Newsletter: Hot Property: Many roads lead to fame
It’s not just a face on the screen that makes one famous. This week’s offerings include big-name home buyers and sellers from many walks of life: radio, television, fashion and more.
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
Rome’s ears are burning
Yes, we’re talking about sports radio host Jim Rome. He just sold his home in Irvine for $12.5 million; that’s a record for the Orange County community.
The roughly one-acre property takes in city, golf course and mountain views and includes a villa of 12,300 square feet, an attached pavilion and a saltwater swimming pool.
The three-story house, built for Rome in 2007, features an elevator, a wine cellar and a wood-paneled lounge that contains a game room, a gym and a speakeasy-style bar.
The master retreat, with chandelier-topped soaking tub, is one of six bedrooms and 8.5 bathrooms.
The sale bests the previous price record for a single-family home in Irvine. That record was set by another Shady Canyon estate, which changed hands in 2009 for $10 million.
Now that’s a sweet commute
USC athletic director and football great Lynn Swann has bought a home in historic Hancock Park for $3.08 million.
There’s nothing old about the place, however. The contemporary two-story, built in 2014, sits on a narrow lot about six miles from the USC campus.
Some 4,350 square feet of open-plan living space includes living and dining rooms, a center-island kitchen, five bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms. There’s a swimming pool to boot.
Swann was a standout wide receiver at USC and went on to win four Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Birds of a feather
You know how these things go in Hollywood — a lot of the luxury properties tend to “stay in the business.” Film producer Gianni Nunnari has sold actor Bruce Willis’ one-time oceanfront home in a guard-gated Malibu community for $10.377 million.
Sitting on 50 feet of frontage in Malibu Colony, where stars retreat to their second homes, the place was owned by Willis more than a decade ago.
The house, built in 1988 and since updated, features expansive ocean views through walls of glass and 4,640 square feet of living space on multiple levels. Terraces take in ocean views through transparent guardrails. There’s a gym with a sauna.
She makes her own news
Lisa Breckenridge, long a staple on L.A.’s television news scene, and her husband, talent agent Andy Cohen, have listed their home in Pacific Palisades at $4.195 million.
The traditional-style house, built in 2008, has shingle siding, white trim and a balcony above the garage. White picket fencing and a gated arbor enclose a small lawn in the front.
Outdoors, there’s a swimming pool and spa, a fire pit and a lounge. A rooftop deck takes in canyon and ocean views.
Breckenridge joined KTTV FOX 11 in 1999 and was a reporter on “Good Day L.A.” and an anchor on “News at Noon.” In January, she was reportedly let go from the station as part of a restructuring.
Home as fashion statement
Fashion designer Jeremy Scott has listed his home in the Outpost Estates area of the Hollywood Hills for sale at $1.875 million.
The multilevel house, which underwent a makeover during his ownership, seems appropriate for a designer whose street-style often incorporates elements of pop culture. The offbeat house blends traditional, Art Deco and contemporary styles.
Tucked behind walls and gates, the home is entered through a broad front door with a center knob. Inside, ebony hardwood floors, gallery walls and subdued accent walls set an elegant tone.
The 2,160 square feet of living space includes a living room with a fireplace, a dining room, a bar, three bedrooms and three bathrooms.
Manly, yes, but …
We couldn’t get enough of this Wyoming ranch once owned by “Gunsmoke” writer Ron Bishop. Talk about an awe-inspiring setting.
Four Bear Ranch, a 1,246-acre mountain retreat and hunting property, is for sale in Cody for $7.95 million. If you can put a price on night skies and mountain vistas, this seems like a bargain.
Set within a basin adjoining the Shoshone National Forest, the ranch has literary ties that precede Bishop’s ownership. Author Ernest Hemingway purportedly visited the ranch on a number of occasions.
There’s a 6,800-square-foot main residence, a caretaker’s house, a log-style dance hall/saloon and a steel barn, among the other structures. Seriously, click through the gallery.
Her favorite room
German actress Veronica Ferres, who was in the 2016 thriller “Salt and Fire,” lives with her husband and two children in a five-bedroom home in Beverly Hills. Her favorite room is the living room, from which she can see across the open floor plan to her bedroom, the kitchen, the pool, the wine cellar and outside from Santa Monica to downtown Los Angeles.
Actress Veronica Ferres in her Beverly Hills living room.
From the archives
Ten years ago, Emmy winner Brad Garrett of “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “’Til Death” fame put his Hidden Hills home on the market at $9.495 million. The 10,300-square-foot French Country compound contained six bedrooms in a main and guest house.
Twenty years ago, sitcom star Roseanne Barr sold her Brentwood home for just under $2.3 million. The home was part of a two-house compound created by the Emmy-winning actress in May 1994. She sold the other house a year before for about $3.5 million.
What we’re reading
Leave it to the boomers to redefine downscaling. Real estate professionals are seeing more wealthy SoCal retirees go from extravagant estates to town houses and condos that are nearly as tricked-out. The properties — many of them larger than 3,000 square feet — cost millions of dollars.
It’s a boat, it’s a house, it’s a houseboat. The onetime residence of the late poet Shel Silverstein is for sale in Sausalito at $390,000. The former military vessel has one bedroom and one bathroom. Details include arched and stained-glass windows.
ICYMI: Millennial-aged flippers are finding a niche within the millennial housing market. These flipsters, or hipsters who flip homes, know what other hipsters like best, said Paul Habibi, a professor at UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate.
