ELLEN’S $5.5M PRICE DROP
Being one of the world’s most famous TV chat show hosts, actresses and Hollywood movers and shakers might help attract buyers when selling a home, many people would assume. But not so for 59-year-old Ellen DeGeneres who is trying to offload a former home but is struggling to attract offers since putting it on the market in April last year.
Five years ago Ellen and her wife Portia de Rossi bought the house, which is in the hills above Santa Barbara in California, and later featured heavily in Ellen’s book, Home.
Known as The Villa it was designed and built by architect Wallace Frost during the 1930s after he returned from Italy. After Ellen and Portia purchased the 10,500 sq ft property for $26.5m in May 2013, they expanded and modernised it. The Villa now has six bedrooms, eight bathrooms, nine fireplaces, several libraries, a marbletopped chef’s kitchen and several formal entertainment rooms. They also added a pool, tennis court and security system and bought two adjacent properties.
Their original asking price of $45m has now been dropped to £39.5m. But they’re not waiting for a sale before moving home. The couple have recently bought two other properties in California including an $18.6m oceanfront home near Santa Barbara and a historic ranch for $7.2m in the ‘weekend getaway’ town of Montecito. This property is also next door to Oprah Winfrey.
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