Monday, February 9, 2009

Jake and Reese Lay Out a Load for A London Let


LESSEES: Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon
LOCATION: Notting Hill, London
PRICE: £4,000 per week
SIZE: 1,996 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: A simply beautiful period house which has undergone a comprehensive and exacting refurbishment programme. Benefiting from wonderful entertaining space over two floors and sumptuous bedroom accommodation this stunning property also boasts a charming private terrace. 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, reception, kitchen/dining room, terrace.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Over the weekend Your Mama received a kindly communique from a helpful Briton we'll call Glenn Givesitup who generously hooked us over to a recent article from the Homes and Property section of the Evening Standard in which a dee-lishusly loose lipped estate estate agent revealed that American super stars Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal have leased a London love nest to the tune of £4,000. That's four thousand bloody British Pounds per week children.

A few flicks of the well worn beads on our bejeweled abacus tells us that figure converts to an impressive $5,916 and eighty damn cents at todays rates. Again, that's per week, puppies. Although that is obviously a mountain of money to most people, it's probably less than the cost of the ridiculously rich couple and her two children shacking up in a swank suite at the super slick Sanderson and definitely a lot less expensive than settling in to one of the outrageously expensive and newly redesigned roof suites at the dee-voonly stuffy Dorchester.

According to the wonderfully indiscreet estate agent–who reportedly represents the property which is listed for sale at £2,795,000–the owner of the Victorian era house in the natty Knotting Hill area was thrilled when the well paid American actors turned up waving wads of dollar bills shouting, "Gimme, gimme, gimme."

Listing information reveals the modestly sized terrace house measures 1,996 square feet spread over four floors of recently refurbished rooms. The main reception room on the raised ground floor has dark wood floors, gallery white walls, a good number of creme colored sofas and seating areas where the couple could comfortably entertain Gwynny and Madge with a few carrot sticks and some Kabbalah water. A small terrace at the rear of the room is a good spot for the notoriously private couple to be seen smooching by all the neighbors.

The lower floor has an excessively glossy, almost mirror-like floor that looks reflective enough to expose the naughty bits of skirted ladees and gentlemen. The decently sized dining area is being aesthetically abused by a glass topped table, eight dining room chairs being choked by white slip covers and a little little fixture stuck to the ceiling that is both too small for the room and, rather upsettingly, not located over the center of the table. The dining area is open to the sleek and efficient looking kitchen which features a narrow work island, some shiny white cabinets that match the glimmering floor, and a breakfast area with a barely there round glass table surrounded a set of four Philippe Starck Victoria Ghost Chairs. This all looks rather sexy (if a bit 1970s), but Your Mama would not want to be navigating that part of the house in the dim light of dawn after a long night of gin and tonics with divalicious drag star Lily Savage because we would surely be injured by that transparent arrangement of glass and plastic masquerading as a dinette set.

A petite patio off the kitchen is a good spot for the nanny to smoke a fag when the Witherspoon children's grilled cheese sandwiches are grilling up and a narrow hallway off the dining area leads to a bedroom, a second small patio and the house's only guest terlit. While we do appreciate that the guest pooper is quite private, it's a long haul from the main entertaining space for a gal who's really got to go.

The private quarters include a full floor master suite which stretches the entire length of the house from front to back and includes a clean lined en suite with beautiful wood accents, and large, lovely and, thankfully, frosted arched window and some sort of fancy square terlit that we're sure cost nearly as much as a Mini Cooper. The top floor is accessed by a claustrophobic's nightmare of a staircase and features a windowless bedroom and en suite that are both, thankfully, ventilated and lit by several skylights.

The talkative estate agent did not reveal how long the Americans will be in residence. Given that the house remains for purchase, it can't be long. Presumably the property will not be shown while the panties and playthings of Oscar winning Ms. Witherspoon and Oscar nominated Mister Gyllenhaal could be peeped by the prying eyes of prospective buyers and aggressively nosy fans who think it might be cute to ring up the estate agent asking for a tour.

