Friday, April 17, 2009

More News About Mariah

Although Your Mama would like the children to think we are a wise and omniscient wizard of celebrity real estate, the truth is what we do know is far less than what we don't know. For example...

For weeks now rumors have been swirling and swelling that maybe she's pregnant, maybe she's not Mariah Carey made an offer on on Fleur de Lys, the freakishly opulent mega-mansion in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles currently owned by couture queen Suzanne Saperstein and listed for sale with a pee your pants from shock and awe asking price of $125,000,000.

As soon as that bit of gossip began to slip and slide down grapevine Your Mama got on the horn with a few of the folks we thought might actually have some knowledge of Mister and Missus Carey's real estate bizness. The always well informed Donna Tellaitall snitched that the newlyweds had been peeping and poking around some of the more expensive zip codes in the San Fernando Valley for homes in the ten million dollar range. Although we cannot confirm this, it is our understanding the couple had a look-see around a recently re-habbed residence in Encino which had previously belonged to glassy eyed and gravel voiced chanteuse Macy Gray.

Another of our regular bean spillers scoffed and hissed at the very notion that Mariah Carey could even afford a house of Fleur de Lys' magnitude. Of course, even though Your Mama don't know nuthin' from bacon about Mrs. Carey's finances, we too confess it required a bit of mental stretching to get our gin soaked mind around that idea ourselves.

Our next query went out to Virginia Slim who is kind of like our Fleur de Lys Deep Throat given that she actually fraternizes with Miz Saperstein and her coterie of younger man friends. Miss Slim whispered that she heard from someone in a position to know that Mister and Missus Carey did tour the mammoth manse but as far as she could suss out, no offer was proffered.

Shortly after speaking to Miss Slim we heard from Donna Tellaitall again who whispered in our big ol' ear that she'd heard the house hunters had signed on the dotted line for an approximately $12,000,000 property in Bel Air that was definitely not Fleur de Lys and that's all she knew. Mister Carey recently confirmed the couple did indeed purchase a place in L.A., but not surprisingly clammed up like Fort Knox when it came to the details.

So once again we put the feelers out for the 411 in order to figure out which fancy house to which the couple cottoned and have come up empty handed.

Because we know deep in our compromised soul that at least two of the children have got the skinny we want, we're going to do something we've never done before...ask the children what's what. So spill it. No one but Your Mama has to know who you are.

57 comments:

Tommy Motolla said...

Just opinion here but I think they should have bought Meg Ryan's house for sale. Classic and understated California architecture in Bel Air.

But probably not garish and flashy enough for the Miz Carey Lifestyle. Lawrd knows, there is nuthin subtle about Mariah.

Anonymous said...

I don't think Mariah would ever buy something modern. Her Bedford and NYC homes are all traditional, and her Bahamas one is sort of too.

I'm dying to know what she bought, but her NYC apt. is 12,000 sf so how does that even translate to a house?

Anonymous said...

Mama, take this post down and edit!

angeleyes said...

omg Mama, 'Fluer de Lys Deep Throat' made me snort out my beverage. You'd think after all this time I'd know enough not to sip on anything while reading your column just in case, sheesh.

I haven't a clue about Mariah's purchase, but I perused Bel Air homes listed for sale and of those I'd say it's 800 Nimes Rd because it matches the reported price, sits at the top of Nimes with spectacular views, and has approx. 1 level acre on a 55,000 sqft lot.

The house itself is older and dosen't look like something I imagine Mariah would want, but she could tear it down and build her dream home - something I imagine she'd want to do anyways.

Anonymous said...

That is edit the lede and the second graf. The rest is fine.

Anonymous said...

Anon, you can't even write a short 1 sentence comment yourself without editing it in the form of a followup comment and you citicize Mama. Find something constructive to do.

angeleyes said...

Whoops, I'm probably wrong about the Nimes Rd property. It's still listed for sale and wouldn't be if Mariah bought it (unless they left it up at her request to throw people off). Nevermind.. at least I tried, lol.

Anonymous said...

$12 million I believe.
$120 million is total bs.

