Although the pricey property is currently listed at $27,500,000 Your Mama hears–but can not confirm–that the couple will be paying somewhere in the neighborhood of $22,000,000 for the 1930s Hollywood Georgian. The gleaming white mansion features 9 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms including a 2,500 square foot master bedroom with a private sitting room, four (yes, children, four) fireplaces, sauna, a humongous terrace with outdoor fireplace and two tremendous bathrooms, one for him and one for her because, apparently, when you're this kind of rich you do not want to be pooping on the same terlit as your spouse.Other amenities in the elegant and very grown up house that measures in at around 12,000 square feet include a large motor court with a front facing 3-car garage, a paneled library with hidden wine cellar, screening room, staff quarters, and a 2 bedroom guest house adjacent to the rectangular shaped cee-ment pond.
Looks like Mister Affleck has come a long way from the down and dirty loft he used to live in on Walker Street in New York City.
Anyhoo, our little birdie buddy in Brentwood makes no predictions on whether the fickle couple will actually close on this property. See puppies, Garben or Bengar (or whatever) are becoming well known at the finer real estate offices up and down Sunset Boulevard for bailing out on high priced properties at the last minute. We hear (but again, can not confirm) they've backed out of five escrows to date. Five!
At least that's what we've heard from multiple sources in positions to know. Just a real estate rumor and gossip children for Saturday morning, just rumor and gossip.
Good Lawd! What on earth do they need a plantation for?!
ReplyDeleteLove the house - the authentic bones anyways, but it's got what's becoming an all too common stereotypical rehabbed look to it, and I'm getting a bit tired of that - definately too tired to fork over what's being asked.
ReplyDeleteDespite the 'pree-mo' location on S. Mapleton Dr., this place is definitely not worth $20M +! It doesn't have great curb appeal; who wants to spend that much money and have the whole damn front of the house be pavers almost up to the front door!? And the exterior needs some exposed brick or stacked stone or shutters on all sides of the house or a different color... SOMETHING/ANYTHING to break up that sea of white. The current owners need to hire one of those talented gay guys on HGTV to come spruce up the exterior...
ReplyDelete...although Holmby Hills/Bel-Air zip code 90077 is far more impressive than Brentwood's 90049... much better location for those who care about such things!
ReplyDeleteIt's a super glam place but I don't like a bathroom to be paneled like a 19th century British manor. I know I'm in the minority here but I hate wood paneling that looks historic, even if it is. I'll take a wall of flat bookmarked Brazilian rosewood circa 1950 but the old old stuff I just hate it.
ReplyDeleteMama........why so gentle? This place has a definite North Carolina motel look about it. I find myself wondering what you really think about it. I can only surmise that you have a soft spot for the FFleckners and didn't want to say anything mean. I think it is entirely without soul both inside and out. For this kind of money there must be houses with real character. California is young but I would like to see something that looks like it has been around longer than twelve years.
ReplyDeleteI believe this house shares the 90024 zip code with Westwood. But it's neither here nor there. I've lived in 90069 (Hollywood Hills), 90077 (Bel-Air), 90210 (Beverly Hills), 90049 (Brentwood), 90024 (Westwood), 90272 (Pacific Palisades), 90402 (Santa Monica) and 90265 (Malibu). I don't think any is a "better location" in everyone's mind -- they're each impressive in their own way.
ReplyDeleteThis place is only a few doors down from the last one they were supposed to have purchased. Better, generally speaking, but still a smallish lot and a boring lowest-common-denominator makeover. If we can believe all the reports of their aborted transactions, they seem determined to pay top dollar for bland construction/renovation, rather than top dollar for land/location/architecture, where they'd discover true value and investment potential. There's a much nicer Paul Williams on Delfern Drive, for instance, more land, better pedigree, nicer siting with an asking price of $25 million.
so_chic, I think I understand what you mean. Alot of that old wood turns a musky molasses color over time, and it's not attractive. My idea of rehabbing it would be to completely strip and refinish all that in a much lighter, brighter modern wood finish, rather than whitewashing it a boring white. Agree about the bathroom. Don't care for the dark marble or whatever that is either. I'd hate facing that room 1st thing in the morning every day.
ReplyDeleteIs this the Neff house on Mapleton?
