Newsletter: Hot Property: Through a glass darkly
Even with the Internet, online access to public records and an abundance of real estate listing portals, all the details of home transactions aren’t readily apparent.
Moneyed buyers often purchase through entities with random names. Tax mailing addresses are sometimes those of managers who handle multiple celebrity clients. Rules vary in other states and countries about the release of sales prices.
Fortunately, cultivating sources, picking up the phone and employing plain old legwork can still get the job done.
– Lauren Beale and Neal J. Leitereg
Jumping over hurdles
There’s a paper trail that leads from Akron, Ohio, to the gates of an estate in Brentwood that recently sold for close to $21 million.
Taxes for the 9,440-square-foot house go to the address of the LeBron James Family Foundation and the Cleveland Cavaliers superstar’s marketing firm. But was the purchase for him or another sports client at LRMR Management?
Calls to Los Angeles area real estate agents revealed only skepticism: The 11-time NBA All-Star wouldn’t have bought the Traditional home because "it’s not his style" and the location "lacks security."
Persistent pestering, however, paid off. Confirmed: The estate is for his use, perhaps during the off-season or when he’s in town on business.
LeBron James' new estate encompasses more than half an acre in Brentwood. (Ken Ungar Architect | Inset: Ron Schwane / Associated Press)
The law of the land
The Jonas Brothers family home in suburban Fort Worth has sold. Folks are a bit touchy about home sale dollar figures in the Lone Star State, and they don’t divulge them in public records.
The spread (perhaps that’s a bit of an exaggeration for 3/4 acre) was most recently listed at $2.75 million.
The two-story house, built in 2005, is Southwestern Traditional in style with some Mediterranean, Craftsman and ranch touches too. (That’s ranch as in a real ranch with cowboys, not as in California ranch single-story home.)
Instead of vast stretches of cattle land, though, the home looks out onto a golf course.
Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas – or the Jo Bros, as they have been called – are all in their 20s these days, and the pop-rock Jonas Brothers band is no more.
Set on nearly three-quarters of an acre, the Jonas Brothers' house in Westlake, Texas, blends Southwestern Traditional, Craftsman and Mediterranean styles. (Realtor.com)
What price paradise?
Comic actor Steve Martin has sold his Caribbean retreat in tropical St. Bart’s, and mum's the word on that price also. The ocean-view getaway was most recently listed at $7.78 million.
The hilltop estate, which the comedian bought in 2007, centers on a four-bedroom Colonial-style house surrounded by lush tropical gardens, an infinity pool and terraces.
Martin, 70, starred in such films as “The Jerk” and “Bowfinger." These days he mostly earns his keep as a professional banjo player.
We loved his brilliant "Saturday Night Live" musical act commenting on "The Treasures of Tutankhamen," an art exhibition that toured the United States in the late 1970s. Worth catching.
Steve Martin sold his hilltop getaway in tropical St. Bart's. (Pierre Carreau)
Meaning accrues in duration
Institutional memory lends a helping hand from time to time too.
When actors Emily Blunt and John Krasinski put their country home in Ojai on the market at $4.25 million we instantly recognized the rural getaway.
Three years ago they paid $2.15 million for the more than 5-acre property, which takes in views of the surrounding hillsides and mountains.
This stately rural retreat just strikes us as very romantic.
Second time around
Thanks to the Multiple Listing Service (and having written about the property when it first listed), we know that reality personality Nicole Richie and her hubby, singer Joel Madden, sold their compound in the Hollywood Hills for $2.67 million.
The main house, topped by a massive skylight, was built in 1914 and has been extensively remodeled.
There's a lot going on for a one-third-acre property: The kitchen opens to a dining courtyard with a barbecue area. The lagoon-style pool has a beach entry and a waterfall spa. Other outdoor spaces include a play area.
Remodeled extensively since it was built in 1914, the house is on more than a third of an acre with outdoor seating and dining areas. (Redfin.com)
Expand your universe
Those readers who rely on our newsletter capsules to get their weekly dose of stars’ homes may not be familiar with all of the stories under the Hot Property umbrella. Five days a week we feature a Home of the Day online, capped on the weekend by our online and print Home of the Week.
Among gems this week was a 1912 Craftsman in Altadena priced at $1.5 million. Signature details of the Arts and Crafts style at the house include a wide front porch made of decorative clinker brick and a built-in china cabinet with leaded glass doors in the dining room.
The Howell House is an authentic Craftsman-style home built in 1912.
The Howell House is an authentic Craftsman-style home built in 1912. (Shawn Bishop)
From the clip files
Ten years ago, reality TV was already gaining ground. Comic actor Adam Carolla fixed up his boyhood home in Valley Village for a TLC series and was ready to try to sell it for just north of $1 million.
Carolla had paid his dad $739,000 for the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house, complete with leaky pipes and a decaying roof. “It’s equal parts jokes and joists,” quipped the headline at the time.
More from the clip files
Twenty years ago, actress Jodie Foster was shopping her Woodland Hills home for $1.1 million.
She’d spent six years at the Cotswold-inspired cottage remodeling and adding imported glass tile from Italy in the master bathroom and 22-karat gold leaf ceiling details in the master bedroom. The then 33-year-old Oscar winner was reportedly ready for a new neighborhood.
What we’re reading
Are short-term rentals ruining the neighborhood?
Some Anaheim residents and homeowners voiced their concerns over the run-up of late-night parties, loud music and excessive traffic in an article by Times reporter Hugo Martin last week.
For now, Anaheim has adopted a moratorium on short-term rental permits while it tries to “strike a balance” for all concerned.
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