Anonymous said...

you know, anon 6:39, i was trying to be constructive. if sainted mama had re-read the post instead of quite understandably having moved on to other matters of life, i am sure she would have edited it herself, or himself. (this gender id thing gets confusing. i'm a gay man who only wants to be referred to in the masculine and believe that, no matter how 'feminine' the vibe is, we should demand to be recognized and referred to as men. but to each his own. . .) anyway, you are very mistaken if you think it is perfectly acceptable to apply the same standards to me, a mere commenter here on the realestalker, as to the actual author of this blog.

Anonymous said...

and btw, i'll go out on a limb and say that no straight black man would allow the bedroom they share with their wife to be decorated by mario buatta, the prince of all things chintz and the decorator of the entire Mariah apartment in new york. if mr. carey has any power in this relationship, aside from the power to 'satisfy' his wife, (and that's big in itself), then mario will not be the decorator of choice.

Anonymous said...

Anon 5:55, Mariah no longer owns the Bedford home, her ex kept it in the divorce.

A home on Tower Grove Drive closed in early Feb for 14m...not in Bel Air but perhaps close enough?

Anonymous said...

No Shit, did I day she owned it??? Actually her home burned down after being sold to nelson peltz, it was not kept by Mottola in the divorce, It was sold upon divorce, and proceeds were split. He bought a home in North Salem after with Thalia that was written about here. MC's house, at the time, was the mos expensive price paid for a residence above Manhattan.

Anonymous said...

The house was in Mt. Kisco

Anonymous said...

I don't see how it's that hard t understand Mariah could afford a home that size. Madonna and her are worth the same amount...

Ok... so Madonna has a house in BH worth, let's say 12M, and an apt on CPW worth 10M, a house on UES worth 40M, a house in London worth 30M, and an estate in England worth 20M, that equals maybe 112M conservatively in real estate.

Mariah has a place in Tribeca worth 18-20M, and a place in the Bahamas worth 5M. So that leaves 100M difference in real estate, the cost of Fleur de Lys/

Anonymous said...

And Madge is house hunting in Mt. Kisco now too.

Anonymous said...

with all this talk about mariah and a $125 million house i decided to look up her networth on forbes....$225 million! you decide.

p.s. since i'm already posting just thought i'd let Your Mama know i've officially been reading your posts religiously for two years, and i still love them to bits

angeleyes said...

Without the benefit of knowing which properties have been pocket listed, it's hard to realistically determine what Mariah decided to buy, but as long as all we can do is speculate, I found another excellent Bel Air view property with a tear down house she would probably prefer to 800 Nimes. It's 960 Bel Air Rd ($14,400,000) with 4.9 acres. The building pad itself sits alot higher than the Nimes property affording even better views, and is surrounded on 3 sides by steep ravines - Mother Nature's own security protection. As before, I realize this probably isn't it because it's still listed for sale.

Anonymous said...

She wouldn't buy 960 Bel Air bc its basically a tear down and massive renovation and that doesn't match the budget she seems to be looking to spend.

Nimes itself is exaclty the same.

Put on your thinking caps people, what homes disappeared from MLS recently? I am drawing a blank myself.

sandpiper said...

Mama says ... listed for sale with a pee your pants from shock and awe asking price of $125,000,000.Seriously. SERIOUSLY.

Prospective buyer(s) net worth(s) aside -- anywhere on the planet -- what might this place ultimately sell for? With luxury property listings being set -- and reduced -- at such arbitrary and murky price points, I'm wondering how low will the seller go? Feels like I'm swimming through Jello to even speculate. It's all sooo visceral-touchy-feely-absurd, especially on this property.

Anonymous said...

""Put on your thinking caps people, what homes disappeared from MLS recently? I am drawing a blank myself.""

1310 Tower Grove Drive.. Certainly disappeared from MLS. 15,000 sq ft home, 65,000 sq ft lot Shared driveway though might not be private enough for Mizz Carey.

Anonymous said...

Tower Grove isn't Bel Air.

Anonymous said...

"Tower Grove isn't Bel Air."

Quite NOT... It's not even BH. It's B-H-Peeee-Awww

Anonymous said...