Back in Tinseltown, Ms. Witherspoon–who is one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood– and her two children live in a quietly posh guard gated community called Brentwood Circle in, you guessed it, Brentwood, and Mister Brokeback Mountain has long occupied a very private property above Woodrow Wilson Drive in the Hollywood Hills that Your Mama and several of our better connected sources think he leases as opposed to owns.

The Mulholland Drive home of Mister Gyllenhaal's rumored to be dee-vorcing parents recently fell off the MLS after having been listed for an ice age. The fine looking 5 bedroom and 3 bathroom contemporary crib was last priced at $3,150,000 after first hitting the market with a much higher asking price of $4,200,000. No word on what the Hollywood veterans will be doing with their Martha's Vineyard hideaway.

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

Momma,the information on the flat in London needs an update since they appear not to be in residence there any longer. Jake was back in Los Angeles, with Chinspoon, back in mid-December. He's finished the London phase of his Disney gamer movie. He doesn't even look like Fabio anymore! Rumor has it Jake and his simple ol' country girl are pig farmers in real life.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I think this info is old. I did hear that they have upgraded the ranch in Ojai and spend more time there than the place in Brentwood. He hasn't spent time at his place in ages and heard that it's up for sale.

Anonymous said...

Nah, the Notting Hill and "living together" stories are just that - stories. The Notting Hill one brings in potential buyers for the property and others nearby. It's all for making it look like Jake and Reese are a couple. They are, but only in business and showmance.

Anonymous said...

did you hear about britney s estate listed at a 50% discount ? was 10MM now 5MM listing, it is in the "big time listings blog"

50% !!!!!!!!!!!

maybe avg joe is onto something

Anonymous said...

A tip-off that Jake and Reese have never and will never live at the Notting Hill property: the patio. No privacy and not secure. No stars/celebs would live in such an exposed environment, real or showmance.

Anonymous said...

I've seen Jake and Reese together and they are definately a real couple. That said, the Notting Hiil story is old unless she is filming a movie in the UK and needs the space.

Anonymous said...

Pig farmers, LOL!! I also hear they have problems with mountain goats at the ranch. That place in NH doesn't look private at all, she wouldn't let her kids stay there.

Anonymous said...

Ohhh, Ventura! Tell!!!

Anonymous said...

London, Notting Hill - Reese Witherspoon is cheap, she should have rented something better for her showmance boyfriend.

But Mrs Witherspoon is practical and she wanted something with easy papparazzi access - after all publicity was the only point of her UK visit.

Anonymous said...

Mutual friends non-industry in Carpinteria/Santa Barbara, saw them a few times togther over the holidays and once last week.

They seemed nice, low-key and friendly. They looked serious and real to me.

That flat looks a bit "public" to me, can't imagine either one of them renting the place even if a studio was footing the bill, there are much more private place in London.

Anonymous said...

Finally! a house with ashtrays that make a statement. It is like the glamour of yesterday.....Jake lighting up two for two.

Anonymous said...

Finally! a house with ashtrays that make a statement. It is like the glamour of yesterday.....Jake lighting up two for two.

Anonymous said...

The lease finished in December I think, they rented this place while jake was filming his new movie.

She definitely stayed at this house because I saw her a couple of times [looking very normal with a baseball cap, no sunglasses!] on Westbourne Grove in Notting Hill shopping & they were both out & about in the evenings.

Those talking about 'paparazzi' & 'publicity' ... are you serious? She's the most private paparazzi hating star in Hollywood ... She goes to great lengths to avoid being pictured ... Stop talking crap!

This is actually fairly cheap for a Notting Hill rental ... Larger homes in the area can rent for £12,000 / week ...

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't be surprised if they were never there. It doesn't look at all child friendly with all that white.

Plus, 3 bedrooms in that particular layout? If they brought a nanny, then I suppose the kids could have shared a room, but why? Surely there must have been 4 bedroom places available.

I'm pretty sure the romance is for real, though. They've been together for a while now and, if it was all just for show, we'd see a lot more of them in the pap hotspots - shopping and lunching in LA.

And even if they only used a daytime nanny, what would they have done? Put 9 year old Ava on the lower ground floor by herself in a room accessible by an outside patio with everyone else sleeping at least 2 floors up? I think not.

Anonymous said...

