While most know Ellen DeGeneres for a show so popular it ran for 19 years, the comedian and TV host has recently found success in an entirely different field: real estate investing, restoration and flipping.
This year, the 64-year-old bought a 12,000 square foot mansion in Montecito, California for $21million and made a handsome $15million profit when she sold it off the market six months later .
Another property that DeGeneres and his wife Portia de Rossi bought in April for $5.4 million is a small 1915 estate in the Hedgerow District of the same celebrity enclave.
As first reported by celebrity real estate site Dirt.com, the 1,900 square foot estate is on the market again for $5.8 million. It includes a two-bedroom, two-bathroom main house with an eye-catching red door and a one-bedroom cottage for guests or other visitors.
While the main house is built in the pre-Craftman style, the interior kitchen, bathroom and furnishings have been updated for a more modern look. The exterior includes an outdoor seating area with a fountain and a second one-room property that once served as both an office and shed.
Inside, the house features multiple living rooms with fireplaces, bedrooms with floor-to-ceiling windows, and a fully equipped chef’s kitchen. But the property is smaller (especially by Los Angeles celebrity standards) and the listing, which is owned by Village Properties’ Riskin Partners, markets the property by saying “good things come in small packages.” .
“Tucked away in the hedges on a darling little lane, this charming cottage epitomizes the old adage that good things come in small packages,” the listing description reads.
This isn’t the first property DeGeneres has wanted to flip — prior to that, she and de Rossi had already closed seven real estate deals in 2022. She spoke to reporters about how she enjoys renovating and restoring historic properties.
“We buy a house and we love it and we stay there,” DeGeneres said during a 2018 Today show appearance. different.”
Ellen DeGeneres does some serious house flips
The DeGeneres and de Rossi properties sold in 2022 include the $36 million Montecito mansion as well as a Mediterranean property the pair bought for $12 million and sold for $13.9 million a few months later.
Lists of reporters who follow DeGeneres’ real estate portfolio can’t be updated fast enough because they’re constantly changing given her and de Rossi’s frequent buying and selling.
As a home-flipper, DeGeneres has also succeeded in an area that often gives others trouble — given the small pool of buyers, celebrity real estate tends to stay on the market longer than homes whose price is closer to the median of a given area.
Basketball star Michael Jordan listed a seven-acre estate in Illinois’ Highland Park for $29 million in 2012 and still hasn’t sold it despite the price dropping several times to 14 .8 million.
But DeGeneres not only sold the properties she and de Rossi are renovating with lightning speed, but also made a handsome profit in the process. However, it’s still more of a hobby given that the vast majority of DeGeneres’ $500 million net worth comes from what she earned hosting a primetime TV show. .