuld Jr. has sold his apartment on New York's Park Avenue for $25.87 million. Fuld and his wife, Kathleen, purchased the apartment for $21 million in January 2007. It was not officially on the market but had been quietly shopped for $32 million.
--Actress Tuesday Weld , whose Montauk home we looked at as an estate of the day recently, has sold her Manhattan apartment for $1.04 million.




Check out Lynda Carter's home on Shelter Pop.
Which states have the highest foreclosure rates? CNBC has the list.

Twin Palms, shown above, the original Palm Springs home of Frank Sinatra is now for sale for $3.25 million. The listing is here.

Luxist reader Nick reports that the Bridgehampton Idea house which we profiled as an estate of the day in January has had a deep price reduction. It was listed at $18 million, was down to $15 million when we wrote about it and now is listed at just $9.95 million. The listing is here.

From Newsday's Real LI:
--Fox Hall, an estate we've been watching since 2005 when it was listed at $20 million has a new broker and a new price, $14,999,999 million. The listing is here.
--Billy Joel 's Centre Island home is back off the market once again. Joel purchased the home in 2002 for $22 million. He listed the Tudor-style waterfront mansion for sale in September 2006 with Daniel Gale Sotheby's International Realty for $37.5 million when it was our estate of the day and later tried to sell it for $32.5 million.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
Director Rob Cohen has listed his Malibu home. It's our estate of the day later today.

From Cityfile's Buyers and Sellers:
--Bruce Lisman, the former co-head of global equities at Bear Stearns, has cut the price of his apartment at 923 Fifth Ave. The four-bedroom is now $16.75 million, down from $22.5 million. The listing is here.
--Kenneth Cole has reduced the price on his New York City penthouse. We'll be checking it out as the estate of the day on Monday.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Fashion designer Domenico Vacca has reduced the price on his New York City condominium from $9.5 million to $8.9 million. The listing is here.
--Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Thani, of Qatar, has listed his three-bedroom apartment at Trump Park Avenue for $14 million. The listing is here.
--Hollywood producer George Furla is asking $3.495 million for his unfinished penthouse apartment in downtown Chicago. He paid $3.15 million for the unit in 2005. The listing is here.


From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Colombian ambassador to the U.N. Claudia Blum and her husband Francisco Barberi have paid $3.9 million for a third-floor co-op at 936 Fifth Avenue, which is next door to the other apartment in the building thy bought for $3.35 million earlier this month

Billy Joel's Centre Island, New York home has disappeared from the Daniel Gale Sotheby's International website which usually means that a home has been sold. In this case however, Newsday reports that the home is still for sale at the same price it has been listed at for the last year, $32.5 million. Joel bought the mansion in 2002 for $22 million and it was originally listed at $37.5 million when we looked at it as an estate of the day. So why has the listing been pulled. The real estate agent Bonnie Williamson is quoted as saying that the are keeping it low key for now. Apparently Joel feels the listing has been public for a while and needs a break.