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Wealthy Homeowners Seeking Privacy are Increasingly Buying Adjacent Properties
Compounds are the hottest commodity in L.A.’s high-end real estate market, brokers say.
June 12, 2010|By Lauren Beale, Los Angeles Times
Bob Chamberlin, Los Angeles TimesIn the Middle Ages, moats were the thing. More recently, the rich have taken refuge behind tall hedges, view-obscuring walls and guarded gates.
But today’s super-wealthy, seeking even greater privacy, are increasingly buying adjacent properties as a buffer zone around their mansions. And that’s made the compound the hottest commodity on L.A.’s high-end market, real estate brokers say.
On the Westside, the growing list of compound owners includes movie industry titan Terry Semel, financier and producer Tom Gores and corporate housing kingpin Howard Ruby, founder of Oakwood Worldwide.
Divorcing Dodgers owners Frank and Jamie McCourt maintain two compounds, one in Holmby Hills and another in Malibu.
“If you don’t have a neighbor anymore, you create more privacy,” said Kurt Rappaport, co-founder of Westside Estate Agency, with offices in Beverly Hills and Malibu.
Not that the “buffer” homes are vacant. Some house family, friends, guests or staff. But these aren’t mother-in-law cottages or little guesthouses like the one Kato Kaelin holed up in at O.J. Simpson’s old place in Brentwood: Think multimillion-dollar mansions — next door, behind or even a few doors down.
The adjoining properties may be used during major fundraisers or large-scale entertaining, Rappaport said, to create more parking or as a place to stage the catering during lavish events. Some buyers have been known to tear down well-known homes for more elbow room.
Property records don’t fully capture the trend. Owners typically want the flexibility of selling the parcels individually, and so they usually don’t apply for a lot merger to create a formal compound. Still, veteran real estate agents say high-end buyers are increasingly looking to snap up adjoining properties.
“We’ve never seen this much activity going on,” said Drew Mandile, who works as a team with Brooke Knapp at Sotheby’s International Realty, specializing in Bel-Air.
Mandile and other agents said there were perhaps two or three compounds in Bel-Air 10 years ago. Today, there are at least nine.
“A decade ago, the idea of combining properties was extremely rare,” Rappaport said. “Now in the ultra high end it’s the norm to strategize about amassing multiple properties.”
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