ReplyDeleteThe only Neff house I know on Mapleton is number 515, down the street at the corner of Wyton, built for Joan Bennett.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the reason they bail is that when they go to get a mortgage the bank looks into their finances and finds a hitch....suppose?
ReplyDeletePCH, you use excellent reasoning about BenJen's RE choices. Personally, I am not surprised by their bland and mundane, yet pricey, real estate selections. Their choices entirely live up to my impression of them.
ReplyDeleteWhat kills me is that in the months they've been jumping in and out of escrows the same way nymphomaniacs jump in and out of bed, they could have purchased an older home with a better provenance, spent the time and money bringing it up to speed and been done.
Maybe they need a better Realtor. Or more likely, maybe they need an education in real estate investing and architectural heritage.
ALESSANDRA...............AMEN!
ReplyDeleteLike mama said, it's all just rumor and gossip folks, so take a chill pill Alessandra, sounds like your way to invested in their situation than you need to be, geez... someone needs a life....
ReplyDeletepch, I like the Paul Williams on Delfern also, but the location is not optimal for that price range either... that property backs up to Sunset and for that amount of money, most buyers are not going to want that droning road noise in the background while they are sipping their G&Ts in the evening pool side...
ReplyDeletepch, I like the Paul Williams on Delfern also, but the location is not optimal for that price range either... that property backs up to Sunset and for that amount of money, most buyers are not going to want that droning road noise in the background while they are sipping their G&Ts in the evening pool side...
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 3.45pm - You could do with getting a life yourself. Find something better to do than trolling the internet looking for posters who post opinions on Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner that aren't to your liking and then attacking them. Take your own advice and take a chill pill.
ReplyDeleteScheesh. And, no trees?
ReplyDeletecould be next to one of my favorite properties in LA. The playboy mansion. one of the few homes in LA that gets the old money east coast style stone manor right.
ReplyDeleteThe house is absolutely hideous.
ReplyDeleteNeither one of them know what they are doing.
Get a beach house. In Malibu. You know. Heaven, down the road.
Jen would have to be nuts to put Ben into a house that's next to the Playboy mansion... ;)
ReplyDeleteAgree with everyone about the bland taste. Heck I see houses all the time for 1/10th of the price that have far more class and taste.. and no trees either as someone pointed out.
Fair enough, 4:35 -- I agree the Delfern house is way overpriced. But all things being equal, I'd still take it over the house on Mapleton.
ReplyDeleteHow come 3:45 didn't offer me a chill pill, too? Unless you have enough for the whole class...
And to think the poor dears have been wandering Los Angeles homeless all this time …… why I've been losing sleep thinking of them surreptitiously parking that big, black Audi on side streets to spend the night, their backseat overflowing with White Castle wrappers……
ReplyDeleteThey'd better buy soon or I just might find myself actually caring whether they live or die, despite my gentler nature.
why do these agents/developer list it at 27.5 and settle for 22?
ReplyDeleteVilla Leopolda sold for 496 million Euro. The buyer is ......
ReplyDeleteMichail Prochorov.
Net worth 19 Billion.
House is only 4% of his net worth. I dont see a person with a net worth OF 5 MILLION living in a 200 K property in Watts.
It's All Relative
A developer stealing the clients away and taking money out of an agents pocket, how sad
ReplyDeletethe market is tough enough right now
I hope the agent from the other sale gets a cut of this one
the real estate business is truly a ruthless and dirty business
This house is a couple of blocks away from the Playboy mansion. And contrary to what one might think from shows like "The Girls Next Door", all you are going to see at the Playboy manision is tour buses, tourists standing in the street, caterers, and shuttle vans for all the events they hold there. Even the second house that Hef bought on the street is just two big wood gates on the street.
ReplyDeleteI think the house is beautiful; I like traditional homes. It just needs some paint/wallpaper to dress up all those white walls inside. I especially like the backyard- the decking and pool area. A grass yard is good when you have children (which they do) and it's surrounded by trees.You can see it better at http://michael-mcnamara.com/219mapleton/slideshow/slideshow.html
ReplyDeleteLGB...You've discovered the true issue. They're looking for the White Castle near-by and tragically, all they can find are In&Outs. Hamburger joint allegiances can be deal killers.
ReplyDeleteThe house is okay, but for all the money I'd expect to have better landscaping. A few trees or something!
