Did Y'all See...

...that Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossi have re-listed their southern California horse ranch with a new, improved and much lower $10,995,000 asking price? Well they did.

Your Mama previously discussed—at length, as per usual—the Sapphic couple's equestrian compound so, rather than go over it all again with a fine-toothed celebrity real estate gossip's comb, suffice to say...

Missus Degeneres and de Rossi picked up their horsey haven in the swanky Hidden Valley area near Thousand Oaks in June 2009 for about $8.5 million. They first attempted to unload the bucolic retreat about two years later with an asking price of $16,500,000. The asking price eventually dropped to $14,900,000 before it was taken off the open market in the fall of 2011.

The 26-acre, multi-residence ranch property has eight fully updated and upgraded farmhouse-style cottages all decked out and done up in a rustic kind of contemporary day-core featured in a recent issue of Elle Decor. There's also, as per listing details and other online resources, a ranch office, a couple of barns converted to art studios/entertainment spaces, a screened yoga pavilion, a tree house, a tennis court, extensive equestrian facilities (hay barn, stables, riding rings, and etc.), and—y'all can bet—a state of the art security system. Altogether, according to listing details, the property encompasses eight bedrooms,10.5 bathrooms, and (at least) 4 fireplaces spread throughout the various residences and outbuildings.

Last year the property-mad pair sold their celebrity pedigreed compound above Coldwater Canyon in Beverly Hills for nearly $40 million to squeaky clean media mogul Ryan Seacrest and paid $17.4 million for an 8,000-ish square foot Hal Leavitt-designed mid-century modern in the lower Trousdale Estates area of Beverly Hills that had previously been owned by maximalist lady-decorator Kelly Wearstler.

They currently own a modest condominium in Beverly Hills —presumably purchased for staff or family—that's up for sale at $899,000 and just a few months ago it was revealed they spent a spectacular $26,500,000 to acquire a 13-acre estate in tony Toro Canyon near Montecito, CA with a pristine 10,500 square foot 1920s Tuscan-style villa that had been painstakingly restored by high-brow decorator John Saladino as his private residence.*

*Mister Saladino sold the estate for $16,500,000 in March 2012 to a Kiwi couple who, apparently, flipped less than a year later at a tremendous ten million dollar profit to Missus Degeneres and de Rossi.

listing photos: Sotheby's International Realty

Kristin Cavallari Leases Big Winnetka Mansion

WHO: Jay Cutler and Kristin Cavallari
LOCATION: Winnetka, IL
PRICE: $10,000 per month
SIZE: 6,718 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 6 full and 3 half bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: The long-legged blond at Trulia Luxe Living offers a quick peek at the $10,000 per month Winnetka, IL mansion in to which television personality (and shoe designer) Kristin Cavallari and her well-compensated professional pigskinner husband, Jay Cutler, recently moved.

As a veteran reality television denizen Miz Cavallari is a funny, new-fangled sort of celebrity who's really more famous for being famous than she is for any actual professional accomplishments. As a blond and tanned teen in the mid-Aughts she starred—if that's what it's called—on the pioneering reality television program Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County. She subsequently replaced her former Laguna Beach cast mate Lauren Conrad in the fifth season of the (allegedly) semi-scripted show The Hills and in 2011 Miz Cavallari showed up on Dancing With The Stars. (She was eliminated in the early rounds.) The 26-year old Showbizzer—that's what she is, right?—occasionally lands a small acting role (The Middle, CSI: NY, Wild Cherry) and every now and then she pops up as a guest judge on a reality show competition (America's Next Top Model, Cupcake Wars). She also lends her name—and presumably whatever expertise she has—to an eponymous line of high-heeled shoes produced by the folks at Chinese Laundry.

Since 2009 Mister Cutler has been the starting quarterback for the Chicago Bears, a plum job that will reportedly pay him nearly $8.5 million for the upcoming season, his fifth and final season under his expiring contract with the Bears. The couple were married in Nashville last month (June, 2013), nearly a year after they made boy child that was born—out of wedlock traditional family enthusiasts will note—in August 2012. Anyhoo...

