tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14154170380489575402024-03-13T22:18:41.013-07:00Real Estate about bigdad HouseAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.comBlogger883125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-28111369198643868542013-10-15T08:19:00.000-07:002013-10-15T08:31:52.443-07:00Heidi Klum (Sort Of) Downsizes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZlWUgLJgaZg/UlxvppkjIEI/AAAAAAAATD0/fUXEz73Qc2c/s1600/HKlum_BA_PICS1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZlWUgLJgaZg/UlxvppkjIEI/AAAAAAAATD0/fUXEz73Qc2c/s400/HKlum_BA_PICS1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>BUYER: Heidi Klum<br />SELLER: Ed. Weinberger<br />LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA<br />PRICE: $9,875,000<br />SIZE: 11,600 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms<br /><br />YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Shortly before German-born supermodel turned Emmy-winning <i>Project Runway</i> super-mogul and fecund sartorial entrepreneur <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005099/">Heidi Klum</a> split with her musician ex-husband, Seal, the once-happy couple shelled out $14.2 million for an approximately <a href="http://realestalker.blogspot.com/2010/12/heidi-klum-and-seal-scoop-up-foreclosed.html">12,300 square foot mock-Med villa</a> with 8 bedrooms and 9.5 bathrooms on just over 12 acres in the <i>Brentwood Country Estates</i>, a super exclusive guard-gated enclave in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles where some of the other multi-acre estates and massive mansions are owned by the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, sitcom super-producer <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0109159/">Kevin Bright</a>, and—directly across the road from Miz Klum—fellow supermodel Gisele Bündchen and her professional pig skinner hubby Tom Brady.<br /><br />As far as Your Mama knows, after the erstwhile couple parted ways Miz Klum remained in residence in the Brentwood family manse, presumably along with her beefy and rugged new bodyguard/boyfriend Martin Kristin. Howevuh, hunties, according to the ever-bounteous real estate yenta Yolanda Yakketyyak, the Klum clan is on the move and, as rich and/or famous people so often do after a marriage slides down the garbage disposal of lost love, the super-rich 40-year old mother of four bought a new house, a (slightly) smaller mansion on a whole lot less land in a smaller and less glorified guard-gated enclave in the Bel Air area of Los Angeles for which she paid $9,875,000.*<br /><br />Property records (and other online resources) show the ridge-top estate was sold by nine-time Emmy winning writer/producer <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0918165/">Ed. Weinberger</a> (<i>The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, The Cosby Show</i>) and his wife, former actress <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0914266/">Carline Watkins</a>, who custom built the three-story red brick neo-Georgian mansion in 2000 and had the property on and off the market for more than three years at a variety of prices as high as $15 million.<br /><br />The 11,600 square foot mansion sits on a 4.82 acre parcel with long and wide views down the steep canyons and over Sherman Oaks and the San Fernando Valley, a view that many who can afford to pay $10 million for a house would not want, according to the sometimes snobbish Yolanda, because "it faces the wrong way." A long private driveway cuts between a couple of mansions and forks awkwardly as it nears the symmetrical front of Miz Klum's new and stiff-shirted abode. To the right there's a featureless parking lot-like motor court and to the left a secondary motor court on the side of the house where there's also a detached two-car garage with self-contained one bedroom apartment above.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MSUhDho3iAQ/Ulxv2-dcxqI/AAAAAAAATD8/qpc-fGS_F5k/s1600/HKlum_BA_PICS2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MSUhDho3iAQ/Ulxv2-dcxqI/AAAAAAAATD8/qpc-fGS_F5k/s400/HKlum_BA_PICS2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>The center hall foyer will impress traditional architecture loving guests with lustrous chevron-pattern wood floors, the exact sort of sweeping floating staircase for which trail-blazing architect Paul Revere Williams is known and adored,* and glass doors at the back that open to a small veranda that overlooks the backyard. In addition to the graciously scaled formal living and dining rooms—both with wood floors, fireplace and elaborate moldings—lower level living spaces include a pair of offices and a library with yet another fireplace, French doors with semi-circular transoms, and a bunch of bookcases that may or may not be built in, we can't tell.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2Pfrq-XJsKA/Ulxv69K7FaI/AAAAAAAATEE/Wn0PHKeAz9I/s1600/HKlum_BA_PICS3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2Pfrq-XJsKA/Ulxv69K7FaI/AAAAAAAATEE/Wn0PHKeAz9I/s400/HKlum_BA_PICS3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Family-oriented spaces include a generous family room that opens to the back yard and a spacious, eat-in kitchen that's expensively decked out with white cabinetry, marble counter tops and the customary suite of commercial-style stainless steel appliances that include side-by-side fridge/freezers, a 48-inch range plus wall ovens, and an under-counter wine cooler.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T5YHLt2l_2I/UlxwKhihKGI/AAAAAAAATEM/KmELd0BHLns/s1600/HKlum_BA_PICS4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="397" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T5YHLt2l_2I/UlxwKhihKGI/AAAAAAAATEM/KmELd0BHLns/s400/HKlum_BA_PICS4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Listing information goes on to indicate there's a (less-than-ideally shaped) media room with angled ceiling and built-in wet bar/candy counter and, somewhere in the house, a temperature-controlled (and sorta dank-looking) wine cellar with stone-tiled walls and floor. Up on the (at least partially) finished third floor there's a home gym/dance studio and the basement, as per listing details, allows for further expansion.<br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JzPIT5qp7wo/UlxwPpWw_4I/AAAAAAAATEU/AdHMnVXlr8M/s1600/HKlum_BA_PICS5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="398" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JzPIT5qp7wo/UlxwPpWw_4I/AAAAAAAATEU/AdHMnVXlr8M/s400/HKlum_BA_PICS5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Four guest/family bedrooms with en suite facilities occupy the mansion's second floor along with a roomy master suite that's complete with fireplace, a private deck with view across the entirety of the San Fernando Valley, dual dressing rooms, and two bathrooms—"his" with a vaguely vintage barbershop-y vibe and steam shower and "hers" with lots of mis-matched marble and a super-size soaking tub in front of a Palladian window. (Let's all cross our fingers that Miz Klum or her team of lady and/or nice-gay decorators has the good sense to do away with the cotton candy pink walls in the "her" master bath.)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b4PeIBi2kBo/UlxwSpTfnjI/AAAAAAAATEc/DUr1-QfNj8A/s1600/HKlum_BA_PICS6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="398" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b4PeIBi2kBo/UlxwSpTfnjI/AAAAAAAATEc/DUr1-QfNj8A/s400/HKlum_BA_PICS6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>The landscaping around the mansion is fairly simple with some clipped hedges and, besides total privacy from neighbors, outdoor amenities include an over-sized heated swimming pool sunk into a pancake flat swathe of lawn, several covered and shaded terraces, and an outdoor kitchen off the family room/kitchen. Listing details suggest there's room for a tennis court but we really have no idea if Miz Klum will undertake the installation of such.<br /><br />We expect Miz Klum with sell her giant house in the <i>Brentwood County Estates</i> but, at this point, Your Mama has no inside intel on her plans. Until mid-2008, when she sold it for $5.35 million, Miz Klum maintained a two bedroom and two bathroom penthouse pad on Bank Street in New York City's Far West Village. We're not sure where the statuesque Miz Klum and family bunks when in New York City but our research suggests—but does not prove—it's a series of high-priced downtown rentals.<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">*While the property is, address-wise, located in Bel Air's prestigious 90077 zip code, some might say that the north of Mulholland Drive property ought to be in the relatively affluent (and star-soaked) but far less celebrated 91423 zip code of Sherman Oaks.</span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />**We don't know who is responsible for the architecture of this home but it was most assuredly not Paul Revere Williams who met his great drafts(wo)man in the sky in 1980.</span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />listing photos: <a href="http://www.theagencyre.com/">The Agency</a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-32084193542341691692013-10-14T16:17:00.000-07:002013-10-15T08:25:43.947-07:00The Electrical Princess<br /><div style="font-size: 16px;">"The plumber's work is done," I said buttering my toast. </div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"Yes," Mr. Wonderful said reaching for the ringing telephone. </div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"And tomorrow the electrician comes to do his work."</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"Yes?" he said into the phone.</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"So by Monday night everything will be done!" </div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"No," Mr Wonderful said handing me the phone.</div><div style="font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pBTHlwb46SI/Ulx7CpLZFTI/AAAAAAAABrY/6Q4zJcH_jIc/s1600/Pipes+in+trench+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pBTHlwb46SI/Ulx7CpLZFTI/AAAAAAAABrY/6Q4zJcH_jIc/s320/Pipes+in+trench+2.jpg" width="223" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: 16px;">The phone call brought bad news. But phone calls with good news never happen first thing in the morning unless you're 1) The grandmother-to-be of a new born baby (which I wasn't); 2) The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (which I wasn't) or 3) Meryl Streep (which I wasn't... yet). </div><div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: 16px;">The voice on the other end of the line belonged to the electrician who informed me he was canceling. Canceling the day before a scheduled work day! UGH.</div><div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"Why," I said choking on my toast. </div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"My third-grade daughter is playing a princess in the school play tomorrow."</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"But why," I said brushing crumbs from my face. </div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"She's loves princesses?" the electrician said questioning his own excuse.</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"But why <i>now</i>?"</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"She had a great audition?"</div><div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: 16px;">His daughter's school play? What kind of excuse was that? Please. It wasn't like she'd never be in another school play again. These days kids have school plays every week in third grade. But the electrician didn't care that he was leaving me in the trench-laden lurch while he skipped off to the elementary school's cafeteria to see his princess play a princess. I wished he hadn't told me why he had to cancel. UGH.</div><div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: 16px;">So it was back to the drawing board for me in finding an electrician. Whoever said Sunday was a day of rest did not have to deal with finding an electrician. I searched Angie's list, the neighbors' lists and all the lists of my 6,000 Facebook friends. I dialed, emailed, texted, tweeted, Pinterested and Instagramed for an electrician. Finally, lo and behold, I found one!</div><div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: 16px;">Jeffrey came, saw the situation, gave me an estimate and left. On Tuesday, Jeffrey's men came, saw the work and left… to get more parts. Soon both electricians returned to the house and while the young one worked on the wiring, the older one left… to get more parts. Again.</div><div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: 16px;">I chatted with the young one who was so amiable and pleasant. When the older one came back to work on the job I chatted to him and he was even more amiable and more pleasant then… he left to get more parts. The older one spent more time "going to get more parts" than there were parts required to do all the work on our house. Into perpetuity.</div><div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: 16px;">The whole day was an endless stream of electricians coming and going. But by the close of business on Monday, the electrical work was done, it was professional and it looked stellar. I thanked both men profusely. They smiled and nodded.</div><div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: 16px;">That evening I called Jeffrey.</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"Your men did a fabulous job on my House. Thank you," I said smiling into the phone.</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"On your job," Jeffrey said "I miscalculated the parts, the labor and the work. It was the job from hell. Serious hell." UGH. I wished he hadn't told me how hard the job was. My House is my joy. No one wants to think that the thing they love dearly--their House--is anything less than perfect. Suddenly I understood how the first electrician felt about his third-grade daughter performing in the school play. Whatever or whomever we love is our princess and others should respect our loved ones.</div><div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: 16px;">I called the first electrician and asked how his daughter did in the play.</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"She was the perfect princess," he said beaming.</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"Of course she was," I said. "Because she's yours."</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-11775800249272951762013-10-14T10:28:00.000-07:002013-10-15T08:31:52.454-07:00Adam Pally Lists Grove-Adjacent Spanish Bungalow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3wBTsTIEL_A/UlwHlB-mWWI/AAAAAAAATDQ/cFrzPTRYs8o/s1600/APally_PICS1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3wBTsTIEL_A/UlwHlB-mWWI/AAAAAAAATDQ/cFrzPTRYs8o/s400/APally_PICS1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wA06cr6a1kY/UlwHlITUfTI/AAAAAAAATDM/mEL_JivoHgs/s1600/APally_PICS2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wA06cr6a1kY/UlwHlITUfTI/AAAAAAAATDM/mEL_JivoHgs/s400/APally_PICS2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PxUMTYXeyG0/UlwHlDR0B8I/AAAAAAAATDI/Cfi-Lsrx08o/s1600/APally_PICS3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PxUMTYXeyG0/UlwHlDR0B8I/AAAAAAAATDI/Cfi-Lsrx08o/s400/APally_PICS3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5HMTU3K2n6M/UlwHlszGbqI/AAAAAAAATDg/_BlLZgWGKyE/s1600/APally_PICS4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="351" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5HMTU3K2n6M/UlwHlszGbqI/AAAAAAAATDg/_BlLZgWGKyE/s400/APally_PICS4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>SELLER: Adam Pally<br />LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA<br />PRICE: $1,699,000<br />SIZE: 2,428 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms<br /><br />YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Up and coming comedic actor and writer <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1269723/">Adam Pally</a> has put his modestly sized but hardly inexpensive Grove-adjacent* Spanish bungalow in Los Angeles, CA, on the market with an asking price of $1,699,000.<br /><br />The usually scruffy-faced and Jewfro-ed Mister Pally, now in his early 30s, has long performed with various improv groups (i.e.the venerable <a href="http://www.uprightcitizens.org/">Upright Citizens Brigade</a>), occasionally plays around in the <i><a href="http://www.funnyordie.com/">Funny or Die</a></i> comedy sand box, and wrote and/or appeared in a handful of short films (<i>The Indigenous Flowers of Southern California)</i> and cable series (<i>Californication</i>) before he landed a co-starring role on the (now canceled) ensemble comedy <i>Happy Endings</i>. The ad-libbing actor currently appears as a series regular as a frat boy turned gynecologist on <i>The Mindy Project</i> and will soon be seen in the comedy moves <i>A Better You</i> with <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc0Fd2NI_uQ">Natasha Leggero</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWa6dBKZI7I">Nick Kroll</a>) and <i>Search Party</i> with<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1269983/?ref_=tt_cl_t1"> Krysten Ritter</a>, formerly the untrustworthy B---- in Apartment 23.<br /><br />Property records show Mister Pally and his wife, Daniella, purchased the tile-roofed bungalow in July 2011—not long before they had their <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUZFCeBBcaw">first baby</a>—for $1,360,000 and their decision to move so soon after settling in to their Grove-adjacent digs may or may not have something to do with the recent birth of their <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVnEdJE8QX4">second child</a>. Current listing details show the 2,428 square foot house was originally built in 1927 and has three bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms plus additional living space in the converted and detached two-car garage.<br /><br />A low-walled, gated, foliage-encircled courtyard leads to the front door that opens directly into the living room where listing photographs show honey-blond wood floors, a coved ceiling, lots of windows (with gauzy curtains), and a wood-burning fireplace with stately carved stone (or poured concrete) mantel piece. The honey-blond floors and vintage architectural details (i.e. crown molding and articulated archways) continue into the adjoining (formal) dining room that looks out to the front courtyard through an over-sized window.<br /><br />The most striking feature of the house would most certainly be the pumpkin-colored star burst patterned Spanish tile in the renovated kitchen that's well-equipped with egg shell-toned cabinetry, grey counter tops (of unknown but presumably high quality material), and high grade stainless steel appliances. The kitchen has a two-seat snack counter tucked a bit awkwardly behind the six-burner range plus a compact but cozy breakfast room with inset book/knick-knack shelves, a vintage light fixture, and a ceiling painted the same dusty pumpkin color as the base color of the floor tiles.<br /><br />Of the three bedrooms only only the master bedroom opens through wood-framed glass doors to an elevated concrete terrace that runs the full width of the house, incorporates a spa, and steps down the plunge-sized swimming pool. A rock patio along the pool certainly photographs nicely but can't feel that great on bare-footed tootsies, right? Anyways...<br /><br />The detached two-car garage at the rear of the property has been converted to flexi-use living space with concrete floors, raw wood open shelves that cover and entire wall, and large windows that over look the swimming pool. Since the swimming pool and spa eat up a significant percentage of the backyard space the former driveway is show in listing photos as a spacious outdoor dining area and lounge.<br /><br />If the staged furnishings in their Grove-adjacent house wasn't enough to tip the kids off that the couple has already moved on to another house, property records show the couple recently paid $2,025,000 for a brand new and much larger 3,700 square foot East Coast-y residence in one of the more desirable neighborhoods in Studio City, CA.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">*Grove-adjacent is a terms (sometimes) used by (some) real estate agents to describe a property that's within a few blocks of <a href="http://www.thegrovela.com/">The Grove</a>, an outdoor mall that's connected to the historic Farmer's Market and is essentially a quintessentially Los Angeles faux version of Main Street U.S.A.</span><br /><div><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: xx-small;">listing photos: <a href="http://www.leslielahomes.com/">Keller Williams</a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-36074717631299623712013-10-13T11:47:00.000-07:002013-10-15T08:31:52.466-07:00In Case You Missed It This Week<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g7PrfwUj7XQ/UlrjQzNKgZI/AAAAAAAATCg/rZiRyzL8K9k/s1600/RODonnell_CK_PICS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g7PrfwUj7XQ/UlrjQzNKgZI/AAAAAAAATCg/rZiRyzL8K9k/s400/RODonnell_CK_PICS.jpg" width="253" /></a></div>After she backed out of the purchase of Olivia Newton's John's <a href="http://realestalker.blogspot.com/2013/05/on-move-olivia-newton-john.html">$6.2 million water front house</a> in Jupiter Inlet (FL) because someone committed suicide on the property right before the closing, Rosie O'Donnell has gone and spent <a href="http://realestate.heraldtribune.com/2013/10/11/rosie-odonnell-buys-5-million-home-on-casey-key/" target="_blank">somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 million</a> for a gulf-front spread on Casey Key just south of Sarasota, FL. In addition to the four bedroom and seven bathroom plantation-style house with swimming pool and outdoor kitchen, the sale includes a covered boat slip at a nearby marina. <a href="http://realestalker.blogspot.com/2008/11/martina-navratilova-moves-on.html" target="_blank">Tennis queen Martina Navratilova</a> sold her Casey Key house back in 2008 and prolific novelist Stephen King owns at least two homes including a modern manse on three lots the northern tip of the sand spit barrier island he bought in 2001 for $8.9 million. