Luxe Living

Jennifer Love Hewitt is looking to spend her summer partying in her modern new abode in Pacific Palisades. First revealed by the incomparable Real Estalker and property records show that Miss Hewitt paid $3,250,000 on April 25, 2013. Prior to buying this stunning architectural gem in April, J Love sold a home in Toluca Lake that was the primary residence of her recently deceased mother. Jennifer lived just down the street and likely needed a change of scenery after her mom passed away.

She’s finding it in her hip and sexy retreat in Pacific Palisades, which was redone in 2007 and designed by well-regarded  architect Melinda Gray.

Outside, the home has a private, sparkling spa-style pool surrounded by bamboo, as well as a fire pit, fireplace, flat screen, lounging area and more.

Inside, Hewitt’s new home has hardwood floors and an open floor plan that gives it that soothing organic and urban feel. The house has 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms spread out over 2,872 square feet.

Images via the MLS.

Glee starlet Naya Rivera is flipping her home in Beverly Hills, asking $2.1 million for a home she paid $1.475 million for on April 4, 2012. If she gets her full asking price, Naya is set to make $625,000 for less than a year’s ownership, minus what she paid to remodel this stunner. This kind of return isn’t common in every market, but in this celebrity-infested Beverly Hills neighborhood, buyers will pay big bucks for the 90210 zip code.

Rivera is making her house flip a family affair – she’s employed her mother Yolanda Rivera as the listing agent on the home, which hit the market in mid-March and already has “sale pending” sign hanging out front. Nice work, mom!

Rivera’s almost-sold home is on a cul de sac and has been remodeled. It features 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms and is a spacious 3,300 square feet.  The home includes a formal living area and dining room overlooking the courtyard and pool. The library includes a wet bar with its own kegerator! The master suite includes dual walk-in closets and a built-in sauna and steam room. The backyard includes a completely remodeled salt water pool, jacuzzi and fire pit.

Rivera is decamping to a 5 bedroom, 4 bathroom, 4,186 square foot East Coast traditional estate in Los Feliz that property records show she purchased on April 15, 2013 for $2,600,000.

Lauren Conrad has the look of a budding LA real estate mogul as TMZ is reporting she has just purchased her largest property yet, a $3.7 million gem of a home in the exclusive Brentwood neighborhood. LC is best known as playing herself on MTV’s iconic, although short-lived show, “Laguna Beach,” after which she moved onto entirely new levels of drama, hooking-up, and general shenanigans on “The Hills.”

LC’s real estate resume is starting to get pretty long these days as she has parlayed her early reality TV star fame into ventures as a fashion designer and author.

She sold the famous ‘Hills’ home for a loss in September of 2011, leaving not only the home but her friendships with surgically-enhanced Heidi Montag and Audrina Patridge behind.

LC went on to purchase a $1.3 million condo in the exclusive 90210 ZIP code in Beverly Hills. Although the original pictures of the place looked frumpy, one can assume that she put her own personal touch to spruce up the large, multi-story penthouse. She still owns this condo and also owns a four bedroom home in Laguna Beach.

Now Lauren is moving on to bigger and better things. Brentwood is one of the more exclusive areas in a city that is full of exclusive areas. Her newly-remodeled, two-story home is on a quiet street and includes six-bedrooms and five-bathrooms in a massive 4,303 square foot floor plan.

The traditional style home was built in 1959 and features a chef’s kitchen, a master suite, and dark hardwood floors, as well as multiple fireplaces and a massive patio, basketball court and yard for soaking up the LA sunshine.

Images via MLS.

Christina Aguilera has purchased another Beverly Hills mansion in the exclusive guard-gated Mulholland Estates community. According to TMZ, who broke the news yesterday, the 11,000-square-foot estate was reportedly purchased from multi-billionaire and global private equity mogul Tom Gores for an even $10 million.  Previously, the home was leased for $20,000 a month by Adrienne Maloof of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

Located on a double lot in the Mulholland Estates community, this six-bedroom, eight-bathroom Mediterranean mansion features custom, high-quality finishes and fixtures throughout. The master suite upstairs features a fireplace, two walk-in closets, a private office, a large terrace with fireplace, and a spa-like bathroom lined in marble with a steam shower and tub. Five additional en suites include a large family room with built-in cabinetry.

