Ellen DeGeneres, the former talk show host with a longtime luxury real estate flipping habit, just brokered yet another deal in Southern California’s Santa Barbara County. According to the Wall Street Journal, mining billionaire Robert Friedland dropped $96 million on the two adjacent Carpinteria, California, parcels that total roughly 10 acres.
DeGeneres broke the county’s record for its priciest real estate deal when she spent about $70 million for the neighboring properties in December 2022. The sale was made off-market, so we can’t detail the exact renovations the actor made to the plot’s Tuscan-style mansion during her nearly two years of ownership, but we’re willing to bet that DeGeneres invested quite a bit in sprucing up the place to boost its resale value—particularly considering the rather outdated interiors it had when she scooped it up.
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This isn’t the first time that the comedian and her wife, Arrested Development star Portia de Rossi, have offloaded a property to Friedland, who is the founder and chairman of Ivanhoe Capital. In February of this year, they sold a Mediterranean-style Montecito, California, estate to the Chicago native for $32 million. However, DeGeneres and de Rossi bought that same compound back from Friedland in June for the same amount. It’s unclear what happened to prompt the real estate shuffle between the two parties; perhaps Friedland just decided that he prefers the bluffside Carpinteria residence? With all that acreage and a private trail down to the beach, it’s not hard to see why.
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A roughly 8,000-square-foot main home featuring wood beamed ceilings and stone archways, a guesthouse, and a cabana are found on the Carpinteria plot. The Montecito property boasts six structures on its eight-acre sprawl, including a 1919-built primary dwelling spanning 7,800 square feet, two guesthouses, a pool house, an art studio, and a staff office.