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(source: <a href="http://www.heraldtribune.com/" target="_blank">Herald Tribune</a>; listing photos: Sarasota Photography for <a href="http://www.premiersothebysrealty.com/eng" target="_blank">Sotheby's International Realty</a>)</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bC5KuGqrAjc/UlrkvfqkmsI/AAAAAAAATCs/vlYP-FZfC1A/s1600/OBloom_OE_PICS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bC5KuGqrAjc/UlrkvfqkmsI/AAAAAAAATCs/vlYP-FZfC1A/s400/OBloom_OE_PICS.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Orlando Bloom <a href="http://blog.redfin.com/blog/2013/10/orlando-bloom-lists-hollywood-hills-home-for-4-5-million.html#.UlmRc2T7130" target="_blank">listed his gated</a> mini-estate in the star-studded <i>Outpost Estates</i> nabe in Los Angeles (CA) with a $4.5 million price tag. And, yes, this is the place famously burglarized by the Bling Ring and that, much to the chagrin of some of his neighbors, he painted black. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(source: Redfin blog; listing photos: <a href="http://www.venessablair.com/" target="_blank">Coldwell Banker</a>)</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ggV8FoJJkPo/UlrnIYc36lI/AAAAAAAATC4/k9VTRwagp9k/s1600/Rihanna_NYC_SohoLse_PICS1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ggV8FoJJkPo/UlrnIYc36lI/AAAAAAAATC4/k9VTRwagp9k/s400/Rihanna_NYC_SohoLse_PICS1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Barbadian-born international pop star Rihanna has <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2013/10/08/rihanna-moving-out-of-stalker-plaged-burglarized-l-a-mansion/" target="_blank">moved out</a> of her $12 million mansion in L.A.'s affluent and staid Pacific Palisades 'hood—because she keeps getting unwanted intruders—and (allegedly) leased a <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/real-estate/rihanna-hang-umbrella-soho-sources-article-1.1481850" target="_blank">$39,000 per month duplex penthouse</a> in New York City's SoHo 'hood. In case Riri might want to buy the penthouse it's also available for sale with a $14,660,000 price tag. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(sources: <a href="http://www.tmz.com/" target="_blank">TMZ</a> and <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/" target="_blank">Daily Mail</a>; listing photos: <a href="http://www.townrealestate.com/" target="_blank">Town Residential</a>)</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">::::::::</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Facebook gajillionaire Mark Zuckerberg and his Doctor missus, Priscilla Chan, reportedly heard word that a developer planned to buy the house next door, build a big house and market it as being next door to Zuckerberg, as if that was a reason to buy a house. So, they did what anyone with a net worth near twenty billion dollars might (and can) do, they<a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_24285169/zuckerberg-buys-four-houses-near-his-palo-alto"> shelled out more than $23,000,000</a> to buy (at least) three of the adjacent properties. At that's in addition to the seven million bucks they paid in 2011 for their fully updated and upgraded <a href="http://realestalker.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-digs-for-facebook-billionaire-mark.html">five bedroom</a> turn-of-the-century residence. The Zuckerberg-Chans reportedly don't have current plans to merge the properties and—so the story goes—have leased the houses back to the sellers. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(<a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/" target="_blank">San Jose Mercury News</a>)</span><br /><br /><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-15998609802523208982013-10-11T13:23:00.000-07:002013-10-15T08:31:52.476-07:00Your Mama Hears<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="225" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/T4ldz1L6_io?rel=0" width="400"></iframe><br /><br />...from Yolanda Yakketyyak, who swears on her mint-condition '85 Seville, that the mysterious buyer who <a href="http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/hot-property/la-fi-hotprop-ellen-degeneres-20130912,0,6556740.story" target="_blank">paid $10.85 million</a> for Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi DeGeneres's equestrian-oriented ranch-compound in Hidden Valley near Thousand Oaks, CA is none other than luxury t-shirt tycoon (and budding real estate baller) James Perse and his wife, Brandi (with an "i") Briskman.<br /><br />Your Mama has discussed the horsey compound several times so if you want a more detailed description of the bucolic and semi-remote spread you can go <a href="http://realestalker.blogspot.com/2011/09/ellen-and-portia-list-horsey-hidden.html" target="_blank">here</a> or <a href="http://realestalker.blogspot.com/2013/07/did-yall-see.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Otherwise, suffice to say, the Missus Degeneres acquired the 26 acre ranch property in June 2009 for $8.5 million and, in typical real estate fashion for them, soon flipped it back on the market, first as a pocket listing and then on the open market. Originally priced at $16.5 million and last listed for $10.995 million, the property includes eight renovated residential cottages, two art studio/entertainment space barns, a ranch office, a stable block for half a dozen horses (plus a riding ring, etc), a screened yoga porch, a tree house, and a tennis court. There is not, as far as we know, a swimming pool.<br /><br />Mister Perse, in case you don't follow the intersecting highways and bi-ways of fashion and commerce, is the progeny of Tommy Perse, owner of the legendary Los Angeles clothing boutique <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/fashion/24CRITIC.html?_r=0" target="_blank">Maxfield</a>. Mister Perse (the son) has become successful designer and an international purveyor of <a href="http://www.jamesperse.com/%E2%80%8E" target="_blank">an eponymous line of luxury lounge-around wear</a>; Think $65 for 100% domestic cotton slub casual v-neck t-shirts, $225 for slouchy woven crepe elastic waist pants—essentially swanky sweat pants—and $165 for sueded double knit kangaroo pocket hoodies.<br /><br />The entrepreneurial Mister Perse has branched out in recent years to—among other things—design low-slung (and prodigiously pricey) furniture, develop a moisture-wicking performance-wear brand (Yosemite), and produce high-cost limited edition lifestyle products such as hand-crafted vintage-inspired skateboards, a rather sinister-looking all-black beach cruiser, solid teak pool and ping pong tables, and teak dog beds fitted with an hypoallergenic organic foam cushion covered in a waterproof, 100% Belgian linen polyfill duvet.<br /><br />Anyhoodles, poodles, avid watchers of the upper-end Los Angeles real estate game will recognize Mister Perse as an increasingly frequent buyer (and seller) of superbly sited and impressively expensive real estate. In late 2010 he and the missus quietly shelled out $16 million for a glassy, bluff-top house in the Point Dume area of Malibu, in April (2013), after more than a year <a href="http://realestalker.blogspot.com/2009/03/james-perses-pad-in-birds.html" target="_blank">on and off the market</a>, he finally unloaded in an off-market deal a one-bedroom house at the tippy-top of the Bird Streets above the Sunset Strip, and, most recently, in July (2013), the stylish (and obviously considerably rich) couple <a href="http://realestalker.blogspot.com/2013/09/cotton-t-shirt-king-james-perse-snags.html" target="_blank">dropped $6,690,000</a> on a nearly 2-acre gated estate—also in Malibu's Point Dume area—that they bought from Dave Matthews Band guitarist Stefan Lessard.<br /><br />And, finally, everybody knows by now that two Mays ago (2012) the Missus DeGeneres <a href="http://realestalker.blogspot.com/2012/05/rumor-has-it.html" target="_blank">paid $17.4 million</a> an iconic mid-century modern mansion in the lower section of Trousdale Estates in Beverly Hills and this last May (2013) they <a href="http://realestalker.blogspot.com/2013/05/hump-day-hodgepodge-ellen-degeneres-and.html" target="_blank">coughed up $26.5</a> million for an elegant, ten-ish acre estate in Montecito, CA, with an elegant, 10,000+ square foot stone-built villa designed and built by the elegant decorator John Saladino.<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">video: <a href="http://www.interiorpixels.com/" target="_blank">Interior Pixels</a> (via <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4ldz1L6_io" target="_blank">YouTube</a>)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-90460265757756224902013-10-11T09:43:00.000-07:002013-10-15T08:31:52.486-07:00The Great Cuba Gooding Jr. Sell Off Continues<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZexswYZFjsc/UlgiWLXFvzI/AAAAAAAATB4/0dk51OcO62c/s1600/CGoodingJR_PICS1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZexswYZFjsc/UlgiWLXFvzI/AAAAAAAATB4/0dk51OcO62c/s400/CGoodingJR_PICS1.jpg" width="397" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iQx8LXgq1XE/UlgiWIRIgdI/AAAAAAAATBw/smmL-gFTAyc/s1600/CGoodingJR_PICS2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="353" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iQx8LXgq1XE/UlgiWIRIgdI/AAAAAAAATBw/smmL-gFTAyc/s400/CGoodingJR_PICS2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_cJ5TkqDYG8/UlgiWCUHSfI/AAAAAAAATB0/nHcpbC1Ru-Q/s1600/CGoodingJR_PICS3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="352" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_cJ5TkqDYG8/UlgiWCUHSfI/AAAAAAAATB0/nHcpbC1Ru-Q/s400/CGoodingJR_PICS3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U4DSF9yrhsw/UlgiWxmx_iI/AAAAAAAATCE/Wt1ie4dZYh4/s1600/CGoodingJR_PICS4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U4DSF9yrhsw/UlgiWxmx_iI/AAAAAAAATCE/Wt1ie4dZYh4/s400/CGoodingJR_PICS4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WETjaaI7yvc/UlgiYdquA4I/AAAAAAAATCQ/7DrQtInPIvs/s1600/CGoodingJR_PICS5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="353" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WETjaaI7yvc/UlgiYdquA4I/AAAAAAAATCQ/7DrQtInPIvs/s400/CGoodingJR_PICS5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>SELLER: Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Sara Kapfer<br />LOCATION: Pacific Palisades, CA<br />PRICE: $11,995,000<br />SIZE: 6,753 square feet, 7 bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms<br /><br />YOUR MAMAS NOTES: In late 2009 he sold a ho-hum 1950s canyon-view ranch-style residence <a href="http://sanfernandovalleyblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/celebrity-real-estate-former-cuba.html" target="_blank">just off Mulholland Drive</a> in Studio City (CA) for $1.375 million and just this last August (2013) he sold a large, dated and perfectly ordinary house in the affluent <a href="http://www.sanfernandovalleyblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/celeb-re-cuba-gooding-jr-lists-porter.html" target="_blank">Porter Ranch area</a> of the San Fernando Valley for $735,000 and now comes word down the celebrity real estate gossip grapevine that Oscar-winning actor <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000421/" target="_blank">Cuba Gooding, Jr.</a> listed his much more impressive and luxurious gated mini-estate in Pacific Palisades (CA) with an A-list asking price of $11,995,000.<br /><br />His <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000421/" target="_blank">online resume</a> shows Mister Gooding remains a steady working actor with starring roles in lots of (mostly straight to DVD action/thriller) movies we've never heard of before (i.e. <i>The Devil's Tomb, Hardwired</i> and <i>The Hit List</i>) and couple of small parts in more successful and/or critically well-regarded films such as the currently in theaters <i>Don Juan</i> and <i>Lee Daniels' The Butler</i>. However, at the risk of sounding like a catty beotch, it seems to Your Mama, Mister Gooding, Jr.'s (to-date) professional salad days were way back in the mid-1990s to the early-Aughts when he starred in films that include <i>As Good As It Gets, Men of Honour, Pearl Harbor</i>, and <i>What Dreams May Come, </i>and, in 1997, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnCMqr1QRQw" target="_blank">won an Academy Award</a> for <i>Jerry Maguire.*</i><br /><br />Property records show Mister Gooding, Jr. and long-time wife and high-school sweetheart, Sara Kapfer, acquired their family-friendly Pacific Palisades mini-estate in May 2000 for $3,500,000. Current digital marketing materials don't state the square footage but the Los Angeles County Tax Man puts it at 6,753. The two-story, slate-roofed and smooth stucco-sided European-ish farmhouse-type abode was originally built in the early 1940s and currently contains seven bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms, five fireplaces, and two laundry rooms. There's also a separate guest house and garage parking for six or more cars.<br /><br />A gated driveway opens off a secluded and rustic lane near Will Rogers State Park to a long driveway that cuts through a manicured sylvan landscape to the front of the house where custom glass and steel front doors open into a circular entry vestibule with stone floors and a spoke-like display of exposed ceiling beams.<br /><br />The formal living room has wide-plank wood floors, a boxed wood ceiling, fireplace with some sort of antique-y looking carved or cast stone mantelpiece, and floor-to-ceiling steel-framed French doors on three sides the expose the room to the landscaped surroundings and open to various outdoor living areas. The floor switches to tumbled travertine (or some other beige-colored tumbled stone) in the formal dining room that has more floor-to-ceiling steel-framed windows and French doors as well as a slender, walk-in wine cellar and a butler's pantry.<br /><br />Less formal family quarters include loft-like combination kitchen and family room with wide-plank wood floors under foot and exposed ceiling beams over head. A massive stone fireplace anchors the family room end where lots of windows and French doors make for a smooth transition to the outdoors. The colossal, cook-friendly kitchen has two work islands, several counter top materials—marble, wood and some sort of slab stone, and a full suite of industrial-style appliances that include two dishwashers and at least a couple of built-in warming drawers. An adjoining mud room, as per listing details, does double duty as a home office.<br /><br />In addition to the half dozen family/guest bedrooms throughout the property there's a spacious master suite with vaulted, exposed beam ceiling and direct access to a private terrace. There's also a sitting area with yet another stone-faced fireplace, furniture-grade closets, and a marble-floored bathroom with two-sink vanity, free-standing soaking tub set in front of a picture window with tree-top view, and a separate glass-enclosed steam shower with convenient built-in tiled bench.<br /><br />Other celebrity-style features of the Gooding, Jr. mini-estate include: A second floor den where open rough hewn wood shelves flank a fireplace; A wood-floored, mirror-walled, and punching bag-equipped gym installed in part of the garage—if y'all look closely you can see a covered car reflected in the mirror; And, naturally, a home theater with vaulted exposed wood ceiling, contemporary drum-style light fixtures, a wide-screen projection system, and tiered seating.<br /><br />Shaded and stone-floored verandas ring the main living spaces on the lower level and give way to, verdant outdoor areas that include expansive lawns with lush landscaping and mature shade trees, and a hedge-enclosed swimming pool and elevated spa. Perhaps the most unusual and certainly unexpected outdoor recreational feature, tucked into a sweeping—and probably noisy—curve of Sunset Boulevard, in a spot where a person might understandably expect a tennis court, we find a lighted ice hockey rink complete with glass protection barrier. Now, children, how many private outdoor ice hockey rinks do you think there are in sunny southern California? Probably more than Your Mama might guess but it really can't be that many since ice hockey really isn't much of a <i>thing</i> in southern California, you know? Anyways...<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">*Mister Gooding, Jr. also won a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe nomination for <i>Jerry Maguire</i>, taken home three Image Awards—<i>Firelight</i> (2012), <i>Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story </i>(2009), <i>Radio</i> (2003), and in 2002 he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">listing photos: <a href="http://www.davidoffer.com/" target="_blank">Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices</a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-30359990429562797632013-10-10T12:49:00.000-07:002013-10-15T08:31:52.496-07:00Sketch Comedy King Michael McDonald Lists Hollywood Hills House<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R29fQX5cfOM/UlbpgZ8twyI/AAAAAAAATAg/2eht8HhVwow/s1600/MMcDonald_PICS1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R29fQX5cfOM/UlbpgZ8twyI/AAAAAAAATAg/2eht8HhVwow/s400/MMcDonald_PICS1.jpg" width="387" /></a></div>SELLER: Michael McDonald<br />LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA<br />PRICE: $3,495,000<br />SIZE: 3,250 square feet, 2-3 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms<br /><br />YOUR MAMAS NOTES: A friendly birdie we'll call Lou Neetoones flew down and let Your Mama know that (comedy) actor/writer/director/producer <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0567912/" target="_blank">Michael McDonald</a> hoisted his long time (and just about diabolically earth-tonal) home in Los Angeles's Nichols Canyon on the open market with a $3,495,000 price tag.<br /><br />Before Mister McDonald <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl1WFUCZxc8" target="_blank">achieved</a> physical comedy <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1GAM20dq48" target="_blank">genius-ness</a> on <i>MadTV</i>—that's right we said it so deal with it—the former loan officer appeared in a slew of gawdawful horror and thriller franchise sequels. There was <i>Bloodfist IV, V, VI</i> and <i>VII, Leprechaun 2, The Unborn II,</i> and let's not forget <i>Carnosaur 2</i> and <i>3</i>. Not only did he show up in a bunch of horror movies, in the 1990s Mister McDonald penned a handful of really bad horror movies for both the small and the silver screens (<i>The Crazysitter, A Bucket of Blood</i> and <i>Alien Avengers I</i> and <i>II</i>).<br /><br />During his long tenure at <i>MadTV </i>(1998-2008), Mister McDonald frequently appeared as Dr. Toilet on the sitcom <i>Scrubs</i> and since the sketch comedy show went dark in 2008 he's landed recurring parts on a couple of sitcoms including <i>Rita Rocks, Cougar Town* </i>and, currently, on the clever (and Emmy-nominated) short-form web-series turned half-hour cable sitcom <i>Web Therapy</i>.<br /><br />Property records show Mister McDonald paid $1,979,000 for his hillside abode in the Hollywood Hills in December 2004 and current listing details, which include floor plans (below), show the updated and upgraded three story Mediterranean-style villa was built in 1977 and is currently configured with two generous bedroom suites and a total of 4.5 bathrooms.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o0p3Zo0OL7I/Ulb8osD3nuI/AAAAAAAATBg/krkZmKULtN4/s1600/MMcDonald_FP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o0p3Zo0OL7I/Ulb8osD3nuI/AAAAAAAATBg/krkZmKULtN4/s400/MMcDonald_FP.jpg" width="201" /></a></div>We're not sure if it was Mister McDonald who's responsible or if perhaps a previous owner did it but whatever landscaping there may have once been in the front yard was ripped out and replaced with an apron of polished Mexican pavers that provides five off-street parking spaces in addition to the two in the attached, direct access garage. We know some of you would prefer a carpet of unnaturally green grass but do y'all know how rare that a house in the Hills of Hollywood can claim seven off-street parking spaces?<br /><br />A spider web of vines and shrubs clings to the windowless street façade where double carved wood doors set into a shallow portico open not, as expected, directly into the house but rather into a small tiled-courtyard that Mister McDonald dressed with a couple of potted palms and a glass-topped cafe table for four. Two sets of arched French doors—we <i>j'adore</i> all the arched French doors—give access to the uppermost level of the residence; One set opens into a stair hall (with a privately situated powder pooper) and the other into a much roomier main foyer.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6zCYkbfsM78/Ulb2QRbcqTI/AAAAAAAATBQ/pTyFuXLSUMI/s1600/MMcDonald_PICS2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6zCYkbfsM78/Ulb2QRbcqTI/AAAAAAAATBQ/pTyFuXLSUMI/s400/MMcDonald_PICS2.jpg" width="397" /></a></div>The dark brown wood floors in the foyer continue through a wide archway into an open-concept living area that spans the full width of the back of the house and opens through three sets of arched French doors to a slender, awning-shaded and heater-equipped balcony also spans the full width of the back of the house. The "formal" living room area is anchored by a fireplace with (what looks to Your Mama like) a cast concrete mantelpiece and furnished with a whole bunch of brown thing set off against a ruby red Persian (or maybe it's Oriental) rug and another potted palm.<br /><br />An extra-wide archway connects the living room to the dining room where there are more arched French doors and more brown (and mostly wood) furniture set atop a rug red accents. Yet another archway links the dining room to the center island outfitted with custom, medium brown-toned raised panel cabinetry, a mix of granite and marble counter tops, and high-grade appliances.