From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Actor/musician Steven Van Zandt, who is a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, and his wife, Maureen, have bid on a three-bedroom, three-bath penthouse in a former church on West Fourth Street. The apartment with stained glass windows has an asking price of $5.99 million.
--Actress Frances McDormand and her filmmaker husband Joel Coen have listed their Hudson Valley hideaway. The home on a country road in the town of Esopus, NY has three bedrooms, a screened porch and an old-fashioned kitchen. It is listed at $895,000. The charming home is shown above and the listing is here.
--The Russian Federation have purchased one of Manhattan's pricier townhouses for $35 million. The 25-foot-wide residence at 36 E. 75th St. was built in 1893 and has six bedrooms.
--The price has dropped on the 2005 Hamptons Cottages & Gardens Idea House. Hamptons C&G publisher Richard Ekstract and his wife, Eileen, have lowered the price of their eight-bedroom, 7,500-square-foot Bridgehampton mansion on 3.7 gated acres. It is our estate of the day later today.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--Tobey Maguire has bought a 0.93-acre vacant parcel in Brentwood.
--Comedian Carlos Mencia has purchased actor Eddie Cibrian's Encino mansion which was listed at $4.395 million. Cibrian has paid $2.5 million for a mansion in Calabasas.
--Actor John Leguizamo has paid $5,750,000 for a town house in Manhattan's Washington Square area.
--Turns out that Mark Harmon did not buy a new place in Malibu, it went to someone else with a similar name.


From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
Dr. Marlene Krauss and her husband, Dr. Zachary Berk have paid $7.65 million for the triplex penthouse at the Claremont House, a 1980's-era condo on East 72nd Street between Park and Madison avenues. It was our estate of the day in December 2006 when it was listed at $8.995 million. The couple own the floor below the penthouse, and are combining the two units into a four-level apartment. The couple has put their 15th floor home on the market for $4.75 million to raise money for renovations. The listing is here.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--As the Real Estalker Mama previously reported, the movie producer Jon Peters is asking $39.5 million for four adjoining Beverly Hills parcels he bought in 1996 but never fully developed. The listing is here.
--Limited Brands marketing chief Ed Razek has bought an oceanfront villa in the Turks & Caicos. Thetvilla is in Dellis Cay, a 560-acre, residential development being constructed on a private island with a master plan by Pritzker prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid.
--Baseball player Steve Finley, has trimmed 3.4 acres from his home for sale and reduced the price to $13.95 million. The listing is on the Barry Estates website.

From the Real Estalker:
--Jessica Alba has paid around $4.05 million for a new Beverly Hills home.
--Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have been spotted house hunting in Los Angeles.
--Another huge estate hits the market in Los Angeles. The Singleton family has put their Holmby Hills home on the market for $85 million. The main home, designed by Wallace Neff is 15,520 square feet with 10 bedrooms. It is on over seven acres. The listing is here.
--Kate Hudson has reportedly been looking at real estate in TriBeCa.
--Producer Max Mutchnick and partner Erik Hyman are set to purchases a major estate in Hancock Park.
--Television writer Juanita Bartlett has put her Martha's Vineyard home on the market for $12.95 million. The listing is here.
--Writer and producer Aaron Sorkin recently picked up a beautiful home in the Sunset Strip area of Los Angeles for $6.1 million.
--Tennis star Pete Sampras and his wife actress Bridgette Wilson-Sampras have listed their Beverly Hills mansion for for $25 million. The listing is here.
Actor Harvey Fierstein has put his Brewster, New York home on the market for $749,900. The listing is here.
--via the London Sunday Times, the Toprak Mansion in London has been sold for £50 million.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--L.A. Dodgers owners Frank and Jamie McCourt who bought a Malibu home from Courteney Cox and David Arquette last summer have now bought the house next door for close to $19 million. The new home is California bungalow built in 1949.
--An heiress from Mexico named Jeanette Longoria has bought the Hollywood Hills home belonging to Australian singer Natalie Imbruglia, which Big Time Listings reported sold back in December for an asking price of $2.725 million.
--We've been following the story of the former home of Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer, since 2006. It hit the market for $10 million but is now listed at just $6.9 million. The home has amazing details including prehistoric caves with dinosaur footprints, mineral shells and fossils. There are five bedroom suites,an espresso lounge with views of the Santa Cruz Mountains and a pet suite. The original website for the estate is here.

From the Malibu Real Estate blog:
--An interesting analysis of prices in the desirable seaside community

From AOL Real Estate:
--A list of the best cities to rent in.
--Yes, you really can get a house for $100K.

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.