According to listing details the stately, stone-faced Euro-style villa has five bedrooms and six full and three half bathrooms in 6,718 square feet plus a finished basement that adds another (approximately) 1,500 square feet of living space.

A graceful circular driveway arcs up to the front door that opens in to a grand—or maybe it's grandiose—double height foyer with inlaid marble floor and a curvaceous floating staircase. There are formal living and and dining room, the former with a fireplace and hardwood floors, plus a wood-paneled library and a family room, the latter with a fireplace. There's also a combination kitchen/den that features a fireplace surmounted by a flat screen t.v., a massive center work island with short snack bar, and a breakfast area in front of a curved wall of glass. (Oh, look, Here's the newlyweds having their picture taken in the kitchen with one of the people from People.)

We're not exactly sure where Miz Cavallari lived before moving to Winnetka in January (2013) but Mister Cutler reportedly lived in a three bedroom condo on Chicago's North Side he rented for $6,500 per month.

listing photos: Urban Real Estate (via Trulia Luxe Living)

Your Mama Hears...

The last Your Mama knew, back in mid-January (2013), lavender-tressed rock-n-roll scion and Fashion Police panelist Kelly Osbourne was shacked up in a rental apartment at the Empire West complex in West Hollywood (CA) where her across the hall neighbor was—as per her own tweets—glam rocking American Idol season 8 runner up Adam Lambert.

Although it was widely reported back in April (2013) that the 28 year old celebrity fashion commentator had moved to a house—she tweeted about it, natch—the "news" went over Your Mama's head and under our celebrity real estate radar. Yesterday, however, we heard word from our trusted tattletale Lucy Spillerguts who told us that the semi-secretly engaged Miss Osbourne rented a gated mini-estate in the Post Office area of Beverly Hills (CA) that was last—and somewhat infamously—leased by promising starlet turned tabloid train wreck Lindsay Lohan.

That's right, children, Miss Osbourne and her vegan chef fiancée, Matthew Mosshart,* are living in unmarried sin in Lindsay Lohan's real estate sloppy seconds. ¡Escándalo!

Miss Osbourne rented as opposed to purchased the Bev Hills (Post Office) pad according to Lucy Spillerguts and property records Your Mama peeped do indeed show the residence in question has been owned since May 2006 by a generically named corporation easily linked to a couple of successful real estate brokers in Boca Raton, FL.

We can't be completely sure of the exact amount Miss Osbourne forks over for rent but we did find evidence online that shows the property was listed for lease at $10,450 per month and suggests it was leased at $10,000 per month, about $1,500 a month more per month than Miss Lohan was reported to have paid.

The Georgian-Colonial house sits high and private up a long, impressively gated driveway** on 1.5 mostly sloped and scrubby canyon acres. Listing details Your Mama dug up show the 2,509 square foot house was originally built in 1937 and is currently configured with three bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. There are hardwood floors and several sets of French doors in both the living and dining rooms and the center island kitchen has stainless steel appliances, Carrara marble counter tops, and an adjoining bay-windowed breakfast room/den with slate tile floors.

Two guest/family bedrooms with medium brown hardwood floors share a hall bathroom while the sun-splashed master suite—the one she had did over by Kathy Ireland on Million Dollar Decorator and then didn't show up for the final filming because she'd been in a car accident or arrested or something like that—has much lighter wood floors that may or may not be white oak. There's also a fireplace, a large private terrace accessible through a full wall of French doors, and a fitted walk-in closet/dressing room. The attached master bathroom has a two-sink vanity, a jetted tub and separate glass-enclosed steam-equipped shower, and both a toilet and a bidet for rinsing the naughty bits.

Outdoor spaces includes a basket weave pattern red brick courtyard with fountain—or maybe it's a koi pond with a fountain—and a built-in barbecue station. Somewhat awkwardly off the front of the house there's a partly cantilevered deck with view of Century City and around the side there's a curved swimming pool and spa tucked into the steep hillside that rises behind the house..