Just took a look at the 960 Bel Air website and have to say I really dig it. A total Nancy Reagan, Mrs. Freddy de Cordova Fifties/Sixties time warp. Interiors look impeccably maintained and probably 'freshened up' periodically by Ted Graber or somebody like that. The property and views are are pretty stunning. Shame that it's considered a tear down. Don't think Mariah would get this at all, nor many others at this point.

angeleyes said...

There are a number of stories on the web saying that gossip columnist Janet Charlton is reporting that Rhianna just bought a Bel Air home for $12MM. I wonder if this is a case of mistaken celebrity identity. If not, it's very coincidental that both Rhianna and Mariah would purchase homes at the same time, in the same locale, for the same price.

Anonymous said...

I just want to make a comment concerning whether or not mariah is as rich as madonna, whoever thinks mariah is as rich as madonna is mistaken, madonna is one of the richest and savviest in all of music, period, no one has earned what she has earned with the exception of michael jackson, paul mccartney, and maybe garth brooks and a few others, I'm not even sure garth would even be in their league because he doesnt own hugely successful corporations or own hugely successful music catalogues like madonna, michael and paul mccartney, i'd put madonna in the top 5 of all music artists in the history of music as far as her net worth, mariah doesn't come close, mariah only makes money from cd sales and from publishing, madonna is arguably the biggest selling female artist of all time, mariah and celine dion may be about tied or may be neck and neck, or mariah may be a few million albums ahead of madonna, but as far as record sales madonna is either number one for a female artist or neck and neck or tied for number one, but then on top of that madonna has the endorsement deals and concert tours, mariah has never been a huge concert draw, madonna is the biggest female concert draw in history, also madonna makes millions from huge endorsement deals, plus madonna has the huge live nation deal for over 100 million, mariah never had any huge comercial or endorsement deals or any huge tours also mariah wrote or co-wrote a lot of songs but madonna has too and madonna's publishing catalogue is way more extensive and way more valuable than mariah's, also madonna pulled in about $72 million dollars recently, mariah doesnt even make the forbes list of top celebrity earners, mariah was only on the forbes list of top earners maybe once back in the 90's and she only made about $35 million, madonna has been earning $40 million plus every year pretty much since the 80's, plus madonna gets paid $20 million for a days work of having her photo taken, she was paid somewhere upwards of $20 million to be photographed for a Versace ad and also she was paid around $20 million recently for doing a louis vuitton ad, also madonna has been paid upward of $20 million to have her song used in a commercial, just for one commercial that only ran for one year, she can pick up the phone, make one phone call and have some company use one of her songs for a jingle get paid $20 million for doing barely nothing, I have no clue why she gets paid so much and other artists like mariah, whitney, and janet don't but that's just how it is, you can't say that mariah is as rich as madonna simply based on album sales only, in this day and age it is all about music publishing, touring and endorsements and madonna has mariah beat, madonna is worth around $500 million, mariah is only worth around $225 if that

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:06 - And we should care because.....? Mama's post isn't about Madonna, it's about Mariah's home purchase. Who cares who has more money, they're both very wealthy.

Back on topic- 1310 Tower Grove certainly would fit the home specs, but as has been stated it's not in Bel Air. However, the property (I believe zoned as 1290 Tower Grove) sold on February 6th for 14 million. Hope we get a break soon...

Anonymous said...

Rihanna can't afford a $12m house and has been looking at homes in the Hollywood Hills West area in the $4.5-7m range.

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:06

This isn't a comparison contrast of Mariah and Madonna, but your lack of intelligence is blatantly obvious in the mismatched, uncredited arguement.

Voscatine said...

Anon 3:06, I hear you, but you're leaving out whatever she got in her divorce from Mottola ?

Anyway, the idea that Carey would spend that much is ludicrous. Spending half your net worth on a house is insane. It all seems like a big PR thing, Mariah "looked', it gets her in the papers, great.

Lordy, imagine what a great house you could get for 12.5 mil. Ten times that? How much house does anyone need unless you need a place for your cult, or you're a James Bond villain?

Nutsy that Mariah would even consider it. It'd be throwing money away, really stupidly. An insane amount of house for uh..two people so far? But in line with the gaucherie one expects from Mariah.

Starck Mad said...

Good grief, I for one don't see why one would care what M.C. does, or buys. She seems so irrelevant in the 'pop' or celebrity landscape.
And the taste? Dubious at best.

