This morning Yolanda took a look at our dozen (or so) most recent stories and we realized this blog has gotten a tad stale. Just way too much Beverly Hills and Bel Air and Brentwood. Too much LA in general. It’s high time we explored some greener, less hoity-toity pastures. But rather than visit some faraway place like London or Manhattan or ‘Frisco right at this moment, we’re gonna be lazy (it’s Friday) and keep it low-key with the San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Encino. Don’t hate, we’ll visit a more exotic locale on a near future date. We promise.
Yolanda normally avoids the Valley — don’t judge, we’re really old and crotchety and it just ain’t our cup of moonshine — but we’ll make an exception for the sake of variety and because people seem to like reading about these Valley stories for some odd reason.
Real estate out there is hot right now, just like it is all over LA. Lots of big new construction and multi-million dollar home sales. One particular spec-mansion — a 5,876-square-foot, 5-bed/5.75-bath affair — was recently listed for $3,999,000 and quickly sold for $3,750,000. The buyer’s identity is shielded behind the typical blind trust, but of course Yolanda happens to know that the new owner is Michelle Beadle, the television host of both the popular SportsNation and NBA Countdown shows on sports channel ESPN. Our Ms. Beadle is — per the Hollywood Reporter — the highest-paid female sportscaster in what is still an overwhelmingly male-dominated field. Girl power!
Before we get to the house, let’s run a quick and hodge-podge background check on our Ms. Beadle. Born to an Italian mother and a wealthy energy executive father, she was initially raised in the Italian countryside (lucky her!) but later moved to Texas, where she spent most of her childhood. Over the 15 (or so) years of her career, she’s worked as a host on a wide assortment of TV programs like Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, The Travel Channel, and The Discovery Channel.
Anyway, suffice to say that she has become one of the most recognizable faces in sports reporting and boasts the million-plus Twitter followers to back it up. Fun facts: Ms. Beadle loves dogs and has four of her own. Above is one of her fur children.
Per the gossip rags, Ms. Beadle currently dates and shacks up with Tony- and Grammy-Award winning actor/singer Steve Kazee. Perhaps with this big new acquisition, the couple are planning on settlin’ down and birthing some babies? We shall see!
But we digress. Onto the house. Now, let Yolanda tell you that you certainly get more house-bang for your buck in Encino than in Brentwood or Beverly Hills, but it’s all relative. It definitely ain’t anywhere near cheap for 99% of folks. This is what nearly $4 million buys you out there these days.
The house rests on a rather compact .31-acre corner lot on a broad, flat street. Rather surprisingly for a celeb-owned property, the lot is not completely walled and gated, but perhaps Ms. Beadle will undertake the task of making it so.
Anywho, the structure itself is described in marketing materials as a “Sophisticated Hampton’s Retreat”, which apparently translated to a front-facing three-car garage and the ubiquitous attempt at a Cape Cod-esque gabled roofline. Hmmm.
One thing for sure is that this Hamptons home is ready to party. The spacious fireplace-equipped family room is directly adjacent to an open-concept kitchen that features not one but two center islands, one of which is rather cleverly utilized as a six-place, informal eatin’ table. Some serious bits of hardware include the 60-inch SubZero ref, glass-fronted wine closet/drawer, and Calacutta Gold-accented cabinetry (because why not!)
Elsewhere are a neutral-toned formal dining room and a fireplace-equipped formal living room with vaulted ceiling.
The home’s rather intimate theater has royal blue-hued paneled walls, stadium seating for six lucky guests, and an old-fashioned popcorn machine. Wonder if that comes with the house! At top right, even the home’s downstairs guest bathroom is done up very swanky.
Upstairs the boutique hotel-style master suite really outdoes itself on the luxury factor and looks to be larger than the average American’s house. The bedroom features a vaulted ceiling w/ sitting area, the bathroom sports dual vanities, a de rigueur soaking tub and a walk-in glass-enclosed shower w/ rainfall showerhead. Then there are two massive walk-in closets, each one looking better suited to a Rodeo Drive boutique than to a big suburban mansion in Encino.
Hmmm. Yolanda has seen staged houses and we’ve also seen unstaged houses. But we can’t recall the last time we saw a half-staged, half-unstaged house. Maybe Our Mama’s famous Staging Lady in her Pink Toyota ran outta room in her clunker? Or perhaps the untamed Valley wilds of Encino frightened her off!
The walled-in “resort-style” backyard isn’t particularly big, given the smallish lot size, but it does pack in a rectangular saltwater swimming pool w/ inset spa, a firepit, BBQ w/ outdoor kitchen, and a separate pool house/recreation room with mini-fridge and a 3/4 bathroom.
We’re not exactly sure where Ms. Beadle was shacking up before she copped this Encino crib, but per the kids at Curbed she’s been living in LA for most of the past year and had a “house in the hills”, which we are guessing she leased. She was also, until recently, the longtime occupant of a 3-bed/2.5 bath pied-a-terre in New York City
The apartment was purchased by Ms. Beadle’s richie-rich father (for her personal use) back in July 2008 for $1,966,000. After her relocation to LA, the Beadles dumped the 1,700-square-foot Upper West Side pad — located in a mostly charming townhouse co-op on 75th Street — for $2,100,000 this January (2016).
But we digress. We send our congrats to Ms. Beadle on her big new “I’ve made it” mansion in Encino, although Yolanda can’t fathom why she would need such a big house. But then again, she’s a really rich young lass and can easily afford a sizable mansion if she wants. And apparently she does want. So go on with your bad self, Ms. Beadle.
Listing agent: Andrew Manning, Berkshire Hathaway HomeService
Ms. Beadle’s agent: Mark Goldsmith, Coldwell Banker