Actress Halle Berry is another of Hollywood's busy real estate buyers. She has bought and sold a variety of homes in Los Angeles and the Real Estalker reports that she owns a home in Malibu, Frankie Muniz's former Beverly Hills home, a getaway in Canada and this place in Beverly Hills which is now on the market. It's yet another Southern California Mediterranean but this one has a more rustic and distinctive look than most due mainly to its rough stone walls. The two-bedroom home is on 1.3 acres in the hills.

The home was built in 1948 but has been heavily modernized but has details like wide plank wood floors, wood-beamed vaulted ceilings, antique wooden doors and wrought iron banisters. The chandeliers and wood cabinets give the home a vaguely Medieval look. The master bedroom has a fireplace and glass doors out onto a terrace. The master bathroom includes a large stone bathtub and crystal chandelier. Outside the grounds include gardens, a dining and seating area, fire pit and a stone spa set up against the hillside. This home is listed at $5 million.

What are OTKs, you ask? Over-the-knee boots. And if you follow fashion even a little, you know that OTKs, or thigh high boots, are having a moment.

This is no small trend. Shop for OTKs online and not just designer shoe companies pop up (Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choo, Sigerson Morrison, Stuart Weitzman and Sergio Rossi have some of the best versions). More than 300 brands have gotten in on the action, including denim labels like 7 For All Mankind and Lucky Brand Jeans.

Clearly, designers are ready to cash on what they're betting will be a big, big trend this fall. But this week, I talked wto noted trend expert Tom Julian who's currently flying around the country promoting his book Nordstrom Guide to Men's Style. He's been speaking to random shoppers-both men and women-and all say they will buy items that have a longer lifespan than just one season. Whether or not OTKs fit the bill remains to be seen.

OTKs present another problem, too. Because of their close association with the world's oldest profession, pulling the look off can be downright, ahem, tricky.

Here's how the designers think you should do it: Miuccia Prada paired high-high leather waders with tweed short shorts and heavy sweaters. Hussein Chalayan added garters (pictured above) to his high-heeled versions, then presented them with short dresses and tailored boyfriend jackets. Louis Vuitton balanced his tough-girl versions with nothing but flounce-ruffles, balloon dresses and draped skirts.

At New York fashion week, several trendsetters took their shiny new OTKs out for a spin. Most, like Halle Berry on Jay Leno a few nights ago, chose to pair the boots with a super short dress. It was sexy, but was it chic? What do you think?

Here's my take: As long as you meet head-on the sexiness of an OTK with something NOT sexy, you'll wipe out even the tiniest whiff of stripper. For example, the sexier the dress, the flatter the boot should be. Got a killer pair of OTKs with a stilleto heel? Rock the look with a boxy boyfriend blazer or slouchy sweater. Julian says that when it comes to knitwear, the cardigan is the new layering sweater and works best in luxe fabrics like merino wool and fine gauge cashmere. Works for me.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Since August, billionaire art collector Eli Broad has been trying to sell a six-room, two-bedroom tower apartment at the Sherry-Netherland, the Fifth Avenue hotel, shown above. The place is listed with Stribling for $15 million.
Mariska Hargitay sold her eight-room duplex in the 1887 O'Neill Building for $8.15 million. She paid $7 million for the penthouse last year.
--Rumor has it that Hugh Jackman has picked up Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy's triplex at 176 Perry Street for somewhere above $25 million. It was listed at $40 million when it was our estate of the day last November.
Is the four-bedroom Park Avenue apartment belonging to the late William F. Buckley overpriced? His son says so. It was our estate of the day on Friday.
--A defense of the Plaza, when a 16th-floor one-bedroom Plaza suite goes to contract, the building's 181 private apartments will be sold out. The Observer checked out some of the apartments and was only disappointed by the Plaza's hotel-condo units.
---- Courtney Sale Ross' duplex at 740 Park Avenue is being quietly shopped around for a price said to be over $60 million.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Another property on the market for $75 million in New York. We'll be checking this one out tomorrow morning.
--Jessica Alba is leasing a two-bedroom apartment at 20 Exchange Place while shooting the film "An Invisible Sign of My Own."
--The longtime penthouse residence of Kitty Carlisle Hart is officially in contract after a relatively short time on the market. The 10-room duplex co-op at 1185 Park Ave hit the market last month with an asking price of $20 million.
--If you buy one of the last unsold residences at South of Fifth in South Beach the developers will throw in a new Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder, valued at $260,000. The units are $6 million to $8 million and range from 2,500 to 6,200 square feet.
--One Plaza buyer is now ready to take a loss on his investment. Oscar Schafer, the managing partner of OSS Capital Management, has lowered the price of his 17th-floor, three-bedroom condo from its $18 million June price to $14.5 million.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--Actress Melissa Joan Hart (best known as Sabrina the Teenage Witch) has listed her Sherman Oaks home for sale at $3.25 million. The listing is here.
-- Jewel and her cowboy husband, Ty Murray have put their Hollywood Hills home on the market fort $1.75 million. The listing is here.
Joe Maloof, president of Maloof Cos., has listed his Brentwood home at $4.995 million. The Maloof family owns the NBA's Sacramento Kings, the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas and a huge liquor distributorship in New Mexico. The listing for the home is here.
Actor David Lander, known best as Laverne and Shirley's pal Squiggy has listed his Woodland Hills home at $999,900. The listing is here.
--Producer-director known as McG has picked up a three-bedroom home in the Hollywood Hills for $5.75 million.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--A large, four-bedroom contemporary house in Beverly Hills that was owned for many years by actor Matthew Perry has been listed for $12,500,000. The listing is here.
--Actor J.K. Simmons has placed his five-bedroom house in the Hollywood Hills on the market for $1.995 million. The listing is here.
-- via TMZ, Adult film actress Jenna Jameson and mixed martial arts fighter Tito Ortiz reportedly have purchased a newly built, 3,889-square-foot house in his native Huntington Beach, Calif. that had been on the market for $3,399,000. Her home, which was our estate of the day in August, is still on the market for $2.7 million.
--A Hollywood Hills home once owned by Halle Berry is on the market for $4.995 million. The listing is here.
--Another round of 'Which celebrity's house is this? this time with a 4,877-square-foot house in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles, which just came on the market for $4.75 million. The listing is here.
--Actress Jane Sibbett sold her 16.96-acre ranch in Los Angeles' Topanga area for $3.95 million not for the $4.25 million that has been reported. It was listed at $5.2 million when it was our estate of the day in April.