Anonymous said...

A bit off topic but 960 Bel Air Road is the home of recently deceased Marion Jorgensen. Marion was part of the "Girls" with Betsy Bloomingdale and our very own Nan Reagan. Marian was married to I think Arthur Bren, a Hollywood type (Had 2 very successful boys) and then married Earle Jorgensen of Jorgensen Steel for close to 50 years.

And yes, as someone said, that home is an exquisite tribute to the 50's on a primo lot but probably not to the current tastes of massive Bel Air homes now being built. I was in the home many times as a tyke and remember the awesome view.

Now back to the regularly scheduled program now in progress....

Anonymous said...

960 Bel Air Road has amazing views, It's sad that the original house will probably be knocked down and the property will be turned into either one or two massive estates.

Perhaps someone will pick it up and restore it.

angeleyes said...

I agree it would be nice if someone bought 960 Bel Air Rd intending to restore it. If it was me, I'd have to incorporate some major modfications however because as it is now, fully half the building pad is paved, substantially more than half if you include the tennis court, a serious and inexcusably wasteful flaw for a property like this in my book. I'd have to rip most of that out, along with the angled rectangle of housing structure jutting out from the main body of the house surrounding it, to be replaced with a big beautiful front yard lawn area bordered by hedges to provide privacy from the street. The garages could be unobtrusively rebuilt to the left of the property as you face it.

Anonymous said...

Remember that Mariah made $49 million the year she bombed with Glitter, between the guaranteed cash and the "go away" payout from EMI. She has sold more than any other female (over 200 million units) and between performing producing and writing her stuff, she's making way more per cd than nearly anyone else. That said, she's probably worth in the $400 million neighborhood. But the $125M house is something a billionaire would buy. The $10-15M range is much more believable.

Anonymous said...

Madonna and Mariah are worth the same? LMAO, Madonna could buy and sell Mariah multiple times...

Anonymous said...

And that claim Mariah has sold more than any other female is false. It's common knowledge Madonna is the best selling female.

Framba Italy said...

The Magnificent Home in Tower Grove Drive, called "La Villa Serena" has Bought last 6th of February By ABCsearch CEO Daniel Yomtobian

angeleyes said...

To settle the debate, I researched the top selling female recording artists on the web, and this is what I found:

The best-selling female recording artists of all time as of early 2008 WORLDWIDE:

1.Madonna 257,000,000 Records Sold
2.Mariah Carey 232,000,000 Records Sold
3.Whitney Houston 220,000,000 Records Sold
4.Nana Mouskouri 206,000,000 Records Sold
5.Diana Ross 189,000,000 Records Sold
6.Donna Summer 178,000,000 Records Sold
7.Celine Dion 175,000,000 Records Sold
8.Barbra Striesand 168,000,000 Records Sold
9.Janet Jackson 138,000,000 Records Sold
10.Shania Twain 132,000,000 Records Sold
11.Tina Turner 125,000,000 Records Sold
12.Dolly Parton 120,000,000 Records Sold
13.Cher 116,000,000 Records Sold
14.Aretha Franklin 108,000,000 Records Sold
15.Britney Spears 78,000,000 Records Sold

* However, Barbra Streisand is the top selling female in just the United States.

Anonymous said...

I wrote the comment above about 960 Bel Air seeming to be a real Nancy Reagan time warp, so I am patting myself on the back at my perceptiveness after reading the later comment explaining that indeed it belonged to Nancy's buddy Marion Jorgensen. And given that knowledge, I'm probably on the mark that she worked with Ted Graber, who Nancy asked to work on the White House private quarters.

As to another comment about the property seeming to be paved over, I understand that it appears that way from the aerial but you have to recognize a couple of things. First, the property consists of almost five acres that seem to fall away from the house so it's surrounded by a lot of green. Second, the house is conceived in a Chinese style (many of the furnishings are Asian as well): hence the wall in front that you enter through into a graveled/paved court that probably refers to a gravel garden. The house might be 'restored' but you just know it will be filled with DWR pieces (because it's a 'modern' house) or related stuff and will completely lose the present vibe. Anyway this way of life, that of a certain moneyed group at a particular time and place in post war LA, is over for better and for worse. By the way, Mrs. Jorgensen's son, Donald Bren is indeed successful. He's the founder and sole owner of the Irvine Company, the real estate developer that essentially built much of Orange County. A billionaire many, many times over.