The first floor of the home offers an even larger family room with exposed wood beam ceiling, formal dining room, wood paneled library, and screening room. The gourmet kitchen includes top-of-the-line appliances, a walk-in pantry with refrigerator and breakfast area, and a large center island. The enclosed loggia features wood paneled ceilings, hand painted details, fireplace, and arched glass doors that open to the lush yard. To take in the warm California sun and entertain, the home’s outdoor space includes a saltwater pool and spa, bathhouse, gazebo, and built-in BBQ.

But what of X’tina’s current home (you know, the 10,000-square-foot estate that she and former hubby Jordon Bratman bought from the Prince of Darkness and his wife AKA Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne)? A little birdie told Yo Mama of The Real Estalker that the home is currently in escrow.

Funny lady Tracey Ullman has just taken on a brand new mortgage when she bought a seriously beautiful home in Los Angeles for $2,566,000! Ullman, who has been entertaining the world since the early 1980′s, gained major notoriety for roles in shows like her namesakes, “The Tracey Ullman Show” and “Tracey Takes On…,” as well as “Ally McBeal” and innumerable others.

Her stunning new retreat is just minutes from the famed Sunset Strip and behind a walled gated entry. The estate is a private and unassuming ‘post and beam’ architectural that comes alive through the courtyard entry. Dramatic and modern style with warm wood tones keep it cozy and inviting, yet, the two story glass windows in the living room have sweeping views from the Getty, canyons, mountains and city below – making it an undeniable showstopper estate. There are three bedrooms, including a great master with an indoor/outdoor bathroom.

Additionally, there is is a large great room off the kitchen, a formal dining room and a TV room and fire pit. Living spaces all flow to outdoor spaces including a huge patio. Ullman’s new house has been published in both the LA Times and California interiors and was refurbished by celebrity and White House designer Michael Smith as his personal residence.

While her new place is rather impressive, Ullman still owns a prime Palisades Riviera home that she bought on September 8, 1988 for $1,800,000. That home has five bedrooms, five bathrooms and 5,574 square feet. Three years ago, she briefly put that home up for sale for over $5 million before quickly taking it off the market.

Billy Bob Thornton is downsizing!  According to public records, the aging actor sold his Beverly Hills estate on North Roxbury Drive on December 31, 2012 for $8,000,000. The estate, once shared with ex-wife Angelina Jolie, was massive – with nine bedrooms, eight bathrooms and 11,012 square feet.

Thorton’s new home officially became his on February 1, 2013, and is a more modest 2,818 square feet. Purchased for $2,700,000, the home has just five bedrooms and four bathrooms. Nestled in the Mandeville Canyon area of Brentwood, Thorton’s new home is a perfect Country Traditional that was seamlessly remodeled and expanded to create a two-story secluded retreat on a gated, flat lot. The living room has a fireplace, as does the open country dining/family room. Continuous French doors open to spectacular professionally-designed garden great room with a dry stacked stone fireplace, outdoor kitchen and salt water pool with solar heater.

Inside, a gourmet kitchen has stainless steel appliances, Carrera marble counters, walk-in pantry, and large eat-in banquette breakfast room. Downstairs, the home has four bedrooms, 2.75 bathrooms, and a maid’s suite off the kitchen.

Upstairs, Thorton’s master suite has an adjacent office/den/gym/nursery and private balcony.

This is quite the family-friendly estate for a man not always known as the most domestic man in Hollywood. Married and divorced five times, most notably to Angelina Jolie, Thorton has said that he believes marriage “doesn’t work” for him. Since 2003, Thornton has been in a relationship with makeup effects crew member Connie Angland, with whom he has a daughter, Bella.

Think Thorton and his family are slumming it in this newer, much smaller home? Not quite. The star still owns a home in Malibu that he paid $2,350,000 for in 2007.