Listing details from earlier this year (2013) make some hay about how the house was previously home to "many high profile individuals." Besides rehabbing (again) Miss Lohan—and now several time rehabbed Miss Osbourne—the only notable names Your Mama could easily connect to the property (via the Movieland Directory) are Showbiz power player Sherry Lansing and western movie writer Jack Lait, Jr., the son of legendary writer/journalist Jack Lait.

In other Osbourne family real estate news: We hear Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne have vacated the stunning Spanish hacienda-style house on Walden Drive in Beverly Hills, (CA) they'd been leasing from one of the Platinum Triangles most successful real estate agents because the property quietly sold for $5,264,000 in mid-June (2013) to—so says Lucy Spillerguts—90-year old billionaire Sumner Redstone's 42 year old gal pal, fashion and media entrepreneur Sydney Holland.

*In case you didn't already know or might care, Matthew Mosshart is the younger brother of musician/singer Alison "VV" Mosshart who fronts The Kills with model Kate Moss's hubbie Jamie "Hotel" Hince. So the stories go Miss Osbourne and Mister Mosshart met at the Moss-Hince nuptials in July 2011. Miss Mosshart—just f.yi.—is also an official member of the hard charging blues rock back The Dead Weather with Jack White of White Stripes fame. 

**Incidentally, Miss Osbourne's new rental home shares the long and impressively gated driveway with a much larger estate that Canadian financier/mining tycoon turned film and television executive Frank Giustra bought in June 2011 for $7 million from supermodel/reality show presenter-producer Heidi Klum and her ex-husband Seal.

listing photos: Hilton & Hyland

Shades Of Blue

Hey loves!  So you got to see this look in yesterday's event post, but I wanted to make a separate post for it :)

Photo Cred: Nadia 

Shorts (here) & Top (here): C/O OASAP/ Shoes: Love Culture (similar)

Necklace: C/O LunaB

It's hard to believe that summer is almost over because it still feels like it just began.  I am definitely looking forward to fall fashion (my fave) but I am not ready to leave the warmth behind just yet.  Shorts are one of my favorite pieces because they literally come in every color, print and style that you can think of leaving endless styling possibilities.  I fell in love with these OASAP shorts because of the multi color floral print.  As I was looking on the site, I came across this blouse and knew that it would match perfectly because I really wanted to bring out the blue.  It's so pretty and dainty.  I was so excited when it arrived the morning of the event!  These weren't the original shoes that I was planning on pairing with this look, but because I was going to be standing around the whole time, I decided a thicker heel would be much more comfortable.  My feet thanked me later :) 

What have been some of your favorite pieces to wear this summer?

And how gorgeous is this statement necklace from LunaB?  I was a little hesitant on putting blue on blue at first but I really like the way it looks.  It definitely added a little something extra. I have some really exciting news that I will be sharing tomorrow! I've been keeping this a secret for several weeks so I cannot wait :) I also have a fab event tonight that I am looking forward to!

Lastly, make sure to check out my instagram for a very special contest! 

Have a fabulous day loves

XO

Instagram/ Facebook/ Twitter/ YouTube 

SHOP THE LOOK

Bruce Makowsky Flipping Out in Beverly Hills

SELLER: Bruce Makowsky and Kathy Van Zeeland
LOCATION: Beverly Hills, CA
PRICE: $19,950,000
SIZE: 12,500 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Listen, chickens, we're feeling a little bored with the usual celebrity real estate fare today so instead of going down that route we're going with a long ditty about a couple of L.A.-based real estate ballers. We'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming soon.

Like in many places across the county, if y'all haven't heard, the Los Angeles real estate market is once again white hot. The Agency's recently released Agency Report for the second quarter of 2013 indicates sales volumes of prime properties in Los Angeles have pretty much returned to their heady, pre-bubble burst peaks in 2005. We'll let economists and consumers decide if this is a good thing.