ReplyDeleteYou'll never find me paying that sort of cash for a house that has its damned garage doors front and center for all the world to see.
ReplyDeleteThe master bath looks like the loo at any Ralph Lauren Polo store. And while the poolhouse seems attractive, the back of the house looks like the result of about six different unplanned additions and remodelings.
That said, I can understand why Jennifer might take a liking to it. She's from Charleston, WV...seconds away from where I grew up myself, and this house has the sort of comfortable "ramble" to it that the majority of the houses in Charleston's older, finer neighborhoods have. Despite it's ho-hum facade, before I read a word of Mama's description, there was something familiar and homey about it. I'm only guessing, but perhaps Mrs. Affleck felt the same way.
I like the house in general, but there's nothing 1930s about it anymore. The back of the house is all new and expanded. The exterior is completely different. I think the house had a brick exterior almost all the way up to the roof. The guest house is new, the pool is new and the lot looks a lot bigger on these pictures.
ReplyDeleteAnd does anyone else have a really hard time believing it's 12000 sq. ft.? Is the garage included? The house looks like it's 6,000, maybe7,000 at the most.
I see a divorce in the future...this house strikes me as 100% Jen and 0% Ben...hmm, will this cause him to cut and run like he did on J-Lo after they bought the big plantation down in Georgia (coincidentally not to far from my own coastal Georgia winter home...)...and, do these two really have that kinda money anymore? If so, I'd have to imagine Jen must be the primary breadwinner at this point...that being said, bland, boring house...something you'd expect a couple of 60-year olds to buy, not a hot Hollywood couple...for the money, they should check out the awesome contemporary that just came on the market for $29-million @ 901 Airole Way in Bel-Air...now that place is much more Ben than Jen!
ReplyDeleteThe divorce will probably happen since Ben loves his Camels and hasn't quit smoking at all.
ReplyDeleteThe divorce will probably happen since Ben loves his Camels and hasn't quit smoking at all.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I will NEVER understand is smoking and cigarettes, what is the point?
ReplyDeleteIt is a delicious pleasure, a great flavor,so enjoyable to watch and play with the smoke, a constant friend, (as Billy Joel wrote) and yes it may get you in the end. A great many of us, however, truly enjoy the pleasures of smoking and accept the risk in exchange for the great satisfaction a good smoke provides. Ben and Brad are posterboys for the enjoyment and sensuality of smoking.
ReplyDeleteThe house is as boring as the couple.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I will never understand is a poster who never has anything to say other than how Affleck is a smoker. One would almost think they were doing it on purpose to try and get a rise of the non smoking marjority....
ReplyDeleteThat is one boring pile of white.
ReplyDeleteHow do THESE TWOOOO have that much $$$!?
ReplyDeleteInvestments
ReplyDeleteBen had back-end and no up-front on Pearl Harbor which, if Beverly Hills goss is to be believed, he grossed 80 million on % Gross split of course with his manager, the IRS and his agent. Yet, still, Ben has plenty of money to burn on an expensive show-biz home for he and his family.
ReplyDeleteI just discovered your blog and you are brilliant. I love it! Best, Becs
ReplyDeleteSmoke 'em if you got em! I find that my smoking friends are very considerate with respect to those around them. The villification of smokers is, in my opinion, something that makes nonsmoking militants feel good about themselves. We are not going away. We die earlier and actually cost society less. We are not sucking money out of the health care system for the total joints, senility care and social security that all you healthy non-smokers are responsible for. You should be delighted we smoke so that society will be able to afford your miserable , but healthy, old age.
ReplyDeleteSometimes when all the pricks have gone we just light up!
ReplyDeleteHere is a virtual tour of the house....http://www.michael-mcnamara.com/219mapleton/gallery/gallery.html
ReplyDeleteI don't know how you could spend that much cash on something so ordinary. Now this is the house they should have bought:
ReplyDeletehttp://realestalker.blogspot.com/2008/02/your-mama-hears_26.html
I don't know how you could spend that much cash on something so ordinary. Now this is the house they should have bought:
ReplyDeletehttp://realestalker.blogspot.com/2008/02/your-mama-hears_26.html
I don't know how you could spend that much cash on something so ordinary. Now this is the house they should have bought:
ReplyDeletehttp://realestalker.blogspot.com/2008/02/your-mama-hears_26.html
Is this site "the real esmoker" now? Hell, who cares if you are smoking or not. Enjoy your cigarette, relax while doing it, give a shit what others are saying about it! THAT was once the true attitude of smoking, not this whining and finger pointing at people who might or might not be smoking.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who buys in Beverly hills, Holmby Hills, Bel air is a muck!.
