Skip to Content

EllenDegeneres

Sunday Real Estate Round-Up, 7/20/08

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping


From the LA Times Hot Property:
--Brady Bunch actress Eve Plumb has put her tiny Malibu beach bungalow on the market for $5.5 million. The cottage has just two bedrooms but the deck, shown above, overlooks the beach. The listing is here.
--David Duchovny and Téa Leoni have sold their Malibu home that had been listed briefly for $12 million.
--L.A. Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit has listed his Hollywood Hills West house for sale at $4.25 million. It will be an estate of the day later this week.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Villa Maria, a former nunnery in the Hamptons, is about to hit the market for $100 million. The property also known as the Siena Spirituality Center, is a 21,000-square-foot Beaux Arts mansion with 12 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, a ballroom, an institutional kitchen, three guest cottages and 1,200 feet of shoreline.
--American Idol winner Taylor Hicks is renting in the Atelier building while he stars in "Grease."

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--Matthew Perry has paid $883,000 for a modest house in Studio City. It looks like this might be a flip or a real estate investment for the actor who has a long list of properties.
--A four-bedroom in the Hollywood Hills that currently is owned by an executive for the BBC, and that he purchased in 2006 from comedienne Carol Leifer, is on the market for $2.15 million. The listing is here.
--Official sales numbers for Melissa Etheridge's Hidden Hills home which went to Nicollette Sheridan. The deal closed for $4,304,000.
--Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio has listed his his five-bedroom house on Malibu's Broad Beach for $22 million. The listing is here.

From the Real Estalker:
--In addition to their recent Los Angeles purchase, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have also picked up an estate in Sutton Forest, Australia for around $6.5 million.
--Ellen Degeneres and Portia di Rossi have picked up yet another property in Beverly Hills for $5.5 million. This property on Lago Vista Place has sight lines into Ellen and Portia's backyard and will likely be torn down.
--Rumor has it that reality TV's favorite house flipper Jeff Lewis recently sold his house on Los Feliz's Commonwealth Avenue to Lost actor Dominic Monaghan.
--Artist Elizabeth Peyton and her boyfriend Tony Just have listed their weekend home in Orient, New York for $900,000. The two-bedroom home on the North Fork of Long Island includes a lap pool and a custom designed kitchen with teak counter tops and mahogany cabinets. The listing is here.
--Olivia Newton John has dropped the price on her Malibu mansion again. It's now at $11.95 million. The listing is here.
--The Tarzana home where Kevin Federline lived after he and Britney Spears first split up has hit the market for $1.89 million. The listing is here . Federline has moved on to another Tarzana lease.
--Jamie Foxx may have already sold his Tarzana home. A tipster to the Real Estalker Mama indicates that sign at the front of the property indicates the house is in contract. It was recently our estate of the day.
--The Beverly Hills fixer upper belonging to real estate agent Kevin Huvane was almost snapped up by nightlife king Sam Nazarian, then nearly bought by Hollywood divorcee Jamie Tisch but neither one followed through and the home is still listed at $14.95 million. The listing is here.
--The Hollywood Hills home belonging to Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal's parents, Naomi Foner and Steven Gyllenhaal has been given a price cut to $3.495 million. The listing is here.
--"Without A Trace" actor Enrique Murciano's home in the Hollywood Hills is now listed as "looking for backup." The listing is here.
--via the Daily Mail, one of my all-time favorite estate of the day properties, Witanhurst, has been sold again. London's largest private house besides Buckingham Palace sold for £50,000,000 to Russia's richest woman Elena Baturina who is married to Yuri Luzkhov, the current mayor of Moscow. Property developer Marcus Cooper bought Witanhurst in 2007 for £32,000,000 with plans to renovate but managed to sell for an £18,000,000 profit without touching a thing.
--Oscar winning writer William Monahan has put his home on Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles on the market for $2.35 million. The listing is here.
--Kelsey Grammer is flipping again, he's put a Holmby Hills home on the market. It's our estate of the day later today.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Nicolas Cage has put a home he owns in Las Vegas on the market for $9.95 million. It's our estate of the day on Monday.
--Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer has put his Massachusetts home on the market for $4.99 million. It will be our estate of the day later this week.
-- Locksley Hall, a 12,000-square-foot mansion on Belvedere Island overlooking San Francisco Bay was recently in contract for $65 million but is back on the market at an unchanged price. It was our estate of the day back in 2006 and the listing is here.


