Friday, August 8, 2008

Rumor Has it...

...preggers ack-tress Jennifer Garner and her reformed Lothario huzband Ben Affleck have purchased a new home in Brentwood for $16,000,000.

Could be.

Certainly this is not the first time that reports have swirled and surfaced about the couple buying a new nest for their expanding family. In fact they've been seen and photographed touring just about every $20,000,000+ house in the better zip codes of Los Angeles.

According to the frothy report in Us Magazine, the down to earth duo's new digs spread over 9,900 square feet and include 7 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, 6 fireplaces, a 3 car garage, library, and a brick wine cellar. The outdoor spaces are said to include a large lawn and a deck with a built in fire pit. How original.

Anyhoo, Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter are on the road so we can't do much in the way of research and ringing up our spider web of contacts, but as far as we can tell, the house being discussed is located north of Sunset Boulevard on N. Carmelina Avenue, which is only a stone's throw from the couple's current crib on N. Tigertail Road.

The children will recall the Spidy (Tobey) Maguire and his jewelry making wifey Jennifer Meyer recently purchased an exuberantly expensive lot on N. Carmelina Avenue. Also living on N. Carmelina Avenue is not very bizzy ack-turus Ricki Lake and uber-blogger and political pundit Arianna Huffington.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Boy, I can't think of group of people I would less enjoy being seated with at a dinner party. The fact that they all live close to one another is a benefit to mankind. By the way, hypocrit Ben Affleck still smokes cigarettes and goes to extraordinary measures to keep from being photographed smoking.

Anonymous said...

Why does reading that Mama & The Dr. Cooter are "on the road" conjure up an image of a modern day Lucy and Desi in “The Long, Long Trailer”. This time with The Dr. Cooter behind the wheel of a BMW X5 while Mama is making a pitcher of G&Ts in a pristine Airstream trailer? Sugar is hiding under the bed and the long bodied bitches are putting nose marks on all the windows.

Sounds like a further move than from Manhattan to Brooklyn…

On BenJen, that 311 Mapleton house they were rumored to have bought then didn’t has a construction dumpster in the driveway. Whoever bought had some money left over to already be remodeling.

Anonymous said...

The house they were looking at is a Monterey Colonial, very charming spec house designed by Steven Giannetti (a local LA architect). It's almost finished, and is being built by Paul Morrow, a developer that owns Morrow & Morrow Contrusction. I have to say of all the crap developers in LA, this guy is the best. He builds a nice home for a spec.

Anonymous said...

2:42, I'll take your word for it on the "very charming" but the houses on Giannetti's website look like overpriced McMansions to me. Which both of the houses on Mapleton that Affleck/Garner looked at are overpriced McMansion so maybe they are into that.

Anonymous said...

The house is at 301 N. Carmelina, and yes, it's a Monterey Colonial.

I know someone who has been inside the house and it apparently has an East-coast kind of feel, including a family room that is open to the 2nd floor.

Generally speaking, it's more common for West Coast single family homes to have an enclosed family room, but the living room has a vaulted ceiling or one that opens to the 2nd floor. In most East Coast houses, this arrangement tends to be commonly reversed.

Only on the Westside of L.A. (okay, maybe a few other places, but you get the point) can a "spec" house sell for $16 million without ever even hitting the open market. Crazyiness.

Anonymous said...

anon 6:03, excellent comment, and thank you for the info.

Anonymous said...

I think you are just as likely to find a double height family room in Southern California as anywhere else. But then I don't think I've ever heard anyone describe a Monterey Colonial as "east coast" anything.

Anonymous said...

How can the phrase, "down to earth" co-exist with a $20M+ price tag?

Alessandra said...

Monterey Colonial, if that's what they purchased, should NOT equal anything East Coast. Perhaps someone is confused between a center hall colonial and the Monterey version, which is strictly CA, baby.

Sorry. I can't get worked up about Ben and Jen and their RE purchases. Good on them if they finally bough something.

Yawn.

Anonymous said...

This has been a bit of an architectural education. I looked the Monterey Colonial style up on the internet, and found this 16 photo portfolio of a historic one in Santa Barbara currently for sale. It's just beautiful. Link

Anonymous said...

Hi, I'm Anon 6:03.

I just wanted to clarify about the statement "East Coast feel"....that is what I was told by someone who has been inside that house.

I believe it is entirely possible that this house may be a "Monterey Colonial" style of house, but have "East Coast traditional" elements to it as well. This house was probably not meant to be a purist Monterey Colonial architectural masterpiece....even at $16 million, it is still a "spec" job that was undertaken by a developer/builder to sell for profit!

