Friday, December 19, 2008

Is Oprah House Hunting In D.C.?

Apparently, when you make a spine tingling, eye popping, knee rattling $250,000,000 a year you do not stay in a pricey and posh ho-tel when visiting your friend Barak Obama in the White House.

Oh no. You just buy a damn house in Washington D.C. Or at least that's what the rumor mills are saying about La Winfrey. Would anyone really be surprised if she scooped up a gorgeous house in Georgetown or Sheridan-Kalorama?

Well, Your Mama don't know nuthin' about nuthin' but we do know that if rich ladee's gonna do it, she better get on the damn stick because the inauguration is next month.

Do we smell an ambassadorship The Big O's future?

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

mamma is getting slow to these stories.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Mama, I hadn't heard about this. I'd be focused on Georgetown if I were her, but she may end up having to make another outrageous offer like she did to obtain a place she really wanted in Ca.

Anonymous said...

Looks like the house in the rumor mill post is the one at 1623 28th Street
http://www.weichert.com/search/realestate/PropertyListing.aspx?P=22232808&cityid=65237&ptypeid=32&minpr=20000&maxpr=75000
$49,000,000 9 bedrooms 3.7 acres a real jem

Anonymous said...

I don't buy it. Why wouldn't she stay at the White House?

Anonymous said...

This does not surprise me. She spent a few years in Baltimore as a news personality and used to own in Baltimore, a place she is fond of. Now she has a friend going into the White House, which is 40 minutes from Baltimore, so she can get a two for one deal.

She still has a Baltimore DJ on her payroll to keep quiet about things she did long ago.

I read an editorial about whether Oprah should/would accept an official position. They agreed that the best she could do for Barack Obama is act as his unofficial spokesperson and explain his policies to millions of people. That makes sense to me -- a lot of people watch her religiously. She delivered him a lot of votes and she can also keep him favorable to a lot of voters.

If she buys in DuPont, will we be 0.5% closer to proving Gail and her are more than just friends?

Anonymous said...

Anon: 9:19

She's not buying that house. It is a white elephant and overpriced, even by DC standards (although with all of the transaction going on due to the changing of the guard, the market is getting hot again and there are only so many houses for people with money). That house winds up in ever big rumor ... yet it languishes on the market.

Anonymous said...

Hey 9:58, cut 9:19 some slack. It isn't everyday they get an excuse to post their aging overpriced listing on a blog as popular as Mama's. ;-)

I don't know nothing about DC real estate (Californian here) but that sounds like a lot for a house that is first time on the market in 85 years. Usually after that amount of time there is a lot of updating needed. Is that the case with that one?

Would seem weird for the Big O to invest that much for essentially a pied a terre for when she & Gail are invited over for a game of basketball.

Anonymous said...

On her show [last year?] she was filmed driving across the country & stayed in shitty motels along the way ... I'm sure she can deal with a 5 star hotel in D.C

Anonymous said...

What a strange range of comments. Why wouldn't Miz O stay at the Whitehouse? Well not least because wot with all the money GB has wasted he can't possibly have gotten round to removing stains left by previous inhabitants - after all, the WhiteHouse is simply a, and I say this terribly guardedly, mofor whichever incumbent a witless american electorate vote into power. As Mama wud say, I know nuffin from nuffin, but wot I do know is this: my sheets and conscience are clean, and there ain't no way on this planet that that woman is worth an eye-popping $250M for sucking up to Brad Pitt and the ilk. I really hope the credit crunch hits hard. Sorry, but my politics are on the right, and I stand by that. Heaven Help Us if the electorate don't wake up soon.

Anonymous said...

I don't know..........if that place needs a lot of updating, she could probably squeeze several shows out of it and make even more money........Oprah in a tool belt.........Oprah hanging wallpaper........Oprah laying sod in large overalls.......the possibilities are endless.

Unknown said...

There was a rumor here in Baltimore that she bought two units at the new Ritz-Carlton condos at the Inner Harbor

Anonymous said...

10.59am. The post should read - "a motel for......" not mofor...." Apologies to all.
But since "I am now off on one," an english phrase for those "not in the know," $250m is mightily obscene. Unless she gives away £249, 950, 000 of it to charity. In which case I might just let her off.
Oh and another thing, the reason, RE agents in the UK don't publicise celebrity sales, is that it is not the british way. It is so "trailer-trash" to do that, like saying "The Queen lives at Buckingham Palace, which is just short drive from.....WHEREVER." We just have more class, even if the imported Jack Daniel's and coke rots our brains. But since Mama freely admits most of her children are gin-soaked, just run with me on this. Have a Nive Day.

