As celebrities such as Ariana Grande and Ben Simmons sell their homes for millions, estates in the Italian countryside are listing for about $1.
â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â [Los Angeles Times] Real Estate October 30, 2021
[View in browser]( By Jack Flemming Welcome back to the Real Estate newsletter, which this week is anchored by a transmission from the rolling hills of rural Italy. If Southern California home prices have you down â and you happen to have a dollar lying around â youâre in luck. Eager to attract new residents, towns and villages across Italy have historic homes on the market [for around $1](. Theyâd cost even less, but itâs technically illegal to give a property away for free. Unfortunately, there are no such bargains in the still-hot L.A. market. Compare that one-buck bucolic retreat in the Italian countryside with the $14 million needed to buy a modern home above the Sunset Strip. Thatâs how much Ariana Grande hauled in [for her nest in the Bird Streets of Hollywood Hills]( â $300,000 more than she paid for the place last year. The âMost Dramatic Listing of the Week Awardâ goes to NBA star Ben Simmons; not because of the house itself, but the circumstances behind it. The Philadelphia 76ers point guard demanded a trade during the offseason, and after the team refused, [he put his custom mansion outside Philly]( on the market for $5 million. The listing surfaced one day after he was kicked out of practice and suspended for a game due to conduct detrimental to the team. If youâre getting tired of scrolling through photos of extravagant mansions such as these online, try checking them out in person. Every weekend, open houses for homes that cost anywhere from $10 million to $40 million pop up across L.A. County, and [The Times published a guide on how to find them.]( We were also treated this week to two deeply reported columns from Erika D. Smith, who explored gentrification and the housing situation in South L.A. One column explores [why real estate in the area is getting more expensive]( and the other issues a call to action best summarized by a quote [straight out of the story]( âDonât sell your house if youâre Black and youâre from this neighborhood. Donât sell your damn house!â While catching up on the latest, visit and like [our Facebook page]( where you can find real estate stories and updates throughout the week. Italian estates are in the bargain bin
[A view of Valle Peligna with Pratola Peligna in the background]
A view of Valle Peligna with Pratola Peligna in the background. The town of Pratola Peligna, located about a two-hour drive east of Rome, is trying to attract new residents with as many as 250 homes each being sold for a euro. (Angelo DâAmico / Getty Images) The first time Heather and Steve Giammichele of Southern California decided to take a road trip through Steveâs ancestral homeland of Italy, their car broke down about three hours outside of Pisa. At least 30 townspeople stopped to make sure the couple were OK, and one ended up canceling his plans for the day to drive them all the way to the Pisa airport to make sure they got a new rental, [writes Janna Brancolini.]( The Giammicheles, from Orange County, were so struck by the hospitality that almost as soon as their 2019 trip ended, Heather began researching how they could move to Italy one day. A few months later, they enlisted an Italian company to help them start looking seriously at buying one of the countryâs famously low-priced homes, including some on the market with the symbolic price of one euro â about $1.16. The Giammicheles arenât alone in the quest for a cheap home in the bel paese â or [âbeautiful country,â]( as Italy is known â and Palmoli isnât alone in boasting properties to fulfill it. More and more Italian towns and villages eager to attract new residents are putting up homes for sale for as little as one euro (itâs illegal to give away property for free), a trend that was once confined to the impoverished and depopulated mountain towns in the south but that has spread since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to wealthier northern regions such as Liguria and Lombardy. ADVERTISEMENT
Pop star sells a scenic home
[The contemporary showplace sits on about a third of an acre in the Hollywood Hillsâ Bird Streets neighborhood.]
The contemporary showplace sits on about a third of an acre in the Hollywood Hillsâ Bird Streets neighborhood. (Noel Kleinman) It was a short stay in Hollywood Hills for Ariana Grande, who just sold [her modern home above the Sunset Strip]( for $14 million after buying it last year. The deal ranks as one of the neighborhoodâs priciest so far in 2021. Records show she grabbed it for $13.7 million in June 2020 during a shopping spree that also saw her pay $6.75 million for [Ellen DeGeneresâ Tudor-style retreat]( in Montecito a few weeks prior. Perched in the Bird Streets, the hillside home boasts an interesting ownership history beyond the actress-turned-pop star. Before Grande, it was one of 138 properties owned by Woodbridge Group, the Sherman Oaks development company that orchestrated [a $1.3-billion real estate Ponzi scheme]( that stole money from roughly 7,000 investors â many of them retirees. The former chief executive, Robert Shapiro, [was sentenced to 25 years in prison]( for his role in the fraud. Sixers star wants out
[The 10,500-square-foot home comes with a movie theater, a candy room, an aquarium and a gaming room.]