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YK_a9vnDynA/Ulb2FFrf5ZI/AAAAAAAATBA/IbUtWVB36UQ/s1600/MMcDonald_PICS3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="287" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YK_a9vnDynA/Ulb2FFrf5ZI/AAAAAAAATBA/IbUtWVB36UQ/s400/MMcDonald_PICS3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>On the middle level, two master-style bedroom suites each have a bedroom with direct access via (non-arched) French doors to a small, private terrace that connects by way of long stairway to the lower level backyard area. Each master suite also has a separate sitting room with French doors and Juliet balcony, adequate (if not exactly celebrity-scaled) closets, and a renovated (if not exactly decoratively thrilling) en suite facility. One suite has a custom-fitted walk-in closet and a weird little wood stove heater thing in the corner of the bedroom and the other has a step down sitting room and a jetted bathtub in addition to the glass-enclosed shower stall. One (or possibly both) of the sitting rooms could be converted to bedrooms and, should the next owner want to do such a thing, a hall-accessible three-quarter bathroom easily accommodates such a reconfiguration.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jxEO9XCOrXE/Ulb2J59P6II/AAAAAAAATBI/k6UsLSzom0M/s1600/MMcDonald_PICS4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="287" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jxEO9XCOrXE/Ulb2J59P6II/AAAAAAAATBI/k6UsLSzom0M/s400/MMcDonald_PICS4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>The stairs continue down to the tile-floored lowest level where a dishwasher-equipped kitchenette with a bizarrely high center island snack counter. An adjoining sunken family room is furnished with a large tan sectional sofa and a wall-mounted flat screen television not to mention another one of those wood-burning stove heater thingamabobs in the corner. On the other side of the kitchenette there's just enough space for a small dinette set and a compact three-quarter bathroom.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2okzrH6r-JY/Ulb1_iAECbI/AAAAAAAATA0/oTdluCbSFY4/s1600/MMcDonald_PICS5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2okzrH6r-JY/Ulb1_iAECbI/AAAAAAAATA0/oTdluCbSFY4/s400/MMcDonald_PICS5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LSVRl8-JRjw/Ulb1_ntnmLI/AAAAAAAATAw/zRCOmQQfXPo/s1600/MMcDonald_PICS6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LSVRl8-JRjw/Ulb1_ntnmLI/AAAAAAAATAw/zRCOmQQfXPo/s400/MMcDonald_PICS6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>French doors in the dining area open to a half-flight of exterior steps that descend to a column-lined, vine-draped, and trellis-shaded terrace that overlooks the the swimming pool. Even more steps lead down to the pool terrace where there's an awning-shaded open-air cabana at one end and at the other a heater-equipped outdoor kitchen and dining area enshrouded in dense, jungle-like foliage. An octagonal, eight-person spa was placed off by itself for maximum spa-time privacy in a forest of ferns.<br /><br />Lucky for potential buyers who might feel a real connection to Mister McDonald's affinity for all things khaki-, beige-, camel-, chamois-, tan-, ecru- and otherwise brown-colored things, listing information indicates "Most furnishings avail for sale sep."<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">*Mister McDonald, to his professionally expansive credit and among a sundry of other gigs, wrote three episodes, directed more than 20, and produced 50+ episodes of <i>Cougar Town</i>.</span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">listing photos: <a href="http://www.hiltonhyland.com/" target="_blank">Hilton & Hyland</a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-5801624429298124342013-10-10T08:20:00.000-07:002013-10-15T08:31:52.507-07:00Mid-Week Morsel: Oprah Winfrey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QC0s_dtxTNA/UlXN69SWidI/AAAAAAAATAA/QSRQS3vCGMI/s1600/PromisedLand_PICS1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QC0s_dtxTNA/UlXN69SWidI/AAAAAAAATAA/QSRQS3vCGMI/s400/PromisedLand_PICS1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dQNXf-z7SXE/UlXN6z-HhKI/AAAAAAAAS_8/L7d0SzzlpXM/s1600/PromisedLand_PICS2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="365" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dQNXf-z7SXE/UlXN6z-HhKI/AAAAAAAAS_8/L7d0SzzlpXM/s400/PromisedLand_PICS2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6i4WYwwhMsc/UlXN6wrn0LI/AAAAAAAATAE/e8k6eiUTYfU/s1600/PromisedLand_PICS3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6i4WYwwhMsc/UlXN6wrn0LI/AAAAAAAATAE/e8k6eiUTYfU/s400/PromisedLand_PICS3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Your Mama only read it this week in <i><a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oprah-winfrey-auction-home-items-644448" target="_blank">The Hollywood Reporter</a> </i>but several months ago multi-billionaire media maven Oprah Winfrey told her own <i>O Magazine</i> that her 23,000 square foot Neo-Georgian mega-mansion in Montecito, CA, was about to get a complete decorative re-do because the European antique-filled, sherbet-toned situation just isn't her thing anymore. What she actually said was "it was all very grand, but it wasn't very true to myself," and that, "the thing that had been missing from all the beautiful places I'd ever lived in, was me!"</div><br />What?!? First of all, we're not sure we understand what that actually means but, secondly, do you mean to tell Your Mama and all the gazillions of people whose lives hang on your every book suggestion, Miz Winfrey, that all these years you've been a fantastically rich, self-made woman of mass-market super-influence and impressive philanthropic deeds you have lived in a slew of luxury residences—including this place in Montecito you called <i>The Promised Land</i>—that did not feel <i>to you</i> like an authentic reflection of who you <i>really</i> are? Lady, pleeze. You did not really say that, did you?<br /><br />Listen, children, we're all for refreshing or completely re-imagining the design and decor of one's home and we can completely understand if The Big O wants to shift towards something a little more understated and whole lot less formal. Have at it. Throw all that gilt-trimmed rich-granny shit out and and let your decorative freak flag fly. We love it. But, seriously, for Miz Winfrey to go on the public record, in her own magazine, and say that all that Old-Money-style decor on which she unquestionably spent a goodly sized (new) fortune did not reflect her real and true self seems to Your Mama to be, well, preposterously disingenuous. Nobody twisted her arm and made her buy Louis the This armchairs or a Louis the That inlaid marble chest so she should just put on her big girl pants and own it, okay?<br /><br />As far as this cynical property gossip is concerned, her houses and their professionally executed interiors were—and are—terrifically accurate physical manifestations of exactly who she is and exactly who she wanted—and wants—people to think she is: a stately woman of extraordinary wealth and tremendous influence and power who created and for decades has maintained an essentially eponymous super-brand with trans-global reach and, yes, world-wide pop cultural domination. Why else, fer chrissakes, does a person pay $50 million for a 23,000 square foot house on 42 manicured acres in one of the most prestigious and expensive residential enclaves in all of the world and then hire a world-class carriage trade decorator to do it up like a baronial English country house with museum quality antiques?<br /><br />In fairness, in the <i>O </i>article, which we read on <i><a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2013/02/15/inside-oprahs-promised-land-mega-manse-pre-makeover.php" target="_blank">Curbed</a></i>, the tycooness did good-naturedly skewer herself regarding the curated snootiness of the decor. "Apparently, a hand embroidered pillow from the 1880s doesn't scream, 'Kick back and have a drink!'' she said; And, she went on, "it's not easy to do an entire library that says, 'Do not touch the books,' but somehow I managed." Well, that's all quite charming and ha-ha-hee-hee, but we wonder what <i>The Promised Land'</i>s high-brow decorator, <a href="http://www.architecturaldigest.com/architecture/2012-11/anthony-p-browne-retrospective-in-memoriam-article" target="_blank">Anthony P. Browne</a>, thought of those comments?*<br /><br />Anyways, Miz Winfrey has decided to part with all her gilded mirrors, marble urns, and green and white gingham sofas that exactly match the green and white gingham fabric covered walls, and all the other probably ludicrously expensive things that she now feels are not a faithful representation of who she really <i>is.</i> Obviously a global superstar can't just have a yard sale like Pamela Anderson or Tori Spelling so Miz Winfrey's no longer wanted things will be sold off to the highest bidder at a highly-publicized auction because, well, doesn't everyone have a deep desire to get in a bidding war over one of the chat show queen's once treasured trinkets or baubles that she now disowns as being or having been an authentic decorative echo of her true self? We know it's probably unpopular and maybe even unkind to say out loud but it's almost more than Your Mama can bear to witness without a nerve pill and a gin & tonic or two. That said...<br /><br />Public previews for Miz Winfrey's unwanted goods run October 30 through November 1 at the Santa Barbara Polo Club and Racquet Club in Montecito's less-lustrous neighboring seaside community of Carpinteria. The November 2nd sale, handled by Bev Hills-based <a href="http://www.kaminskiauctions.com/" target="_blank">Kaminski Auctions</a>, will include all manner of odds and ends from Miz Winfrey's homes in Chicago, Hawaii, Indiana, and Montecito and the proceeds will benefit the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation College Fund. Glossy catalogs can be purchased through the auction house for fifty clams and, Your Mama predicts, will become coveted as a collector's item by collectors of celebrity auction catalogs.<br /><br />The decorative overhaul of Miz Winfrey's Montecito mansion—a extreme home make over that is meant to be ready in time for her star-studded 60th birthday party next January and the one that will, presumably, be a carefully calibrated decorative duplicate of however it is Miz Winfrey sees her authentic self—is reportedly being handled by the extremely capable and accomplished lady-decorator Rose Tarlow, an internationally renown decorator/designer who is much prized by the deep-pocketed likes of David Geffen, Barbara Walters and Eli Broad for her subtle, sophisticated, and brutally expensive decorative ways.**<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">*With all due respect, it would seem extraordinarily accomplished high-society decorator <a href="http://www.architecturaldigest.com/architecture/2012-11/anthony-p-browne-retrospective-in-memoriam-article" target="_blank">Anthony P. Browne</a>, the man responsible for the sherbet-y rich-granny day-core at <i>The Promised Land</i> and a man the people at <i>Architectural Digest</i> said Miz Winfrey considered her "aesthetic mentor," probably didn't think anything of his client's (re-)assessment of his handiwork since he passed on last October (2012).</span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">**It was Miz Tarlow, in fact and according to the <i>O</i> article, who spurred the transformation of <i>The Promised Land</i> when she bluntly told Oprah '"This house has nothing to do with you."</span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">photos: <a href="http://www.oprah.com/omagazine.html" target="_blank">O Magazine</a>, via <a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2013/02/15/inside-oprahs-promised-land-mega-manse-pre-makeover.php" target="_blank">Curbed</a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-28961385596393780342013-10-09T14:43:00.000-07:002013-10-15T08:31:52.515-07:00Mid-Week Morsel: The Royal Couple<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vVw6iG-QgwI/UlWlzz6R_7I/AAAAAAAAS_s/tXLiIjgCmwg/s1600/KensingtonPalace_CHP1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vVw6iG-QgwI/UlWlzz6R_7I/AAAAAAAAS_s/tXLiIjgCmwg/s400/KensingtonPalace_CHP1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Prince Duke William and Her Duchess Highness Kate—or whatever their official titles are—are ready to move into their newly re-done apartment at London's historic <i>Kensington Palace</i> and details are beginning to seep out about the recent overhaul of the 20-room spread that was for many years the grace and favor residence of the current queen's late sister, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/10/world/princess-margaret-dies-at-71-sister-of-queen-elizabeth-had-a-troubled-life.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm" target="_blank">Princess Margaret</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/kate-middleton-asked-discount-antiques-2343455" target="_blank">So the story goes</a>, the queen-to-be spent the months of her recent pregnancy bargain shopping and picking out lots of beige-y neutrals and earthtones this and thats for the decorative do-over of the massive, mansion-sized apartment that the kids at <i><a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2013/10/08/finally-all-the-juicy-intel-on-kate-and-wills-palace-apartment.php" target="_blank">Curbed</a> </i>reported yesterday as three kitchens, two nurseries, a master suite with his and her bathrooms, and a panic room that is '"dressed up to look like any other room in the house, but it's equipped for a number of scenarios."'<br /><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">photo: <a href="http://pacificcoastnews.com/" target="_blank">Pacific Coast News</a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-47234254624970789332013-10-09T11:49:00.000-07:002013-10-15T08:31:52.525-07:00Mid-Week Morsel: Zac Efron<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p6ynPW4_eoI/UlWk3J0coEI/AAAAAAAAS_k/QxJgd-Itf0c/s1600/ZEfron_LF_PICS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p6ynPW4_eoI/UlWk3J0coEI/AAAAAAAAS_k/QxJgd-Itf0c/s400/ZEfron_LF_PICS.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>As first reported by <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2013/10/08/zac-efron-buys-house-los-angeles/" target="_blank">celebrity gossip juggernaut <i>TMZ</i></a>, recently rehabbed teen and tween heartthrob Zac Efron bought himself a four million dollar sober house in L.A.'s Los Feliz area. The hillside clinging house, a so-called "Zen Contemporary" at the tail end of a very long and gated driveway that ensures paps can't see him get in or out of his car, has 4 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms in 5,664 square feet plus a separate guest house with one bedroom and one bathroom. Digital listings still show the property as pending with an asking price of $3,995,000 but, oddly enough, records Your Mama peeped show the property last transferred in early October (2013) for $3,995,000.<br /><br />Not that what Your Mama thinks is worth dog poop but we think <a href="http://www.sugarslam.com/zac-efrons-new-house/" target="_blank">Mister Efron's old house</a>, a very serious piece of contemporary architecture in the Hollywood Hills, is a much better house even if it's not quite so private and probably filled with memories of the sorts of things that sent the young A-lister to rehab.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(listing photos: <a href="http://www.coldwellbanker.com/" target="_blank">Coldwell Banker</a>)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-72155399885908568122013-10-09T10:05:00.000-07:002013-10-15T08:31:52.535-07:00Is Beverly Park Gettin' a New Über-Modern Manse?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-igy4wDgXA-k/UlSAuMblLbI/AAAAAAAAS-0/zNZH-zn48Oo/s1600/BeverlyPark_CHP01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-igy4wDgXA-k/UlSAuMblLbI/AAAAAAAAS-0/zNZH-zn48Oo/s400/BeverlyPark_CHP01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Nestled high in the mountains above Beverly Hills, Los Angeles's most famous, guard-gated enclave—that would be <i>Beverly Park</i>, children—is divided in two sections. In the larger and more well-known north section, the extra-wide streets are pin drop silent and lined with walled, gated and heavily-fortified multi-acre estates anchored by positively steroidal mansions. In the smaller, lesser known southern section, accessible through a separate but also guard-gated security check point, the slightly less wide but no less silent streets are lined with walled, gated, and heavily-fortified multi-acre estates with, generally speaking, slightly less gargantuan mansions.<br /><br />Along with a couple Middle Eastern potentates, several billionaire financiers, and a handful of power house real estate developers, current residents of <i>Beverly Park</i> include a bevy of (clearly very rich) entertainment industry veterans like Reba McEntire, Sylvester Stallone, Denzel Washington, Jami Gertz, Eddie Murphy, Sumner Redstone, Paul Resier, and—one of the community's newest—Mark Wahlberg. All those folk shack up in the northern section. Residents of the sixteen mansions that comprise the smaller and more sedate but still sensationally posh southern section include car-collecting financier David Sydorick, Alex von Furstenberg—he would be Diane's noble-born son, media-savvy Beverly Hills cosmetic dermatologist Simon Ourian, Oscar-nominated actor Samuel Jackson, and former professional basketballer Earvin "Magic" Johnson.<br /><br />Down in the south-most section of the south section, on a prominent yet private 6.28-acre promontory purchased sometime around 1987 for an unknown amount, enormously influential Oscar-winning producer <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005573/" target="_blank">Richard Zanuck</a>—the son of pioneering producer <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0953123/" target="_blank">Darryl F. Zanuck</a> and an honest-to-goodness Hollywood royal—and his Oscar-winning third wife Lili Fini Zanuck hired mansion specialist Marc Appleton to design their empty-nester dream house. The result was a dignified and properly proportioned 10,000 square foot, quoin-cornered red-brick Georgian residence (below) with grand entertaining spaces, a magnificent double-height library, and just one bedroom. That's right, children, one bedroom. At first glance, it might seem idiosyncratic and impractical to build a one-bedroom mansion but, children, iffin y'all will think about it for a minute, you might also find it's wonderfully civilized in an ultra-patrician sort of way. People of this status and wealth do not just ring their friends and co-workers and ask if they can crash on the couch when they come to town. No, puppies. Anyways, two wisely incorporated one-bedroom guest houses were added to house over-night guests without the good sense (or disposable income) to book in to the <i><a href="http://www.dorchestercollection.com/en/beverly-hills/the-beverly-hills-hotel" target="_blank">Beverly Hills Hotel</a></i>. Other features of note that we know about include a tennis court and swimming pool, a movie theater—natch, and a fitness center that, so the story goes, was designed by action flick actor and former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VaahzOKH4PI/UlR9pdyfkII/AAAAAAAAS-o/GfpMRcofdHU/s1600/ZanuckMansion_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VaahzOKH4PI/UlR9pdyfkII/AAAAAAAAS-o/GfpMRcofdHU/s400/ZanuckMansion_02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Mister Zanuck went to <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/producer-richard-d-zanuck-dead-349085" target="_blank">meet the great producer in the sky</a>—or whatever—last July (2012), and almost immediately whispers began to circulate amongst the cream of the Platinum Triangle real estate crop about whether The Widda Zanuck would or would not sell her highly customized <i>Beverly Park</i> pad. It wasn't long before unsubstantiated rumors made their way in to Your Mama's inbox that said the house was quietly available with a $26 million dollar price tag. Then, last November, international property gossips when hog wild when it was reported by no less than the <i><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324735104578117420675127526.html#project%3DSLIDESHOW08%26s%3DSB10001424127887323551004578119504038620958%26articleTabs%3Darticle" target="_blank">Wall Street Journal</a></i> that the elegant estate was sold for $20.1 million to "a European businessman who specializes in real estate investment."<br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">In the days just after the property was sold, Your Mama heard word from real estate yenta Yolanda Yakktyyak who suggested we get a good hold of our real estate britches because, she hissed with wide-eyed flabbergast, the new owners plan to raze the Zanuck's mansion. Well, you could of knocked this property gossip down with a gentle breeze. Yolanda carried on and told us that her sources tell her that the European businessman owner is actually a Europe-based member of the politically powerful and preposterously rich Hariri family of Lebanon. But, hunties, that is like fourth hand real estate scuttlebutt so hear that for what it is. Okay?