If we choose to look—and Your Mama often chooses to look—we have to look no further than a couple of L.A.-based real estate ballers named Bruce Makowsky and Kathy Van Zeeland to illustrate the almost rabid optimism that currently prevails at the electrified tippy-top end of the market in Los Angeles in general and, in particular, the rarefied zip codes that compose the so-called Platinum Triangle (90210, 90077 and 90024).

Mister Makowsky and Miz Van Zeeland—married, they are—have earned bucket fulls of money peddling mountains of mid-priced handbags, shoes and accessories on QVC. The designing duo have utilized their fortune to amass a sizable property portfolio that Your Mama tabulated is valued at more than $90,000,000, based on what property records show were paid for a (at least) half dozen luxury residences in Beverly Hills and Malibu.

Unlike some deep pocketed people who maintain half a dozen (or more) houses around the world for their private use, Mister M. and Miz V.Z. seem to use their high-priced mansion purchases as investments. As far as we know the Makowsky-Van Zeelands' primary residence is a 25,000 square foot faux-Tuscan beast in Beverly Park where they also own two smaller but still huge mansions that periodically pop up for rent. Your Mama was told by someone who tends to know these things that one of them—a 12,000 square foot number of indistinguishable architectural style listed on the open market last year for $100,000 per month—was leased in the near past by the very same Uzbeki heiress who (allegedly) coughed up $32.75 million for a 48,000 square foot Mohamed Hadid-developed mega-mansion directly across from the ever-fab Beverly Hills Hotel. In June 2012 Mister M and Miz V.Z. forked over $17.2 million for comedian Martin Lawrence's 16,000 square foot Beverly Park mansion that they quickly put up for lease at a mind numbing rate of $200,000 per month. Our entirely unscientific research indicates Mister M. and Miz V.Z. still own the one previously leased by the Uzbeki heiress but some sleuthing by Yolanda Yakketyyak turned up evidence that they sold the old Martin Lawrence house in mid-June (2013) for $24 million, more than six million buck more than they paid for the place a year before.

Anyhoo, let's (finally) get on back to the big ol' mansion in the Beverly Ridge development they bought last year for $11.725 million and flipped back on the market for $19.95 million, shall we?

The liberally pastiched behemoth was erected in 2005 on a 1.99 acre lot with sweeping views over the scrubby hills and dales of Franklin Canyon. There are, as per current listing details, six bedrooms and seven bathrooms in 12,500 square feet that have been fully fitted and kitted with a whole slew of modern conveniences and luxuries hidden behind a cacophony of Old World-ish details and high-priced materials: onyx counter tops, more fireplaces with (possibly antique) carved stone mantelpieces than a person can shake a stick at, antique doors imported from Spain, tiles imported from Morocco, and reclaimed barn wood brought in from New Hampshire.

Monthly homeowners dues—these pay for the community's street maintenance, security services, and etc.—run $2,400 per month according to marketing materials we found online. A few quick calculations on Your Mama's bejewled abacus shows that's about what a full-time minimum wage worker in California earns in a month but it is most certainly but a pittance to the sorts of people who can afford to buy and maintain a house with a price tag of nearly twenty millions dollars.

As with a couple of their Beverly Park estates, soon after Mister M. and Miz V.Z. purchased the Beverly Ridge estate that's now back up for sale, they offered  it up for lease in May 2012 at $85,000 per month. It was leased out a few months later for an unknown amount of time to an unknown rich person for, as per intel we dug up online, $75,000 per month.


A careful perusal of past and present listing photographs suggests to Your Mama that Mister M. and Miz V.Z. didn't make many changes to the mansion's lavish interior spaces. Indeed, current listing photographs show some of the very same furniture and decorative accoutrement as was shown in listing photos from the time of their purchase. Curious that, but, you know, make of this what y'all will.

Mister M. and Miz V.Z. did, however, make a number of significant alterations and additions to the exterior areas of the estate as is shown in a YouTube video (above) that tracks the construction of the exterior upgrades. At the front, a multi-tiered fountain was added and, at the back, a pergola-type structure was built to define an outdoor living room/lounge. Custom awnings shade an adjoining, newly built barbecue station and snack bar and over at the edge of the yard, where the amorphous edge of the flat lawn abruptly changes to a scrubby and steep down slope, an organically-shaped negative edge swimming pool with inset spa was installed. Below the pool, an all-new, sun-soaked deck juts dramatically out over the  rugged canyon.

