Newsletter: Hot Property: Whatever the season
Baseball, basketball, football? Professional sports figures account for a fair chunk of the notable names to make this week’s roundup. But there are also some things for music lovers and that rare bird — the weather geek.
Once you’re done checking out these star-studded transactions, 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 deal.
– Neal J. Leitereg and Lauren Beale
Parting ways with marital home
The Hollywood Hills West home of Melanie Brown — the singer-songwriter known as Mel B and Scary Spice from her days with the Spice Girls — and her estranged husband, producer Stephen Belafonte, has come on the market for $8.995 million.
The contemporary-style home, built in 1928 and renovated last year, has walls of windows on four floors that take in views of downtown L.A. The interiors were reworked to create open-plan spaces and bring in natural light.
Within the 6,000 square feet of living space are a living room, a bar room, a recording studio, a theater and a gym. The master suite occupies the top floor and has dual walk-in closets and bathrooms. There are four bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms in all.
Terraces and balconies off each level overlook the swimming pool and spa.
The property is being marketed fully furnished with custom furniture.
Not on a backstreet
Singer-songwriter Nick Carter of Backstreet Boys fame has sold his home in the gated equestrian community of Hidden Hills for $4.075 million. It is reached by a private road.
The knoll-top estate includes a Traditional-style home and a newly built guesthouse. A chicken coop on the acre-plus property was built to resemble the main house.
The two-story home, built in 1956 and recently updated, features wide-plank hardwood floors, beamed ceilings and marble countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms. Living spaces include an open-plan great room, a den/office and a game/family room with an aquarium.
Carter, 37, has released eight studio albums with the Backstreet Boys as well as three solo albums. Among the vocal group’s hits are “I Want It That Way,” “Everybody” and “Shape of My Heart.”
A pop fly of sorts in Poway
Atlanta Braves outfielder Matt Kemp is hoping to complete a play in Poway, where he has put his mansion up for auction.
The estate, which had been on the market for $11.5 million, will be on the block on April 20 without a reserve price.
The property includes a 15,884-square-foot main house, a tennis court and an infinity-edge swimming pool on about 4 acres of grounds. There’s also a separate pool/guest house with a gym and a spa.
Among features are a cigar lounge with a humidor, a 1,200-bottle wine cellar with a tasting room and a custom home theater outfitted with tiered seating and a snack bar.
The onetime Dodgers player, 32, was traded by the Padres to the Braves last season and finished the season with 35 home runs and 108 RBIs in 156 games.
Hawk lands Tarzana home
Former Lakers center Dwight Howard, now with the Atlanta Hawks, has bought a home in Tarzana for just over $1.75 million.
Tucked behind a white picket fence, the updated 1950s Traditional has picture windows and half-circle clerestory windows that take in garden views.
The house features a center island kitchen, a living room, a family room, six bedrooms and 3.75 bathrooms in more than 4,200 square feet of living space. French doors open to a covered patio for outdoor living and entertaining.
Hedges and bamboo surround an oval-shaped swimming pool with a grotto-style spa in the backyard.
Howard, 31, joined the Hawks as a free agent before this offseason on a three-year, $70.5-million contract.
Weathering a home sale
Local meteorologist Dallas Raines has sold his Pasadena house for $3.3 million – some $5,000 over the asking price.
Built in 2007, the gated two-story sits on a hillside lot of more than an acre. Panoramic mountain and valley views kept him in constant contact with the weather situation.
Glass doors off the living areas open to a swimming pool and spa. Elsewhere on the grounds are a putting green, a sports court, a fire pit and a pool house with a kitchenette.
The KABC-TV staple bought the property in 2008 for $2.9 million
Coach camps out in Encino
Sean McVay, the new head coach of the Los Angeles Rams, has bought a home in Encino for $2.71 million.
Set on a corner lot, the contemporary-style home was designed for indoor-outdoor entertaining and features glass pocket doors, a swimming pool and a covered patio.
Inside the roughly 4,700 square feet of open-concept living space are a kitchen with an eight-foot-long island, a great room, a dining room, six bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms. There’s also a three-car garage.
McVay, 31, became the youngest head coach in NFL history in January when he was hired by the Rams.
His favorite room
Real estate entrepreneur and “The Deed: Chicago” co-host Sean Conlon lives in what amounts to an upscale treehouse above Malibu’s Broad Beach. His favorite room in the three-bedroom Harry Gesner-designed home is the cavernous living room. He created the “cathedral to the ocean” by taking down walls and combining six rooms into one.
The TV personality tore down walls to create a massive living room.
From the archives
Ten years ago, rap star Kanye West bought a Beverly Hills home for close to $7.2 million. The two-story house was built in 1921.
Ten years ago, Johnny Carson’s Malibu home of more than two decades sold for $38 million. The former “Tonight Show” host, who died in 2005 at age 79, bought the home on Point Dume in late 1984 for nearly its $9.5-million asking price, including furnishings.
Twenty years ago, singer Barbra Streisand put her Holmby Hills home of 18 years on the market at $7.5 million. The walled and gated Mediterranean-style home had five bedrooms, seven baths and 9,500 square feet of living space.
What we’re reading
Palm Springs golf course communities have long been popular because they include large expanses of open space. Now, area developers and builders are betting that home buyers will be just as happy with parks, reports Rosalie Murphy of the Desert Sun.
Why wouldn’t a president live in the official residence? Brazilian President Michel Temer found he wasn’t able to sleep well in his modernist palace. Designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer in the 1950s, the place includes a swimming pool, a chapel, a heliport and, apparently, evil spirits.
Do you ever feel the need to get away, leave it all behind and commune with nature? Check out this living option in Fernwood, Idaho, from Estately.com. Yes, that’s a fire tower. Yes, that’s an outhouse. Yes, the size is 196 square feet. But the price is only $67,000.
