Hot Property newsletter: Big finishes in the L.A. housing market
The active real estate market in Southern California made it possible for some celebrities to wrap up their old business and leave it behind in 2020. Among recent sellers are a high-profile billionaire, a Laker and a “Game of Thrones” star.
Our Home of the Week is a ranch-style house in Bel-Air. Offered at $3.3 million, the 1950s home has 3,410 square feet of living space accented by wood, brick and stone on a single story. It’s set on a leafy half-acre with an irregular-shaped swimming pool.
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— Jack Flemming and Lauren Beale
Tycoon cleans house
True to his word, Elon Musk is well on his way to owning no house. The tech billionaire ended 2020 with a selling spree, unloading three adjacent homes in a Bel-Air cul-de-sac for a combined $40.9 million a few days before Christmas.
Musk’s home-selling saga started in May, when the Tesla and SpaceX CEO tweeted that he planned to sell almost all physical possessions, including his handful of L.A. homes. The 49-year-old billionaire doubled down in December, moving to Texas and criticizing California on his way out.
The largest of the three homes sold at the holidays traded hands for $29.72 million — about $5.5 million more than Musk paid for the 9,309-square-foot modern mansion on 1.5 acres in 2016.
Across the street, the second-largest home (at 3,943 square feet) sold for $6.77 million — or roughly $375,000 more than Musk paid in 2019. The third went for $4.43 million.
Big man scores a buyer
Anthony Davis is making moves on and off the court this season. The Lakers big man, who inked a five-year deal worth $190 million with the team in December, has sold his Westlake Village mansion for $6.6 million.
The Mediterranean mansion has everything the seven-time all-star could have needed. In addition to a movie theater, library and gym, there’s a full-size indoor basketball court with a scoreboard, skylights and a viewing box. A deck outside the court features a pair of slides that feed into a resort-style swimming pool.
Spanning 2.33 acres, the estate offers plenty of privacy tucked behind gates within a guarded community. Between the main house and guesthouse, there’s nearly 16,000 square feet of living space with five bedrooms and eight bathrooms.
Davis, 27, was acquired by the Lakers in 2019. He helped lead the Lakers to their first NBA title in a decade in October.
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TV royal leaves her fiefdom
Emilia Clarke’s Venice home — a stunning architectural showplace fit for her royal character on “Game of Thrones” — just sold for $4.4 million.
The one-of-a-kind retreat feels much more inviting than the Iron Throne, with an eye-catching design combining warm woods, polished concrete and glass walls.
A floating staircase navigates the long, slender floor plan, which has two bedrooms and three bathrooms in 2,817 square feet. The primary bedroom suite, complete with a massive walk-in closet and spa bathroom, overlooks the leafy backyard and swimming pool.
Clarke rose to fame as Daenerys Targaryen in the HBO fantasy show “Game of Thrones” — a role that landed her four Primetime Emmy nominations. More recently, the 34-year-old starred in “Terminator Genisys,” “Last Christmas” and “Solo: A Star Wars Story.”
That’s so East Hollywood
Raven-Symoné, star of the supernatural sitcom “That’s So Raven,” has paid $940,000 for a remodeled town house in East Hollywood.
The living room features a built-in wine cooler, and the chic kitchen has gleaming tile floors, stainless-steel appliances, marble backsplashes and a breakfast bar.
Entered through either a courtyard or the two-car garage, the four-bedroom 2,327-square-foot unit features a gated driveway and multiple private outdoor spaces. A den leads to all four bedrooms upstairs.
The singer-actress has been on TV since she was a child, appearing in “The Cosby Show” and “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper.” The 35-year-old has released four studio albums.
From the archives
Thirty years ago, William Peter Blatty, author-producer-director of “The Exorcist,” closed escrow on a 6,000-square-foot San Fernando Valley home. He paid $2 million for the three-acre property with the intention of expanding the existing house. Blatty also had a home in Connecticut.
Twenty years ago, actor Eddie Murphy purchased a 2.5-acre lot in the Beverly Hills area with plans to build a home. The land was in a gated community, where lots for sale were priced between $8.5 million and $10 million.
Ten years ago, actor Frankie Muniz put a Hollywood Hills-area house on the market for $3.195 million. He bought the 4,200-square-foot house in 2006 for $3.499 million and had been leasing it out in recent years.
What we’re reading
There was a lot of ranking of “the celebrity homes of 2020” the last couple weeks. Here’s a peek at a few:
The Orlando Sentinel narrowed their picks to the “top” three homes purchases by A-listers. They included LeBron James’ $37-million Beverly Hills buy, Justin Bieber and Haley Baldwin’s $25.8-million scoop-up in Beverly Park and J.Lo and A-Rod’s $32.5-million purchase of a modern mansion on Florida’s Star Island.
Meanwhile, the Orlando Business Journal focused on Orlando market movers and shakers including NBA legend Shaq, who listed a Windermere mansion with an indoor basketball court at $19.5 million in September; Magic guard Evan Fournier, who popped a Winter Park home on the market last month for $3.19 million; and ESPN analyst Lou Holtz, who listed his cigar-room outfitted Lake Nona home in September for $4.5 million.
Also sticking to local celebrity deals, the Dallas Morning News offered five picks. Particularly eye-catching was the home of “The Real Housewives of Dallas” star Kameron Westcott. The five-bedroom features an all-pink office as well as pink accents in other rooms.