</span><br /><br />Just in case some of you single-minded real estate freaks and pop culture vultures don't know who these Hariri people are, may we suggest you read a newspaper or, for the more modern-minded, a news feed. The Hariri family is, to be sure, one of the—if not the—wealthiest and most powerful families in all of Lebanon. The family figurehead, Rafic—or sometimes Rafik or Rafiq—Hariri, first made a world-class fortune building things for the Saudi royal family. He went on to found a well-funded philanthropic foundation and, in the early 1980s, returned to his homeland and dove head first in to politics. He was twice the internationally <a href="http://www.webcitation.org/6Cac8K6cj" target="_blank">well regarded yet, ultimately, controversial</a> Prime Minister of Lebanon, from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 until 2004. In 2005, shortly after he resigned as Prime Minister, Mister Hariri was <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20071206142558/http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070305/ciezadlo" target="_blank">assassinated by car bomb</a> in Beirut. His extended family, however, remains a vital and influential part of Lebanon's deeply interwoven political and financial worlds. Indeed, Mister Hariri's multi-billionaire second son from his first wife, Saad, served as Prime Minister of Lebanon from late 2009 until mid-June 2011.<br /><br />We really don't know the details of how Rafic Hariri's multi-billion dollar fortune was doled out or who got exactly what but it only takes a couple of fingers and an internet connection to sort out that many of those closest to him—certainly Mister Hariri's second wife, Nazek, and several if not all seven of his surviving surviving children—are billionaires who, theoretically speaking, have the financial wherewithal to spend twenty million dollars on a one bedroom mansion, knock it down, and replace it with another house that would be more to their liking and would, we can all be assured, cost another small fortune to build. But we digress...<br /><br />We plum forgot about the Zanuck house until, like so many of the children, we watched suave-y real estate broker Josh Altman on a recent episode of <i>Million Dollar Listing</i> flirtatiously negotiate with listing agent Marisa Zanuck for the successful purchase of the property on behalf of a mysterious client. Miz Zanuck is the daughter-in-law of Lili and Richard Zanuck—she's married to movie producer <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0953124/" target="_blank">Dean Zanuck</a>, Richard's son (and Lili's step-son)—who, reality television watcher surely recall, appeared in the last season of <i>The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills</i>. In the final scene of the Altman-Zanuck story arc, Mister Altman, Miz Zanuck, and the mysterious buyer's representative—a young, strapping and good-looking fella, meet in a charming outdoor bôite for a coffee and keys exchange and, much to Miz Zanuck's (maybe mock) surprise, it is revealed—just as Yolanda told us way back in mid-December, 2012—the sellers plan to knock the house down.<br /><br />Both Your Mama and Yolanda imagined the new owner would replace the Zanuck's classically aristocratic if impractical one bedroom mansion with a bloated faux-Tuscan pile or super-sized faux-chateau. After all, <i>Beverly Park</i> is littered with the those sorts of things, some reasonable facsimiles and some just plain awful. Well—dontcha know children?—it wasn't long before Your Mama received a covert communique from the always helpful Diane Todish who enlightened Your Mama with a link over to a <i>YouTube</i>-accessible video that shows a 3-D rendering of the house (and etc.) that the new owner of the Zanuck compound commissioned from the accomplished firm of Los Angeles-based architect Marc Whipple. But, children, it is not a mock-Med mega-mansion the new owners would like to build but rather a very contemporary compound wrapped in floor-to-ceiling glass walls that give way to broad terraces, deep verandas, and bird's eye canyon and city views.<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="225" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/945SgjcwNFU?rel=0" width="400"></iframe><br /><br />Mister Whipple of <a href="http://www.whipplerussell.com/" target="_blank">Whipple Russell Architects</a>, for those of you who do not know his name, is perhaps best known for glassy and very contemporary architectural confections, several of which are or have been owned and/or occupied by celebs. Before she bought her own <a href="http://realestalker.blogspot.com/2010/11/chelsea-handler-home-for-holidays.html" target="_blank">six million dollar house</a> in Bel Air, extremely well-compensated comedienne/provocateur <a href="http://contemporary%20compound/" target="_blank">Chelsea Handler rented</a> a Whipple-designed house in Brentwood's Mandeville Canyon area. In 2011 sitcom star (and contemporary architecture buff) <a href="http://realestalker.blogspot.com/2011/08/sitcom-star-matthew-perry-buys-and.html" target="_blank">Matthew Perry plunked down</a> $8.65 million for sleek, Whipple-designed digs in the trendy Bird Streets area above the Sunset Strip and, just this year (2013), Adam Wiles—a.k.a. 29-year old DJ Calvin Harris, a.k.a. the highest-earning DJ in the world last year with a $46 million take—<a href="http://www.tmz.com/2013/06/02/calvin-harris-mansion-hollywood-hills-7-million/" target="_blank">paid $7 million</a> for a Zen-modern micro-compound, also above the Sunset Strip, designed by Mister Whipple and—coincidentally—listed at the time by none other than Josh Altman.<br /><br />We have no idea how many square feet Mister Whipple's planned contemporary compound encompasses but in the main house, in addition to vast, open concept public spaces and a huge kitchen/family room that opens out to the swimming pool and outdoor living spaces, we counted eight bedrooms—all with en suite bathroom and extensive dressing room/closets—and nine full and two half bathrooms. Down in the basement, nest to the subterranean five car garage, staff quarters provide four more bedrooms, two Jack-'n'-Jill bathrooms, and a kitchen-equipped staff lounge.<br /><br />Two bedrooms, each with en suite facilities and walk-in closets, flank a glass-walled living/dining/kitchen area in the detached guest house that's divided from the motor court by a privacy wall and a shallow moat. The guest house, which overlooks the tennis court, sits on top of additional interior space of undetermined use that opens directly on to the court's viewing platform. Your Mama thinks it's probably pretty safe to assume that the partly underground area below the guest house will contain a fitness center, spa, screening room, and/or some other specialized-use space that only rich people can afford to install in their homes where at least one bathroom would be a convenient feature and, in the case of a spare-no-expense house like this, a quite likely one.<br /><br />Repeated viewing of the video suggests to Your Mama that another bathroom was planned in the glass-walled pool house, which would make sense because, let's get real, who builds a house like this where dripping wet pool users have to traipse through the house in their bathing suits to do their mid-tanning session business? Nobody, that's who. We'd also be shocked—if one can be <i>shocked</i> by something this trivial—if there wasn't also a bathroom in the small guard house next to the drive gates because where else are the (probably) armed guards supposed to relieve themselves?<br /><br />That all comes, by our boozy count, to a grand total of 14 bedrooms and at least 15—if not 16—full bathrooms, and at least two half bathrooms. All of that for an individual or family who will—more likely than not—make use of the high-maintenance property several weeks or—at best—a couple months of the year. Or maybe, Your Mama speculates, this will turn out to be a spec-built behemoth and the "European businessman who specializes in real estate investment" who may or may not be a billionaire member of the Hariri family will flip the finished compound on the market with an astronomical price tag sure to get the attention of trophy property buying billionaires and property gossips around the globe. We shall see, butter beans, we shall see.<br /><br />Just to make this circle round...Lili Zanuck moved on to another compound just down the hill that she bought from our favorite Tinseltown minx, Sharon Stone who bought the property in March 2006 for $10,995,000, never moved in and then spent years unsuccessfully trying to unload the property at a variety of prices. Eventually, along came Miz Zanuck who, in November 2012, shelled out $6,595,000 for the less impressive but no less luxuriously appointed estate.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">aerial photo: <a href="http://pacificcoastnews.com/" target="_blank">Pacific Coast News</a></span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">exterior photo: <a href="http://appleton-architects.com/" target="_blank">Appleton & Associates</a></span><br /><div><span style="font-size: xx-small;">video: <a href="http://www.whipplerussell.com/" target="_blank">Whipple Russel Architects</a> via You Tube</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-80748283631276415912013-10-08T20:06:00.002-07:002013-10-08T20:06:38.420-07:00Real Estate - Housing Woes Coming to an End?<div id="article-content">
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With the mortgage crisis being the biggest news in the economy
today, it's time to take a step back and see how it has affected the
real estate industry. Home prices are finally starting to rebound, and
that's a good sign for the economy.<br />
It appears that the sun is
starting to break through the clouds for the housing market. Housing
prices saw their first week over week increases this quarter. Boston
housing prices are leading the way, up 0.5% from last week after being
down 1.2% in the last 90 days. Las Vegas, still the most effected cit,
decreased 1.2% this week and is down 6.9% in the last 90 days.<br />
Increasing
housing prices are a positive sign across the board. Foundering
mortgage companies benefit, as any potential foreclosure sales will
yield higher revenues. In turn, this will decrease the losses the
companies are forced to take. This news looks good for home builders,
especially for the industry leaders such as DR Horton Inc. (DHI) and
Toll Brothers Inc. (TOL).<br />
The timing seems to be perfect for
investing in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT). The combination of
rising housing prices and decreasing interest rates makes for an optimal
situation. Recently REIT's have traded at their relative bottoms and
are extremely cheap at this point in time. This works to our advantage
as investors in two ways: climbing stock prices and attractive dividend
yields.<br />
What makes REIT's different from normal publicly traded
companies is that it gives investors a way to own business and their
real estate holdings - without the liquidity issues that face private
real estate ownership. In addition, REIT's pay out greater than 90% of
their book profit in the form of a dividend.<br />
Lower interest rates
have had a detrimental effect on investor's cash reserves, whether they
are in the form of savings accounts or CD's, which makes high-yielding
stocks that much more attractive. As interest rates continue to be
lowered by the Federal Reserve, more and more investors will be taking
their cash out of savings instruments and buying up safe,
dividend-yielding stocks to recoup their lost interest income. And what
better place to invest than in REIT's. This week's average rate for a
six month CD is 3.10%, while REIT's such as Simon Property Group (SPG),
Post Properties Inc. (PPS), and Duke Realty Corp (DRE), are yielding as
much as 4.1%, 5.8%, and, 7.9% respectively.<br />
Realty corporations
like Realogy Corp. should see the most immediate turn around, as rising
home prices will hit their income statements the quickest.<br />
The
bottom line here for the individual investor is that the future looks
bright, as the housing market appears to be rebuilding itself.<br />
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-11364604140271413712013-10-08T20:04:00.000-07:002013-10-08T20:04:08.484-07:00Sarasota Real Estate Housing Market: General Aversion Towards Homes Sold "As-is"<div id="article-content">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IOIzD7lY9hI/UlTHfNzNMBI/AAAAAAAAAAk/pWWO_sK2CU4/s1600/feature.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IOIzD7lY9hI/UlTHfNzNMBI/AAAAAAAAAAk/pWWO_sK2CU4/s320/feature.jpg" width="320" /></a><em>On </em><em>October 6, 2006</em>, CNN Money reports of Moody's Economy.com survey and analysis of housing markets of metropolitan areas in the <em>United States</em>.
The authors of this study project that one of the areas that would be
most affected by price decline in the near future is the Sarasota real
estate housing market, ranked fifth overall of the home price decline
forecast. The deepest price drop of 14 percent is yet to be experienced
by the third quarter of 2007. In a market like this, many homes are
being sold "as-is."<br />
Buyers are often averse to taking risks in
screening or buying an "as-is" real estate property because of the
general fear that sellers might be trying to cover up something
radically wrong with the house. On the contrary, buyers should not
overlook "as-is" homes solely for this reason. As a matter of fact, as
Sarasota real estate buyer's agent Regina Brassil points out, "[as-is]
homes are often great purchases with very minor work needed."<br />
Normally
in the Sarasota real estate housing market, as in any other real estate
market for that matter, a home seller might be accountable for a
particular proportion of the repairs required to be done to the home.
This proportion for repairs is usually determined by a licensed home
inspector. What buyers should be considerable about is that sellers are
more and more selling the home "as-is" to turn aside the chances of
unexpectedly paying for repairs out of their pockets, especially as
costs escalate with homes sitting in the Sarasota housing market longer
than usual. In addition, "as-is" homes are being sold for a variety of
other reasons, and sellers may not be particularly aware of any concern
regarding the integrity of the home. Nevertheless, these as-is home
sellers often will ask a lower price in return. Buyers' aversion is
generally driven by the misconception that an as-is home is in need of a
massive overhaul. Quite contrarily, this is rarely true in reality.<br />
There
is also no reason to worry because buyers are protected in several
ways. In Florida, sellers fill out "Property Disclosure" forms, which
are readily accessible by prospective buyers. In this form, the seller
is bound to disclose any material problem of the house that he is aware
of, such as prior roof drips, planned land use changes, or an
out-of-order security system, to name a few. Moreover, sellers refer
their knowledge to prospect buyers in order to help them make a better
informed decision. Thus, fears about concealed damages to the house are
pretty unfounded.<br />
Another protection bestowed to the buyer is that
they are allowed, by all means, to invoke their right to an inspection
of any Sarasota real estate property they wish to purchase. In Sarasota,
the inspection period generally ranges from 10 days to 2 weeks, and
gives home buyers the chance to carry out any inspections--through a
professional home inspector if they wish--most commonly being a general
home inspection and a pest control inspection.<br />
Brassil recommends
writing a contract "As-Is with Right to Inspect." By the time they make a
bid, buyers can specify a dollar value in repairs they are willing to
absorb. If a licensed professional inspector reckons that the repairs
required for the property exceeds the amount they can absorb, buyers
have the right to call off the contract and retrieve their deposit. Such
an arrangement can be considered "win-win" because not only does it
allow the seller to desist from being accountable for any repairs, but
also affords protection to the buyer that they are not locked into a
contract in case a serious issue about the home surfaces out.<br />
Buyers might be led to think that they all have the decisive hand in transactions taking place in a buyer's market like the Sarasota housing market<br />
.
But it is important for them to be aware that a seller is never in
charge for aesthetic improvements to the home such as a new paint job,
for example. Put differently, a buyer cannot base the costs for needed
repairs from expected aesthetic costs. Buyers need not worry though, for
they will be protected from major aspects of the home that is not
readily obvious to the untrained observer.<br />
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-50259974498445262792013-10-08T12:40:00.000-07:002013-10-15T08:31:52.636-07:00Andy Roddick and Brooklyn Decker List...and Sell...and Buy...and Buy Again<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RFAiY8mS45g/UlQ1r5UGmNI/AAAAAAAAS9Q/hmzqhZOsL00/s1600/ARoddick_LakeAus_PICS1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RFAiY8mS45g/UlQ1r5UGmNI/AAAAAAAAS9Q/hmzqhZOsL00/s400/ARoddick_LakeAus_PICS1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>SELLERS: Andy Roddick and Brooklyn Decker<br />LOCATION: Austin, TX<br />PRICE: 8,660 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 7.5 bathrooms<br />SIZE: $12,500,000<br /><br />YOUR MAMAS NOTES: In the months before and after Andy Roddick retired, on his 30th birthday, in an<a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/06/sports/la-sp-sn-andy-roddick-20120906" target="_blank"> emotional on-court speech</a> last August (2012) at the U.S. Open, the 2003 U.S. Open winner and his model/actress wife, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2395937/" target="_blank">Brooklyn Decker</a>, went on a bit of a real estate rampage during which they bought two new houses, sold another and—we first learned from Tex. S. Tattletale—listed their large and nearly new, lake-side mansion in Austin, TX with an asking price of $12,500,000.*<br /><br />Your Mama's research indicates the enviably comely and deliciously shapely couple, married in April 2009, purchased the 1.8 acre lake-front spread in November 2009 for an unknown amount of money through a corporate entity that, with the assistant of the handy-dandy internets, Your Mama easily linked directly to Mister Roddick through public records.<br /><br />Listing details show the two-story stone and stucco house, set well off the street down a long driveway, has a total of five bedrooms and 7.5 bathrooms in 8,960 square feet of open plan living spaces that are both airy and earthy with vaulted (exposed wood) ceilings, polished concrete and rustic wood floors, lots of stone columns and other organic accents.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3GrI-zkYNDA/UlQ1r99JCaI/AAAAAAAAS9Y/aBWwsFo95J8/s1600/ARoddick_LakeAus_PICS2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="351" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3GrI-zkYNDA/UlQ1r99JCaI/AAAAAAAAS9Y/aBWwsFo95J8/s400/ARoddick_LakeAus_PICS2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>In the spacious center hall entry a ring laden with (probably and hopefully) faux-candle serves as a chandelier and a mis-matched group of three dimensional letters hung vertically on the wall spell the word "smile." Smile. Ugh. Don't misunderstand Your Mama, now. We have no qualm with Miz Decker and we love us some Andy Roddick—we were there, in the stadium, the night he won the U.S. Open in 2003 and we teared up during his retirement speech—but we find that wall-mountd smile business to be too cutesy, smarmy even, and—forgive us our silly word-smithing ways—a decorative double-fault. Anyways, the roomy foyer connects to the residence's main living and entertaining areas that include a dark paneled study/library with adjoining office nook, an over-sized formal dining room (with another faux-candle chandelier situation), and a extra-long living room with multiple seating areas, a stone fireplace, a long wall of built-in entertainment cabinetry, and French doors that open to a heated veranda with lake views.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HcDKT6oSWUk/UlQ1r3XY_uI/AAAAAAAAS9U/hurdC603oA0/s1600/ARoddick_LakeAus_PICS3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HcDKT6oSWUk/UlQ1r3XY_uI/AAAAAAAAS9U/hurdC603oA0/s400/ARoddick_LakeAus_PICS3.jpg" width="352" /></a></div>The kitchen, open to the massive main living area over a four-stool center island snack counter, looks to Your Mama to be somewhat small-ish for a 9,000 square foot house but that might just be the way the pictures were taken and is, none-the-less, most certainly expensively equipped with custom mill work, a glass-fronted built-in break front, and the usual suite of high-grade commercial-style stainless steel appliances. An adjoining breakfast room has two walls of windows and, on a third wall, a couple of floating stainless steel shelves cantilevered over a low storage buffet.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ThyGyM81g8c/UlQ1sQhOQ6I/AAAAAAAAS9w/q1MudaeWOpk/s1600/ARoddick_LakeAus_PICS4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ThyGyM81g8c/UlQ1sQhOQ6I/AAAAAAAAS9w/q1MudaeWOpk/s400/ARoddick_LakeAus_PICS4.jpg" width="352" /></a></div>The master suite has a private sitting area, vaulted ceiling, motorized black out shades, and his and her en suite facilities. Hers is an all-white, casually glammy affair with steam shower, separate tub and its very own washer and dryer (in the custom closet) while his skews towards a more masculine (and beige) vibe with rugged (but smooth to the touch) stone tile work, an open shower, an ice bath, and—because no one wants to run to the kitchen for a Bud with a face full of shaving cream—a built-in refrigerator.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3fSi40OPdns/UlQ1sn6a09I/AAAAAAAAS9s/V5iyET10cGg/s1600/ARoddick_LakeAus_PICS5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3fSi40OPdns/UlQ1sn6a09I/AAAAAAAAS9s/V5iyET10cGg/s400/ARoddick_LakeAus_PICS5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Although Your Mama can't imagine why anyone would <i>ever </i>want a dozen house guests all at the same time, it appears the Roddick-Deckers can actually put up (at least) 12 over-night guests. There are four guest bedrooms that will sleep eight people. All of the bedrooms, according to listing details, have lake views and en suite crappers and at least some of which are privately located in a second floor wing where there's also a bug-thwarting screened lanai. Four more guests—perhaps children or those who don't qualify for a private suite—can be put up in the games room/man cave that's equipped with a wet bar/kitchenette, a poker table, and bunkhouse-style bunk beds with flimsy plaid curtains for (an illusion of) privacy.