Since their heyday as Hollywood’s ‘it’ couple following the ’80s hit movie, “Crocodile Dundee,” Paul Hogan and his longtime wife and former co-star, Linda Kozlowski, have been busy climbing the property ladder. Last July, we reported that the real estate power couple bought a five-bedroom, six-bath pad for $3,800,000, after listing another palatial Malibu home in February 2012 for $6,475,000.

After only six months, the Hogans are ready to sell their most recent purchase — the 6,382 square foot estate nestled in a prime location in Malibu — which was impeccably revamped in 2012, blending modern European sensibility with the home’s existing Victorian elegance. Featuring spectacular ocean views, the property is designed to let in plenty of natural light. The gourmet chef’s kitchen boasts top-of-the-line appliances, while the master suite includes a sitting area, two large walk-in closets, and a private lanai. A library, office spaces, three additional en-suite bedrooms, plus a bonus bedroom round out the rest of the main home. A short walk outside leads you to the one-bedroom guest house and the additional three-car garage.

From young star, to generation-X poster boy, to multi-talented and multiple-times-married father of four, Ethan Hawke has managed to delight the public throughout his career. Even his less-successful films, such as Gattaca, where he met his first wife Uma Thurman, are engaging and fun to watch. And if he’s able to sell his New York townhouse for the asking price of $6,250,000, we can add real estate mogul to his list of talents — after all, he did initially purchase the home in 2005 for the low, low price of $3,000,000.

Although it’s hard to imagine Officer Jake Hoyt living in Chelsea, you have to love the location of this home, surrounded by cafes, restaurants, and art galleries. And there’s enough eye candy in the area to make you wonder if, indeed, you are living amongst a race of genetically perfect human beings.

Once inside Hawke’s nest, you’ll find the four-story Chelsea townhouse has six bedrooms, four-and-a-half bathrooms, and clocks in around 3,500 square feet. The custom kitchen with dining banquette and large dining room highlight an inviting, open floor plan that’s just steps away from the patio and garden. But the master suite — which encompasses the entire top floor and features a private terrace — is perhaps the highlight of the home.

Now this is a place that is perfect for the buyer who’s looking to take a bite out of life in the Big Apple.

Love him or hate him – there’s no in between – Barry Bonds is one of the biggest sports characters of the last two decades. Rocketing to superstardom in Pittsburgh and helping make a forlorn franchise a regular in the playoffs while winning his first league MVP award, Bonds made it clear he had all the tools to become one of the greats. He took his talents back to Northern California in 1993, where he was born and raised, to play for the San Francisco Giants and resurrected that franchise while winning 6 additional MVP awards (4 in a row at one point), leading the team to the World Series in 2002, and cementing his place in baseball history. Of course, this was before the BALCO scandal and perjury investigation which has cast a shadow over Bonds’ mountain of accomplishments to the chagrin of some and the delight of others. So where does a sultan of swat live?

What can possibly be a large enough space for a larger than life character such as Bonds? Well, how about a 17,100 square foot palace of a home in Beverly Hills?

Word on the street is that Barry is putting his expansive, fully furnished property on the market for a cool $25 million. So what does the home of a baseball superstar offer? Well to start, 7 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, and a two-story guest house, all situated on a manicured property modeled after a fine Italian Villa, from the olive tree-lined private drive to the Tuscan-style architecture.

The features of the home, like Barry’s 73 home runs in a single season, boggle the mind. With high ceilings up to 30 feet high throughout the grand living and family rooms and special details such as Italian floors and hand-painted murals, it’s a dazzling home. The gourmet kitchen (of course, this is a Tuscan-style home right?), feeds into a roomy dining room that is perfect for entertaining.

Should we stop there? Well, Barry didn’t stop playing until he was 43 and still a dominating hitter, so we’ll keep going. The rest of the home includes a walnut-paneled office and custom home movie theater with seating for 12. If you’re feeling tense the home also features a full service spa, including steam room, jacuzzi and body therapy rooms.

