LOCATION: Malibu, CA
PRICE: $7,800,000*
SIZE: 3,731 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms
YOUR MAMAS NOTES: It has yet to pop up on the open market but Your Mama recently heard from a reliable celebrity real estate snitch whom we'll dub Debbie Doom that actor/writer/director Emilio Estevez has quietly floated his gated mini-compound on Malibu's celeb-popular Point Dume as an off-market listing with an asking price of $7,800,000.*
The Tinseltown scion, the eldest son of venerable veteran actor Martin Sheen and the older brother of the still somewhat erratic acting horn dog actor Charlie Sheen, was a founding member of the so-called Brat Pack, a small group of young actors who appeared in the iconic mid-1980s movies The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire.** In the 1990s Mister Estevez's professional claim to fame came via the reasonably popular but almost universally panned sports comedy The Mighty Ducks and its two—Two!—sequels. Based on a careful perusal of his professional resume it seems to Your Mama that since in the early Aughts Mister Estevez has focused more directing boob-toob police procedurals and crime dramas (The Guardian, Cold Case CSI: NY, Numb3rs). He was last in the limelight back in 2006 when he wrote, directed, and appeared in the sprawling, star-studded, and not particularly well-received docu-feature Bobby.
Property records show Mister Estevez acquired the almost 1.1-acre estate near the geographic center of Point Dume back in April 2000 when he shelled out $2,200,000 for the then almost brand new residence that, as far as Your Mama knows, Mister Estevez still shares with his long time lady mate/fiancée, former Fulbright scholar turned boutique vintner Sonja Magdevski. The couple planted, nurtured, and now harvest the pinot noir vines that are planted across the property and, along with grapes they get from up in the Santa Ynez Valley, they produce artisanal wines under the Casa Dumetz label.
Marketing materials Your Mama managed to scare up out of the interweb describe the house as a "European influenced villa" that evokes "the best of Spanish hacienda traditions" with patinated antique-looking wood floors, arched doorways, stained glass, and loads of hand-painted frescoes. There are four en-suite bedrooms and five bathrooms in the single-story main house, which the L.A. County tax man puts it at 3,731 square feet, plus additional living space in a separate, self-contained guest house that's set just off the motor court opposite the two-plus car detached garage at the front of the house.
A shallow but wide foyer steps down into a sunny formal living room fitted with Old World-y architectural details such as a carved stone fireplace mantelpiece that may or may not be marble but either way looks like it was imported from some chateau somewhere, vaulted ceilings braced by magnificent muscular wood trusses, and a bank of curtain-framed French doors that open to a central courtyard.
One of the identical frescoed archways in the formal dining room connects to the cozily-scaled den/family room that has direct courtyard access and the other leads in to a spacious if somewhat tired-looking center-island kitchen with two-toned wood cabinetry—some of which may or may not be cherry, a four-stool snack counter, and a window-wrapped breakfast nook that overlooks the back yard. There are high-quality appliances, counter tops fashioned from some sort of marble or onyx, multi-colored Malibu tile detailing, lots of frescoing on the ceiling and on the stucco hood over the range, and a stained glass greenhouse window. If there's anything decoratively worse, children, than a greenhouse window over a kitchen sink it's a stained glass greenhouse window over a kitchen sink. Just. Say. No. Anyhoo...
A long hall off the living room leads back to the roomy master bedroom where there's a (second) fireplace and backyard views and access through large windows and French doors on three of the four walls. The attached master bathroom is has two sinks, at least two stained glass windows, an inelegant shower-tub combination, and the exact sort of white-veined green marble counter tops Your Mama expects to find in a Midwestern bank.
The back of the house wraps around three sides of a multi-level red brick courtyard with colorful Malibu tile detailing. Beyond the courtyard a hodge-podge of outdoor recreations and amusements include a simple rectangular swimming pool with attached spa, numerous long raised planting beds laden with organically grown fruits and veggies, a couple of sheds, and long, undulating rows of pinot noir vines. There are more grape vines on either side of the driveway, both inside and outside the motorized gate, at the front of the property.
Although Mister Estevez's future real estate plans remain a mystery, at least to Your Mama, we do knot that his parents still own a modestly sized gated residence just up the street that they picked up way back in 1973 for a measly $80,000. Also just a few doors down is germophobe comedian/t.v. presenter Howie Mandell's Nantucket-y contemporary mini-compound that's also for sale—but on the open market—with an asking price of $7,750,000, slightly higher than the $7,250,000 he listed the ocean view property at in 2011.
UPDATE (10/2/13): It appears, as was reported by the L.A. Times, that the asking price for Mister Estevez's mini-vineyard has officially been set at $7.8 million although this property gossip has digital evidence the listing agent originally shopped the property at $9.995 million, as we originally reported.
*Miz Doom assured Your Mama there's a for sale sign out front of the house and whispered that there was an invite-only broker's open house last week.
**The Brat Pack consisted primarily of Mister Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Low, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy.
listing photos: Mark Singer Photography for Hilton & Hyland