You might think Ellen DeGeneres would be busy enough with her daily talk show but no…DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi have bought and sold $76M in Sothern California real estate during this last year alone.
Most recently, DeGeneres and de Rossi sold their nearly 17-acre estate in Montecito for $34M to Netflix executive Ted Sarandos and his wife Nicole Avant in an off-market transaction. Even though DeGeneres and di Rossi had originally listed this property for $45M, they still made $11M on the deal…they had bought it in 2013 for $26.5M
Noted architect Wallace Frost designed this Tuscan-style villa in the 1930’s. DeGeneres and De Rossi enhanced the property’s red-tile roof, rustic stone interiors, exposed ceiling beams, surrounding stone terraces and walkways with two pools, a tennis court and entertainment pavilion. Sarandos and Avanti bought the home through a trust under which they sold their Malibu home in May for $21.25M.
Almost within the same breath, DeGeneres and de Rossi sold another Montecito home for $11M just months after buying it, sold a two-bedroom condominium last fall for $5.85M and purchased an $18.6M beach home in October 2017.
When recently asked about her penchant and passion for buying and selling real estate, DeGeneres answered People magazine by saying, “If you think of your home as a canvas – regardless of its style of architecture – you can put anything on it. I tend to keep painting the painting until it’s done…there’s nothing left to do…that’s when I sell the canvas and buy a new one.”
Here are just some of DeGeneres and diRossi’s transactions:
Now Ryan Seacrest’s: bought in 9/07 for $29M; sold in 2012 for $37M.
Bought one house twice: bought for $6.5M in 2005; sold in 2007 for $10M; bought in 2016 for $8.75M; sold for $9.9M.
Hidden Valley Ranch: bought in 2008 for $8.5M; sold in 2013 for $10.85M.
Brad Pitt’s old beach house: bought in 12/11 for $12M; sold in 6/12 for $13M.
Trousdale House: bought in 5/12 for $17.4M; sold in 12/13 for $20M.
Brody House: bought in 1/14 for $40M; sold 6/14 for $55M.
Not all of DeGeneres and diRossi’s real estate ventures are profitable but you can see by the above that most are. Clearly the adjectives “busy” and “fast” apply to these luxury flippers.
