Y’all should know that many of these crazy celebrities are millionaires dozens of times over. After all, lots of these folks like to remind us how very rich and important they are, of course. And many also have hulking mansions to match their hefty bank accounts. That’s all just peachy.
But it takes more than just one or two mansions to meet Yolanda’s criteria for being a real estate baller, kiddies. And when we think of celebrity R.E. ballers, just a handful of names immediately spring to mind. Poor Nic Cage was one until he spectacularly crashed and burned some years ago (amid much schadenfreude on Yolanda’s part, we’re afraid). Today’s short list, we think, is ruled by two wealthy (and very famous) ladies. Their names are Taylor Swift and Sandra Bullock, and they each own a truly mind-boggling amount of property. It seems these women (wisely, we think) have chosen to invest their massive paychecks back into prime real estate — to the tune of way more than $50 million in property for each.
Now let’s quickly shift topics. Los Angeles is a very different (real estate) beast than the Big Apple. Condo/co-op living here is just starting to catch on, and who knows if it will ever actually become a big thing, right? But there are some cool new buildings like The Century and The Carlyle with fancy units that command mansion-sized pricetags.
Perhaps the most coveted – or at least the most star-powered — condo building in LA, however, is the (in)famous Sierra Towers, which was actually built way back in the 1960s. Situated at the junction of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood and just a quick skip off the world-famous Sunset Strip, the 31-story building is as well-known for its big-name residents as it is for its unique mid-century modern architecture and irreplaceable location more than 2 miles from any other similarly-sized high-rises.
Former Sierra Towers celebrity residents include everyone from the undead Cher to video vixen Tawny Kitaen to billionaire David Geffen to windy candle crooner Elton John to trouble-making tabloid trainwreck Lindsay Lohan to Sprinkles cupcake mogul Candace Nelson.
Current celeb residents include Adam Sandler, PJ Harvey, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, Courteney Cox, Judith Regan, Burt Sugarman and Mary Hart, Joan Collins, and several other folks whose names unfortunately slip our minds. (No shade!)
Then there are the billionaire businesspeople. Tom Gores, Karen Lo, Bruce Makowsky, Michael Milken, Nicolas Berggruen, Peter Morton, and Evan Metropoulos all keep crash pads here — though (for the most part) their primary residences are elsewhere.
Anyway, the point of all that name-dropping (so LA of us!) is to drive home that the building attracts an exceptionally rich and extraordinarily famous crowd. And Yolanda does not mind admitting that we’ve been more than a wee bit obsessed with this building for years.
But we digress. Also on the residents list is none other than the aforementioned Ms. Sandra Bullock. Our wealthy gurl – for a several years she was Hollywood’s highest-paid actress — made her first splash in the building back in February 2014, when she forked out $3,550,000 for a 2-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom unit on the 22nd floor.
This apartment was formerly owned (from 2005 to 2011) by Friends royalty-rich actor Matthew Perry, for what it’s worth. The 1,672-square-foot unit sits on the southeast corner of the building and overlooks the city of West Hollywood and the skyline of Downtown LA.
That’s all fine and dandy. But a couple months ago, a larger unit on the 20th floor sold for $5,130,000 in a totally off-market deal to a provocatively-named corporate entity with an Austin (Texas) address. Yolanda just happens to know — for a fact — that the new owner is none other than our Ms. Bullock. Again.
The 2,101-square-foot unit was originally a 2-bed/3-bath, but at some point was “downsized” to a 1-bed/2-bath situation. Yes, you read right — Ms. Bullock just paid more than $5 million for a one-bedroom apartment. Yowza!
Interestingly enough, it appears that Ms. Bullock’s two apartments are not contiguous in any way. Her new unit sits two floors down from her original purchase and on the opposite side of the building. From its southwest corner perch, it overlooks the city of Beverly Hills and out to the Pacific Ocean. Because this was a totally off-market deal, however, Yolanda unfortunately has no photos of the new apartment to share. We apologize and beg forgiveness.
So why would she buy this place? Maybe she’s just really rich and wanted a different view of LA? Or perhaps it is yet another investment purchase by our gurl. By Yolanda’s count, Ms. Bullock – a single mother of two adopted children – owns no fewer than 15 properties spread out over several states.
Ms. Bullock’s portfolio includes: a multi-million dollar house in New Orleans, a multi-million dollar house on Georgia’s Tybee Island, a multi-million dollar house in Austin, an additional six properties — at least — in Austin (some of which appear to be commercial), and a multi-million dollar apartment in New York City’s trendy SoHo neighborhood. There’s also a secluded mini-ranch in Jackson Hole (Wyoming). And then, of course, there are her four properties in LA, including her two Sierra Towers units and her house on Marmont Avenue in the Hollywood Hills (some of her nearest neighbors there are Kendall Jenner, Jimmy Kimmel, and Dakota Johnson).
Easily the largest and most expensive home in Ms. Bullock’s portfolio, however, is her massive and legendary Tudor-style mansion up in the Beverly Hills (Post Office) area. Ms. Bullock forked out a hefty $16,190,000 for the house back in 2011. This property, y’all may recall, was the scene of a terrifying stalker situation back in 2014, when a crazed fan somehow infiltrated Ms. Bullock’s house and was wandering around her attic looking for her. Yikes! Time for some full-time bodyguards, Ms. Bullock.
Anyway, back to our gurl’s new Sierra Towers pad. From a careful perusal of property records, Yolanda can tell that Ms. Bullock will not be sharing the 20th floor with any other celebrities, at least not those of the Hollywood variety. Four of the five other units on that floor are owned by various non-famous women. The fifth unit, however — which lies directly across the hall from Ms. Bullock’s — is owned by multi-billionaire fellow real estate baller Tom Gores.
And how’s this for a few degrees of real estate separation? Tom Gores’ new $100 million mega-mansion happens to be right down the street and around the corner from Sandra Bullock’s huge Angelo Drive house. It’s a small world out there in the ultra-high-end real estate market. But we digress.
We don’t know Ms. Bullock, but she seems like a nice lady and a smart cookie and thus we don’t doubt she can afford to keep the lights on in all these homes and many more, too. All the same, Yolanda can’t help but gasp at the thought of how much her total monthly upkeep and maintenance bill must be. For crying out loud, the HOA fees for Sierra Towers run something like $2,600 per unit per month. Multiply that by two and multiply that by twelve and it’s a good bet that Ms. Bullock will be shelling out something like $62,000 per year just for association dues in that building alone.
Better keep churning out those hits, Ms. Bullock. Time for Ms. Congeniality Part 3? (Say it ain’t so!)