LOCATION: Calabasas, CA
PRICE: around $3,000,000
SIZE: 5,323 square feet, 4-5 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms
YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Just because R&B singer/songwriter turned reality t.v. denizen Toni Braxton has filed for bankruptcy twice—first in 1998 and again in 2011—does not, apparently, mean the six time Grammy-winning lady does not still have the dough-re-mi to spend, as was reported by TMZ, somewhere around three million clams for a spacious and luxuriously appointed if perfectly ordinary semi-custom tract house in suburban Los Angeles.*
A gated and enclosed entry courtyard with fireplace leads to an entrance hall that appears (to Your Mama in listing photographs) to be flanked by a formal dining room and a formal living room, the latter with inlaid wood floors, built-in bookcases on either side of a fireplace, a vaulted and beamed wood ceiling, and four sets of wood-framed glass doors the open to a loggia that overlooks the swimming pool.
Less formal family quarters include well-equipped if rigorously beige and tan center island kitchen with side-by-side fridge and freezer plus additional refrigerated drawers, a heavy-duty wood-beamed ceiling treatment, granite counter tops, an apron-style porcelain sink, a walk-in pantry, and a separate butler's pantry with wine fridge. The adjoining informal eating area opens to a slender side yard and the adjacent family room has parquet wood floors, a built-in entertainment unit, a yawn-worthy curved corner fireplace, and a row of wood-framed glass doors that connect to the backyard recreation and entertainment areas.
The fully-carpeted master suite features a bedroom with t.v. surmounted (gas) fireplace, a separate sitting room/boudoir with direct backyard access, dual walk-in closets, and a bathroom fitted and kitted with twin sinks, separate make-up vanity, limestone floors, a garden spa tub, a separate shower, and a private cubby for the crapper. Each of the three additional guest/family bedrooms have en-suite facilities and, as per marketing materials, a bonus room can be pressed into use as a fifth bedroom if desired or required.
Backyard amenities include the aforementioned loggia, a pergola pavilion near a salt water swimming pool and spa, several fountains, a roomy terrace, a wee patch o' grass, and a second, free-standing outdoor fireplace next to the swimming pool.
Miz Braxton, a newly divorced mother of two, has owned at least two previous residences in the Los Angeles area including a house in Tarzana and a condo in Century City she sold in 2009 for $1.2 million. She's also owned at least two houses in suburban Atlanta, including a six bedroom and eight bathroom mini-mansion in Duluth that she lost to foreclosure in 2011. She also previously owned a five bedroom and 4.5 bathroom residence in an affluent gated enclave in Henderson, NV, that she also lost to foreclosure in 2010.
The Oaks, arguably Calabasas's premier gated community, has seen a spate of celebrity related real estate stories of late. First came word that reality t.v. star and boutique owner Kourtney Kardashian and her baby daddy man-friend, "Lord" Scott Disick, planned to list their extravagantly decorated house—it's now officially listed on the open market for $3,499,000—and spent an as yet unknown amount of reality t.v. money to buy retired professional footballer Keyshawn Johnson's nearly 12,000 square foot custom-built behemoth. Today, after the much publicized face-spitting fracas, a bizarre egg-throwing brouhaha, and a subsequent police search during which lots of illicit substances were found throughout the house came not exactly surprising, if unsubstantiated reports that misbehaving teen-aged pop phenom Justin Bieber may finally be ready to sell his approximately 9,000 square foot Spanish-stye residence in The Oaks. Somehow we doubt his neighbors, who now count a Kardashian and Toni Braxton among them, will waste much time waving goodbye.
*The house in question last sold, according to property records, in March 2008 for $3.6 million and it was last listed on the open market in early January 2014 for $2,975,000. The sale price has yet to be recorded or revealed as far as this property gossip knows.
listing photos: Ewing and Associates / Sotheby's International Realty
