Celebs Feeling Housing Crunch
From Homescape
written by Amy Le on Monday, February 25, 10:25AM
At Sunday’s 80th Annual Academy Awards show, Hollywood’s elite bedazzled spectators with their flashy baubles, couture gowns and sleek black tuxes as they strutted down the infamous red carpet. But while hot designers like Oscar de la Renta may be able to work wonders on the fashionably challenged, no makeover is going to save the celebs from the housing slump that’s swept the nation this year. Forbes.com reports that even the rich and famous are struggling to sell their homes in the dismal housing market.
Housing slump’s domino affect
In Los Angeles, only 4,430 homes were sold in December, down 48 percent from the previous year, according to DataQuick Information Systems. Median home prices in the area fell 11 percent to an average $470,000. Following the downward trend, realtors selling multimillion-dollar homes in posh neighborhoods throughout California have also seen price declines, reports Forbes.
Celebrity homes
Pop rocker Avril Lavigne had to reduce the price on her 5-bedroom, 6-bath Beverly Hills house from $6.9 million to $5.8 million, according to Forbes. I know, a $1.1 million price reduction is nothing for a multiplatinum selling musician, but it’s a telltale sign of how bad the market is when a celeb can’t even use her star power to beef-up the price tag. Lavigne’s home is located in a gated community just off Mulholland Drive, and includes a tennis court and pool. The house has been on the market for the past year.
Other Tinseltown denizens mentioned in the Forbes report is television star Wilmer Valderrama. The actor from “That 70s Show” had to accept $200,000 less for his 5-bedroom home in the Tarzana neighborhood. The final selling price was $1.75 million.
Johnny Carson’s former sidekick, Ed McMahon, isn’t reeling in any buyers with his signature curtain call. McMahon’s 7,000-square-foot Beverly Hills home was put on the market in July 2006 for $7.7 million. He has since dropped the price not once, but three times and the property is currently listed at $5.7 million.
Denise Richards, the 36-year-old ex-wife of Charlie Sheen, sold her home in Hidden Hills, Calif., just north of Los Angeles, for $3.8 million in November 2007, after listing it the previous March for $4.5 million. The sale amounts to a loss for Richards, who bought the 5-bedroom home in June 2006 for $4 million, Forbes reports.
Got hot local housing tips or a story you want to share? Contact Amy Le at openingdoorsblog@homescape.com.
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