Celebrities don't just spend liberally on the design of their homes: They also spend significant sums of money on raw real estate, which may or may not last in their portfolio of homes. It's common for a celebrity to buy a home for several million dollars and upgrade a few years later to something more expensive. In comparison, according to the Federal Reserve, home ownership turnover for the average America is less than 10% annually.
Sometimes celebrities do decide to just stay put--in which case, they're like to gobble up the neighboring properties until their once-modest single-family home has been inflated into a gigantic estate, eating up several plots of land. Radio-show host Rush Limbaugh, for example, who made our list as the 20th most powerful celebrity, started collecting the real estate surrounding his West Palm Beach, Fla., house in 1996, and now he reportedly has amassed five lots, which collectively are appraised at upwards of $26 million.
Other celebrities start out big and live within their confines. Michael Jordan bought his Highland Park, Ill., mansion in 1999--his custom-built house is 25,000 square feet, with a basement theater and putting green--and he still hasn't grown out of it yet.
Every celebrity has different needs in different parts of the country. Billionaire Oprah Winfrey, who paid $50 million for an estate in Montecito, Calif., that wasn't even for sale, also has property in Hawaii and Chicago; until recently, she kept a home in Indiana as well, but it is currently on the market. When not on the road for her Fox (nyse: FOX - news - people ) television show The Simple Life, 23-year-old socialite Paris Hilton lives in a mansion while in California, but when in New York, she stays at her family's apartment in the Waldorf-Astoria hotel--which is owned by Hilton Hotels (nyse: HLT - news - people ), the company founded by Paris' great-grandfather Conrad Hilton in 1925.
50 Million an Oprah Estate
Blink-182’s Tom DeLonge lists his house in Rancho Santa Fe, CA for $6.25M or $6.295M, depending upon whom you ask
Singer/musician Tom DeLonge of Blink-182 has listed his house in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. for $6,250,000 or $6,295,000, depending upon which source one consults.
Although we have never written about DeLonge on this blog, we have avidly followed his real-estate transactions for many years. Few celebrities have bought or sold more real estate over the last decade than DeLonge (Nic Cage, Billy Joel, Ellen DeGeneres and Kelsey Grammer all come to mind). And those who have bought or sold more tend to do so all around the country (maybe with the exception of Joel); DeLonge concentrates his buying and selling largely in San Diego County.
As for the house he is selling, records show that DeLonge paid $5,500,000 in March 2005 for the house through his Chloe Grey Trust (sometimes also shown as Grey Chloe Trust), according to public records.
The Wall Street Journal today (link not yet available online) reported on DeLonge’s listing of the house, which is at 18433 Via Candela in Rancho Santa Fe.
Built in 2003, DeLonge’s house has 6,183 square feet, according to public records, or 6,500 square feet, according to listing information and the Journal. Features in the four-bedroom, U-shaped house include six baths, walls of glass that disappear into pockets, open and airy indoor/outdoor living spaces, a courtyard with an outdoor sound system, a master suite with golf and mountain views and a casual limestone spa bath, cherry wood ceilings throughout, sophisticated art lighting, secondary bedroom suites that open to their own private gardens, an attached guest house, and an executive office with seamless glass doors and a private hobby room/retreat, according to listing information.
The property measures 1.5 acres, according to one online listing sheet, and 1.1 acres, according to another. Public records show that DeLonge owns two adjacent parcels, which might explain the discrepancy.
As for the listing price, the online listing sheet says it’s on the market for $6,295,000, while the Journal reported today that it’s listed for $6,250,000. >sources:http://www.bergproperties.com
Tastes of Celebrities in Homes
Famous people, either actors of stage or film, musicians or politicians, buy real estate for themselves or to own as investments. Celebrities have various tastes when it comes to real estate just like any other person but the difference is the spotlight. Therefore, some of the foibles witnessed by real estate agents have to be dealt with in discretion. The biggest real estate markets are Los Angeles, New York and London.
Some of these skills needed for discretion include the ability to get away from paparazzi as well as excellent knowledge of sophisticated security systems. This is because of security and safety but also because there are numerous blogs, some receiving as much as 300,000 page hits per day, and newspaper columns devoted to celebrity real estate dealings. Society loves to read of celebrities and where they live, what they live like and whom they are living with. The public likes to read about people who live in a fantasyland of excess and privilege.
Celebrities regularly use trusts or façade companies to mask their transactions. They carry out business in a different way from regular citizens. Many of them like the idea of shopping without actually buying anything. Security features such as high walls, sophisticated intruder-trigger alarm systems are what celebrities prefer. Buyers have to sign privacy agreements to look at any property linked to a celebrity, and that did not happen ten years ago.
Real estate agents who deal in the luxury markets rarely meet their celebrity clients until the deal is almost done, using assistants for the actual work. Celebrities also seek after anonymity because details of their net worth are readily available and it becomes a distinct disadvantage when negotiating the price of a property. Some celebrities buy property based on who owned the property prior, but most go for the value it adds to their investments instead. Some properties sell well when potential buyers know who the celebrity owner is and others do not, depending on the buzz the particular celebrity is carrying at the time.
By far the most important skill for a real estate broker to possess is a network of serious connections, being able to get business from a very choosy clientele is not easy. The way is smoothed over by whom you know. It is believed that entry-level houses that are deemed fit for an A-list celebrity costs about 1.4 million dollars. >sources:http://activerain.com