Custom-built in 2019, the 10,500-square-foot home comes with a movie theater, a candy room, an aquarium and a gaming room. (Dave Apple) Ben Simmons has [made it quite clear]( that heâs no longer interested in playing for the Philadelphia 76ers, and his latest real estate move suggests heâs serious. The star point guard recently [put his custom mansion]( in the area on the market for $5 million. The listing surfaced a day after [he was sent home from practice]( and suspended by the 76ers for one game due to conduct detrimental to the team. The $5-million price tag is an ambitious ask for the three-time NBA all-star, who bought the place newly built in 2019 for $2.275 million a few months after inking a contract extension with the 76ers worth $170 million. He likely only lives there during basketball season; over the summer, he dropped $17.5 million on [a 12,000-square-foot farmhouse in Hidden Hills.]( ADVERTISEMENT
How to tour a mega-mansion
[This mansion at 10480 W. Sunset Blvd. is listed at $22.5 million.]
This mansion at 10480 W. Sunset Blvd. is listed at $22.5 million. (Nils Timm) At any given moment in Southern California,[in markets hot and cold,]( of stellar estates are listed for sale. And each weekend, [dozens of these houses open to the masses]( letting potential buyers â or just people bored on a Sunday afternoon â experience the opulence thatâs supposedly reserved for the ultra-rich. Take it from a luxury real estate reporter who lives with roommates: Thereâs a bizarre thrill that comes from entering spaces meant for those in tax brackets several above your own. If developers insist on cramming huge houses onto tiny lots, replacing the few vacant hills that L.A. has left with massive monuments to opulence and excess, why shouldnât the general public at least be able to bear witness to such estates? Typically, open houses for listings of $10 million or more are either appointment-only or exclusively for other real estate agents, but the sheer number of mansions on the market in Southern California means that there are dozens open to the public every single weekend. Finding them couldnât be easier: [Just click this link]( which automatically searches real estate database Redfin for open houses happening this weekend in L.A. County and sorts them from most expensive to least expensive. Whoâs buying South L.A.âs expensive houses?
[A truck is parked in the driveway of a newly renovated home in the View Park community.]
A truck is parked in the driveway of a newly renovated home in the View Park community. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times) Go to any open house in South L.A. and Black homebuyers are few and far between, [writes Erika D. Smith.]( And yet, it was only a generation ago that Black parents were dragging their kids from South L.A. to the San Fernando Valley for a better life, as [colleague Sandy Banks recounted in a recent column](. Never mind that for decades, those neighborhoods were notoriously whites-only. Smith asked Stacy Lewis, head of the Leimert Park Neighborhood Assn., if he knew of many Black families other than his that had bought homes south of the 10 Freeway lately. He shook his head. âNo, just white people,â he said flatly. As if on cue, a white woman in yoga pants strolled by the table where Smith and Lewis were sitting outside Harun Coffee. A solution for gentrification in South L.A.
[Pam Lumpkin, center, along with her husband, Emmanuel Baffo, and their daughter, Maddison Baffo, pose for a portrait.]
Pam Lumpkin, center, along with her husband, Emmanuel Baffo, and their daughter, Maddison Baffo, pose for a portrait in front of their View Park home. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times) Homes in Crenshaw, West Adams, Hyde Park, Leimert Park and, of course, {NAME} Village and View Park, now [regularly sell for north of $1 million](. Bidding wars among white families are common, [writes Times columnist Erika D. Smith.]( For longtime homeowners, many of whom are elderly and Black, the [temptation to sell to a house flipper or a developer is at an all-time high](. Equally high are the economic barriers for younger Black families who want to buy into a South L.A. neighborhood for the first time. Ask many residents and theyâll call whatâs happening a crisis of unchecked gentrification and displacement. Theyâll curse opportunistic developers in one breath and, in the next, denounce a new state law that allows apartments and condos to be built on land that was previously designated for only one house. But not real estate agent Pam Lumpkin. She is among a small but growing group of Black Angelenos who, though torn, prefer to see whatâs happening in South L.A. as an opportunity. One that if seized by enough Black people could lead to an unprecedented transfer of generational wealth and, by extension, slow the pace of gentrification. Or, if squandered, could put the neighborhoods that have long been at the center of Black life in Southern California at further risk of cultural erasure. No pressure or anything. What weâre reading Using data from CoreLogic, [the Washington Post]( ran down a list of the states and metro areas where home prices rose the most over the last year. Surprisingly, California wasnât one of the five states with the sharpest price increases, but Los Angeles was the fifth-ranked metro area, with prices rising 14.9%. Only Phoenix, San Diego, Las Vegas and Denver ranked higher. Homes are getting pricier across the entire country, not just in California. [Yahoo Finance reports]( that the U.S. median home price just passed $400,000 for the first time ever, jumping nearly 20% year-over-year. ADVERTISEMENT
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