Sunday, August 30, 2015

Live Like A Hedge Fund Billionaire On This $55 Million 23-Acre Equestrian East Hampton Estate


Live Like A Hedge Fund Billionaire On This $55 Million 23-Acre Equestrian East Hampton

Have a large family? The kind with siblings and their spouses and kids, who somehow always expect you to do the entertaining? Then this 23-acre East Hampton estate is worth a look — or two or three — for $55 million.

You might need a horse just to get around the property, which was assembled from 11 parcels just minutes away from East Hampton Village. A quick arial view reveals a sprawling English County manor home, three guest cottages — one with its own pool — and a barn, plus horse stables with paddocks and riding fields.

The main house has an unbelievable 18,000 square feet of living space under one roof, and offers 12 bedrooms, a dozen full baths, and four partial bathrooms, according to a listing from Sotheby's International Realty. The 3,500-square-foot lower level of the main house has plenty of resort-like amenities, including a sunken spa, sauna, steam room, massage room, and a fully equipped gym. The design of the house was apparently inspired by England's Cotswolds region, with its rolling verdant hills and quaint villages of stone cottages and neat, cobblestone warrens. We're not sure if the property comes complete with Hagrid or Bilbo Baggins, but there are loads of other unique and charming elements.









The main house has an inviting patio, with an outdoor fireplace to ward away chills while talking through the evening. Apparently, it is one of nine outdoor fireplaces throughout the main house and guest cottages. One guest house has six bedrooms, a heated saltwater pool with underwater music, and bluestone terraces. If guests are up for breaking a sweat, they can challenge each other to a few sets on the tennis court.

If this sounds more like a compound to you, then maybe you can apply a little design ingenuity to develop other structures and features on the estate. After all, the property has zoning flexibility.

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Zooey Deschanel Selling 1930s Ranch in the Hollywood Hills


Zooey Deschanel Selling 1930s Ranch in the Hollywood Hills





Sitcom star Zooey Deschanel is selling her 1930s ranch in the Hollywood Hills for $2.195 million, so let’s take a look at it and the new place she’s moving to…


Here’s the front of the house, which doesn’t make much of an impression behind all those trees…





Inside it has vaulted, beamed ceilings in the living room:





Zooey bought the house from actor Mark Ruffalo in 2009 and reportedly paid $1.65 million at the time.





A bathroom with a marble tub:





There’s a sunroom off this den, if you look to the right:








The house was built in 1933 and has 2,957 square feet, 3 bedrooms, and 3.5 bathrooms.





Is that the famous Jackie O. photograph by Ron Galella hanging over the fireplace? Looks like it!





The dining room has the original built-ins and arched doorways…





The kitchen has blue cabinets, blue and white tile, and brass accents that are very on trend:








For more photos and information, you can read the article about her house in Variety and check the Westside Estate Agency listing.





The “New Girl” star is expecting a baby with producer Jacob Pechenik. Even though her show is kind of all over the place (I could swear they’re making it up as they go sometimes), I get a kick out of it, so I was happy to hear it’s been renewed for a 5th season.





Here’s the house Zooey just bought and is moving to, which is a lot newer (she’ll be the first owner), is much bigger (with 6 bedrooms and over 5,100 square feet), and cost twice as much (she reportedly paid around $4.5 million):





Her new white kitchen is nice, of course, but I thought the blue one was more interesting:





The Real Estalker described it as a “quasi-Cape Cod/Colonial-style home in the low-key but high-cost community of Manhattan Beach.”





When it was reported that she bought this new house, some sites mentioned that it doesn’t fit her “adorkable” image. She responded that she doesn’t think she’s adorkable — that’s just the character she (convincingly) plays on TV.





You can see the rest of the new place on Curbed.





Okay, I’ve been told I need to post a larger photo at the end of posts that you guys can pin to Pinterest. Here ya go!




Sunday, August 16, 2015

Robert De Niro buys Manhattan penthouse for $2.85 million


Robert De Niro buys Manhattan penthouse for $2.85 million


You talkin’ to me? Maybe not.


