Monday, 26 August 2013

Michael C. Hall Catches Case of Real Estate Fickle

SELLER: Michael C. Hall
LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $2,350,000
SIZE: 4,572 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms (total)

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Six-time Emmy-nominated and Golden Globe winning thespian/boob-toob actor Michael C. Hall (Dexter, Six Feet Under) has been on a bit of a real estate roll. Last June he and his second ex-wife and Dexter co-star, Jennifer Carpenter, sold a contemporary residence in L.A.'s celebrity-soaked Outpost Estates* neighborhood for $1,837,500 to British supper club queen Tamsin Lonsdale.

Shortly thereafter, in July 2012 via a trust several sources including Lucy Spillerguts linked to him, Mister Hall quietly shelled out $1,950,000 a quirky 1926 Spanish Revival style micro-compound in the Hollywood Hills.

Less than a year later Mister Hall quickly caught a classic case of The Celebrity Real Estate Fickle and in May 2013 dropped $3,825,000 on a gut-renovated and modernized 1923 Spanish Colonial style spread in the affluent and also celeb-saturated Los Feliz area of Los Angeles. No longer in need of his Hollywood Hills abode, he's flipped it back on the open market with an asking price of $2,350,000.

Current listing details show Mister Hall's no-longer-needed street-to-street mini-compound in the Hollywood Hills comprises a total of 4,572 square feet divided into a main house with four bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms plus a separate, sky-lit guest house with an additional bedroom and bathroom.

We're not sure the entirety of alterations and improvements Mister Hall made to the property in his ever-so-brief ownership but we do know from a few minutes research on the internets that, at the very least, he remodeled the master bathroom and replaced the tennis court—located below the residence and partially atop the detached three car garage—with a sunny, raised planter garden with bits of lawn, a handful of olive trees, and some succulents.

A discreet, gated entry at the tail end of a short cul-de-sac opens to a covered exterior stairway that descends a full flight to completely private brick-paved, tree-shaded and and foliage enshrouded dining courtyard. The front door, set into a deep loggia off the courtyard, opens into a spacious foyer with red tile floor and vaulted, exposed wood ceiling. The red tile floors continue into the main living room that has a fireplace and two floor-to-ceiling banks of windows on two walls that expose the room to the outdoor living spaces.

It seems obvious that Staging Lady in a Pink Toyota has been up in there and filled the whole house with a boat load of generic, white slip-covered sofas and a whole lotta neo-organic and tribal knick-knacks and doohickies.

The floors switch to wood in the adjoining formal dining where a double set of wood and glass doors connect to a wine room lined with wooden bottle racks. Other living spaces in the main house include a bedroom-sized media room with gigantic built-in television screen and French doors and an oddly-shaped library fitted with floor-to-ceiling built-in bookcases, a corner fireplace, and a pitched exposed wood ceiling.

Although we know from our research on the interweb that at the time Mister Hall purchased the property in 2012 that the kitchen was partly updated with top-quality stainless steel appliances current listings don't say much about the kitchen other than that there's an adjoining "reading nook" leading Your Mama to wonders if the cooker-room is still in need of some updating if not a complete overhaul.

All four of the bedrooms in the main house have en suite facilities and the the upper level master suite has at least two sets of glass doors that open to a long, awning-shaded terrace with canyon, mountain, and sky views.

The separate guest house has a carpeted bedroom (with exterior entrance), and an airy, sky-lit main living room/art studio with basket weave pattern brick floor and wood-framed glass doors.

*Other celebrity residents of Outpost Estates include but are far from limited to Charlize Theron, Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy, Jason Statham—who bought his house from Ben Stiller, and Mario Testino.

listing photos: The Agency