Anonymous said...

Have a Nice Day. Sorry for the typos. It's the JD and the angst. Never a winning combo. Cheers Guys.

Anonymous said...

The Brits have "more class?" Than who? Seriously, have you ever dealt with working class Brits? That's class? Oh boy.

Besides, if it is so un-British and "trailer trash(y)" to talk about celebrity real estate sales, what in the devil are you doing here reading a blog about celebrity real estate and posting comments?

Me smells a self congratulating, over-egoed hypocrit.

How's that for class?

Anonymous said...

Just what do the British mean by "have a nive day?"

Anonymous said...

Trudy, I used to teach the spawn of working class brits and believe me that ain't pretty since Gordon has spent all our money on unqualified support staff and not air freshener. I guess the point I was making was that in Britain, we try really hard to remain discreet, respectful and demure about our wealth, or increasingly, lack of wealth.
But to address your questions directly, which is of of course only fair in a democracy, I post about celebrity real estate because it remains endlessly fascinating, exciting, different,= and challenging, and I truly wish more people would aspire to such heights. We might not all be born with the looks of film stars or gaggin' on silver spoons, but generally there is a way out if u look hard enough. I am gonna start singing "little shop of horrors" in a minute.............
So do you get where I was coming from??

Anonymous said...

10:14:

It is now primarily used for entertaining (as a rental -- the 150 car parking lot in the middle of DC is unheard of -- valet usually has to park your car illegally in that area).

It's a grand ol' house but its still old and not in the old new way that most buyers love. The lot though -- WOW, that is unheard of.

There is surely a buyer for it somewhere. It would be great for royalty, which usually have to go out of DC into Potomac or McLean/Great Falls to get a home that can be properly secured.

Security is big to those folks -- my brother worked on an estate where they had plates in the ground to detect intruders since it backed to the Potomac river. We're talking guards with machine guns and attack dogs. That can't really be carried out in a mansion on a sliver of a lot in DC. This one, however, is one of the few estates that would allow for that.

The lots in that area are tiny but the houses huge. My friend lives in one of those grand old houses (it's claim to fame is that Jackie O. stayed there for a very long time after being kicked out of the WH) and although the house is enviable, the lot is not. There is a carriage house but the front is nothing but side walk -- small walkways on either side and the back yard is also a sliver. In most cases, that's the most that someone's millions can buy them.

$50 million? Not today. Even if it were 2004 it would take a buyer with more money than sense to snap it off the market.

Anonymous said...

10:59: LOL, ironically, I just read yesterday that the mattresses and linens are thrown out and replaced when the guard changes. That makes sense...I doubt Barack and Michelle want to sleep on Georges and Laura's sheets.

11:05: I heard the Ritz rumor, too, but as best as I can tell, that either didn't materialize or was a ploy by the folks marketing the condos. The only major celebrities (non-sports, of course -- plenty of sports people) that I know of who have homes in the area are Will & Jada Smith. Jada also still has a few rental properties in the city that she owns with family remembers.

Anonymous said...

First, Oprah has a $65 million mansion she adores in Santa Barbara, multi-million dollar highrise condo in Chicago, a multi-million dollar estate in Hawaii, and a lovely home in South Africa on the grounds of school she runs for young girls. I would see no reason she would need or want to add to her collection of residences, unless she plans to make D.C. her permanent residence, which I seriously doubt.

Second, $50 million for a home even in the affluent neighborhood of Georgetown is absurd! A fully renovated 10,000 square-foot 9-bedroom house on a 1-acre lot in Georgetown sold for a little over $7 million about 7 years ago, and I would doubt home prices have increased that much for a comparable home--and this is NOT a comparable home, for one thing, it is UNrenovated. Moreover, I would very much doubt you would get $50 million in this dreary real estate market.

This just seems like a fluff piece repeating unsubstantiated rumors.

StPaulSnowman said...

Don't you be callin Mama a fluffer!

Anonymous said...

eunice and sarge shriver's house at 9109 harrington drive in potomic, which is currently on the market and listed thru washington fine properties, would be the logical choice, given the maria shriver/oprah relationship.

Anonymous said...

mama. i luv you tru blu. but ask yo self girl... what oprah need with a house in DC? she want to talk to obama, she jus buy kenya.

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