Once upon a time, kiddies, there lived a Dutch professional footballer (that’s soccer player to all us Yanks) named Nigel de Jong. And a long time ago, in a galaxy far away, Mr. de Jong signed a one-year deal with the LA Galaxy. You know, the soccer team. Okay, it was actually in January 2016 when this all went down.
Perhaps Mr. de Jong was hoping to extend his contract, because within a couple months he was in escrow on a brand-new Encino mansion. Records show he paid $4,300,000 for the big, fancy house.
Unfortunately, even the best-laid plans get bamboozled. Or whatever the saying is. After the hot-headed Mr. de Jong received multiple suspensions following fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct on the field, he and his team mutually agreed to go their separate ways. And so, only 3 months after buying his big new Encino pad, our Mr. de Jong quickly departed for Istanbul, where he signed a new contract with Turkish soccer club Galatasaray. Within a month of the move, his barely-lived-in LA house popped up for sale.
Though it took a full year, the mansion sold again (in October 2017) for $4,300,000 — exactly what Mr. de Jong had originally paid for the property. The buyer’s identity is purposely screened behind a blind trust.
Now then, y’all. If you didn’t know, the San Fernando Valley community of Encino has recently become something of a Mecca for family-oriented celebrities looking for a quiet (yet convenient) place to raise their kids. And so Yolanda was naturally curious about the identity of the wealthy new owner.
Our curiosity was only compounded when almost immediately after the transaction closed in October (2017), a local lady named Stephanie Anderson and her children moved into the property. But Yolanda could not figure out how the heck Ms. Anderson — who does not appear to be gainfully employed — could afford a $4.3 million, mortgage-free house. We were stymied for the longest time, truly.
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But then, after we had asked everyone, a catty little birdie whispered — and Yolanda has now confirmed — that Ms. Anderson is the longtime mistress of a businessman named Eduardo “Champ” Calvo.
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While far from a household name on continental USA, Mr. Calvo is something of a celebrity on his homeland of Guam. For those of y’all who flunked geography class in middle school, Guam is a U.S. territory island way out in the western Pacific Ocean, roughly 1,500 miles east of the Philippines and 4,000 miles west of Hawaii (which is where Ms. Anderson was born and raised, we have been told). The island is smallish — only 210 square miles and approximately 160,000 residents.
Anyway, our homeboy Mr. Calvo was born into the Calvo clan, which has long reigned supreme as the wealthiest and most politically active family on the island. In fact, Mr. Calvo’s first cousin Eddie Calvo currently rules Guam (as governor) and in his position reports to President Donald Trump, or however our political hierarchy works. Yolanda admits she flunked PoliSci.
As for our Mr. Calvo — Ms. Anderson’s man — he was educated in California and has become a prominent businessman in his own right. His company, Guam YTK Corp, recently made news when it was controversially awarded $14 million by the Superior Court of Guam in a dispute with the island’s Port Authority over a long-term lease held by the firm.
Mr. Calvo, however, lives primarily in California. There he currently serves a partner at a San Francisco law firm he founded. One of his associates is his Stanford-educated attorney son Christian Calvo, who is the offspring of his wife (and not Ms. Anderson).
We digress. Mr. Calvo and Ms. Anderson have three or possibly four children together, at least two of whom are also now adults and all of whom carry the Calvo surname.
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The 7,000-square-foot mini-compound sits on a .41-acre corner lot and borders a very busy street that happens to be one of Encino’s main roadway arteries. That could be a good or bad thing, depending on one’s point of view.
Naturally, the entire property is walled and gated for privacy. The front-facing three car garage is visually softened by the driveway’s grass strips, which may or may not be faux. The Traditional-style manse has a kitschy covered porch before the front door, which opens rather inelegantly to the fireplace-equipped, double-height living room. Inoffensive pastels and neutral colors fill the interior.
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The living room opens to the formal dining room, which in turns has French door access to the backyard. A pass-through from the dining room leads to the kitchen, which has a massive marble-topped center island, top-of-the-line stainless appliances, and medium brown hardwood floors. The kitchen opens to a TV-equipped family rooms with disappearing glass doors that lead out to an outdoor terrace.
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Also on the ground floor is a home theater, a maid’s suite, and a mud room/laundry room. Upstairs are four bedroom suites including the master, which has a private terrace and a resort-like bathroom complete with a de rigueur glassy shower and a trough-like bathtub. The residence has a total of 5 beds and 6 baths.
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Out back is a large grassy play area, an outdoor kitchen/BBQ center, a pool w/ inset spa, and a poolside cabana outfitted like a comfy lounge.
When he’s not in Guam or visiting Ms. Anderson and their children in Encino, Eduardo Calvo shacks up in the Silicon Valley area of Northern California. Way back in 2004, records show that Mr. Calvo forked out exactly $4,000,000 for his big Bay Area mansion in the super-swanky town of Atherton, CA. The 1-acre lot features a rambling main house, a guest house, a pool house/cabana, and a sports court.
Yolanda would guess that the property is probably now worth double the $4 million that Mr. Calvo paid more than a decade ago (and possibly more).
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For what it’s worth, Mr. Calvo’s Atherton compound sits on what is probably one of the richest blocks in all of Silicon Valley. Immediately next door to his property is an enormous estate that is owned by multi-billionaire private equity guru George Roberts. Next door to Mr. Roberts’ pad is a 13,000-square-foot mansion that was bought for $25,000,000 in 2014 by Chinese multi-billionaire real estate tycoon Liu Zhiqiang. And next door to Mr. Liu is a sizzlin’ 23,000-square-foot contemporary mega-mansion that sold late last year for a whopping $33,400,000 to 24-year-old Zhang Zetian and her much older multi-billionaire hubby Liu Qiangdong, who is often called “the Jeff Bezos of China”.
Those are the kind of folks you’d expect to find in America’s wealthiest zip code, right?
Listing agent: Lucinda Blencowe, Nourmand & Associates
Stephanie Anderson’s agent: Matt Epstein, Berkshire Hathaway HomeService