Furthermore, if there is an "East Coast" vibe to this house....I believe that it was completely intential by the builder. Many of the super wealthy Westsiders have roots or connections to NYC or the Hamptons, and for some reason, they love the "East Coast traditional" design elements, whether they are outside or in the inside of the house. I cannot tell you how many houses on the Westside are basically psuedo-Cape Cods, and then the realtors give them the tag line "West Coast Living, East Coast Style!" and then the house magically sells, often to a NY or East Coast transplant.

By the way, I stand by the observation that I made that West Coast (California) houses generally tend to have enclosed family rooms, whereas East Coast homes are more likely to have 2-story family rooms.

I'm not basing this remark on only the pricey Westside mansions, I'm including the houses that "normal" people buy -- including the tract houses from Porter Ranch in the Valley, to Irvine in OC, and way out to Riverside in the IE.

If you take a look at the online floorplans on the websites of the major nationwide "tract" home builders -- for example, Toll Brothers, Centex, Richmond American, KB Home, Brookfield Homes, etc., you will notice that 2-story double height family rooms are more common in their East Coast houses than the ones they build in California/West Coast.

Anonymous said...

Legendary Funny Lady and Golden Girl Betty White lives on N. Carmelina in Brentwood too. Maybe they can stop by for some St. Olaf stories!

Anonymous said...

6:03. With all due respect, your statements and conclusions are a load of crap. You're in way over your head.

Anonymous said...

11:16. With all due respect, at least I posted some factual information about this particular residence, as well as some of my own thoughts. You might think it is crap, but at least I presented what I had to say in an intelligent manner, instead of merely dissing someone else statements as "crap."

And no, I'm not in way over my head. Especially when most of my longtime neighbors (I'm in Brentwood) agree with what I've said.

Btw, if you have evidence that goes against what I said, then please explain and elaborate. Otherwise don't merely diss other people as "crap".

Whatever. Even if I don't agree with you, I wouldn't belittle what you have to say by saying its a "load of crap."

Maybe we should agree to disagree. Take care.

Anonymous said...

Dear one, your consensus based on Brentwood neighborhood what ifs does not validate your shallow conclusions. The burdon of proof is not on me.

You realize not having monitored and invested time to track U.S. housing trends for decades, you appear as a sloppy hip shot.

I don't really care. Must feel good to sound authorative? On that we do agree to disagree.

Monitoring housing shifts and trends is a concentrated effort. People endeavoring those issues are dead serious. If you can't take the time to develop knowledge, better to stick with mocking throw pillows and tacky cabinets.

Take care back at you. I take industry knowledgely seriously.

Suggest you do the same. Read up, get educated and I will listen and respect you forever.

Anonymous said...

Oh wow......it lives in Brentwood, it must be right. It certainly isn't very cordial. If it suggests getting educated it should learn how to spell "burden". The other one isn't much better. Time for the wooden spoon(s) !

Anonymous said...

oh wow.....9:30 has nothing to offer aside from spell check......oh wow.

Anonymous said...

Anon 1:12, 2:25,

I admit that I am not an "industry professional." I was just sharing some factual tidbits about that particular property on Carmelina, and I was giving my opinion.

Was my opinion "crap"? Apprarently, you thought so.

But please be reminded that this blog & its content is not the "Wall Street Journal", nor is it published by the National Association of Realtors. This blog & its content is not meant to be an authoritative source about housing trends.

This blog, published by "Mama", is a look at celebrity real estate transactions, as well as "Mamas" own input about the style, layout, and the interior decor of the houses. Mama, "herself" expresses her opinions about the transactions of celeb real estate.

Since you say that you take industry knowledge very seriously, could you please suggest some sources, websites, or books to check out? I'm interested in this, and I would like to learn more so I can get more educated on the topic. I would greatly appreciate your help and suggestions!

Take care (and I do mean that sincerely).

Anonymous said...

Ladies... ladies... Everyone is entitled to their opinions, even if they don't always make sense. One thing though, in the diatribe that started all this.

East coast design does NOT, repeat NOT, typically include 2-story family rooms. I grew up in New England, my family has been in New England houses for several centuries, and I still go there. So I've seen. Many new houses EVERYWHERE have 2-story family rooms but that is a very new phenomenon. Typical New England houses absolutely do not have a 2-story anything, tract homes or not. I'm not sure where that comment comes from. The only houses in New England with 2-story rooms are old mansions and new McMansions. That is all.

Anonymous said...

e.j., just an opinion but I wonder if the recent popularity of double height family rooms (regardless of location) is an outgrowth of the "great room" concept?

I do agree with the anon referencing floorplans of tract home developments as having them. But I am perhaps a snob in thinking that a tract home of any size is not representative of an architectural style or limited to any geographical location.

Anonymous said...

According to X-17, this is the house they bought (scroll down):

http://x17online.com/celebrities/jennifer_garner/jen_and_violet_ready_for_the_move-08112008.php#more

This isn't what they were shown looking at about a week ago which was under construction and the brick was beige if I'm not mistaken.