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-riCmE--QtQA/UlQ1s534WHI/AAAAAAAAS9o/34Af44cIkvE/s1600/ARoddick_LakeAus_PICS6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-riCmE--QtQA/UlQ1s534WHI/AAAAAAAAS9o/34Af44cIkvE/s400/ARoddick_LakeAus_PICS6.jpg" width="263" /></a></div>The back of the house opens to a veranda with built in heaters that soften the nippy winter edges and allow for year-round outdoor living. Beyond the veranda there's a swimming pool and spa, an outdoor kitchen, and a broad lawn that stretches down to the lake's edge where a covered (but not enclosed) boat house holds a good-sized ski boat and a couple of jet skis. Near the head of the long, curvaceous driveway a detached structure (that looks a little chapel-esque) is where Mister and Missus Roddick house the fitness equipment they use to keep their bodies looking like <a href="http://www.people.com/people/gallery/0,,20673059_21279533,00.html" target="_blank">this</a> and <a href="http://top-tennisplayerss.blogspot.com/2011_07_24_archive.html" target="_blank">this</a>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3_uoriotBRM/UlRH_jukaUI/AAAAAAAAS-Q/OS_KUZWjtaI/s1600/ARoddick_NYC_SELL_PICS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3_uoriotBRM/UlRH_jukaUI/AAAAAAAAS-Q/OS_KUZWjtaI/s400/ARoddick_NYC_SELL_PICS.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Before they were married the couple picked up an 866 square foot one bedroom and one bathroom apartment with high ceilings and exposed brick walls at the <i>Gramercy Habitat</i> building on E. 22nd Street—a converted brewery—that they sold in June 2010 for $200,000 less than the $1.1 million they paid for it in 2008. But, children, that's boring old news compared to the Roddick-Decker's more recent spate of real estate activity.<br /><br />Last August (2012), just before he retired, Mister Roddick quietly sold, for $350,000, a three bedroom and 2.5 bathroom house in Boca Raton, FL, that he bought way back in October 2001 for $310,000. In October (2012), just <i>after</i> he retired, he and his North Carolina-bred missus dropped $300,000 to acquire a secluded 2.76 acre spread in the teeny-tiny, scenic, and—let's be honest, butter beans—somewhat unlikely community of Cashiers, NC. Your Mama isn't quite sure if the property has an existing residence—we think it does—but <a href="http://www.ashvegas.com/word-on-the-street-tennis-star-roddick-and-wife-decker-building-cashiers-home" target="_blank">word on the</a> celebrity real estate street around Cashiers is that the couple plan to build a house on the semi-remote property.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4cGz09TLrpk/UlRG-5O7A8I/AAAAAAAAS-I/S4WsKo2rla0/s1600/ARoddick_Aus_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4cGz09TLrpk/UlRG-5O7A8I/AAAAAAAAS-I/S4WsKo2rla0/s400/ARoddick_Aus_01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Lest any Texans in general and/or Austinites in particular worry that Mister Roddick has gone Hollywood with his actress wife or permanently decamped to the Smokies and forsaken the Lone Star State let Your Mama assure you, he has not. Property records we dug up show Mister Roddick and Miz Decker have, in fact, already acquired their next Texas home, a 15-plus acre spread in a small gated enclave on the western outskirts of Austin that they covertly scooped up in July (2013) for $3,694,000.<br /><br />Listing details we managed to tease out of the internets show the property includes a 6,595 square foot stone- and wood-clad residence with five bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms, and a one-third mile long private driveway that ensures seclusion. Interior appointments include five fireplaces, reclaimed pine floors, ceiling beams from the original Chicago Stock Exchange, stone walls, and custom milled chestnut wood doors. The back of the two-story house opens to multi-level terraces and an amoebic negative edge swimming pool and spa.<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">*As best as Your Mama can tell, the property popped up on the open market in late June (2013) with an asking price of $12.5 million. The listing was removed just two months later but still appears on the listing agent's website as a so-called whisper or pocket listing.</span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">listing photos (Austin, sell): <a href="http://creathpartners.com/" target="_blank">Capital City Sotheby's International Realty</a></span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">listing photo and floor plan (New York): <a href="http://www.sothebyshomes.com/nyc" target="_blank">Sotheby's International Realty</a></span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">listing photo (Austin, buy): <a href="http://www.gottesmanresidential.com/" target="_blank">Gottesman Residential Real Estate</a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-53512063558691600102013-10-07T16:57:00.000-07:002013-10-15T08:25:43.958-07:00Being the Bad Guy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"The plumber's back," Mr Wonderful said peering out the window and setting down his coffee cup.</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"Good," I said emptying my tea cup.</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"I'll be the bad guy."</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"<i>I'll</i> be the bad guy."</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"I said it first."</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"I'm more diplomatic!" I said elbowing past Mr. Wonderful.</div><div style="font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W0_IdnAReQk/UlNGUUoSGlI/AAAAAAAABqg/m6Fnr0iBrlY/s1600/Cat+outside+looks+up+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W0_IdnAReQk/UlNGUUoSGlI/AAAAAAAABqg/m6Fnr0iBrlY/s320/Cat+outside+looks+up+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="font-size: 16px;">The hardest thing for DIY fixer uppers like Mr. Wonderful and I was letting someone else do the work on The House while we sat idly by. The short--and long--reason was: We didn't trust anyone to do the work as well as we knew we could. But the plumbing and electrical projects we needed had to be done by licensed, bonded professionals. So after we dug a formidable trench, we contracted a plumber who came, installed pipes and left. The only problem was said plumber did the work while leaving said pipes sticking out of our house like the bolts poking out of Frankenstein's neck. The short--and long--of it was: It wasn't pretty. So now Mr. Wonderful and I were debating who would to talk to the plumber about this Franken-house problem.</div><div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"Morning, Michael," I said waving to the plumber.</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"Hi--" Michael said smiling.</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"My wife wants to talk to you," Mr Wonderful said deferring to me. Ahhh, I married a wise man.</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"What a beautiful morning," Michael said flashing his pearly whites. Note to self: everyone in L.A. has gorgeous teeth, including the plumbers.</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"That's right, I want to talk to you," I said leaping between my spouse and the plumber.</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"Your house is so beautiful," Michael said looking around. "When I was here yesterday I spent all day in the trench and attic that I didn't get to experience how nice it is here. It's really nice."</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">My anger faded. My heart melted. The plumber liked my House? I loved this plumber!</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"Thank you," I said blushing as if he'd complimented me on my hair, eyes or stellar sense of humor. "You did excellent work," I added. Behind me I heard Mr. Wonderful roll his eyes. Without a doubt, he is the loudest roller of eyes I've ever known. </div><div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"Okay, I'll be going then," Michael said turning on his heel and heading back to his truck.</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"Wait," Mr Wonderful said in a slow, deep voice. My spouse's vocal chords were well suited for a radio announcer, a story-book reader or a hard-baller giving someone a big-time reprimand. Now I thought--now!--Michael's going to hear how unhappy we are with his work, see how it looked like a Frankenstein plumbing job, and know that it had to be redone like, yesterday. </div><div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: 16px;">Unfortunately Michael was either a rebel or terribly hard of hearing because he kept walking. He walked away from Mr. Wonderful, away from me and toward the back gate which would give him total freedom from our wrath. Once he passed through that gate, we'd never get him back to fix this horrible pipe job. </div><div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: 16px;">When suddenly, a miracle happened.</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"Meow," Jackson said rubbing up against the offending pipes sticking out of the house wall. "Meow."</div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"Hello, pussy cat," Michael said bending down to pet our tuxedo feline. Jackson plopped down on his belly right in the plumber's path causing the workman to freeze. He looked at the pipes, coughed then said, "Why didn't you tell me I did a bad job right here?" </div><div style="font-size: 16px;">"Ahhh. Well?" Mr. Wonderful and I said in unison and shrugged. Michael tsk-tsked us.</div><div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: 16px;">The short--and long--story is: Michael removed the pipes from sticking out of the facade of our House and relaid them so they were hidden and flush with the wall, just like we wanted. And they looked great.</div><div style="font-size: 16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: 16px;"></div>Ahhh, Jackson. He had freed Mr. Wonderful and me from being the bad guy. Next time we need a hard-hitting complainer to talk to the contractors, we're going to the ultimate baddie: Jackson our tuxedo-wearing cat.<br /><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-58486254486682353162013-10-07T15:20:00.000-07:002013-10-15T08:31:52.732-07:00Afternoon Delights: Russell, Katy, Mitt, Troy, and Vince<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ecFTeep99kk/UlMrALeQZlI/AAAAAAAAS8U/Oe8mAEo9I1w/s1600/RBrand_HH_PICS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ecFTeep99kk/UlMrALeQZlI/AAAAAAAAS8U/Oe8mAEo9I1w/s400/RBrand_HH_PICS.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Scraggly and scathing British comedian Russell Brand has <a href="http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/hot-property/la-fi-hotprop-russell-brand-20131007,0,6139442.story" target="_blank">dropped $2.224 million</a> on a 4,800 square foot, multi-story residence high, high, <i>high</i> in the Hollywood Hills that was designed by architect Selden Price, built in 1926 on a steep hillside with panoramic city lights view, and was once home to Laurence Olivier. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(source: L.A. Times; listing photos: <a href="http://www.theagencyre.com/" target="_blank">The Agency</a>)</span><br /><br />Speaking of Russell Brand...<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">::::::::</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-c9UopKm1g2k/UlMrQTUi8BI/AAAAAAAAS8c/gLKnLCNr-nI/s1600/KPerry_ParkHill01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-c9UopKm1g2k/UlMrQTUi8BI/AAAAAAAAS8c/gLKnLCNr-nI/s400/KPerry_ParkHill01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>His international pop star ex-wife Katy Perry is having a devil of time selling <i>Park Hill</i>, the 3-ish acre West Hollywood compound she and he bought in June 2011, at the tail end of their marriage, for $6.5 million. The historic estate, perched above the mouth of Laurel Canyon, was first listed on the open market in April (2013) with an asking price of $6,925,000. The price tag was slashed by $430,000 in June and, <a href="http://luxe.truliablog.com/2013/10/07/katy-perry-home/" target="_blank">this week, after two potential sales have fallen through, by another $507,000</a> bringing the newest and lowest asking price down to $5,988,000, $512,000 less than she paid. Several months ago, Miz Perry spent $11 million on a multi-residence compound in the Hollywood Hills. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(source: Trulia Luxe Living and Zillow; listing photo: <a href="http://www.carswellcollection.com/" target="_blank">Teles Properties</a>)</span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;">::::::::</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gNHTuFBFHIU/UlMvKZPdxLI/AAAAAAAAS8o/hoorjdNL4pM/s1600/MRomney_PCU_Ext1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gNHTuFBFHIU/UlMvKZPdxLI/AAAAAAAAS8o/hoorjdNL4pM/s400/MRomney_PCU_Ext1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Really rich former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has added a nearly 9,000 square foot, <a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2013/10/07/inside-mitt-romneys-car-elevatorless-new-ski-house.php#more" target="_blank">log-built ski chalet in Park City, UT</a>, to his property portfolio that already includes a modest townhouse type home in a gated community in Boston, MA, an 11-acre lake-side retreat in Wolfeboro, NH, and an ocean front spread in La Jolla, CA, where he (in)famously plans to install a car elevator. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(source: Curbed via <a href="http://www.parkrecord.com/news/ci_24242560/romneys-return-park-city-buy-deer-valley-mansion" target="_blank">Park Record</a>; listing photo: <a href="http://prudentialutah.com/" target="_blank">Prudential Utah</a>)</span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;">::::::::</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RM7waOT4MMY/UlMxEktv4wI/AAAAAAAAS80/7nYVZiot0qg/s1600/TAikman_Dallas1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RM7waOT4MMY/UlMxEktv4wI/AAAAAAAAS80/7nYVZiot0qg/s400/TAikman_Dallas1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Retired professional quarterback turned Fox Sports commentator Troy Aikman—he has three Super Bowl wins with the Dallas Cowboys—<a href="http://www.tmz.com/2013/10/07/troy-aikman-mansion-highland-park-dallas-cowboys-ducks/" target="_blank">splashed out $4.3 million</a> on a second home in Dallas that overlooks Turtle Creek Lake. Just a few months ago he <a href="http://www.candysdirt.com/2013/07/26/troy-aikman-sells-highland-residence-moves-to-stunning-tatum-brown-built-beauty-on-normandy/" target="_blank">paid $4.25 million</a> for a 10,000 square foot house nearby.<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> (source: TMZ and Candy's Dirt; listing photo: via TMZ)</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">::::::::</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gcx6HWjxt94/UlMzObRYucI/AAAAAAAAS9A/1JpGll_yf-E/s1600/VCamuto_Aer1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gcx6HWjxt94/UlMzObRYucI/AAAAAAAAS9A/1JpGll_yf-E/s400/VCamuto_Aer1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div>Just months after <i>Architectural Digest</i> featured Nine West founder Vince Camuto's <i>Villa Maria</i>—his newly redone 22,000 square foot Victorian mansion on 7.6 manicured acres in the Hamptons—it's <a href="http://hamptons.curbed.com/archives/2013/10/07/water_mills_villa_maria_back_on_the_market_at_495m.php" target="_blank">back up for sale</a> with a fat asking price of $49,500,000. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(source: <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/private_properties.html?mod=WSJ_topnav_na_realestate#project%3DSLIDESHOW08%26s%3DSB10001424052702303722604579111583186655154%26articleTabs%3Darticle" target="_blank">Wall Street Journal</a> via Curbed; listing photo:<a href="http://www.sothebyshomes.com/hamptons/sales/0056234" target="_blank"> Sotheby's International Realty</a>)</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-76851853210566003712013-10-07T14:05:00.000-07:002013-10-15T08:31:52.835-07:00Puck Picks Up Pritzker Villa in Bel Air<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lR97nJX-qm0/UlLtBKQO9FI/AAAAAAAAS7E/hwlmfTjISsQ/s1600/WPuck_PICS1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lR97nJX-qm0/UlLtBKQO9FI/AAAAAAAAS7E/hwlmfTjISsQ/s320/WPuck_PICS1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0lMdDlSWQcw/UlLtEY6CdfI/AAAAAAAAS7M/DYkoPQYgcBU/s1600/WPuck_PICS2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="317" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0lMdDlSWQcw/UlLtEY6CdfI/AAAAAAAAS7M/DYkoPQYgcBU/s320/WPuck_PICS2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>SELLER: Anthony "Tony" and Jeanne Pritzker<br />BUYER: Wolfgang Puck and Gelila Assefa Puck<br />LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA<br />PRICE: $14,000,000<br />SIZE: 12,289 square feet, 8 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms<br /><br />YOUR MAMAS NOTES: In late 2011 or early 2012—we're not exactly sure—multi-billionaire private equity tycoon and Hyatt Hotels heir Anthony "Tony" Pritzker and his wife, Jeanne, moved with their half dozen progeny to a freshly finished and very contemporary, boutique hotel-sized mega-mansion prominently sited on a high promontory above the hoity-toity Holmby Hills 'hood n L.A.'s Bel Air area.*<br /><br />The Pritzker family didn't have far to schlep their stuff since their old house happens to be on an abutting property just below their new house. During construction, a dirt path zig-zagged down in to the ravine behind the old house and up the hillside below the new one. They could have, iffin they'd been so inclined, hauled all their personal belongings from the old to the new house by burro.<br /><br />No longer in need of their old mansion, in May 2012 Mister and Missus Pritzker pushed their old house—a 1930s Mediterranean villa dubbed <i>Villa les Violettes—</i>on the market with an in-hindsight much too rosy <a href="http://realestalker.blogspot.com/2012/05/hyatt-hotel-heir-tony-pritzker-lightens.html" target="_blank">asking price of $21,990,000</a>. Your Mama turned up digital evidence that suggests the asking price was lowered in slivered amounts an astonishing 18 times before the property was taken off the market in March 2013 and quickly re-listed with an asking price of $16,495,000.<br /><br />Finally, according to both Our Fairy Godmother in Bel Air and Peter Propertyseller, along came sixty-something year old Austrian-born celebrity chef and restaurateur Wolfgang Puck and his stunningly beautiful (and much younger) third wife, Ethiopian-born high-end handbag designer and philanthropist <a href="http://www.gelilastyle.com/" target="_blank">Gelila Assefa Puck</a>** who forked over, as per property records, $14,000,000 for walled and gated estate.<br /><br />We have no idea how much Mister and Missus Pritzker spent on upkeep, upgrades and carrying costs, of course, but even though the fourteen million clam sale price is almost eight million less than they originally wanted it's still a decent if not exactly spectacular return on their investment since records show they acquired the property in August 2001 for $9,500,00.<br /><br />Listing details show the mansion was originally built in 1938 on an up-sloping 1.24 acre parcel at the tail end of a long, snaking driveway that opens up to a motor court the size of a 7-11 parking lot where, right in the middle, each of the Pritzkers pressed their hand prints in concrete around an inset tile compass (or clock or whatever it is). At it's tallest, the house stands two stories atop a three-bay five-car garage and encompasses 12,289 square feet with a total of eight bedrooms and eleven bathrooms.<br /><br />This Pritzker cum Puck mansion is certainly not for the glutially undeveloped as it's a long, wide and butt-bustingly grand flight of steps from the motor court to the double front doors that open into a lime-stone-floored foyer that cuts all the way through the house and opens through glass doors to the backyard entertainment and recreation areas. The ballroom-sized formal living room has intricately inlaid parquet flooring, elegant fifteen-foot ceilings, and a fireplace mantelpiece that's likely an imported antique and probably cost as much as a Mercedes but, none-the-less, looks to Your Mama—quite frankly—far too insubstantial for a room of this magnitude. A double-height library with wrought iron-railed second level book storage gallery also connects through glass doors to the backyard and a somewhat <i>petite</i>-looking formal dining room has chatoyant silver paint (or maybe silver leaf) on the walls.<br /><br />A lengthy, limestone galleria—and we're talking limestone on the floor <i>and</i> the walls, children—links the public rooms and the main stair hall with it's sweeping circular staircase to a large and less formal den where a deep, window-lined bay holds a breakfast table and wood-framed glass doors allow for direct access to a loggia that runs along the rear of the residence and overlooks the swimming pool.<br /><br />The adjacent center island kitchen is certainly spacious and well-equipped with high-grade commercial-style appliances and slab marble counter tops but—if we may say so—it looks a bit worse for the wear and more like the domain of a hired chef than a cozy, family-oriented kitchen. That's probably neither here nor there, however, since Your Mama would bet both our long-bodied bitches, Linda and Beverly, that the kitchen (and service areas) will get a soup-to-nuts overhaul that conforms to the exact specifications of Mister Puck.