Your Mama, who does not know a snake from the grass, has no idea how much was spent on the exterior improvements but clearly Mister M., Miz V.Z., and whomever their advisers on such matters are feel that the improvements and increasingly electrified market justifies a hair-curling $8,225,000 elevation in value in just over a year's time. The market will bear witness to that optimism but, in the meantime, Your Mama wonders what the children think.

Earlier in our (long) discussion Your Mama mentioned that the Makowsky-Van Zeelands were in the process of constructing a mega-mansion in the hills above the Sunset Strip. Last August (2012) a corporate entity that our research shows and our sources swear is connected to Mister Makowsky paid $12,650,000 for a low-slung residence at the tail end of N. Hillcrest Drive in Beverly Hills.


Very quickly the existing, nearly 7,000 square foot house was razed to make way for, according to a video on the YouTube that Yolanda Yakketyyak dug up, a dramatic, 21,000 square foot mega-mansion with curvilinear roof lines and a curved, negative edge swimming pool that, given the lot's promontory siting, gives way to an honest-to-goodness panoramic view over Los Angeles. The children will note the digital imagery shows a fire channel runs the full length of the pool next to a sunbathing shelf. Maybe we're just old fashioned but Your Mama does not relish the idea of having to hoist our fat ass over a fire channel every time we want to skinny dip, you know?

If their real estate history is to repeat itself we should see the massive modern mega-mansion Mister M and Miz V.Z. are building on N. Hillcrest come up for lease when it's complete with a mind-numbing monthly rate. But, of course, what do we know? Could by Mister Makowsky and Miz Van Zeeland will occupy the premises themselves. Or maybe they'll put it up for sale with an asking price that will send shivers down the spines of everybody but the (lucky) few who belong to the world's increasingly wealthy ultra-rich micro-minority. We shall see, puppies, we shall see.

UPDATE (LATER SAME DAY): Yesterday the long-legged blond gal at Trulia Luxe Living reported that former NFL defensive end turned morning chat show co-host Michael Strahan is in the process of flipping a fixer upper mansion in prime Bel Air for $11,000,000, $3.1 million more than he paid for the 1926 Mediterranean tear down last May (2012). (Mister Strahan reportedly made few if any improvements to the property.) That in and of itself is newsworthy in the world of celebrity real estate and, conveniently, illustrates once again just how electrified the high-end market in Los Angeles is.

Well, buckle your safety belts, butter beans, because a magnificent real estate coinkydink has just been dropped in Your Mama's fat lap: We can't prove it since no transaction records have yet to be recorded but we've just heard from a well connected source—let's call her Belle Aire—who snitched to Your Mama that the previously unidentified buyer of Mister Strahan's fixer up in Bel Air is none other than Mister Bruce Makowsky. Tah-duh!

listing photos: Coldwell Banker
video (Beverly Ridge): Roman James Design + Build via YouTube
video (Hillcrest): Roman James Design + Build via YouTube

Aero Rocks Fashion

I'm excited to announce that I am now apart of Aeropostale's VIP team!  For the past 2-3 years, they have been working on launching a whole new collection geared more towards the "fashionistas" while still remaining true to their brand.  They still have their signature basic pieces like graphic tees, hoodies, and denim, but their goal has been to offer their customers more trendy & fashionable items including a whole new shoe section (which I absolutely loved). Their customer has always been geared towards younger girls and guys, but with this new collection, they are reaching a larger demographic.

 I used to shop at Aeropostale quite often to stock up on basic items, so it's great to see the whole new direction they are going in right now with much more versatility.  Yesterday I went to their Aero Rocks Fashion shopping event, where they closed down the store for 2 hours to launch this new collection and offer their VIPS amongst others first dibs on their new items!  They had a DJ, photo booth, refreshments, and best of all: SALES!  