From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--André Balazs has introduced a new amenity at his Beaver House condo in the Financial District building, The Beaver Butler. For about $1,000 per year, buyers can watch footage from their "in-residence cameras" on their computers--to "check up on what's happening while you're away."
--Plastic surgery poster girl Jocelyne Wildenstein lived for years with husband Alec on the third floor of his father's 29-foot-wide mansion at 11 East 64th Street. Mr. Wildenstein died earlier this year and now the house has been sold for $42.5 million. The contract was signed back in September and the buyer is listed as a limited liability corporation named Vesta International.
--Sherman Cohen's $35 million Park Avenue mansion, it was our estate of the day in June, has gone to contract. Braden Keil at the NY Post says the sale price is $32 million and that it went to a "American non-hedge-fund manager."
--A Central Park West apartment belonging to Abraham Pustilnik, who has been indicted insurance fraud and grand larceny, sold to New York Rangers Center Chris Drury for $5.1 million.
--Director Peter Jackson may be the purchaser of a two-unit, 10-bedroom, $17.35 million penthouse duplex on Franklin Street.

Sunday Real Estate Round-Up, 7/06/08

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping


From the LA Times Hot Property:
--Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood have picked up a home on the Malibu beachfront that had been listed at $5.45 million. Big Time Listings found the property website which is here.
--Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer has listed his Laguna Beach, California home. It's our estate of the day later today.
--Michael D. Kunce, the president of Armstrong Garden Centers and his wife, Marianne, have listed their palatial Claremont home, Villa Di Fiori, for $3 million. The listing is here.
--Stuntman-turned-director Scott Gillen has listed his midcentury modern in Malibu at $5.475 million. The property website is here.


From Big Time Listings:
--Teri Garr has sold her two-bedroom house in Brentwood. It was listed for $3,995,000.
--Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman have sold their two-bedroom condo unit in Encino after it had been on the market for $750,000.
--Andrew Alexander, who co-owns the Second City improvisational comedy troupe in Chicago has paid $1.395 million for a house in the Beverly Hills Post Office area.

From the Real Estalker:
--Denise Richards has put her Hidden Hills home on the market for $4.25 million. The listing is here.
--Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly's Brooklyn home has gone to contract. It was our estate of the day in May.
--Brett Butler has sold her home for $2 million.
--Producer Mark Brazill is still trying to unload the 1920s home in Los Feliz he bought from Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale. He paid $4.795 million for the home, relisted for $4.885 million and has now cut the price all the way down to $3.995 million which means he will take a huge loss on the home. The listing is here.
----Angela Bassett and Courtney Vance seem to have finally sold their Hancock Park home. The home which was originally listed at $5.999 million went all the way down to $3.9 million and is now listed as "looking for backup."
--CSI: Miami actress Khandi Alexander's home is back on the market for $2.995 million. The listing is here.
--Real estate agent Joe Babajian has put a home in Westwood on the market for $1.95 million. The listing is here.
---Ellen Degeneres and gal pal Portia Di Rossi have picked up a third property on Cabrillo Drive which will allow them to request permission from the city of Beverly Hills to gate the entire street. It is rumored that Ellen may have spent around $40 million total to create a new massive compound.
--Candy Spelling is selling a pair of condos in Century Woods, a small gated community in Century City. Both condos have five bedrooms but the one with over 8,000 square feet is listed at $7.895 million and the one that is a bit under 5,000 square feet is listed at $4.795 million.
--Musician Beck and Marissa Ribisi have put their Hancock Park home on the market for $9 million. The pair bought for $6.75 million a little over a year ago. The six-bedroom home also comes with a professional recording studio and rehearsal room in the guest house. The listing is here.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Ralph Fiennes has paid $2 million for a one-bedroom condo loft on West 13th Street.
--Veronica Hearst sold her Upper East Side co-op (two apartments) at 4 E. 66th St. for $36.5 million.
--Diana Ross is planning to renovate her Sherry-Netherland hotel apartment and raise its price from $9 million to $11 million sometime after Labor Day.

From the NY Observer:
----Another huge listing in New York City. This time a Fifth Avenue duplex, shown above, belonging to Karen Fleiss, who founded the hedge fund KMF Partners, and her husband, David, a Fifth Avenue orthopedic surgeon has been put on the market for $47.5 million. The listing is here.
--Exiting Metropolitan Museum of Art director Philippe de Montebello and his wife, Edith, director of financial aid at the Trinity School, sold their two-bedroom co-op at 25 East 86th Street this month for $2.195 million. The buyer is graphic designer Holly Okner, whose father is the investor Peter A. Aron, the chairman of the South Street Seaport Museum from 1987 to 2000. De Montebello has moved to another apartment nearby.
--The founder of Rag & Bone David Neville and his wife, celebrity makeup artist Gucci Westman just bought a duplex penthouse loft at the Spears Building, a former warehouse on West 22nd Street for $4.426 million.
----Charmaine Ho, a 22-year-old handbag designer and freelance fashion write bought a 25-foot-wide Greek Revival townhouse on West Ninth Street earlier this year for $8.1 million. Her parents, who live in Hong Kong, are paying for the bulk of the mortgage and will pay around $200,000 to renovate the floor-through apartment that she will live in. A three-bedroom apartment downstairs and the one-bedroom place upstairs are being rented out.