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G2m3Yi0o3qg/UlMgw8-QOyI/AAAAAAAAS7k/r59agpR0F1E/s1600/WPuck_PICS3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G2m3Yi0o3qg/UlMgw8-QOyI/AAAAAAAAS7k/r59agpR0F1E/s400/WPuck_PICS3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Even less formal and more family and kid friendly are a billiard lounge over the garage (with awning-shaded Juliet balcony) and a series of rooms in the garage-level basement that includes a rather make-shift-looking screening room with large screen projection system and an expansive (and rather brown) family room with built-in bar and—inexplicably—two different types of paver tiles that collide in the most decoratively unholy fashion right in the center of the room where it can't be missed by anyone but the blind. Anyhoo...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Iomq1fsqoj8/UlMg1lLG6TI/AAAAAAAAS7s/ZJFS_XgSNXM/s1600/WPuck_PICS4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Iomq1fsqoj8/UlMg1lLG6TI/AAAAAAAAS7s/ZJFS_XgSNXM/s400/WPuck_PICS4.jpg" width="298" /></a></div>In addition to the six or seven en suite guest/family bedrooms there's a superstar-sized second floor master suite comprised of sitting room (with fireplace) and bedroom (with two Juliet balconies from which one can see the hulking roof of the Pritzker's new mega-mansion). A mirrored boudoir for the lady of the house leads to extensive closets and dual bathrooms, hers in white with green marble accents and his with more masculine chocolate brown marble accents.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1iGaIhlmslM/UlMg6a7PqvI/AAAAAAAAS70/jspZhvbjj9I/s1600/WPuck_PICS5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1iGaIhlmslM/UlMg6a7PqvI/AAAAAAAAS70/jspZhvbjj9I/s400/WPuck_PICS5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>The vine-encrusted rear façade gives way to a 3,500-ish square foot terrace that spans the full width of the house, wraps around three sides of the swimming pool and spa and extends away from the house towards the ravine that runs along the rear of the property.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7yu_eomMid0/UlMhArJFS9I/AAAAAAAAS78/3fRBTE63DY4/s1600/WPuck_PICS6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7yu_eomMid0/UlMhArJFS9I/AAAAAAAAS78/3fRBTE63DY4/s400/WPuck_PICS6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zo8CR2CJRa8/UlMhcmRjk3I/AAAAAAAAS8E/WSqj1nHXnfg/s1600/WPuck_PICS7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zo8CR2CJRa8/UlMhcmRjk3I/AAAAAAAAS8E/WSqj1nHXnfg/s400/WPuck_PICS7.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>The multi-winged manse is ringed by a handful of of loggias and (sometimes awning-shaded) patios. The one of the den and kitchen end of the house has a fountain and, back up on the second floor, a second-floor loggia lounge over-looks the motor court and is outfitted with a marble mantel fireplace plus ceiling-mounted heaters and a sturdy-looking stone balustrade topped by a series of stone arches held up by spiral, carved stone (or maybe cast concrete) columns. At the front of the property, where it's fencing enclosure is a bit too visible from the gated driveway entrance, a sunken, lighted and chain link fence-enclosed tennis court is overlooked by a shady viewing pavilion.<br /><br />As far as we know, Mister and Missus Puck will move to their big new digs in Bel Air from a walled, gated, high-hedged and comparatively modest 4,725 square foot Spanish-style home in The Flats of Beverly Hills, near the West Hollywood border, that property records and other online resources show Mister Puck picked up in June 2003 for $3,675,000.<br /><br />And, for the curious, in addition to their titanic new house, the Pritzkers maintain a multi-residence compound in the Topanga (CA), in the rugged mountains above Malibu, part of which they only recently acquired, in June (2013) for $2.7 million, from Emmy-winning reality television pioneer Johnathan Murray, producer of everything from <i>The Real World</i> to <i>The Simple Life</i> to <i>Keeping Up with the Kardashians</i> to <i>Project Runway</i>.<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">*An early 2012 article about the increasing proliferation of newly built mega-mansions i<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203889904577201043455977600.html" target="_blank">n the <i>Wall Street Journal</i></a> describes the Pritzker's glassy new mansion as having "a two-level basement with amenities including a game room, bowling alley, bar and media library. Above ground, there's a gym with changing rooms, his-and-hers offices, an arts-and-crafts room and a hairdressing area. Other buildings on the property, including a detached recreation room and a guest house, bring the total square footage of the compound to just over 53,000 square feet." <a href="http://www.environment.ucla.edu/support/article.asp?parentid=14307%20" target="_blank">Another article from March 2012</a> states that the Pritzker's new pad "offers panoramic views from downtown to the Santa Monica Bay and has a hefty 72 kilowatts of solar power, geothermal cooling, and state-of-the-art energy-efficient lighting and climate control."</span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">**It's not clear to Your Mama if Missus Puck still designs high-end handbags (or custom couture gowns or anything else) but her so-called <i>Paris Collection </i>of hand bags, which made its debut in 2006, were <a href="http://www.tadias.com/06/03/2009/power-couple-ethiopian-born-gelila-assefa-husband-wolfgang-puck/" target="_blank">hand-crafted in South Africa</a> with exotic hides like springbok, ostrich and crocodile. </span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">listing photos: <a href="http://www.efg3.com/" target="_blank">Everett Fenton Gidley</a> for <a href="http://www.weahomes.com/" target="_blank">Westside Estate Agency</a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-47378045908750433272013-10-06T10:55:00.000-07:002013-10-15T08:31:52.939-07:00The Beckhams Sell in the Country and Make Offer in the City<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nMEOr8cvZQU/UlGfCNG2lRI/AAAAAAAAS60/VHTAjHnqzuA/s1600/BeckinghamPalace_CHP1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nMEOr8cvZQU/UlGfCNG2lRI/AAAAAAAAS60/VHTAjHnqzuA/s400/BeckinghamPalace_CHP1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>The latest <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2446239/The-Beckhams-sell-Beckingham-Palace-12-million-bid-45-million-mansion-London.html" target="_blank">celebrity real estate reports out of the U.K.</a> say that after several years of trying David and Victoria Beckham have finally up and sold <i>Rowneybury House</i>—a.k.a. <i>Beckingham Palace</i>, their country estate in Hertfordshire in an off-market dear for for £12 million. (That's $19,207,300 at today's rates, according to Your Mama's trusty currency conversion contraption.)<br /><br />Your Mama has no specific intel on the matter but the reported sale price allegedly includes not just the Georgian style pile and manicured grounds but several luxury cars—including a Ferrari and two Jaguars—as well as <i>Domaine Saint-Vincent</i>, their little-used holiday home in the south of France valued at around £2.6 million ($4,161,590).<br /><br />The (now retired) footballer—that's a soccer player to all us Americanos—and the pop star turned fashion designer purchased the estate in late 1999 for about £2.5 million ($4,161,590).* Over the years, they added, among other amenities and luxuries, a helipad, a recording studio, fitness facility, a 52-foot long marble-floored garden pavilion, a lighted tennis court, and both indoor and outdoor swimming pools.<br /><br />So the scuttlebutt goes, the comely couple desire a more cosmopolitan urban life and have already made an offer on a four-story and £45 million mansion in West London where they hope celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay will design the kitchen and designer <a href="http://www.kellyhoppeninteriors.com/index.html" target="_blank">Kelly Hoppen</a> will do up the day-core.**<br /><br />Mister and Missus Beckham, according to various reports, plan to educate their four children in the U.K. but spend holidays in the United States where they continue to own a gated estate in Beverly Hills that they scooped up back in mid-2007 for $18,200,000.<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">*Some reports put the property at 12 acres, others at 17 acres, and still more at 22 acres. </span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">**Call Your Mama a real estate cynic—and we've been called worse—but something seems amiss here. We know that Mister and Missus Beckham are wealthy by any standard. They are, to be sure, sick rich. Indeed,</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/andersonantunes/2012/08/06/the-worlds-highest-paid-celebrity-couples-2/" style="font-size: x-small;" target="_blank">the folks at Forbes estimated</a><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> in 2012 that the couple earned over $50 million between May 2011 and May 2012. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">But, seriously people, are they really rolling in so much clover they can afford a £45 million house? That's more than 72 million U.S. dollars, a vast amount of money to spend on a house that will surely require millions in customizing renovations and as ass load of dinero every year just to staff and maintain.</span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">photo: <a href="http://pacificcoastnews.com/" target="_blank">Pacific Coast News</a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-44776436575228400072013-10-06T08:48:00.000-07:002013-10-15T08:31:52.951-07:00Roman Abramovich Buyin' Big at Berwind Mansion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P4mw2CR95m0/UlBCO1enK7I/AAAAAAAAS5s/hu9SztCtUi8/s1600/RAbramovich_NYC_PICS1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P4mw2CR95m0/UlBCO1enK7I/AAAAAAAAS5s/hu9SztCtUi8/s400/RAbramovich_NYC_PICS1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vXXVvm9iwIw/UlBCOx-4CvI/AAAAAAAAS5w/lqB9V3irtPA/s1600/RAbramovich_NYC_PICS2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vXXVvm9iwIw/UlBCOx-4CvI/AAAAAAAAS5w/lqB9V3irtPA/s400/RAbramovich_NYC_PICS2.jpg" width="396" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3M93ocin84w/UlBCO-XY9qI/AAAAAAAAS6E/y4nZssQoX-o/s1600/RAbramovich_NYC_PICS3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3M93ocin84w/UlBCO-XY9qI/AAAAAAAAS6E/y4nZssQoX-o/s400/RAbramovich_NYC_PICS3.jpg" width="395" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vNCR07ZCNa0/UlBCPJf1tCI/AAAAAAAAS50/Pka1efI_A08/s1600/RAbramovich_NYC_PICS4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="131" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vNCR07ZCNa0/UlBCPJf1tCI/AAAAAAAAS50/Pka1efI_A08/s400/RAbramovich_NYC_PICS4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>BUYERS: Roman Abramovich and Dasha Zhukova<br />LOCATION: New York City, NY<br />PRICE: $72,000,000 (last list)<br />SIZE: 8 bedrooms and 8 full and 5 half bathrooms<br /><br />YOUR MAMAS NOTES: First came word via the property gossip gal at the <a href="http://nypost.com/2013/10/04/russian-mogul-pays-record-75m-for-fifth-avenue-co-op/" target="_blank"><i>New York Post</i></a> that Russian bazillionaire Roman Abramovich and his art-minded heiress lady-mate and baby momma, Dasha Zhukova, are in contract to acquire three of the five apartments at the so-called <i>Berwind Mansion</i>, a French Renaissance edifice from the Gilded Age that presides over the busy but plum corner of New York City's Fifth Avenue and East 64th Street.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7XOfu7riJII/UlBferqV00I/AAAAAAAAS6Y/OmEqxgmYsTM/s1600/BerwindMansion_FP1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7XOfu7riJII/UlBferqV00I/AAAAAAAAS6Y/OmEqxgmYsTM/s400/BerwindMansion_FP1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Amid much publicity and hullaballoo, the three units—a duplex maisonette (above), a triplex (below), and a simplex penthouse—were first hoisted on the open market, as a group, in May 2012 with an asking price of $72,000,000. They were taken off the market in January 2013 but, obviously, they remained for sale and the <i>New York Post</i> says the Abramovich-Zhukova deal is going down in the $75 million range.<br /><br />Listing details don't indicate how many square feet the three units encompass but, based on our rudimentary and entirely unscientific calculations, Your Mama figures they weigh in as a group with about 13,000 square feet with total of eight bedrooms and eight full and five half bathrooms.*<br /><br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N3AmaSQjVm0/UlBflmCF5qI/AAAAAAAAS6c/qJ59CelfZI8/s1600/BerwindMansion_FP2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N3AmaSQjVm0/UlBflmCF5qI/AAAAAAAAS6c/qJ59CelfZI8/s400/BerwindMansion_FP2.jpg" width="310" /></a></div>All three units—which amount to a 72% ownership of the co-operative building—are currently owned by the Monaco-based family of the late (and wicked rich) commercial real estate developer <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/business/25ronson.html?_r=0" target="_blank">Howard Ronson</a> who, among other endeavors, built a dozen or so skyscrapers in Manhattan. Mister Ronson and his family acquired the non-contiguous units, according to our research, in four separate transactions between June 2005 and February 2008 that totaled almost $34,000,000. That's right, puppies, the three units are not contiguous. The rear duplex maisonette and the triplex (on floors 2-4) do abut but the sixth floor simplex penthouse (below) is separated from the triplex by a the fifth floor. But, have no real estate fear, butter beans, because...</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WJLHg-DmW54/UlBfnjl7BLI/AAAAAAAAS6k/4CJBMGdQHbc/s1600/BerwindMansion_FP3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="322" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WJLHg-DmW54/UlBfnjl7BLI/AAAAAAAAS6k/4CJBMGdQHbc/s400/BerwindMansion_FP3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>...quick on the heels of <i>The Post</i>'s mouth watering real estate news came the even more delicious property dish from the fine folks at <i><a href="http://observer.com/2013/10/realizing-a-dead-mans-dream-roman-abramovich-plans-to-piece-together-the-entire-berwind-mansion/" target="_blank">New York Observer</a></i> that jet-setting Russians are not only in contract to buy the three Ronson-owned apartments but they also plan acquire the remaining two units in building. The couple have reportedly reached an agreement to acquire the fifth floor simplex for an unknown amount from an as-yet unidentified lady who spends most of her time in South America and they are still in talks with 80-ish year old Cuba-born fashion designer turned licensing powerhouse <a href="http://adolfo.com/" target="_blank">Adolfo</a> (Sardina) to sell the Fifth Avenue-facing duplex maisonette he's owned and occupied since 1987 when he bought it from renown sexologist <a href="http://www.hiteresearchfoundation.org/home.aspx" target="_blank">Shere Hite</a>.<br /><br /><i>The Berwind Mansion</i>, with its two-story rusticated limestone base, bowed façade, polished granite columns and wedding cake-fancy cornice,<i> </i>was designed by the relatively unknown architect Nathan Clark Mellen and built in the mid-1890s for coal tycoon Edward J. Berwind. Mister Berwind hired the esteemed French decorating firm of Jules Allard et Fils to do up the interiors and they did them up, children, in a gilt-trimmed and ostentatiously ornate manner that comfortably befits a Gilded Age robber baron or a modern day multi-billionaire.<br /><br />The house was sold in the 1940s by Mister Berwind's sister—the last person to occupy the premises as a single family residence—<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/23/garden/fifth-ave-apartments-where-the-gilded-age-never-tarnished.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm" target="_blank">for about $300,000</a> to the Institute of Aeronautical Studies who sold it on to the American Heart Association. The building was returned to residential use in the early 1980s when it was cut up into nine apartments that were eventually, thanks to the Ronsons, consolidated in to just five.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Disco legend Donna Summer (<a href="http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2010/10/edward-berwind-house-828-fifth-avenue.html" target="_blank">allegedly) lived</a> for a time in an elegant suite of rooms on the main floor and, in 2002, former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani (allegedly) declined to purchase the modern-minded penthouse—so the story goes—because it lacks a separate formal dining room. Long before she shelled out $32 million for her triple-wide townhouse on East 82nd Street, Madonna had a look-see at one of the palatial apartments and—so the story goes—laid on the floor for 15 minutes staring at the gilt-trimmed ceiling. (Her Madgesty decided against purchasing the unit as there's no direct access to a garage.)<br /><br />In addition to the aforementioned sexologist Shere Hite, previous owners at <i>The Berwind</i> include hotel developer Stephen Brighenti, who owned the rear duplex maisonette—the one with the 4,0000 bottle wine cellar and private grotto garden that was sold to Mister Ronson in late 2006 for $4.7 million. Computer scientist Joel Birnbaum owned the baroquely ornamented parlor floor spread that Madonna (allegedly) peeped and sold it to Mister Ronson in early 2007 for $8,500,000. Property developer T. Richard Butera owned the penthouse, with its high-gloss wood floors, wrap-around wall of floor-to-ceiling windows, and private, park-view terrace until it was sold in early 2008 for $11 million to the family of the (by then deceased) Mister Ronson. (The penthouse also has exclusive access to a kitchenette-equipped private terrace with over-the-tree-tops park view.)<br /><br />Howard Ronson's first purchase at <i>The Berwind</i> was in June 2005 when, in a single transaction, he paid $9,750,000 for two apartments on the third and fourth floors. The units were later combined with the parlor floor to create the existing triplex with <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304019404577420360314753788.html" target="_blank">interiors designed</a> by the late Paris-based high-society interior designer <a href="http://www.albertopinto.com/4.aspx?sr=110" target="_blank">Alberto Pinto</a>. Listing photos show the sumptuously done apartment retains much of its extravagant architectural garnishing as well as a sleek, 33-plus foot long Euro-style galley kitchen on the parlor floor, all new bathrooms and roomy walk-in closets and dressing rooms, and a much more contemporarily decorated 700-ish square foot family room/media lounge that overlooks the park from the fourth floor.<br /><br />Before the Ronson clan put the three units up for sale they leased them out at premium prices. In September 2009 the penthouse was put out for lease at $30,000 per month (and again in the fall of 2010 for $35,000 per month) and in March 2010 the rear duplex maisonette—the one with the private grotto garden—went up for grabs at $14,000 per month. They were each quickly rented to an unknown tenant at an unknown price for an unknown period of time.<br /><br />Mister Abramovich's beig buy in New York City is hardly much of a surprise given that his trophy property purchasing ways are legendary amongst property gossips around the globe. In addition to a couple of ship-sized boats, several jets plus a custom-converted Boeing 767, and a slew of blue-chip artworks—think Freud and Bacon, the lavish living father of seven owns, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8328972/Roman-Abramovich-declares-assets.html" target="_blank">by his own tally</a>, more than a dozen homes. They include: A 70-acre waterfront compound on St. Barts that cost him almost $90 million; A sea-side villa in Cap d'Antibes near Cannes—the so-called <i>Chateau de la Cröe</i>—that was once home to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, later owned by Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos, and cost him around £30 million; Two substantial ranch-estates near Aspen, CO, including the 200-ish <i>Wildcat Ridge</i> that cost him almost $37 million; Several <a href="http://realestalker.blogspot.com/2011/03/roman-abramovich-does-it-in-london.html" target="_blank">substantial residences</a> in London including an approximately $145 million manse in the guard-gated and heavily secured Kensington Palace Gardens enclave; And, finally, four homes in Russia including a large estate in Moscow on which sits—so the story goes—the former home of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">*The six-floor (plus basement) building has approximately 30 feet of Fifth Avenue frontage and stretches a bit more than 100 feet along East 64th Street. A few quick and rudimentary calculations on Your Mama's bejeweled abacus </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">based on the measurements shown on the floor plans</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> shows that's roughly2,600 square feet per floor and approximately 18,000 square feet over all. The duplex maisonette and the simplex penthouse each have two bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms and the triplex has four bedrooms and four full and three half bathrooms.</span><br /><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">listing photos and floor plans: <a href="http://www.stribling.com/" target="_blank">Stribling</a> and <a href="http://www.corcoran.com/" target="_blank">Corcoran</a></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-59917009100185611022013-10-04T16:04:00.000-07:002013-10-15T08:31:53.053-07:00Matthew Wilder Lists Malibu Estate<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cRHlS-ixkDk/Uk805iQbxfI/AAAAAAAAS4s/MKIWUDRw6-g/s1600/MWilder_Mal1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cRHlS-ixkDk/Uk805iQbxfI/AAAAAAAAS4s/MKIWUDRw6-g/s400/MWilder_Mal1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>SELLER: Matthew Wilder and Tamara Dunn<br />LOCATION: Malibu, CA<br />PRICE: $6,850,000<br />SIZE: 1,980 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms<br /><br />YOUR MAMAS NOTES: As far as this property gossip is concerned there's no better time to go to the beach than early October, after the summer crowds have traded their bathing suits for scarves and before the moody and damp coastal winter really sets in. Last night, in a dreamy seaside state of mind, Your Mama stayed up late with a (third) gin & tonic and took a slow wander through a few newly listed properties in the bare-footed and boho but hideously expensive ocean-side community of Malibu (CA). It wasn't long before we came across a fetching multi-acre mini-compound recently put on the open market for $6,850,000 and owned, as per property records, by singer/songwriters Matthew Wilder and Tamara Dunn.