Hot Property: One for the home team
Hockey, baseball and basketball players tend to move around a lot, so there’s never a shortage of real estate activity off the field or court.
We’ve loaded this week’s collection with sports stars. For local flavor, there’s a Kings player looking to drop his custom digs in the beach cities. But our sports heroes are also far-flung, with properties in such locales as Colorado and Florida.
For a look inside an 8,300-square-foot luxury home in Hollywood Hills, check out this video of our Home of the Week from Fox 11. Listed at nearly $20 million, the polished contemporary features a river-like water element, floor-to-ceiling glass and slabs of marble.
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. That’s also a great place to leave us a tip about a celebrity home sale.
– Neal J. Leitereg and Lauren Beale
Old money, new owner
Out of the gate, however, we’re starting with a mega deal in Holmby Hills. A mansion there owned by the late Elizabeth Keck, the former wife of Standard Oil Co. heir Howard B. Keck, has sold for $20.75 million.
Set behind gates and hedges, the neoclassical villa opens to a marble-lined foyer anchored by a curving staircase. Beyond the entry is a receiving room that opens to a living room with a fireplace.
A library, an office, a formal dining room, a lower-level family room, six bedrooms and nine bathrooms also lie within more than 10,000 square feet of refined living space.
An additional two bedrooms are in the guest house, which sits across from the swimming pool. Fountains, reflecting pools and specimen trees complete the manicured grounds.
Elizabeth Keck, who died last year at 96, appeared in a handful of films in the late 1940s under the stage name Bettye Avery.
A goal in mind
Kings player Dustin Brown and his wife, Nicole, have put their home in the Manhattan Beach area up for sale at $6.999 million.
Custom-built for Brown and his family four years ago, the East Coast-vibe Traditional is full of character and color. A custom mudroom scores style points with a row of lockers.
The 6,450 square feet of interior space also includes a movie theater, a game room, a sitting room, six bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms.
Among outdoor amenities are patio space and a swimming pool.
Brown, 33, has spent his entire 11-year career with the Kings since joining the team as a first-round draft pick in 2003.
East Coast vibe for rapper
Grammy-winning rapper Erik Schrody, better known as Everlast, has sold a Corona home for $1.13 million.
Clad in shingles and painted blue with white trim, the Traditional-style house has an East Coast ambiance. The 5,307 square feet of living space features a wrought iron and wood spiraling staircase, high ceilings and crown molding.
The two-story home was built in 2005 and sits on about a quarter of an acre. It has five bedrooms and six bathrooms. A saline swimming pool and spa sit in the back yard.
Schrody, 48, is the front man for House of Pain. He won a Grammy, along with Carlos Santana, for “Put Your Lights On.”
Baseball hero is out … of his house
Former pro baseball player Todd Helton has sold his place in Brighton, Colo., for $1.8 million. The community is about 21 miles from Denver’s Coors Field.
Set on 2.13 acres, the stone-clad Tuscan-style house has 10,560 square feet of living space. Two theaters, entertaining space and an enclosed sunroom are among the rooms. There’s a main floor master suite for a total of four bedrooms and eight bathrooms.
A state-of-the-art gym overlooks a swimming pool and spa.
Helton, 44, played for the Colorado Rockies for 17 years – his entire Major League Baseball career. The three-time Golden Glove Award winner retired from the sport in 2013.
Goodbye tee times
Pro basketball player and former Clipper Mo Speights has parted with a house he owned in Oldsmar, Fla., for $710,000.
The five-bedroom, four-bathroom home has a Mediterranean vibe and came with optional membership in two championship golf courses.
The kitchen features stainless-steel appliances, a prep island, granite countertops and enough bar seating to accommodate an entire infield. At the back of the 4,036-square-foot house is a screened-in lanai with a swimming pool and a spa.
Speights, whose real first name is Marreese, is a center/power forward for the Orlando Magic. The 30-year-old also has played for the Philadelphia 76ers, the Memphis Grizzlies, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Her favorite room
News anchor Natalie Morales fell in love with the kitchen of her Brentwood home just by looking at photos. “When I saw this kitchen, the tiles and the giant island, I was sold right away,” said the West Coast anchor of NBC’s “Today” show and host of the entertainment show “Access.” Since moving into the 6,500-square-foot home, the spacious, sky-toned kitchen has become the stage for her culinary self-discovery.
“I’m not one of those people where everything has to be perfect and in its place. I think that’s when you really feel like it’s a comfortable house,” Morales says.
From the archives
Ten years ago, country music’s Kenny Chesney listed a house in the Carbon Canyon neighborhood of Malibu for $7.95 million. He had just purchased it two months earlier for $7.4 million.
Twenty years ago, soul singer Gladys Knight, of the family singing group the Pips, sold her home in Chatsworth for $435,000. Built in 1979, the house had five bedrooms in just under 3,000 square feet, a half-acre of land and a tennis court.
What we’re reading
The oceanfront Fire Island, N.Y., home featured in the 1984 movie “Garbo Talks” is for sale at $2.385 million, reports Newsday. The four-bedroom home was used as the beach house of actress Greta Garbo in the movie.
Although owning a live-in treehouse may be a little extreme for some, renting one is very doable. Sonoma Magazine features five custom tree homes that are available to those wanting to give it a try. Locations include Petaluma, Glen Ellen, Healdsburg, Monte Rio and Salmon Creek.
From the “easy work if you can get it” department: The typical San Francisco or San Jose home earns more money per hour than actual human beings working average jobs in most of the country, according to real estate site Zillow. How do they do that? Curbed San Francisco explains they simply sit there and appreciate at a higher rate.
