In August 2021, a home in Carpenteria, California was listed just south of Santa Barbara. It was so amazing that not many managed to put it into viable words. As some put it at the time:
“It’s not a home. That’s a bad description. Estate? Palace? Mansion? Compound? It’s all those words rolled into one. It’s an Estalacionpound.”
This property was pieced together by a hedge fund billionaire by the name of Bruce Kovner and his wife Suzie. Suzie and Bruce acquired the first parcel of what in the end became a 22-acre oceanfront Estalacionpound back in 2007. Cumulatively, they spent $100 million buying the properties that they named “Sanctuary at Loon Point.”
One of the sellers along the way was Kevin Costner. In the next decade+ that followed, Suzie and Bruce spent another $50 million developing the land and renovating the existing structures, both of which are mansions that each occupy over 9,000 square feet.
Here is a photo of Sanctuary at Loon Point from when it was introduced to the market in August 2021:
When Bruce and Suzie Kovner listed the entire 22-acre Sanctuary at Loon Point in August 2021, they had a modest number in mind. Just…
$160 Million
Currently, as you read the remaining part of the article, please note that Kovner’s original $160 million asking price would have acquired all you see in the photo above. The two mansions are in the center/center left, and the undeveloped 6.6-acre garden property is to the right.
As was revealed by Dirt.com and Siteline Santa Barbara, Ellen DeGeneres and his wife Portia de Rossi are now the new owners of the mansion in the center and the undeveloped 6.6 garden property. The purchase price? Only…
$70 Million
Based on the editors at Dirt, $70 million sets a net real estate sales record for the Santa Barbara region.
Portia and Ellen’s purchase consists of 10 of Loon Point’s original 22 acres. Notably, their mansion is a little bigger than 9,000 square feet with 5 beds and 8 baths. In that context, the 6.6-acre undeveloped property features a huge lawn and a lake.
There is also a video tour of the entire Sanctuary at Loon Point when it was first listed.
Portia and Ellen are not strangers to the Carpenteria region. They have previously acquired and flipped multiple homes in nearby Montecito. They mostly hold the home for nearly a year, do a major renovation, and then flip it for a $5-10 million profit.
For instance, in February of 2022, they paid $21 million for a home in Montecito called “Villa Tragara.” They sold the home to a music producer just EIGHT months later for around $36 million. In this project, they got a $15 million profit.
Will they do the same flip on the Loon Point purchase?