Love their boyfriend jeans and got myself a pair.  Those cross body bags were awesome too.

I really liked their edgier pieces like this quilted moto jacket.  It also comes in teal!

In November 2012, they acquired online women's fashion footwear and apparel retailer GoJane.com.  I'm loving their combat boots, a must have for fall. The cream boots were my fave!

I went with one of my blogger babes, Nadia.  Afterwards, we saw Justin Bieber at the mall lol Random but true!

Live Love Dream is their new active, dorm and yoga brand that just launched this month.  I love what it represents and the logo is super cute too.

Totally got photo bombed by the DJ but I loved their camo jacket!  

One of my favorite pieces from the new collection that I took home with me!

Lots of knits and printed scarves for fall.

The new window display they revealed at the event.

I ended up meeting one of my followers who is also a VIP for Aero :) Great meeting you Nina! 

Hope you liked their new pieces!  Stay tuned for some collabs where I'll be showcasing a few of their new arrivals :) Have a great day and my outfit details from this event are coming tomorrow! 

<3 

Instagram/ Facebook/ Twitter/ YouTube 

UPDATE: Mary Hart and Burt Sugarman

If the children will put on their thinking caps they might recall that early this year Your Mama passed along some Platinum Triangle real estate scuttlebutt about pioneer celebrity journalist Mary Hart and television and movie producer Burt Sugarman floating their Trousdale Estates mansion as an off-market pocket listing with an asking price in the $37-39 million dollar range.

Two weeks ago, we heard from a couple of well-connected tattletales– Charlie Chitchatter and Our Fairy Godmother in Bel Air—who both snitched that the unconfirmed word around town was that the Sugarman-Hart home went for a bit more than $30 million to an sick-rich Saudi.

Well, puppies, property records now show the property actually traded for $27,000,000 and a hardcore real estate yenta we know—that would be Yolanda Yakketyyak—swears on her teased and lacquered helmet hair that the buyer is indeed a wealthy and well-connected Saudi sheikh. According to Yolanda, the buyer is a former Special Secretary to the late Crown Price Sultan of Saudi Arabia whose $50,000 per month rental residence above L.A.'s Sunset Strip was burglarized last April and who recently shelled out $28 million dollars for the long-delayed James Hotel site at the western tail the Sunset Strip.

Your Mama has not idea what the new owner's plans for the 11,000+ square foot mansion that property records show has six bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, three fireplaces and a gated motor court with covered parking for five cars but we'd bet both our long-bodied bitches, Linda and Beverly, that a very expensive and comprehensive security system will be installed toot de suite.

*As it turns out, the Luca Colombo-designed residence that was leased by the sheikh in question and burglarized last year has just popped back up on the open market with an asking price of $10,900,000.

aerial photo: Bing

A Little Monday Mish Mash: John Fogerty

The long-legged blond at Trulia Luxe Living let the cat out of the bag about veteran musician and virtuoso guitarist John Fogerty quietly floating his big ol' mansion in Beverly Hills (CA) as an off-market listing with a big ol' asking price of $23.5 million.

Digital marketing materials shows the "masterfully executed Tuscan estate" sits behind imposing gates on three landscaped acres in a small gated enclave near the famously steroidal guard-gated Beverly Park community.

Mister Fogerty's hulking, 16,000 square foot mansion has, according to listing information, a double height foyer with circular staircase, a double barrel vaulted gallery, grand entertaining spaces including a home theater, double height family room and a walk-in wine room.

Listing details show a total of 9 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms including a massive master suite with dual closets and bathrooms, a junior master suite with private den, four more family/guest suites and a staff suite off the kitchen plus a separate guesthouse with an additional bedroom and bathroom.

The canyon view property also features an circular driveway with a tiered fountain in the center, an internal motor court, numerous loggias, patios and terraces, outdoor cooking and dining spaces, broad, flat lawns with play house and play structure, and a mosaic tiled swimming pool and spa.

listing photos: The Agency