It wouldn’t be California living without some outdoor fun and this home delivers. There’s a full outdoor kitchen with pizza oven and wet bar, manicured lawn, swimming pool, cabana, and multi-use sport court.

In short, this home should be in the hall of fame. Maybe Barry too?

Check out the full listing from The Agency here.

2012 brought us oodles and oodles of celebrity real estate news and tidbits. From salacious to snooze-worthy, if it was happening in celebrity real estate, you could read about it on Trulia Luxe Living.

This year in celebrity real estate wasn’t positive for everyone. Some stars were actually losing money on their big ticket real estate items. Let’s take a look at some of the losers:

Goldie Hawn & Kurt Russell in Malibu

The longtime Hollywood lovebirds aren’t loving the $5 million-dollar price cut they had to make on their Bali-style Malibu mansion. For many years, Goldie and Kurt put their Malibu beach house on the summer rental market with an asking price of $95,000 per month. In the summer of 2011, the longtime duo  not only lowered their monthly asking price to $80,000 per month, they also placed the beachfront property on the open market with an asking price of $14,749,000. Two scorching summers and many months passed and no buyer stepped up to the plate. It’s still lingering on the market.

Matthew Perry in the Hollywood Hills

Matthew Perry has been trying to “unfriend” this home for the better part of a year.  After hitting the market in October 2011, Perry took it off the market and then relisted the home for $5,295,000 – a price reduction of $400,000. It’s still waiting for a buyer to come in and make an offer.

Kimora Lee Simmons in Beverly Hills

The usually fabulous Kimora Lee Simmons, faced a not-so-fabulous situation when it came time to unload her relatively modest Beverly Hills estate for $4,650,000. The Style Network star of her own reality show, “Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane” purchased the “country home” around the height of the market in 2007 and is now taking a dose of a different kind of reality – that of a down real estate economy. Like many sellers in today’s struggling market, Kimora sold at a loss and was forced to slash 21 percent of her original $5.9 million buying price.

Meg Ryan in Bel Air

In 2008, Ryan had her Bel Air home listed for an optimistic $19,500,000. With no buyers at that price, the asking fell to $14,200,000 and was eventually converted to a $40,000-a-month lease. Ms. Ryan tried her luck again in the real estate game in April 2012 by listing her 6 bedroom, 7 bathroom, 6,877 square foot home for a new, improved and much lower asking price of $11,400,000. It eventually sold for $11,000,000.

Hulk Hogan in Bellaire, Florida

Maybe Hogan doesn’t know best after all, at least when it comes to real estate. Former Wrestlemania super-star, Hulk Hogan (real name: Terry Bollea) sold his 17,145 square foot Tudor-style mansion in Bellaire, FL for $6.2 million. The property has been on and off the market since 2006 and was originally listed for $25 million, then discounted to $9.24 million in July 2011.

Lauren Conrad in the Hollywood Hills

Lauren purchased the home for a very star-like sum of $2,360,000 in early 2008. Her neighbors weren’t big fans of Conrad or the caravans of tour buses that rolled by the home on a regular basis, so Lauren fled for a another residence higher in the hills (naturally), and rented the home out for a while, before putting it on the market for $2.25M. It eventually sold for $2M and Conrad lost almost $400,000 on the deal.

Reese Witherspoon in Ojai, California

Reese Witherspoon is trying to let go of her Tennessee-style Ojai, CA estate. She listed it with a bang, asking for a cool $10 million. Within weeks, Witherspoon lowered the price to a more realistic asking price of $8.9M. It’s still awaiting a buyer.

Since we’re not all doom and gloom over here, there’s one beacon of hope in the celebrity real estate game this year:

Ellen Degeneres & Portia de Rossi 

The married duo sold the Malibu beach home that they purchased from Brad Pitt  for $12M in December 2011. They sold the home in June 2012 for $13M to cosmetics entrepreneur Victoria Jackson. That’s a nice profit after less than a year of ownership. Oh, and they also sold their other monster estate to Ryan Seacrest for $37M. Not too shabby, ladies.