Ellen DeGeneres's Wedding Plans

Now that gay marriage is legal in California, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi are planning a lavish ceremony, part of which will be shown on DeGeneres's talk show. And like other brides-to-be, De Rossi has something pretty to show off on her ring finger. DeGeneres has given her girlfriend an engagement ring designed by Neil Lane that features a marquis cut diamond sent with pink diamonds. There aren't many details on the couple's "dream wedding" but Ellen has hinted that some "incredible people" will be performing. Certainly it may be the most extravagant gay wedding since Elton John tied the knot.

Sunday Real Estate Round-Up

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping


From The Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Saudi Arabia's Prince Bandar bin Sultan may not be selling his big $135 million Aspen home but he did sell another home in Aspen for $36.5 million. He has now sold half of the six contiguous Aspen properties he owned. The property sold, Star Mountain ranch, has a 15,000-square-foot mountain home on 67 acres. The buyer is Jeffrey Soffer, chairman and chief executive of Florida real-estate firm Turnberry Ltd.
--Ellen DeGeneres didn't get the $24 million she wanted for her Montecito estate,, shown above but she did make $20 million on the property she paid $15.75 million for. It was our estate of the day earlier this year.
--Investment banker Vikram Gandhi is asking $20 million for his Upper East Side town house, which is where Eleanor Roosevelt lived in her final years. The listing is here.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Socialite Anne Slater has sold her co-op residence at 998 Fifth Ave. for $18 million to Seagram's heir Matthew Bronfman.
--A new record closing price for a Harlem residence has been set $6.6 million. Real-estate investor Rodney Propp and his wife, Eleanor, are leaving their Park Avenue apartment for a Central Park-fronting, 5,500-square-foot condo at 111 Central Park North. The record will likely be broken soon, the building's three-level, multi-terraced penthouse - which was the Esquire "Ultimate Bachelor Pad" - is in contract for $8.5 million.
--A three-bedroom condo at the Plaza is available for $60,000 a month.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
Kathleen M. Waldron, an ex-Citigroup exec who became Baruch's president in 2004, was offered the A-line penthouse at Grand Madison, the 101-year-old ex-showroom at 225 Fifth Avenue that was turned into condos this year. But, according to school spokesman Jay Hershenson, Dr. Waldron didn't want the apartment, which the City University of New York closed on last month for $2.45 million.

From Celebrity Big Time Listings:
A 4,250-square-foot house in Los Angeles' Hollywood Hills that 1950s teen idol Bobby Darin once lived in has sold for $2,912,500 to hotelier Jason Pomeranc. The home was listed early this year for $3,689,000.
--The official numbers are in, Jamie Kennedy paid for $2.15 million for a 2,342-square-foot house in Los Feliz that had been on the market for $2.275, million.
--Soap opera actor Sebastian Roche, who recently paid $1,525,000 for a house in Venice, California has sold his 117-acre estate in upstate New York for $2.7 million.
--Singer Natalie Imbruglia has sold her Mediterranean-style house in the Sunset Strip area for $3.725 million. It was originally listed at $4.5 million.
--David Draiman, the lead singer of the band Disturbed, has sold his castle-like house in Northridge for $2,580,000. He bought in late 2005 for $2.535 million.
--Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx and his ex-wife, former "Baywatch" babe Donna D'Errico, have sold their six-bedroom, 5,269-square-foot house in Agoura, Calif. for $1,900,000. We covered this as our estate of the day when it was listed at $2.995 million.
--Marilyn Manson has sold his house in Chatsworth for $1,025,000. He bought the home in 2004 for $1,270,000.
--via the Wall Street Journal, Blink-182's Tom DeLonge has listed his house in Rancho Santa Fe, CA for $6.25million or $6.295 million depending on which source you consult. The MLS has it at $6.295 million. Apparently DeLonge is quite the buyer and seller in the San Diego county area and seems to have really great taste.

