Newsletter: Hot Property: It takes money to make money
This week’s offerings remind us that if one buys and holds real estate long enough, there’s money to be made.
We start with a timeless example. How long, you ask? Oh, say close to 50 years. How much, you ask? Nearly $11 million.
At least that’s how a Laguna Beach investment is shaping up for billionaire Warren Buffett.
And once you’re done checking out these star-studded home deals, visit and like our Facebook page, where you can find Hot Property stories and updates throughout the week.
– Neal J. Leitereg and Lauren Beale
The rich get richer
Billionaire Warren Buffett is ready to cash in on his 1971 investment of $150,000.
The 86-year-old business magnate has listed an ocean-view home in Laguna Beach for sale at $11 million. That’s quite a mark-up.
The multilevel home, built in 1936 and remodeled during his ownership, sits on a corner lot and has a view of Emerald Bay. The 3,588 square feet of white-walled living space includes five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, walls of glass and ocean-facing decks.
Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, has a reported net worth of nearly $74 billion.
The Kennedy compound … west
With its barn-style main house, this place looks like it could be set along the East Coast. But this Kennedy compound is in Malibu.
Now, actress Cheryl Hines and her husband, attorney-activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., are ready to part with the estate for $6.45 million. Two guesthouses, a pool house, a two-story treehouse and a wine shed are part of the package.
Within the 3,000 square feet of living space are an updated kitchen, four bedrooms and three bathrooms.
A tiled swimming pool, rolling lawns and mature trees complete the nearly one-acre grounds.
Nonprofit executive Kennedy, 63, is the son of Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy.
Hines, 51, stars in the live-action/animated series “Son of Zorn.”
Batting cleanup
Professional baseball free agent Coco Crisp has moved another home onto his for-sale roster. This time it’s a home in the Rancho Mirage area with an asking price of $1.9 million.
(Not to be confused with his other Rancho Mirage estate in the gated Thunderbird Cove community with a $9.995-million pricetag.)
The newly listed multilevel house, built in 1985 and since updated, has 8,520 square feet. A wraparound wet bar, a center-island kitchen and a wine cellar are among the bells and whistles of the four-bedroom house.
The outfield consists of a covered patio that opens to a resort-style swimming pool with swim-up seating and a spa.
Crisp, 37, finished last season with the American League champion Cleveland Indians after being acquired in a midseason trade with the Oakland A’s.
Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C.
The Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C., has long been a place to rub elbows with the rich and powerful — the neighbors include the Obamas, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and President Trump’s daughter, Ivanka.
Now a chance has opened up for someone to build a new house in the established area. An unused plot of land owned by the French government is on the market for $5.6 million.
The property sits next door to the French ambassador’s estate and consists of three parcels totaling more than half an acre.
Comps include the $5.5-million five-bedroom place where Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, live, as well as Bezos’ 10-bedroom mansion, acquired in October for $23 million.
Yes, there’s a library
John Larroquette, who stars on “The Librarians,” has put his home in Venice’s Marina Peninsula on the market for $3.75 million.
Fittingly, there’s a library, but the place also has a very cool recording studio in the finished basement. The Mediterranean-style house, built in 1998, fronts a walk street and has a courtyard patio with a spa.
Inside, the three-story home features walnut floors, vaulted ceilings, a step-down living room and an elevator. There are five bedrooms and six bathrooms within the nearly 4,800 square feet of living space.
Larroquette, 69, won multiple Emmys for his role on the sitcom “Night Court” and as a guest actor on the legal drama “The Practice.” He bought the house in 2005 for $2.85 million.
Yes, there’s a studio
Rock musician Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam fame recorded a sale in Seattle, selling a home in the Ravenna neighborhood for $855,000.
The multi-colored bungalow hit the market in late January for $735,000. Gossard bought the property in 1992, a year after Pearl Jam released its first album, for $230,000.
Built in 1918, the home sits behind a red picket fence and has a front courtyard.
The 2,610 square feet include a living room with a fireplace, a formal dining room with built-ins, three bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. The basement has been finished as a studio space with lighting and a small stage.
Gossard, 50, is a founding member and guitarist for Pearl Jam. The grunge band has released 10 studio albums, most recently “Lightning Bolt” in 2013. Among their hits is “Jeremy,” “Black” and “Better Man.”
My favorite room
TV personality Ross Mathews may live in Burbank during the week, but come weekends he can be found entertaining at his sunny pied-à-terre in Palm Springs. His favorite room is the open-plan kitchen/living/dining space, where “there’s always music on, always cocktails and a snack tray.”
Ross Mathews, seated, and Salvador Camarena entertain friends and family in their open-plan kitchen/living/dining space. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
From the archives
Ten years ago, actress Helen Mirren and her husband, Taylor Hackford, listed their Mediterranean-style home in Hollywood for lease at $40,000 a month. The six-acre property, built in 1911, belonged at one time to movie star Dustin Farnum, a protégé of Cecil B. DeMille.
Twenty years ago, Mira Sorvino leased a Hollywood Hills home at $7,500 a month while in town to start filming the action thriller “The Replacement Killers.” The gated house had three bedrooms in about 3,000 square feet.
What we’re reading
— What housing trends can we expect this year? Here’s one answer, according to Mark Spain’s real estate blog: Values and interest rates should gradually rise, millennials and baby boomers will steer the market, there will be fewer homes for sale, and consumer confidence will boost sales. And watch for increased movement to the suburbs.
— It’s hard for Southern Californians to imagine prices like this, but a vintage home in Detroit’s Boston Edison area just went for $194,000. The 3,500-square-foot house is full of original details such as a grand staircase and tile fountain. Sure, it’s a fixer, but as Curbed Detroit notes: “They don’t make houses like this anymore.”
— God bless Estately. No matter what chaos the world is in, the dot-com’s eagle-eyed staff is always on alert. Here’s a Collinwood, Tenn., property for sale with a little something extra. (Sasquatch not included.)
— ICYMI: Home shoppers take note. If you’re launching your spring buying search, here’s a tongue-in-cheek pick-me-up from the ever-satirical Onion on how to get started. Among the tips: “Before meeting with a real estate agent, make a list of nonnegotiable features like walk-in humidor and retractable roof.”
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