Although actor Robert De Niro paid $2.85 million for a penthouse loft in the West Village this fall, it’s probably not his pad. The good fella' appears to have bought it for his daughter, Drena De Niro, whose name is also listed on the property. He adopted Drena when he was married to her mother in the 1970s.


Courtesy of Zillow




The two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath penthouse features high-beamed ceilings, hardwood and slate floors and panoramic views of the city and the Hudson River. The living room includes a bar and a wood-burning fireplace with a marble hearth, and the master bedroom has a wall of windows facing east.


Courtesy of Zillow




De Niro lived in a nearby West Village apartment for more than 30 years before spending $20.9 million on an uptown triplex by Central Park in 2006. It was damaged by a fire in 2012, and he and wife Grace Hightower have reportedly been renting another apartment along Central Park while it’s being renovated.


Courtesy of Zillow




The actor also owns property in the upstate town of Gardiner, where folks were a little bit insulted by a tax fight that he recently dropped.

Sunday, August 9, 2015

Luxury Villas Worldwide - Hand-Picked Luxury Villa Rentals‎


Top 10 Luxury Villas of the World
Billionaire’s luxury homes around the world seem to defy the economic crisis and sometimes even gravitation.


Celebrity homes are like museums: filled with precious items and too big to walk around by yourself and risk to get lost. Some of them even borrowed architectural symbols from world-famous museums like the Versailles Palace.

1. Antilla, Mumbai – The Most Expensive Villa In The World

The Hirsch Bedner Associates company is behind this tower-villa worth about $2 billion. The building belongs to a mogul – not at all a surprise – who is also the world’s fifth richest man, Mukesh Ambani. The mogul’s fortune reaches $43 billion, and it seems that he will have to spend a little more of it on his private sky-scraper, as the building is not yet finished.

2. Villa Leopolda, France



Imagine a property so vast that 50 gardeners are needed daily to work on it full time. And we didn’t even mention housekeepers and cooks. This is Villa Leopolda and we can’t imagine how much money is spent monthly on maintenance alone.

The house was built in 1902 for King Leopold II of Belgium, and it’s worth about $750 million. You can find it in Villefranche-sur-Mer.

3. Hearst Residence, Beverly Hills





One of the most expensive estates in the States is the Hearst Residence, a mansion which was put up for sale for $165 million. This is even more impressive when you find out that is first owner, William Randolph Hearst bought it in 1947 for only $120,000. The villa has 29 bedrooms, its own tennis court, three pools, a night club, a cinema and many more.

4. Updown Court, Great Britain




The $150 million palace is the most important construction erected in England form the 19th century to this day. Some of the most popular celebrities in the world live near this mansion, among them Elton John and even the Queen herself. 25 miles away from London, the villa has 103 bedrooms, a garage for 8 limousines, 5 pools and its mosaic floor is plated in 24K gold.

5. The Manalapan Residence




What makes the $135 million villa even more alluring is its setting: next to the Atlantic Ocean. It has 14 bedrooms, 24 bathrooms – you surely won’t have to wait for your turn in the morning there – a garage that can accommodate 18 cars, its own casino, theatre, club and many more.

6. The Manor, Los Angeles




It was built in 1991 for the late film director, Aaron Spelling. In 2007, when Spelling’s wife put the house up for sale, the most expensive villa in America was Fleur De Lys, but The Manor took over with its even heftier price. The 123 rooms mansion is truly impressive, and we’ve only seen the pictures.

7. Fleur De Lys, Beverly Hills




The palace now belongs to Mariah Carrey. She paid $125 million for it, but it was worth all the money. The beautiful immense gardens and a unique architecture make this luxury villa a true dream house. We mentioned the Versailles museum as an architectural inspiration for deluxe mansions. Well, this is what we were talking about right here: the amazing Fleur De Lys.