From the Real Estalker:
--More bad news for Michael Jackson. Not only is Neverland Ranch still looking at a January 19th foreclosure, Roger Friedman at Fox News has reported that according to the L.A. County Treasurer, the Jackson family home in Encino CA is in tax default to the tune of $16,283.10. Jackson is also the owner of record on this home and there is $4,000,000 mortgage on the five-bedroom property.
--Model Carolyn Murphy has put her Brentwood, California home on the market for $3.65 million. The Spanish-style home does not have a pool but it has a beautiful slightly bohemian feel. The listing is here.
--Actor Jason Biggs has listed his 1924 Beechwood Canyon home home. The charming and private three-bedroom home is listed at $1.549 million.
--The Real Estalker Mama delivers the delicious scoop on just how Ellen DeGeneres and Portia Di Rossi came to purchase the Beverly Hills home belonging to Max Mutchnick. The home was not listed, no brokers were involved, it was just love at first sight for the ladies and $30 million later it was theirs.
--Rumor has it that Orlando Bloom is painting his home black on the outside.
--Lost star Matthew Fox has put his four-bedroom Manhattan Beach home on the market for $2,275,000. Fox bought way back in 1999 for $800,000. Fox may have moved out a while back.
--Stevie Nicks may have sold her Arizona home for $3 million, it was our estate of the day earlier this year. Nicks may also be putting her Southern Colonial style house in Pacific Palisades on the market for $14 million. She reportedly bought the home in June of 2005 for $9,000,000 but wants to downsize and may also believe that the home is haunted.
--the Real Estalker highlights an article from Newsweek on the homes of the Presidential hopefuls. My, my they live well.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--Frankie Muniz has listed his Sunset Strip home for $3.875 million. It is our estate of the day later today.
--Roamnce novelist Leigh Court and her husband, rock-and-roll tour producer Timm Woolley have put their 11-acre Malibu estate on the market for $2.95 million. The listing for the architecturally interesting home with views of the ocean and mountains is here.
--M.J. Diebold has bought a Beverly Hills home for close to $3 million. She plans to paint it pink and green to mimic the Beverly Hills hotel.
--A John Woolf-designed home in the Hollywood Hills once owned by comedian Paul Lynde has come on the market for $2.95 million. The property website for the classic three-bedroom villa is here.

Ellen and Portia in the Hollywood Hills, Estate of the Day

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping


They are at it again, our favorite real estate power couple Ellen Degeneres and Portia Di Rossi have listed another beautiful home. This home on Zorada Drive is a bit more modest than their Montecito mansion, it's just 2,755 square feet with three bedrooms. Ellen and Portia seem to have a love of the classics, this post and beam home was built in 1956. The home is constructed in a U-shape around the pool. For an older home it has a very modern look with concrete floors and large glass walls. Not too many pictures of this one but it is so gorgeous I had to show it to you. Ellen and Portia seems to always strike a balance with lots of white and sparing use of high-end modern furnishings. This home isn't their residence, just another of their Southern California real estate machinations. It is listed at $2.3 million, and as the Real Estalker Mama predicted on her blog, this beauty will likely go fast.

Ellen's Montecito Mansion, Estate of the Day

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping


Like Oprah, Ellen DeGeneres has a lavish Montecito getaway house but unlike Oprah, Ellen is on the move. She and her partner Portia Di Rossi have put their Montecito home on the market. This beautiful home was built in 1926 by George Washington Smith who designed many lovely homes in the Santa Barbara, Calif. area. The house was renovated a few years back before Ellen bought it less than six months ago. The estate has a four-bedroom main house that includes a 1,300-square-foot master suite, a dining room with a curved stairway, a wine cellar, billiards room, a library and an office. The property also has a guesthouse, a studio, a tennis court and a pool/spa. According to Berg Properties, Ellen also recently sold a 20-acre estate at 2710 Roundup Road in Santa Ynez, Calif., for $3,050,000 and sold a 119.8-acre agricultural property in Santa Ynez for an undisclosed price. Is the house worth $9 million more than it was just six months ago? Probably not but it's lovely just the same. The home is listed at $24 million. After the jump, check out the staging on the home: They set out lemonade in one shot and watermelon in one another.


Join Luxist on Facebook!

Featured Galleries

Langham Yangtze Shanghai
Robb Report Limited Edition Series
House of Dog Cruelty-Free Pet Products
K-Swiss Classic High P in Limited Edition Colors
Bill Wrigley Jr. In Chicago
Bulgari Save The Children Auction
Felix Rey
Celebrity Pilots
Penthouse West