Hot Property newsletter: The for-sale signs keep on coming

Normally this time of year, the real estate scene would be awash with for-sale signs. But in light of the pandemic and stay-at-home orders, the housing market is seeing less of a flood and more of a trickle. Yet hardy souls are braving the circumstances. Recent buyers include a Grammy-winning singer, and among those hoping to sell are a Los Angeles Laker and a “Ghost Whisperer” actress.

Our Home of the Week is a Spanish Colonial-style residence in Los Feliz that was once home to the Rev. Louis H. Evans, the organizing pastor of Bel-Air Presbyterian Church. Built in the late 1920s, the restored and updated residence has plaster walls, antique tiles, handcrafted hardware and original cast-iron windows. The asking price is $4.877 million.

Once you’re done reading about these deals, visit and like our Facebook page, where you can find Hot Property stories and updates throughout the week.

— Neal Leitereg, Jack Flemming and Lauren Beale

Time for new scenery

John Legend and Chrissy Teigen are buying a newly built home in West Hollywood for $5.1 million.

The couple intend to use the wood-paneled contemporary as a live-work residence.

The two-story house has four bedrooms, four bathrooms and more than 3,400 square feet of open-concept living space. A high-end kitchen outfitted with a 20-foot-long island opens to the living room.

Legend, 41, has won 11 Grammy Awards, including two awards for best R&B album, for “Wake Up!” and “Get Lifted.” He won an Academy Award for the song “Glory” in the 2014 film “Selma.”

Teigen, 34, is a television personality, model and author. She appears on the new court show, “Chrissy’s Court,” on the short-form video platform Quibi.

Big man’s off-court move

As he waits out the stay-at-home order, Los Angeles Lakers big man Anthony Davis is turning his attention to business away from the court. The seven-time All-Star has listed his sprawling estate in Westlake Village for $7.995 million.

The contemporary Mediterranean mansion sits behind gates with a guesthouse and a $1-million infinity-edge swimming pool complete with dual waterslides and a baja deck. (If you haven’t been keeping up, that’s a shallow shelf where people can lounge in the water.) But perhaps even more impressive is the attached basketball gymnasium featuring its own viewing box.

Custom-built in 1996 and later expanded, the roughly 16,000-square-foot house features a two-story entry with a curved staircase, a movie theater and five bedrooms.

Davis, 27, was averaging 26.7 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks in 55 games for L.A. before the NBA went on hiatus in March. He bought the 2.33-acre estate two years ago for $7.479 million.

Ghosting her residence

Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt has listed her home in Pacific Palisades for $4.199 million.

The “Ghost Whisperer” and “9-1-1” actress bought the property in 2013 for $3.25 million.

Tucked behind fences and gates, the 3,160-square-foot contemporary has a distinctive butterfly-style roof, high ceilings, glass-and-steel accents and four bedrooms.

Hewitt, 41, has scores of credits including the television dramas “Criminal Minds” and “Party of Five.” Her films include “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “Can’t Hardly Wait.”

The Hulk busts loose

Bodybuilder-actor Lou Ferrigno and his wife, Carla, have sold their longtime home in Santa Monica for $3.25 million.

The English Revival-style house was relisted in mid-March for $3.499 million and went from pending to sold in about three weeks.

Tucked behind a white picket fence, the two-story house features lath-and-plaster walls, oak floors and picture windows that bring garden views inside. Some 3,400 square feet of living space has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, a vaulted ceiling living room and a dining room.

Ferrigno, 68, was a two-time Mr. Universe before landing the title role on the CBS series “The Incredible Hulk.” As an actor, his credits also include the show “The King of Queens” and the 2009 film “I Love You, Man.”

His favorite room

“9-1-1: Lone Star” actor Ronen Rubinstein always wanted the time and motivation to learn new recipes and cook a full-course meal. Now, as he practices social distancing in his 1,000-square-foot East L.A. home, he’s perfecting vegan recipes in the pastel-blue kitchen that has become his kingdom. Cooking, he says, is his means to “stay positive and mentally sane through it all.”

From the archives

Ten years ago, actors Jane Kaczmarek and Bradley Whitford listed their Italian Renaissance Revival villa in San Marino for $6.7 million. The 1924 mansion sat on more than an acre of land with formal gardens, a swimming pool and a guesthouse.

Twenty years ago, James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan purchased a beachfront home on an acre in Malibu in the $7-million range. The copy desk had a bit of fun with the headline: “007 Works With a Malibu Agent.”

Thirty years ago, Danny Seraphine, a longtime drummer with Chicago, sold his Westlake Village home for $1.275 million as he prepared for the pop group’s summer tour.

What we’re reading

Now that we are hunkering down, some of us are feeling the confines of our own limited spaces. Outside takes us, well, outside in their piece on architect Charles Bello, who has spent 52 years restoring the redwood forests on his 400-acre Bello Ranch in Northern California. The architect has built four wood-and-glass houses there during that time, starting with a quirky A-frame he and family members built in less than six days on a $2,800 budget.

Today introduced us to a Twitter account called Room Rater that is ruthlessly judging celebrity homes. Talk-show host Jimmy Fallon’s home, with its rough lumber and indoor slide, was dubbed a “hobbit house.” MSNBC analyst Peter Baker was ribbed for having empty picture hooks on his wall. (He has since corrected the situation.)