Jake and Reese are very serious and real, about the bearding that is. Its nothing more than that. These "buying a house together" stories are just plants just like how they might be seen at events together. It doesn't make them lovers.

Anonymous said...

"if it was all just for show, we'd see a lot more of them in the pap hotspots - shopping and lunching in LA."

Where have you been? Thats all they do, photo ops 3x a week of them shopping and getting coffee!

Anonymous said...

Geez!!! Why do people scrutinize every single detail ... She wasn't living at the property with her kids! ... She split her time between London & LA, with the odd week/weekend in London while the kids I'm sure were back in LA with their Father ... & those saying it's not private ... It's central London - Not the hills of LA! Just don't go out on the balcony & to be honest, it's Notting Hill - there are loads of celebs living there - locals don't give a shit!

When she was married to Ryan they also rented a house in Notting Hill while he was filming in the UK - she seems to like the area ...

Anonymous said...

They looked very serious and real to me and i saw them up close and personal. If he is leasing his home in the H.Hills I wonder why he just didn't purchase it, he sure can afford it.

I agree with the above poster that says that this place was leased by them last year when he was filming over there.

Anonymous said...

Those talking about 'paparazzi' & 'publicity' ... are you serious? She's the most private paparazzi hating star in Hollywood ... She goes to great lengths to avoid being pictured

ROFLMAO!

You obviously have no idea what you're talking about.

Or you work for Witherspoon's PR team.

Anonymous said...

"They looked very serious and real to me and i saw them up close and personal."

LMAO! I think you work for Reeses PR too.

Anonymous said...

Jake likes boys.

Anonymous said...

OMG! The prancing ponies from those two "special" forums, who obssessively follow this actor they "could care less about", the nasty little frauen who start threads in the most curious places, must be monitoring particular Jake fansites so they can pounce. Wonder who they work for. Bcz they really should get paid for their vigilance. LOL!

They follow every link to every gossip blog they can find and post the same tired crap. It sounds like someone is paying you to post hateful stuff, it is very predictable and repetitive. You slither around the gossip sites with the same drivel allll the time. Boring! Get help.

Anonymous said...

Reshoots in the UK for Prince of Persia would require Jake to get a flat there, they stayed in NH last time.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
OMG! The prancing ponies from those two "special" forums, who obssessively follow this actor they "could care less about", the nasty little frauen who start threads in the most curious places, must be monitoring particular Jake fansites so they can pounce. Wonder who they work for. Bcz they really should get paid for their vigilance. LOL!

They follow every link to every gossip blog they can find and post the same tired crap. It sounds like someone is paying you to post hateful stuff, it is very predictable and repetitive. You slither around the gossip sites with the same drivel allll the time. Boring! Get help.

February 9, 2009 12:12 PM



You sound like the one with the obsession, both with JG and other people.

Anonymous said...

"maybe avg joe is on to something"

one or two properties that were ridiculously over-priced coming down to reality don't represent the entire market.

when the median home price is 50%, we'll all have to eat shit and die.... cuz then avg joe was right. however, that won't happen.

Anonymous said...

AVERAGE JOE is correct what he says - proprty prices will collapse 80-90%. You guys have not analysed the next wave of not only bank collapses but retail and resources. Sit on your hands and wait for the $10m Beverly hills mansion to be snapped up for $2m. But can you you wait 2 years?

Anonymous said...

I'm not one to agree with Average Joe and his sky is falling rhetoric because like many of you I find him sort of annoying.

But to pretend the real estate market is not suffering a major hit is just living in a state of conscious denial.

Unemployment is skyrocketing. Companies are laying off huge numbers of people EVERY DAY. Wall Street has lost nearly half it's value and remains in turmoil. The credit markets are locked up. Foreclosures continue to increase. Economies around the world are suffering. You have the US government scrambling to inject the economy with a trillion dollars and some of you think that real estate in LA (or wherever) is immune? Or you think that what we're seeing in prices is simply "one or two properties that were ridiculously over-priced coming down to reality?" Are you kidding?

It's simply an economic impossibility that real estate will not take the sort of hit the rest of the economy is taking.