From the Real Estalker:
--Nicolas Cage has listed the Gray Craig estate in Rhode Island. It is our estate of the day later today.
--Halle Berry and her Canadian-born model boyfriend Gabriel Aubry are buying a home in St. Hippolyte, around one hour north of Montreal. The modern home on 68 acres was was listed at $1,850,000 and comes with a private lake.
--Bianca Jagger has been evicted from her rent stabilized apartment in New York City on Park Avenue. She stopped paying rent claiming that the 18th floor unit had an asbestos and fungus contamination. She appealed an earlier decision that required her to pay back rent but her tourist visa requires her to maintain her main home outside of the United States and NYC rent regulation laws require that a rent stabilized unit be a "primary residence."
--The NY Post's Page Six has reported that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have five units in their NYC East Village building, one for the gym, one for a playroom for their daughter, two for staff and one for the couple.
--Trouble in the Hills? Seems the prospect of filming the MTV reality TV show at Audrina Patridge's new home on Bryn Mawr Drive.
--Rumor has it that the The Jonas Brothers are moving into a new house in the East Gate section of Bel Air. The property includes a four bedroom main house, a three bedroom guest house, a large office suite and a swimming pool but it is not clear whether or not the singing brothers bought or are leasing.

From Newsday's Real LI:
--Rosehearty, Rupert Murdoch's Colonial mansion on Centre Island has been pulled off the Daniel Gale Sotheby's International Realty website, as well as the MLSLI Web site. The listing agent Barbara Candee of Daniel Gale says Murdoch and wife, Wendi, are currently deciding what they want to do with the property for the short term. It was our estate of the day in July 2007.
--A charming Art & Crafts home on Sag Harbor's historic Main Street has been listed for $3.995 million. The five-bedroom home was built circa 1920, and has been featured in Hamptons Cottages & Gardens magazine. The listing is here.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Steve Martin is asking up to $28,100 a week to rent out his villa on the Caribbean island of St. Barthelemy. He bought the house last spring. The listing is here.
--Hilary Swank is in contract to pay $3.5 million for a two-bedroom apartment at the Superior Ink condominium building.

Lovely and pregnant Halle Berry has no plans to marry but that doesn't mean she doesn't get diamonds. Her boyfriend, Versace model and restaurateur Gabriel Aubry has reportedly given her $10,000 Cartier eternity ring to symbolize their commitment. The ring is composed of pavé-set diamonds in platinum. Berry and Aubry are also a bit non-traditional in that they share a bi-coastal relationship, he's based in New York and she is based in Los Angeles. Berry is due to give birth in the spring.