*<br /><br />In the late 1970s and early '80s Mister Wilder (née Weiner) <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/matthew-wilder/id179867" target="_blank">sung back up</a> for legendary ladies like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrLgvQzzzqE" target="_blank">Rickie Lee Jones</a> and Bette Midler and in 1983 he rocketed to one-hit-wonder fame with the Reggae-inspired synth-pop hit <i>Break My Stride</i>, a catchy and upbeat ditty that remains in rotation on many retro-themed radio stations. (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28KobNbbI2s" target="_blank">Here he is</a>, children, back in the day on <i>Solid Gold,</i> kinky-haired, mustachioed, and all decked out in a layered, <i>Flashdance</i>-y sweatshirt situation and skin-tight leather pants.)<i> </i><br /><br />His career as a recording artist quickly ebbed but Mister Wilder, who (still) sports creative facial hair configurations and corkscrew curled locks, eventually secured a solid and (presumably) lucrative foothold in the music industry as a song writer and music producer for a variety of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0928607/" target="_blank">movies and television programs</a> including <i>Dawson's Creek</i>, and <i>Pretty Woman</i> as well as a slew of Disney productions like <i>The Lizzie Maguire Movie</i>. In 1995 he produced No Doubt's diamond-, gold- and platinum-certified third album, <i>Tragic Kingdom,</i> and over the years wrote and/or produced tracks and records for a slew of young pop stars who include Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Selena Gomez, and Miley Cyrus...in her pre-twerking Hannah Montana days. In the late 1990s Mister Wilder wrote and produced the score to the Disney animated feature <i>Mulan</i>, an effort that earned him Grammy, Golden Globe, and Academy Award nominations.<br /><br />As far as our brief and unscientific research can tell, Tamara Dunn is most often identified on the internets as a songwriter. We did find evidence she <a href="http://www.metrolyrics.com/back-to-tennessee-lyrics-billy-ray-cyrus.html" target="_blank">co-penned</a>—with Mister Wilder—the 2009 Billy Ray Cyrus song <i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xnjrqotlgU" target="_blank">Back to Tennesee</a> </i>but otherwise Your Mama dug up up little specific professional information.<br /><br />Anyways, Mister Wilder and Miz Dunn own two separate but contiguous parcels that were purchased from the same seller in two separate transactions in October 2004. The larger, 7.39-acre property—the one that's for sale for $6,850,000—cost them $2,375,000. The smaller, 4.57 acre spread next door was purchased for $1.2 million and remains unimproved open space. Online marketing materials show it's available for separate purchase at $1,250,000.<br /><br />A long gated driveway passes over a rugged, river rock-lined stream bed and cuts sinuously through a manicured swathe of rolling lawn before it makes a sweeping rise to a motor court at the front of the partly stone-faced board and batten-sided ranch-style residence that listing information shows has three bedrooms and three bathrooms in 1,980 square feet. For the record, we think the house seems much larger than two thousand square feet but 1,980 is what the listing says and what do we know anyways, right? Digital marketing materials show that in addition to the fully updated and upgraded 1950's era ranch house, the compound-like property has a concrete pool-side structure, a professional recording studio, and, situated for optimal privacy near the head of the driveway, a self-contained guest house.<br /><br />The front of the house wraps around three sides of an otherwise walled and gated red brick entry courtyard where a giant carved stone bust of Buddha** that sits in a shallow water-filled trough is but a hint of many, many, <i>many</i> statues and figurines of Buddhist and Hindu deities, not to mention a mountain of New Age-y crystals and geodes, to be found throughout the house and grounds. Clearly Mister Wilder and Miz Dunn feel the need to attract a lot of spiritual energy to their residential surroundings. Be that as it may...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rZh_jDd1PFk/Uk81K_s2lrI/AAAAAAAAS48/2tXwAorR0vk/s1600/MWilder_Mal2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rZh_jDd1PFk/Uk81K_s2lrI/AAAAAAAAS48/2tXwAorR0vk/s400/MWilder_Mal2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Steel-framed glass front doors open from the courtyard in to a unusually roomy entrance gallery with polished concrete floors under foot and an exposed wood ceiling pierced by a couple of sky lights over head and, on the back wall, a raised and slightly off-center white brick fireplace filled with candles. Narrow doorways on either side of the fireplace connect to a combination living and dining room with (downright yummy) wide-plank reclaimed oak floors and crisp white paint on the walls and the vaulted exposed wood beam ceiling. A white brick fireplace anchors the living room area while three walls of floor-to-ceiling steel-framed glass windows and doors surround the dining area in an undeniably dramatic fashion and open out to a large deck that over looks over the backyard towards the house dotted canyon.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iIccZPLOfnQ/Uk81OkQvvhI/AAAAAAAAS5E/mTgFaAvg-IM/s1600/MWilder_Mal3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iIccZPLOfnQ/Uk81OkQvvhI/AAAAAAAAS5E/mTgFaAvg-IM/s400/MWilder_Mal3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>A sliding, steel-framed glass door separates the living/dining room from a large kitchen where, at one end, in front of a wall of windows, there's a cozy lounge and at the other end an expensively equipped kitchen with a double-sided six-stool snack counter integrated in to the center island. The top-quality appliances, the eagle eyed amongst us will have already noted, include a glass-doored walk-in chiller very similar if not identical to the one<i> The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills</i> cast member Yolanda Foster has in her kitchen.<br /><br />Listing photographs indicate there are two den-type rooms, one a loungey, window-lined yet still dark and brooding room just off the living/dining room and the other a lighter-brighter one off the entrance gallery with polished concrete floors, a vaulted ceiling, a third white brick fireplace (this one surmounted by one of the many flat-screen televisions to be be found throughout), and an attached bathroom.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F_6ti0YAK1M/Uk81FHdCgCI/AAAAAAAAS40/xGoVYYhIqvs/s1600/MWilder_Mal4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="352" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F_6ti0YAK1M/Uk81FHdCgCI/AAAAAAAAS40/xGoVYYhIqvs/s400/MWilder_Mal4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>There are two guest/family bedrooms, both with direct outdoor access, and a sizable master suite with a spacious sitting area and a wall-mounted television with integrated speaker system. The attached master bathroom is a spare but luxuriously earthy spa-like space with a egg-shaped soaking tub, a super-sized open shower area and a cantilevered vanity crafted from a thick and rugged slab of wood.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HAllBx-YKLY/Uk81XUiGbgI/AAAAAAAAS5M/w4RJmMUCg0Y/s1600/MWilder_MAL5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HAllBx-YKLY/Uk81XUiGbgI/AAAAAAAAS5M/w4RJmMUCg0Y/s400/MWilder_MAL5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>A multi-purpose deck that runs the full width of the house has, at one end, a rough-hewn but high style picnic-type table, some uncomfortable looking stools and a fire pit in the middle, and, at the far end, a comfy-looking collection cushioned sofas and lounges.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WN_AtfZusvk/Uk81ahOrRjI/AAAAAAAAS5U/k9v9kWEHokk/s1600/MWilder_MAL6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WN_AtfZusvk/Uk81ahOrRjI/AAAAAAAAS5U/k9v9kWEHokk/s400/MWilder_MAL6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Surrounding the rigorously rectilinear swimming pool and inset spa are several sunbathing terraces and a pergola-shaded outdoor living room with linear built-in fire pit. Other structures sprinkled about the years near the pool include a enclosed garden—enclosed to keep the deer and critters out, an open-air pavilion, and a barn-like pool house/party lounge with steel-framed glass windows and doors, rugged concrete walls, and a vaulted exposed wood beam ceiling.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jqM0Bnx97Sk/Uk81i0zLrsI/AAAAAAAAS5c/bDlMaMBu9MU/s1600/MWilder_MAL7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jqM0Bnx97Sk/Uk81i0zLrsI/AAAAAAAAS5c/bDlMaMBu9MU/s400/MWilder_MAL7.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Some of Mister Wilder and Miz Dunn's nearest neighbors include German radio and television host Thomas Gottschalk and a handful of Tinseltown power players like three-time Emmy-winning writer/producer <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0032219/" target="_blank">Richard Appel</a>, sick rich, philanthropic and <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/terminally-ill-simpsons-creator-vows-590262" target="_blank">terminally ill</a> nine-time Emmy-winning comedy writer/producer <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0800376/" target="_blank">Sam Simon</a>,*** and Emmy-winning television super-producer <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0141168/" target="_blank">Marcy Carsey</a> who also owns a much more fabulous ocean-front spread nearby on the bluffs above Escondido Beach. At the tail end of the road, tucked into a rugged but verdant canyon is the by-appointment-only <i><a href="http://www.lamountains.com/parks.asp?parkid=46" target="_blank">Ramirez Canyon Park</a></i>, the 22.5-acre former compound of long-time Malibu resident Barbra Streisand who donated the property in 1993 to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.****<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">*To be honest, we're not really sure if Miz Dunn and Mister Wilder are married and/or if they have any children, together and/or with other people, and, to be even more honest, we're not really sure those details are particularly important in today's celebrity (-related) real estate tale.</span><br /><div><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: xx-small;">**Identification of religious iconography really isn't a strong suit for Your Mama so we really can't say for sure if the giant carved stone bust in the courtyard is Buddha or—as it very well may be—some other eastern deity. </span><br /><div><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: xx-small;">***Sam Simon, a regular on Howard Stern's radio program, was one of the original creators of the ground-breaking, award-winning, and money-minting animated series <i>The Simpsons</i>. He left in 1993 over creative differences with co-creators Matt Groening and James Brooks but, lucky for him, retains an executive producer title and an income that he himself told the Stanford alumni magazine in 2009 amounts to "<a href="http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=29517" target="_blank">tens of millions</a>" of dollar per year. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: xx-small;">****(In 2011 Governor Jerry Brown suggested the state sell the property to help close a gaping budget gap but, as far as we know, no real action has been taken to unload the property.)</span></div><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">listing photos: <a href="http://www.chriscortazzo.com/" target="_blank">Coldwell Banker</a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-70988523372137559702013-10-03T22:16:00.000-07:002013-10-15T08:31:53.150-07:00Olympic Freestyler Ian Thorpe Lists Laurel Canyon Cottage<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5WdmSt-PuTQ/Uk31TFmMGUI/AAAAAAAAS4E/porGfVO2Odo/s1600/IThorpe_LC_PICS1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5WdmSt-PuTQ/Uk31TFmMGUI/AAAAAAAAS4E/porGfVO2Odo/s400/IThorpe_LC_PICS1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TGvWWiXqWw0/Uk31TKqxErI/AAAAAAAAS4A/uzGKTaORgvI/s1600/IThorpe_LC_PICS2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TGvWWiXqWw0/Uk31TKqxErI/AAAAAAAAS4A/uzGKTaORgvI/s400/IThorpe_LC_PICS2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4-os8qfriMw/Uk31TA0mgzI/AAAAAAAAS38/vZTpsemgyw4/s1600/IThorpe_LC_PICS3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4-os8qfriMw/Uk31TA0mgzI/AAAAAAAAS38/vZTpsemgyw4/s400/IThorpe_LC_PICS3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--2eljWH4BTI/Uk31Tf0WISI/AAAAAAAAS4Y/pch8QYIgpes/s1600/IThorpe_LC_PICS4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--2eljWH4BTI/Uk31Tf0WISI/AAAAAAAAS4Y/pch8QYIgpes/s400/IThorpe_LC_PICS4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eP0YPvzjoNo/Uk31TgG9zbI/AAAAAAAAS4Q/JFAKquRTNvA/s1600/IThorpe_LC_PICS5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eP0YPvzjoNo/Uk31TgG9zbI/AAAAAAAAS4Q/JFAKquRTNvA/s400/IThorpe_LC_PICS5.jpg" width="373" /></a></div>SELLER: Ian Thorpe<br />LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA<br />PRICE: $999,000<br />SIZE: 2 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms<br /><br />YOUR MAMAS NOTES: An unexpected communique from a veteran Tinseltown chronicler directed Your Mama's celebrity real estate attention to a recently listed hillside cottage in L.A.'s rock-n-roll history infused Laurel Canyon listed for $999,000 and billed in digital marketing materials as having been built in 1961 by an unnamed "successful actor" and later "inhabited" by John Lennon who—so the scuttlebutt goes—may have written some of "the world's most beloved songs" whilst in residence. Marketing materials go on to proudly reveal that the tree house-like abode was—is, actuallly—most recently owned by "a celebrated Olympic athlete with multiple golds to his name."<br /><br />Well, children, Your Mama freely confesses that we don't the least clue who the successful actor was—or <i>is </i>since maybe he's still alive—and we really have no idea if Mister Lennon ever occupied the premises. We do know, as per public property records, the current owner is five-time Olympic gold medal-winning freestyle swimmer Ian Thorpe who picked up the property in May 2006 for $879,000.<br /><br />In addition to his five Olympic gold medals, the six-foot-five Aussie also has three silver medals and one bronze. He also broke nearly two dozen world records and took home eleven gold, one silver, and one bronze World Championship medals. He was the shit in the swimming pool to be sure. Since officially (but not permanently) hanging up his Speedo in 2006, Mister Thorpe, among many other sponsorship relationships, developed a line of unisex jewelry, launched an eponymous <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=p9edHFqEPQ8" target="_blank">underwear brand</a>, wrote a cook book (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ian-Thorpe-Cook-Your-Life/dp/1740669789" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Cook For Your Life</a>, 2011) and penned a memoir (<i>This Is Me</i>, 2012).<br /><br />Current listing information shows the Thorpedo's house, set high on a steep, sylvan hillside in a shady ravine, has 2-3 bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms in an unspecified amount of square footage that the L.A. County Tax Man puts at a compact 960 square feet, a figure that may or may not be accurate to the true square footage of the house.<br /><br />The kitchen is, clearly, woefully dated and a bit, uhm, <i>bachelor</i> with its twelve dollar range and the bathroom situation is unpleasant to the point requiring a nerve pill to settle our decorative nerves; Not only can Your Mama not imagine how a person can bathe or shower surrounded by flesh colored tile, it's entirely beyond our comprehension that someone thought it a pursuable notion to convert a Victorian buffet in to a bathroom vanity. The half bathroom isn't much better due to it's silvery, faux-glam tropical pattern wall paper that's a little like putting a disco ball in an ice fishing shanty.<br /><br />Although the stained glass accents here and there are totally in keeping with the groovy 1960s and '70s authenticity of the original residence, they're simply too hippy-dippy for this property gossip's window aesthetics. Ditto with the shoji screens that slide back and forth over the windows and sliding glass doors in the master bedroom. No thank you, ma'am.<br /><br />Otherwise, believe it or not, we sort of appreciate the rustic simplicity of the place—the heavily distressed wood floors are of particular interest—and, despite the PETA-unfriendly furnishings, we get a not entirely unwelcome feeling of sexed up comfort from the louche masculinity of the living room day-core that includes a leather sling chair next to the fireplace, a patchwork leather rug, and slightly bulbous caramel colored leather sofa. A full wall of glass peers out on a covered veranda from which there appears to be a limited but charming canyon view.<br /><br />Boozy types and/or those with vertigo might not care for the bridge and stairs access to the roof and view terraces but Your Mama sees great possibility here. First thing we'd do is replace the horrid lattice wall with something a little less pedestrian—like say, a patchwork fence of reclaimed wood pieces that apes the patchwork of the leather rug in the living room—and screen in that covered section and build in a humble plywood mattress platform to create sleeping porch because—truth be told—Your Mama much prefers to slumber in the open air than in an enclosed room.<br /><br />Who knows where Mister Thorpe is headed next? Perhaps back to Sydney? Perhaps to greener, or at least less bohemian pastures? Bueller? Bueller? Anyone?<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">listing photos: <a href="http://www.jorealestate.com/" target="_blank">Brock Real Estate</a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-22942781298539452622013-10-03T20:23:00.000-07:002013-10-08T20:23:48.028-07:00Celebrating Dad - Find The Perfect Products To Help Nurture Their Role<div id="article-content">
Soccer games, ballet lessons, play dates, business meetings,
homemade lunches, carpools and birthday parties. Today's woman often
feels she needs to bring home a paycheck, run a household and be the
perfect mother. No wonder we're called super-moms - not to mention
stressed out, overworked, exhausted and overwhelmed.<br />
Fortunately,
we are not in this alone. Today's dad is more involved than ever before
and he is definitely shouldering his part of the responsibilities. With
so many women going back to work outside the home and starting
home-based businesses, dads have really had more of an opportunity to
step it up and share the family roles while mom helps to ease the
financial burden. And it is no different with stay-at-home moms because
being with children all day while taking care of a house and trying to
have some personal time can overwhelm even the toughest woman, so help
is still needed and perhaps even more so, by dad in this situation.<br />
Despite
how well dads are doing these days at contributing to the awesome
responsibility of parenting, sometimes they still feel lost in their
role at home. At work they thrive. They know what to do, how to do it
and they receive financial compensation for their labor. At home
however, they may have to be reminded of when the kids eat, what time
baseball practices and tap classes are, and what new discipline
strategies mom has implemented. It can feel awkward, challenging and
frustrating at times.<br />
Thank goodness we live in a society that
understands this dilemma and strives to provide families with creative
solutions. From feeding time reminders and self-swaddling blankets to
catch-all bags created with dads in mind, there is something out there
for every dad who feels he needs an edge on parenting.<br />
<b>Awkward Adjustment</b><br />
The
newborn stage is an especially awkward time for dads because mom has
spent nearly ten months with her child living inside of her and she is
pretty much the sole provider of comfort and feeding when the bundle of
joy is born. This leaves dad to wonder how he can bond with the baby
and what he can do to contribute. One way dads have been successful at
bonding with their newborns is through sharing feedings. And there are
products out there, like the bottle that is shaped like a mother's
breast, that allow dads to share in the joy of feeding their baby while
allowing mom to rest easy knowing that her child will not experience
nipple confusion or become gassy from a bottle.<br />
Another way dads
can bond with their newborns is through comfort. This is sometimes
intimidating for them because it seems moms are pre-programmed with the
ability to soothe, while it is often a learned art for dad. There are
several products that can help comfort baby and ease them into sweet
slumber, such as easy swaddling blankets and stuffed animals that attach
to the crib and make soothing noises.<br />
<b>Brave Daddy</b><br />
As
your baby starts to get a little older, dad may feel brave enough to go
on an outing alone with him or her, perhaps in an effort to give you a
break. This is a confidence builder for him and a sanity saver for you.
