Celebrity Real Estate Update: Celeb-To-Celeb Sales

Mar 28, 2024 | Published by Leave your thoughts

In my previous coverage of celebrity real estate, I spoke about buying homes at a premium price because the home may have a famous former owner. This week, after reading an intriguing article in the Hollywood Reporter about how celebrities sell homes to other celebrities, I decided to do a celebrity real estate update to address a niche market: Celeb-to-celeb sales.

The article discusses how celebs love selling to other celebs. There are plenty of reasons as to why. For example, celebrities have special security needs like high walls and intricate alarm systems. Further, there are personal needs like gigantic walk-in closets and plenty of spare rooms for their live-in entourage members.

So while another buyer may have no interest in these amenities and wouldn’t care to spend a premium on them, a celebrity would clamor at the chance.

Jessica Simpson, former songstress now mother-to-be and clothing designer, is about to purchase a $12.4 million 11,000-square-foot mansion. The home currently belongs to the Prince of Darkness and his Mrs., Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne. The home must have many rooms and a family-style atmosphere, as the Osbourne’s are known to have dogs, kids and lots of visitors. Is Jessica paying top dollar for the celebrity home? It certainly seems like it.

The Osbourne’s are no strangers to selling to celebs. Previously, they sold an $11.5 million home to Christina Aguilera– another blonde singer. Do you sense a pattern here?

The star-to-star real estate exchange has further considerations. Imagine someone buys the home of a celebrity and then opts to turn it into a place for fans to visit, or they visit the home to view it and gather information that they want to sell to a tabloid? Believe it or not, this happens. Thus, the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) comes into play.

Appraisers and real estate agents are often asked to sign NDAs so that privacy remains a top priority when dealing with homes of the rich and famous.

The article states, “Madonna’s Sunset Boulevard mansion — the one she bought from actress Sela Ward and now has on the market with a $22.5 million price tag — is said to be so restrictive that it forbids anyone from even acknowledging the NDA exists.”

A celebrity home owner may not even want to sell to a regular Joe, even if that Joe can afford it, because of their deep desires for secrecy.

So how does an appraiser or a real estate agent find out about these properties? Through a vast and selective network of contacts. I’ve certainly worked with my share of interesting clients and homes, and it’s always an experience to appraise homes with unique layouts and things like recording studios and movie theaters.

So, whether a regular well-off person will pay a premium vs. a celebrity paying a premium, the answer is clear: If you want security, privacy and twelve Kardashian walk-in closets, you better pay up!

What do you think, is celeb-to-celeb sales a niche market or are these folks the only ones who can afford to buy in the premium price bracket?

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This post was written by Joseph Castaneda

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