Hot Property Newsletter: Fourth-quarter plays
Autumn is upon us, football is in full swing and home buyers and sellers are scurrying to wrap up deals before year end.
With plenty of time to settle in before the holidays is one of America’s most popular talk show hosts, who just picked up a place in Beverly Hills. Still casting about for buyers are a sports legend, a stage and screen actress and others.
Our Home of the Week is an updated Craftsman in Pacific Palisades priced at $5.85 million. Built in 1949, the shingled two-story maintains its original character while incorporating contemporary details and an updated kitchen.
Once you’re done reading about these houses, visit and like our Facebook page, where you can find Hot Property stories and updates throughout the week.
– Neal J. Leitereg and Lauren Beale
Time for a sequel
They are at it again. Serial home buyers talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and actress Portia de Rossi have purchased a Beverly Hills house steeped in Old Hollywood glamour for $15 million.
The Hollywood Regency-style home, designed by architect-to-the-stars John Elgin Woolf and built in 1962, was the longtime home of late actress and philanthropist Marjorie Lord. Lord was best known for her role as wife to Danny Thomas’ character in “Make Room for Daddy” as well as the spinoff “Make Room for Granddaddy.”
Restored and polished to a fine sheen, the single-story house boasts 5,100 square feet of living space including a reimagined kitchen with a skylight-topped island, a family room, a den/office, five bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms.
A covered patio lined with columns, a built-in barbecue and a swimming pool with a spa make up the grounds.
DeGeneres, 60, has won multiple Emmys for her namesake show, which premiered in 2003. De Rossi, 45, has television credits that include the legal drama “Ally McBeal” and the sitcom “Arrested Development.”
Answering the casting call
Actress Stockard Channing is continuing to try to land the role of home seller for a property she owns through a trust in Hollywood Hills West.
The Midcentury house, which first came on the market last year for $1.849 million, is currently priced at $1.7999 million.
The 2,196-square-foot home contains two brick fireplaces, a dining area, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Channing, 73, gained fame in the 1978 film “Grease” and won a Tony in 1985 for the revival of “A Day in the Life of Joe Egg.” She won Emmys for her portrayal of the first lady in “The West Wing” (1999-2006) and for the TV movie “The Matthew Shepard Story” (2002).
One for his playbook
Jerry West, the legendary Laker and current Clippers executive, has put a Playa Vista home he owns in a trust in play at $2.299 million.
The streamlined Mediterranean-style house has some 3,700 square feet of open-plan space featuring a living room with a fireplace, an office with built-ins, three bedrooms and four bathrooms.
West bought the property new more than a decade ago for $1.695 million, real estate records show.
The 80-year-old basketball great won an NCAA title at West Virginia University prior to embarking on a 14-year career with the Lakers in which he made 14 All-Star teams and won the 1972 championship. As general manager with the Lakers, West assembled six championship teams.
Singer changes her tune
Pop star Demi Lovato has reduced the asking price on a Hollywood Hills West home she owns through a trust to $8.995 million. The contemporary originally came on the market at $9.495 million.
Set behind gates on more than an acre of land, the 5,564-square-foot open plan three-story features a double height living room, a bar, a media room and four bedrooms.
Lovato, 26, got her start on TV series “Barney & Friends” and the films “Camp Rock” and “Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam.” Among her albums are “Here We Go Again” and “Confident.”
She bought the property in 2016 for $8.3 million.
Where ‘Giants’ trod?
The Century City home of Deanna Lund, the late actress known for her role on the late-1960s sci-fi series “Land of the Giants,” is for sale at $1.8 million.
The traditional-style house, which dates to 1932, is full of vintage details including knotty pine paneling, built-ins and period hardware and fixtures.
A formal dining room, four bedrooms, four bathrooms and a bonus room round out the 2,422 square feet of living space. Outdoors, there’s a patio and a brick-surrounded swimming pool.
The actress, who died in June at 81, also appeared on the daytime soap operas “One Life to Live” and “General Hospital” and the live-action series “Batman.”
From the archives
Ten years ago, actress Julianna Margulies, first known for her role as nurse Carol Hathaway on the drama “ER,” listed her house in Santa Monica for $4.5 million. The 1927 house, with 3,235 square feet of living space, was being rented to actress Kyra Sedgwick of “The Closer.”
Twenty years ago, actors William H. Macy and Felicity Huffman bought a home and two adjacent lots in the Hollywood Hills for about $1 million. Built in 1951, the 3,000-square-foot house, with two bedrooms plus maid’s quarters, had not been on the market in almost 40 years. They were planning a major renovation.
Thirty years ago, actress Jane Seymour and her then business manager/husband David Flynn sold a Beverly Hills area house they had renovated. The serial remodelers received more than the $995,000 asking price and were moving on to their next project.
What we’re reading
If you’ve ever dreamt of living like the ultra-wealthy, here’s your chance to swim in the newly refurbished Neptune Pool at Hearst Castle in San Simeon. The cost for a dip, reports NBC Los Angeles, will range from $1,300 to $1,500.
The Albuquerque house used in the “Breaking Bad” finale is on the market for $2.5 million, notes Realtor.com. The modern 5,900-square-foot home, set on two acres, has four bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms.
More than 85,000 new houses were built in high-fire risk areas in Los Angeles County between 1990 and 2010, reports LAist.com. Now the trend continues in Orange County, where supervisors recently approved a 340-home development on land scorched by fire a decade ago.
