Wednesday, April 28, 2010

It's Back...

...It seems that the listing for Nic Cage's former Bel Air mansion–the Gerard Colcord designed one once owned by cheesy crooner Tom Jones and boozy crooner Dean Martin–is just never going to go away. After listing the house for $35,000,000 way back in 2007, chopping the price all the way to $17,500,000 and then losing it to foreclosure in early April of 2010, the now lender-owned property is back on the market with an asking price of $12,750,000.

Interestingly and not surprisingly to anyone who has been inside the house, the property is now being marketed as a bit of a fixer upper with listing text reading, "Bring this home up to today's standards..." In the right hands, it really could be a beauty, an awkward beauty perhaps, but awkward beauty really is the best kind. Just ask a model booker.

Anyhoo, the children will notice that many of the light fixtures–sconces and chandeliers alike–have been removed from the house. Of course, Your Mama don't know a piece of wood from a bunch of grapes, but we're guessing Mister Cage snatched them all off the wall and out of the ceiling and has them in storage, perhaps out in that airplane hangar he's rumored to lease at the Santa Monica airport where he stores his vast collection of vintage automobiles.

Whatever the case, Your Mama wonders if Mister Cage had priced the house at $12,500,000 to begin with if he'd have sold it long ago and spared himself the hassle and indignity of foreclosure.

photo: Pacific Coast News

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Back on market... and they already have offers. Just sell it already and let all of us move on!

Grrrowler said...

Ah, a $13,000,000 fixer-uppper. These are marvelous times we live in!

Apparently Mr. Cage also sold his yacht, Sarita, late last year but I've not heard how much he got for it.

StPaulSnowman said...

Great to get this update. This place could be a real gem again but careful stewardship and sensitivity to the interiors takes a very special, and flush buyer. I will pray that nobody buys it, paints it pink and puts nude statues on the grounds.

Jacaranda Johnson, GRI said...

the only thing that needs fixing is that bathroom they show in the tour (the colorful one....) and that purple room .......unchanged perhaps from the days of Dino?
I love it as it is, ready for creepy and shabby chic. The details are fabulous. My major gripe is actually the exterior, looking like a college in the North East for one thing, and that ivy. Rats adore ivy.......

Anonymous said...

I have always loved this house. Frankly, I enjoy the new pictures of the home without Mr. Cage's decor.
You simply can't build them like this anymore. I hope one day to see it featured in Architectural Digest after a fabulous restoration.

Anonymous said...

Let's just forgive Mr. Cage for inflicting this dreadful saga on us and move on. Burn it down and start fresh.

Anonymous said...

Ooooh...is that a kidney-shaped swimming pool in the upper left corner? All of the better homes in Hackensack NJ have kidney-shaped swimming pools, with nude statue-fountains pouring water from their jugs into the kidney-shaped pools.
Submitted by,
Patti O. Furniture

Anonymous said...

The gazebo columns need to be replaced with caryatids.
Hedda LaTess

Anonymous said...

Beck's house in Hancock Park has a sold sign, and Redfin says it went for $6,750,000. This house in prime Bel-Air should be worth at least $10-12 mil.

Jeannified said...

Love this house! Would lov eto see interior shots, too!

Anonymous said...

An interesting and apropos pairing of homes today Mama in that there's something a bit architecturally 'off' about both of them - something their future owners will have to learn to like even after all the renovations and remodeling are done. For a home costing in the million$ to start with, I'd need a love at first sight relationship with mine.

Anonymous said...

" Would love to see interior shots, too!"

Slide Show Here

Candi Speling said...

Mama I swore if you wrote about Cage again I would slash my wrists. So I'm writing this with bloody fingers AND a bloody keyboard.

StPaulSnowman said...

Am I the only one who clicks on Mama's thoughtfully placed blue links? And Candi.............wrap some gauze around those wounds because I need the updates on the Cage realestate Folles.

Barney said...

Ya' know, My Friends......If I hear about or see ONE MORE TIME Cage's UGLY FACE and HIDEOUS blond "DON'T",I'll PUKE myself to death! If he isn't THE WEBSTERS' DICTIONARY DEFINITION of "Pig with a gold ring in its' snout" I'll NEVER know who is!!! He makes your average Pimp in the ghetto look CLASSY & INTELLIGENT by comparison....who very most likely, has infintely better taste in decorating AND money management, too!

Jersey Guy said...

What a beautiful old home... looks much better with Nick's stuff outta there.

Needs a hysterectomy inside and a facelift outside, but someone with bucks could do it up and over nicely. Nothing that can't be solved with money. But much like Mama commented on Psycho Lady's house, let's hope someone doesn't bulldoze it and put up a 20,000 sq ft "Tuscan" mansion.

(And I've been to Tuscany, and that's not how the estates look!)

Anonymous said...

One of the best deals on the market, I can't understand why this has not sold.

And Cage could not have sold it for $12.5 million Mama if he owed much more on it than that. You know this Mama. lol

David A Toluca Lake said...

Who wouldn't want to live in The Shining's The Overlook Hotel, the mini series!! Creepy.

Carla Ridge said...

But 'Frat House Bordello' was JUST about to catch on as the big new design thing. Oh well, there goes Bobby Trendy's new deal with Hollister to produce a line of housewares!

Anonymous said...

Love the exterior of this house - I think the ivy is beautiful and the landscaping is lush and inviting. I wish I had 12 million...

MH Critic said...

I have always loved this house. I used to drive around in Bel Air in the 1970's looking at all the beautiful houses and this was one I loved (and the Beverly Hillbillies house). If I had 10-12 million, I would buy it. Some of the rooms are pretty funky - stuck in time! I would take all the ivy off the house. Looks like the pool is a good size too for swimming laps. There are so many rich people in Los Angeles - someone will buy it again soon.

Amy said...

I have always loved this house. Frankly, I enjoy the new pictures of the home without Mr. Cage's decor. You simply can't build them like this anymore. I hope one day to see it featured in Architectural Digest after a fabulous restoration.