And it may only take one failed attempt to discourage him from trying
it again, so make sure he's loaded with all the right products to ensure
success on his outing and future breaks for you. One thing he is sure
to need is a diaper bag outfitted with all the diapers, wipes, bottles
and binkies he could possibly need, but do you really think he wants to
be seen carrying that hip satin Chinese print shoulder bag/backpack you
use? If so, think again. Dads are simple and practical, which is why
companies have started making daddy diaper bags that come in a variety
of dad-approved colors and keep their hands free to chase after babies
on the go.<br />
<b>Shared Experiences</b><br />
You and your husband
have no doubt shared the duty of changing diapers, so why not continue
to do that when you enter into the realm of potty training? This way
you are a team and your child knows you both mean business. It also
ensures that if you need to run an errand or be away from the child
while your husband watches him or her, he will know what to do, when to
do it, and how to do it with regard to potty training your child. In
the spirit of dads loving to make everything fun with their kids, equip
him with fun aids such as PottieStickers. They are portable, consistent
and rewarding, making dad's involvement in this process that much
easier. And if you want to reduce frustration from not being able to
readily find all the potty training tools and supplies you are using,
provide your child with an organized potty seat like the one from Boon.
These genius little seats organize all your potty training supplies,
make cleaning up a breeze and most of them convert to step stools so you
and your husband can remember to enforce the necessary habit of hand
washing after going potty. If you want your husband to partner with you
on this sometimes challenging journey, be prepared with the right
equipment and make it fun and enjoyable.<br />
<b>Dads Just Wanna Have Fun</b><br />
Dad
does a lot to help out around the house and with the kids, but there is
more to parenting than just being responsible and doing what's best for
your children. It has to be fun! Playing is an element that cannot be
overlooked because it is all too important to the learning and
development of little ones, not to mention an excellent way for dad to
bond with his children as they grow older. Dress up used to be thought
of as something only little girls did. But there are some great
products out there that make it cool for both girls and boys to play
pretend, and in turn, play together with dad, such as capes for boys
that can be personalized with their initial and classic tutus for the
little princesses in your house. This kind of play will inspire your
boys to be imaginary superheroes and will definitely bring out the
little kid in your husband. Then there is the classic tutu that will
take your little princess to a far away kingdom where Daddy is her
knight in shining armor, ready to rescue the damsel in distress. And
whether dad is pretending to soar through the air with your little
superhero or slaying dragons to save the princess, the perfect setting
for their adventures is under a homemade tent or one from Lucy and
Michael. So keep the camcorder on hand for those spur-of-the-moment
dress-up sessions because these are memories they will all be fond of in
years to come.<br />
Dads deserve to be celebrated for how they provide
for their families, come home to relieve mom, and create lifelong
memories with their children as often as possible. They are not perfect
but they are invaluable. As moms, we have the ability to equip the
fathers of our children with all the right tools to help them feel more
comfortable in their role as daddy, from newborn to graduating senior.
All it takes is a little creativity, forethought and caring. So,
whatever stage of parenting you are in, consider what it will take to
get your husband more involved on all levels and then be proactive in
helping him get there. You never know; he might just surprise you.<br />
</div>
Heather Ledeboer is the owner of Mom 4 Life, a website that offers 100% mom made and invented products.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-81253291165063119722013-10-03T20:12:00.000-07:002013-10-08T20:12:50.180-07:00Buying Real Estate - House Hunting Tips And Ideas<div id="article-content">
Moving is often regarded as one of the most stressful events in a
persons life. And that may be true, but the process of house hunting
need not be very stressful that all. If you approach house hunting in a
logical and organized way, the process usually goes much smoother and
easier. So here are some house hunting tips and ideas for you to
consider.<br />
The very first consideration to be made when you're
planning a move is the location or general area to which you're going.
Try to get to know as much as you possibly can about it in advance. If
you either have a family or are planning one in the future, get to know
the schools in the area and try to move into a school district that has a
good reputation for education. Consider also how close and convenient
your home would be to shopping centers, medical facilities and so on.
And don't forget about your job. How much time would it take for you to
commute to your work from that location or area?<br />
If you know
someone in law enforcement, you can often find out a lot about the crime
rate in a particular area by just asking them. Sometimes they can steer
you away from certain parts of the area that tend to have more
problems.<br />
It's also a good idea to just drive through the general
area and get a good feel for the kind of houses that are available
there. Quite often, you can tell a lot about the quality of the
householders by just taking a good look at the condition of their homes
and properties from the outside.<br />
Now that you have a good idea of
the location that you prefer, it's time to start seriously thinking
about what kind of home will work best for you. Here is where taking a
little time to sit down and write out your needs and wants can help you
focus in like a laser on the house that will fit you best. Make a list
of all the important features including how many bedrooms you need, what
size garage, how much square footage should be in the home, whether or
not you will need a fenced in yard, and so on.<br />
Before even
starting to look for your dream home, now is the time to line up your
financing arrangements. Shop around and find a lending institution that
will give you your best mortgage deal. By getting pre-qualified for a
home loan, you will be able to know exactly how much house you can
afford, and will be in a better position to put in an offer when you
find it.<br />
Now it is time to actually get out and go find the home
of your dreams. Expect that your house hunting adventure will take quite
a bit of time, and don't try to rush it or get impatient in the
process. Here is where having a good real estate agent to represent you
can be a big help. So ask around among your family and friends, and most
likely you will get some good suggestions on reliable, trustworthy real
estate agents that have good reputations.<br />
As you arrange to visit
various homes or open houses, another good idea is to take along with
you a notepad and make careful notes about the important details of each
home that you visit to help you recall the information later on. This
is very important as you will no doubt visit quite a few homes in your
house hunting endeavor, and they can get very confusing unless you have a
way to keep it all straight.<br />
By following this procedure, you can
bring some organization and order to a process that can easily become
very haphazard and difficult. But if you use the suggestions provided
above, they can most likely help you find the home you want quickly and
easily.<br />
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-26393098974110780922013-10-03T12:51:00.000-07:002013-10-15T08:31:53.249-07:00Buffy and her Prinze Buy Big New Digs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bi8yP8avif4/Uk2dE58EHUI/AAAAAAAAS3Y/KUwaChbM9yw/s1600/SMGellarPrinze_MC_PICS1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bi8yP8avif4/Uk2dE58EHUI/AAAAAAAAS3Y/KUwaChbM9yw/s400/SMGellarPrinze_MC_PICS1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2_YTtud2zM4/Uk2dFNsGljI/AAAAAAAAS3U/ltRkFEBN_08/s1600/SMGellarPrinze_MC_PICS2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="352" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2_YTtud2zM4/Uk2dFNsGljI/AAAAAAAAS3U/ltRkFEBN_08/s400/SMGellarPrinze_MC_PICS2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q_1AeF_ngUY/Uk2dE9JVCsI/AAAAAAAAS3Q/65aej9i2B-E/s1600/SMGellarPrinze_MC_PICS3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="352" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q_1AeF_ngUY/Uk2dE9JVCsI/AAAAAAAAS3Q/65aej9i2B-E/s400/SMGellarPrinze_MC_PICS3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XG5d_J2U5lg/Uk2dFk3-wQI/AAAAAAAAS3o/QM-YIAg7ZzI/s1600/SMGellarPrinze_MC_PICS4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="352" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XG5d_J2U5lg/Uk2dFk3-wQI/AAAAAAAAS3o/QM-YIAg7ZzI/s400/SMGellarPrinze_MC_PICS4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>BUYERS: Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze, Jr.<br />LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA<br />PRICE: $6,100,000<br />SIZE: 7,318 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms<br /><br />YOUR MAMAS NOTES: A little more year ago, television and movie actors <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001264/" target="_blank">Sarah Michelle Gellar</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005327/" target="_blank">Freddie Prinze, Jr.</a> produced a second child and, just as so many rich and/or famous folk feel they must do when they issue forth with an heir, the veteran Showbizzers bought a big new house in which to bring up new baby. Although the property records Your Mama peeped are pretty opaque, the industrious impeccably connected real estate yenta Yolanda Yakketyyak swears on her heavily fortified French-made undergarments that the Gellar-Prinze's shelled out $6,100,000 for a three-story East Coast-y Colonial deep in Los Angeles's low key and semi-rustic but most assuredly swank Mandeville Canyon area.<br /><br />Property records are quite clear when it comes to the sellers: powerhouse entertainment attorney <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/ernest-del-208927" target="_blank">Ernest Del</a> and his talent agent wife, Danielle Del, who Yolanda described to Your Mama as "part of the Tinseltown 'Ladies Who Lunch' crowd and is b.f.f. with Hollywood hostess du jour Alexandra Dwek" who—some of the children whose brains aren't ruined by booze and television—lives in a Georgian mansion in Bel Air she bought a few years ago from <a href="http://realestalker.blogspot.com/2010/06/lori-loughlin-lists-lavish-bel-air.html" target="_blank">Giannulli Mossimo and Lori Laughlin</a> for almost $20 million. But we digress...<br /><br />In 1995, a teen-aged Miss Gellar won a Daytime Emmy for her make-believe work the soap story <i>All My Children</i> before she trampolined to sci-fi superstardom the following year as the star of the cult-favorite television program <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i>. Since her seven season run on B.V.S. Miz Gellar—a.k.a. Missus Prinze—has worked almost constantly, often in overlapping television and movie gigs and most notably, perhaps, in a series of horror film franchises (<i>I Know What Your Did Last Summer, The Grudge, Scream</i>).<br /><br />Mister Prinze, Jr., the son of late comedian/actor Freddie Prinze of the 70s sitcom <i>Chico and the Man,</i> shot to teen flick stardom in the <i>She's All That, I Know What Your Did Last Summer,</i> and<i> Scooby-Doo</i> movie franchises, all of which he co-starred opposite his wife. He very briefly starred in an eponymous sitcom, popped up several times on <i>Boston Legal</i> and <i>24</i>, and, like his wife and dozens of other Hollywood stars, has done occasional voice over work on the animated sci-fi comedy <i>Robot Chicken</i>. Much to Your Mama's surprise—and, we'll be honest, flabbergast—Mister Prinze has twice taken steady gigs as a director and producer for the WWE, short for World Wresting Entertainment. That's right, children, Mister Prinze is waist deep in the low-brow and high-camp professional wrestling world. Who knew? Not Your Mama, that's who. Anyhoo...<br /><br />Listing details show the Gellar-Prinze's new, many-gabled center hall Colonial was built in 2006, clad in classic clapboard siding, and accessorized with black shutters and a columned portico. The six bedroom and five bathroom house sits tightly on a wedge-shaped parcel of just over a third of an acre and measures in at an ample but not embarrassingly bloated 7,318 square feet.<br /><br />Invited guests and the Chinese food delivery man are meant to be impressed by the voluminous double-height entrance hall where light from a drippy cluster of crystal chandeliers is reflected and refracted in lustrous, medium brown-toned wood floors. An over-sized formal dining room and a cozier-scaled library flank the foyer that stretches deep in to the house before it opens into a formal living room large enough to accommodate a baby grand piano and a sizable seating arrangement in front of a fireplace. Multi-pane windows and French doors stretch luxuriously from floor to ceiling and provide a wide view of the (surprisingly compact) backyard entertainment and recreation areas.<br /><br />A less formal, open-concept kitchen/family room, conveniently located behind the direct entry two car garage, orbits around a commodious kitchen finished with white, glass-fronted cabinetry and glossy black counter tops and equipped with a three-seat snack counter and a full suite of industrial-minded stainless steel appliances including two refrigerators. The sellers hung an iconic Slim Aarons photograph of the Kaufmann House in Palm Springs over the corner fireplace in the dining area and the lounge area is anchored by a built-in entertainment center with open shelving and closed storage for board games, table cloths, and media equipment.<br /><br />Front and back stairs ascend to the second floor where, in addition to a handful of guest/family bedrooms and an unknown number of bathrooms, the roomy master bedroom has a vaulted and dormered ceiling, a sitting area with fireplace, a large bathroom, and two sets of French doors that open to a small terrace with backyard overview.<br /><br />Speaking of the backyard, it appears to Your Mama to be a fairly compact situation compared to what many might expect in a six-plus million dollar property but it is none-the-less jam-packed with a decent list of amenities and luxuries that include a pergola-shaded flag stone terrace with retractable canvas awnings, a built-in barbecue/kitchenette, lots of mature foliage, and a wee patch of grass. Tucked in to the verdant hillside that rises steeply at the rear of the property, a dark-bottomed swimming pool and spa and additional flagstone terracing for sunbathing and horse playing.<br /><br />Since October of 2001, Mister and Missus Prinze, Jr. have shacked up in a 7,300+ square foot house with seven bedrooms and 7 bathrooms in the very same guard-gated community in L.A.'s Bel Air area where reality television royal Kimmy Kardashian and her <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/perpetua/kanye-west-is-arrogant-but-why-shouldnt-he-be" target="_blank">humorously arrogant</a> baby daddy Yeezus apparently plan to shack up in a $9 million mock-Med macmansion with their directionally-named baby, a <a href="http://realestalker.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-little-monday-mish-mash-kim-and-kanye.html" target="_blank">four gold-plated toilets</a>, and a million dollars worth of custom-made mattresses.<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">listing photos: <a href="http://www.marylututhill.com/" target="_blank">Coldwell Banker</a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415417038048957540.post-90942254945267891632013-10-02T16:43:00.000-07:002013-10-15T08:31:53.345-07:00Afternoon Delight: Joe Dahan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tD3nFBmMdlA/UkyhZIXWwCI/AAAAAAAAS2A/aJpgbGLBYxs/s1600/JDahan_HH_PICS1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tD3nFBmMdlA/UkyhZIXWwCI/AAAAAAAAS2A/aJpgbGLBYxs/s400/JDahan_HH_PICS1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j9sZfg-fUbk/UkyiHuIyiXI/AAAAAAAAS2g/NW7IIBtQPrE/s1600/JDahan_HH_PICS2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="378" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j9sZfg-fUbk/UkyiHuIyiXI/AAAAAAAAS2g/NW7IIBtQPrE/s400/JDahan_HH_PICS2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s2rQnlovG34/UkyiHpC8fxI/AAAAAAAAS2o/xfGjFQhZT7s/s1600/JDahan_HH_PICS3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s2rQnlovG34/UkyiHpC8fxI/AAAAAAAAS2o/xfGjFQhZT7s/s400/JDahan_HH_PICS3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KuV1tLvahkg/UkyiIMJm4KI/AAAAAAAAS28/ORTV6j6B828/s1600/JDahan_HH_PICS5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="332" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KuV1tLvahkg/UkyiIMJm4KI/AAAAAAAAS28/ORTV6j6B828/s400/JDahan_HH_PICS5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> SELLER: Joseph "Joe" Dahan<br />LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA<br />PRICE: $9,995,000<br />SIZE: 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms<br /><br />YOUR MAMAS NOTES: We feel like indulging in a little afternoon pretty in the form of a gated and photogenic mini-compound in the Hollywood Hills with a main house originally designed in the late 1960s by <i>en vogue</i> mid-century modern architect Hal Leavitt and listed on the open market with an asking price of $9,995,000.<br /><br />Property records show the current owner as Joseph "Joe" Dahan, a muckety-muck in the premium denim industry who scooped up the nearly one acre spread in October 2005 for $4,650,000.<br /><br />A long curved driveway <i>almost</i> passes under a slightly cantilevered corner of the main house that current digital marketing materials show has five bedrooms and five bathrooms in an unspecified amount of square footage. (For the record, the L.A. County Tax Man shows 3,726.) Copious amounts of travertine flooring and long walls of floor-to-ceiling glass panels and sliding doors make for a barely-there transition between the inside areas and outdoor spaces ringed by dense, privacy-ensuring foliage.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3D-nFnjtT4U/UkyiHlEz4uI/AAAAAAAAS2k/m-JOT7wPttY/s1600/JDahan_HH_PICS4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3D-nFnjtT4U/UkyiHlEz4uI/AAAAAAAAS2k/m-JOT7wPttY/s400/JDahan_HH_PICS4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ph_WrY0eJpo/UkyhgS-tNTI/AAAAAAAAS2I/JvtwbeZgcv4/s1600/JDahan_HH_PICS6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ph_WrY0eJpo/UkyhgS-tNTI/AAAAAAAAS2I/JvtwbeZgcv4/s400/JDahan_HH_PICS6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sa5fh_tZ1ds/Ukyhgb_4K5I/AAAAAAAAS2Q/e9HZGoc1XYA/s1600/JDahan_HH_PICS7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sa5fh_tZ1ds/Ukyhgb_4K5I/AAAAAAAAS2Q/e9HZGoc1XYA/s400/JDahan_HH_PICS7.jpg" width="373" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZHoHfxJ-Bn4/UkyhgbWFiII/AAAAAAAAS2M/0p18WOmOQLQ/s1600/JDahan_HH_PICS8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZHoHfxJ-Bn4/UkyhgbWFiII/AAAAAAAAS2M/0p18WOmOQLQ/s400/JDahan_HH_PICS8.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>The property is lushly planted with what listing details call "period landscaping" and offers its cosseted occupants a private enclave of meandering paths, an organic vegetable garden, a couple of greenhouse, and a flat patch of lawn dotted with a couple of clean-lined play structures.<br /><br />Perched on a verdant, stepped hillside above a narrow flat strip of lawn and and and a perpendicularly arranged water feature are two glass pavilions set on a muscular concrete foundation. One pavilion has a tree growing right through the middle that's encased in a frameless glass shaft and both appear to be equipped with a sparse but high quality collection of bodily fitness equipment.<br /><br />If any of you Hal Leavitt freak-fans think this might be you're opportunity to stroll through the house during a public open house, we suggest you think again. Listing details make a point to to say "Private showings to qualified Buyers only."<br /><br />P.S. As far as this opinionated property gossip is concerned, the silver tile that lines the guest bathroom shower is glitzy, glam, and flagrantly conspicuous in all the best ways.<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">listing photos: <a href="http://www.weahomes.com/" target="_blank">Westside Estate Agency</a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15250349680088102241noreply@blogger.com0