Which is why when you go around to open houses in LA like I do that many of the real estate agents look like a deer caught in the headlights. I'm not dogging agents out, but if anyone thinks that (many) real estate agents are not freaking out about the state of things, well, you're probably a real estate agent who does not want your friends and clients to know that you're about $15,000 from broke.

Some agents are doing well...they are. I know that. I even know a couple of agents that are doing well. But most are not, and to pretend otherwise is simply pretending otherwise.

Also, the recent numbers from the Calif. Assoc. of Realtors shows that although sales activity is up, more than 50% of the transactions are short sales and foreclosures.

Sales (in CA) increased in Dec. by a good margin, but the median home price in CA fell 41.5%. That dismal number is from the Cal. Assoc. of Realtors, an organization that represents Realtors and who typically puts a good spin on things.

Let's get real. Those numbers do not reflect just one or two over priced properties getting realistic, they show a market with very, very sharp declines in (perceived) value.

I'm not being doom and gloomish, I'm just stating an economic reality.

Anonymous said...

Anon, 4:27, I'm not "obssessed. " I am a huge Jake fan. Like to keep up with him. I think Reese is a cutie and they're an adorable couple. Period. No apologies. Been around enough sites to know about the haters like you.

We haven't seen the bottom of the real estate market, in general, but obviously, some places will drop less then others. NYC and LA prices are falling, but they are still way higher then the rest of the country. Some areas will rebound sooner then others, too. If there is a sustainable economic base. Credit will flow,but more a trickle then a stream, and high end lenders will still be able to cobble together financing. It is the middle class who will continue to bleed.

So if you're a seller in LA with a house worth $8M and you're listing it for $10M, you will probably end up unloading it for$5M. And it will take a lot longer. But if you sell property worth $23 M for $30M you'll probably break even.
The market is flatlining right now while people wait and see what happens in Washington.

Anonymous said...

Y A W N

Anonymous said...

It's a beautiful property but I don't believe for a moment Reese/Jake were interested in buying it as a "love nest". Now if Jake were buying it on his own (or with someone else not Reese) THAT I might believe.

As someone said for starters it is far too exposed and any time a big star or celeb is in London they're "buying properties" there. These stories are just that, stories, designed to make people look as if they're committed and are probably put out by some PR man on behalf of the actors involved. It's a load of baloney. But yeah, nice property though!

Anonymous said...

This London home is owned by hip-hop producer Damon Dash. It was featured on an episode of cribs. There is a grecian type pool in the basement.

Anonymous said...

She's a superstar; he's just a star, and a rather dim one at that, so far.
Re: the showmance. No one has managed to explain to me why she would be dating a gay guy when she could date pretty much anyone she wanted. Nothing in it for her. I have no idea what, if anything, they do in bed, but I have no doubt they enjoy each other's company. Both are well behaved which makes them standouts in Hollywood.

Anonymous said...

Since papa and mama Gyllenhall are obviously not living together anymore it would make perfect sense if he was in Martha's Vineyard while she held down Jake's HHills place and he enjoys Witherspoon's hospitality. I have no idea of course; just making a logical speculation. Mama has been seen with Jake and Reese so she is still in LA. Papa hasn't, as far as I know, been seen for ages.

Anonymous said...

The "hideaway" in Martha's Vineyard has a public address listed under the father's name and a public telephone number the last I saw and is located on one of the island's main roads. Not much of a "hideaway". The family used to go there in the summer, I presume (Jake was seen competing in foot races on the island with his pal Chris, the chef, who grew up nearby).

Anonymous said...

Speaking of the Dorchester I cannot refrain from telling of an experience there while at university in the UK. The year was 1952 and I had just come from a hitch-hiking vacation in Ireland. Returning to London, with a rucksack on my back, and wearing scruffy boots, I went straight to the Dorchester and asked for a room. After registering I was turned over to a flunkie in formal attire and tailcoat who greeted me with appropriate servility and aplomb and then escorted up to one of the suites on the top floor where I had a deliciously hot bath and restful night. Of course the dollar was king then but I suspect part of it was that I was viewed as an rich eccentric of the kind often welcomed in the UK. Those were indeed the days.

Anonymous said...

Anon 11:44 you have a BIG MOUTH!!!