8. Versailles, Florida




The building is only three years old and it is not yet finalized. It was built at the request of billionaire David Siegel, and it is said to be the largest private residence ever built in the United States. At this moment the villa can be sold for “only” $75 million, as it is not yet finished. But specialists estimate that the work could be completed in about 18 months with an investment of another $25 million.

9. Acqua Liana, Florida




Frank McKinney is the name of the artist who owns this mansion. He was impressed and inspired by his travels in Hawaii, Tahiti, Bali and Fiji, and he decided he wanted a house that would resemble what he saw there. The villa has 7 rooms, a spa with a waterfall and a private bar with an immense aquarium.

10. Barbie Malibu Mansion




This is actually a full-size Barbie house! The concept alone is worth a lot of money, and we actually like the idea. Of course some might find it too pink, but we think it’s fun! The whole thing was a 50th anniversary present, designed to celebrate the launch of the famous doll, half a century ago. And of course, there also is a Barbie Museum there with vintage dolls and accessories to amaze the public.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Inside Billionaire Bronfman's Fifth Ave. Penthouse, Asking $65M








After a month of waiting, the listing for the penthouse that belonged to the late billionaire Edgar Bronfman, Sr. finally went live with just a floorplan, and now we have interior images to go with it (h/t Real Estalker). The sprawling 16-room abode at 960 Fifth Avenue is being sold by the family of Bronfman, former chairman of the Seagram Co. and president of the World Jewish Congress, who died last December. It's listed for a whopping $65 million, and while the massive wraparound terrace elicited some praise when the floorplan was first revealed, the interior images are decidedly less impressive. The decor is dated (unsurprising, since Bronfman lived here for 40 years), but it's easy to see that the co-op's prewar details have been nicely maintained. In addition to the terrace—which is sadly not pictured—the place has four staff rooms, a library, 8.5 bathrooms, and five fireplaces. The floorplan also shows a built-in safe and two cedar walk-in closets.







Saturday, August 1, 2015

Jennifer Lopez's Amazing New N.Y.C. Penthouse (PHOTOS)


Jennifer Lopez's Amazing New N.Y.C. Penthouse (PHOTOS)






Jennifer Lopez and her new Manhattan penthouse

COURTESY RICHARD CAPLAN FOR DOUGLAS ELLIMAN; INSET: PHILLIP CHIN/WIREIMAGE


Despite the big news Wednesday, Jennifer Lopez is not moving to Las Vegasfor a music residency – well, not yet, anyway.

The singer and actress, 44, reportedly just plunked down a cool $22 million for a 6,250-sq.-ft. luxury prewar penthouse in Manhattan's Flatiron district – where her new neighbors will include Chelsea Clinton and NASCAR champJeff Gordon.

Considering her next commitment (after this season of American Idol), the new real-estate move makes sense: Lopez recently signed on to star in Shades of Blue, a 13-episode NBC show about a detective and single mother who has to go undercover in the anti-corruption task force. (Lopez is also executive producer of the show, along with Ryan Seacrest.)

The four-bedroom, six-and-a-half bathroom condo will have no shortage of space for the single Lopez and her 6-year-old twins, Max and Emme. And as part of the Whitman building, an apartment complex that stretches an entire block of the city but only houses four units, it's one of the longest apartments in the city.

Keep up with Jennifer Lopez in the pages of PEOPLE Magazine by subscribing now.


It also boasts 3,000 square feet of outdoor space and terraces (including one with a putting green!), Italian marble slab bathrooms, wide-plank oak floors and tons of floor-to-ceiling windows. And it's also a smart home, which means Lopez can do things like control the heating from her iPhone.


The apartment also has unrivaled views of Madison Square Park, and the condo walls are, naturally, in J. Lo's reported favorite color: white.




COURTESY RICHARD CAPLAN FOR DOUGLAS ELLIMAN







COURTESY RICHARD CAPLAN FOR DOUGLAS ELLIMAN






COURTESY RICHARD CAPLAN FOR DOUGLAS ELLIMAN