Anonymous said...

Hey Angeleyes, Curious where you found that list? Not about the Mariah/Madonna debate.....A lot of lists like to combine Diana Ross' solo sales with The Supremes.

Anonymous said...

3:21 - BREATHE. Shorten. No one is going to read all that.

Anonymous said...

I second 3:21. Wow, what an amazing degree of interest in the finances of these folks. The bottom line is no one knows what anybody is really worth. You can't possibly know what investments they were put in, how those investments did, etc. etc. Someone close to me is pretty darn rich by all metrics, and this person's net worth is not at all what certain publications claim it its. When you know that about one person, you realize it is probably the case for most people. In this person's case, they are always underestimating. Now Donald Trump hates when they underestimate, being the complete fool that he is. But others recognize the benefits of having the estimate come in a the low end. . .

Jesse Barron said...

3:33 I read it all, found it to be pretty spot on and appreciated that someone took the time to write that. It was better than 3/4 of the comments left here.

Anonymous said...

4:33, you make the point that every one has different areas of interest. You happen to have an interest in the details of making money in the music business. Perfectly legitimate. Other's don't, and that's okay as well. The point about shorter comments is that if you are trying to reach a wider audience, then that's the way to go. When you write a treatise, you have to understand that most are probably not going to wade in. But that might not be the point, so that's cool too.

Anonymous said...

Funny how the jumbo comment has been deleted...

angeleyes said...

3:32, ok, here is the link for female world wide sales, and I notice I incorrectly stated the figures were from the turn of the year around 2008 when in fact I should have said 2007, so who knows.. Mariah may well be on the verge of surpassing Madonna with her phenominally successful The Emancipation of Mimi album since that time. I personally think it's inevitable that Mariah will eventally surpass Madonna in sales considering how close she is to her now, and the fact that didn't begin her recording career until 10 years after Madonna did.

Here is the link for top selling female recording artist in the USA.

While I'm at it and just for grins, here are some other links I came across also: the official RIAA certified record sales list (USA only) link, Wikipedia list of best-selling music artists in the United States link, and Wikipedia list of best-selling music artists in the World link.

Anonymous said...

Wow this got of topic (who cares witch bitch has mor cd sales).....
Somehow though i don't think mama was lookin for 'educated' guesses from the children, but rather info in the form of a covert communique(email), from someone in the know.....
I Hope Mama got it!

Anonymous said...

shit mind is not typing properly:
*which

Anonymous said...

angeleyes - The first link is someone's capture of a wiki that was deleted for good reason (lack of references for the sales data). As for RIAA certification, It is based on units *shipped* not *sold*. For example, supposedly Barbra is guaranteed RIAA certification in her label contract. The label has to ship enough product to retailers, make the retailer hold it while they certify, then accept returns.

angeleyes said...

Oh I know we've wandered off topic over the weekend making small talk about things that don't really matter 11:41, and I sincerely hope Mama received a covert communique regarding Mariah's recent home purchase too. 8:17, your added insight regarding how sales are tabulated will undoubtedly help those interested to draw their own conclusions, thanks.

Anonymous said...

Damn, I think Madonna and Mariah are two most loved celebs ever, and their respective fans will fight to the death over them.

Anonymous said...

is it time for a new story yet?

patiently waiting

Anonymous said...

The comments always wander on to diverse conversations...much like conversations in the real world among friends.

Perhaps those complaining are lacking friends in the real world? That would explain their lack of familarity with the concept.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Angeleyes for the research.

I'd rather read about Madonna's real estate than Mariah's any day.

Anonymous said...

And for those who care, RIAA gold/platinum/diamond certifications are paid for by the artist or their label. There are albums that have Soundscan numbers equal to many times platinum but no one wanted to pay to have them re-certified at the higher number. Just another reason to dislike the RIAA. They are a greedy bunch ripping the artists/labels too.

Anonymous said...

But you can comment on Mariah's and take time out of your day, ok!

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