Newsletter: Hot Property: We now resume your regular programming
Holidays: Check — long gone. Super Bowl: Over. Yes, home-buying and selling season has officially arrived. Brokers are discreetly touring empty homes before the signage goes up. Open house arrows are sprouting on nearly every block. Interest rates remain low despite some upward creep. Demand is high.
It’s the formula for a lot of real estate action — including our favorite, the celebrity kind.
After you’re done perusing the latest star-studded home sales, feel free to like our Facebook page, where you can find Hot Property stories and updates throughout the week.
– Neal J. Leitereg and Lauren Beale
Their massive oasis
The Palm Springs estate of actress-entrepreneur Suzanne Somers and her husband, producer Alan Hamel, has returned to market for $14.5 million.
Owned by the couple since 1977, the 70-acre retreat sits among boulders and is reached by way of a private funicular.
The estate includes eight bedrooms, nine full bathrooms and two half bathrooms in several structures, including a stacked-stone house that rests against the hillside. The main house, designed in French villa style, includes the master suite, office space and an outdoor shower.
Stone-lined steps wind through the various guest villas, outdoor dining areas and an amphitheater. A lap swimming pool, a carousel and a waterfall-fed pond also lie within the grounds. There’s also a 5,000-bottle wine cellar and tasting room.
Star gazing
Cobie Smulders, known for her starring role on “How I Met Your Mother,” has sold an investment property in historic Los Feliz for $1.425 million. The buyer, by way of a limited liability company, was comedian Demetri Martin.
Tucked behind fences and privacy hedges, the 1922 Southern Colonial-style property includes two townhouses and a separate carriage house above the two-car garage. The combined units have slightly more than 2,300 square feet of living space.
Outside, a patio with built-in benches sits beneath a trellis and mature trees.
Martin, an actor, comedian and musician, has appeared on “The Daily Show” and previously starred in the sketch-variety series “Important Things with Demetri Martin.”
Beach volleyball time
Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings and her husband, beach volleyball player Casey Jennings, plan to stick near the sand. They just bought a new home in the Manhattan Beach area for $2.6 million.
The plantation-inspired house was built by local football-star-turned-developer Jim Obradovich, who won a Rose Bowl and a national men’s volleyball title in the 1970s while at USC.
The Jenningses purchased the home before it was completed, allowing them to customize the multi-level property. The newly built house has five bedrooms and five bathrooms in nearly 3,600 square feet of interior space.
Walsh Jennings, 38, teamed with Misty May-Treanor to win gold in beach volleyball at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Games. Casey Jennings, 41, won the AVP Manhattan Beach Open championship in 2013 with Matt Fuerbringer.
Beach volleyball players Kerri Walsh Jennings, shown, and Casey Jennings have paid $2.6 million for a custom home in Manhattan Beach. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)
An artistic redo
Pop artist Donald Robertson, known by his Instagram handle Drawbertson, has put his home near the beach in Montecito on the market for $5.85 million.
The 1920s Spanish estate incorporates splashes of bold color, vibrant wallpaper and tilework for an updated take on the classic style.
We couldn’t decide if that tri-colored kitchen flooring looked dated or retro. You tell us.
Arches could be found throughout the 4,400 square feet of living space — above the living room French doors, the fireplace, the pizza oven, the bedroom doors. The ends of the swimming pool are even curved. That blue Spanish-tile fountain looks to be the size of a bathtub.
Atmospheric is Malibu
Jackie Johnson, a weather forecaster at KCBS-TV and KCAL9, has bought a three-bedroom home in Malibu for $3.65 million.
Built in 1957 and newly remodeled, the single-story house centers on a clean-lined living room with a fireplace and a wall niche for wood storage.
The 2,200 square feet of open-plan space looks airy and spacious with vaulted ceilings, a breakfast bar that opens the galley kitchen to the living room and a white subway-tile backsplash. Wide sliding glass doors reveal a lap pool and mountain views. The wooden deck is a perfect spot to watch the weather roll in.
Lakers territory
Maybe Jerry West would like to buy back his old house in Ladera Heights. Of course, that would be quite a commute from the front office of the Golden State Warriors.
The home once owned by the Los Angeles Lakers great is on the market for about $1.5 million.
The Westside neighborhood has a history of star athlete homeowners — baseball legend Frank Robinson, boxer Ken Norton and former Lakers player-turned-coach Byron Scott, among others.
The mint-colored ranch house, built in 1964, sits on about a quarter of an acre and has a swimming pool.
Despite updates to the 3,212 square feet of living space, a retro vibe remains. Check out the mirrored wall in the living room with fireplace, the wood-paneled den, the low bar by the used-brick fireplace and the pink-walled bathroom.
If you click through the photo gallery, there’s a very cool dog in the backyard of the last shot.
One less base?
Jim Crane, the owner and chairman of the Houston Astros franchise, has put his home in Pebble Beach on the market for $37.9 million.
Surrounded by mature trees and lush landscaping, the contemporary-style main house was built in 1951. Within the nine acres of ocean-view grounds are a cabana, a pool house, a guesthouse and a caretaker’s cottage.
The Houston-based businessman is the chairman and chief executive of Crane Capital Group. He acquired the Astros in 2011 for a reported $680 million.
From the archives
Ten years ago, veteran R&B singer Mary J. Blige leased a Hollywood Hills West home for $30,000 a month while in L.A. working on a new album and other projects. The house, built in 2003, was an architectural work of concrete, steel and glass. The 55-foot-long pool in the backyard featured a 75-foot-tall waterfall.
Twenty years ago, Paramount Pictures chair Sherry Lansing and her husband, Oscar-winning director William Friedkin, leased a Bel-Air home at about $25,000 a month for a year. The house was described as Country English in style with seven bedrooms in nearly 8,000 square feet.
What we’re reading
If you’ve been following the Bravo series “Summer House,” here’s a chance to make it your reality. Newsday reports the stately Montauk, N.Y., four-bedroom home is available for rent from Memorial Day to Labor Day for $165,000. By the month, the price is June for $45,000, July for $65,000 or August through Labor Day for $80,000.
Closer to home, Estately notes that Richard Nixon’s former home in San Clemente is on the market once again at $63.5 million.
ICYMI: Actor Dan Bucatinsky, who won an Emmy for his stint on “Scandal,” makes his home in Beverly Hills. The multi-purpose kitchen, with a fireplace, an island and a dog bed, is his favorite room. “It’s where the kids play their board games, where I make them pancakes every morning.”