ReplyDeleteThis house has no view.
The street is noisy.
And anyone buying from the developer who is out to make a quick $ due to his remodelling ability is a sucker
The house has no character, charm, or beauty. It is nice to see Ben, a liberal Democratic champion of the Everyman, outspoken critic of global warming, buying a simple, unpretentious, 12,000 square foot house with a low carbon footprint.
ReplyDeleteWhat a dump. Money not well spent.
ReplyDeleteAnon 7:38, when has Ben every claimed to be a champion of anything?
ReplyDeleteAh yes, it's an election year, and the "patriots" are infesting every website to bash anyone who isn't praying to jesus and ronald reagan.
About the house? North Carolina hotel aesthetic is spot on. Are Ben and his buddies going to put a mini-golf in all that ugly green?
I prefer the Holmby Hills location to Brentwood. You can walk to the Playboy mansion parties......
ReplyDeleteJust what we don't need. Another stop on the street for the tour vans. Bet 500 cars/vans drive down Mapleton every day, with the specific purpose of driving by the Playboy Mansion, Spelling Manor etc., etc. Horns honk, gate intercom bell buttons get pushed, people get out and have their pictures taken at the gates.
ReplyDeleteI'm with whoever said they wouldn't pay that kind of money for a front-loading garage. Nothing large should have a front-loading garage! Do whatever you have to to get those hideous doors around back, or on the side. Good grief. What is wrong with people.
ReplyDeleteI know Ben seems like he might have a more contemporary aesthetic, but have you seen the plantation house he chose pre-Jen Garner in Georgia? All white, just like this.
After all their hemming and hawing, I am surprised this is their choice. Not sure I really believe it.
anonymous 12:49....OK, we get it....you must live in the expensive, but charmless neighborhood under discussion in this thread. Surely, there must be some redeeming values if you are willing to put up with the common gawkers and the noisy bells and whistles of your hoity-toity neighbors. Shame on you for not picking a better neighborhood in the first place. I can't, however, blame you for not wanting to sell in this market. Here in the midwest, we love our photos of ourselves in overalls in front of Californee Manshuns. What really excites us, though, is the thought of all those porno films we hear they shoot in your neighbors' hot tubs.......damn!
ReplyDeleteSt Paul, I'm not sure if you're using "charmless" as a rhetorical device, but there are actually some very nice houses on S Mapleton. I'm partial to a Spanish-Deco hybrid (now largely hidden by a wall) at the intersection of Charing Cross, number 282, the Bennett-Neff house at 515, and a sculptural modern at 595.
ReplyDeletePCH you are right, I stand corrected. "Charmless" came out of the lot and house they are looking at. I don't know the neighborhood and should have avoided that descriptor..........I do suspect that anon 12:49's house, if it reflects its owner and is actually in this neighborhood, lacks charm as well. I hope the Ffleckners were'nt expecting the welcome wagon and a tuna hot dish.
ReplyDeleteThe only welcome wagon on this street is our security guards getting to know your security guards. Even when you drive out through your gates, the car windows are tinted so dark, you can't even be sure who is in the car. Dogs are walked by the help. Newspapers are picked up by staff. Your not going to see any resident sitting or standing in front of any house in Holmby Hills.
ReplyDeleteIt is funny to look outside of your gates when the tour vans roll by. You feel like your at the zoo and the people are pointing at the animal behind the cage.....Love it!
That sounds plain miserable.
ReplyDeleteI gather the incommunicado lifestyle means grammatical perfection is not required.
Very Good article , this article make some interesting points .
ReplyDeleteReal Estate Developers dir
the developer probably just chose to go neutral hence all the white. i'm sure the pics doesnt give the place justice. its a blank canvass, it just needs a personal touch
ReplyDeletethere's a video (x17) showing a moving van and for sale sign in front of their house. if theyre moving already, then it's not the house under construction that they bought. the holmby prop could really be the one.
ReplyDelete