Inside Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi’s Endless Real Estate Portfolio
2021
Remember Rancho San Leandro, the historic Montecito property DeGeneres and de Rossi bought in 2017 and offloaded not long after? Well, in May 2021 the couple bought it again, this time spending $14.3 million, or just short of double what they originally paid. They then picked up the house across the street for $12 million in an off-market deal, and before the year was through, dropped $2.9 million on yet another home in the seaside town, a small two-bedroom midcentury-modern bungalow not far from Butterfly Beach. The former later sold for $13.5 million, and it seems the latter is still in their possession.
Despite Degeneres and de Rossi’s clear penchant for Montecito real estate, they have not fully abandoned LA. In September 2021, the host of Ellen’s Next Great Designer and the Ally McBeal star dropped $8.5 million for a midcentury-modern-style Beverly Hills home designed by architect Robert Skinner. Featured in the 2001 book Modernism Rediscovered, the five-bedroom home was restored by architect John Bertram and interior designer Sarah Shetter and features charming details like wood cabinetry in the kitchen and a freestanding fireplace in the primary bedroom which would not look out of place in The Jetsons. By mid 2022, they sold the place for $8.8 million in an off-market deal to a man who already owned two homes adjacent to the property.
2022
Despite the staggering frequency with which these two buy and sell homes, Degeneres and de Rossi do tend to select properties that are architecturally interesting. Their first purchase of 2022 (that we know of) was an unusual three-bedroom, 12,000-square-foot Montecito mansion inspired by Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain. It is unclear what updates they made to the pad, known as Villa Tragara, but just six months after buying it for $21 million, they sold it to talent manager Scooter Braun for $36 million.
Next they picked up a 1915 Montecito cottage for $5.4 million and promptly placed it back on the market; it is now listed for $5.85.
They then purchased the Richard Neutra–designed Brown-Sidney house, in Bel Air, for $29 million in an off-market deal. This prestigious piece of architecture, formerly owned by Tom Ford and renovated by the fashion designer with AD100 firm Marmol Radziner, boasts three bedrooms, six bathrooms, and 180-degree views of Los Angeles.
Topping off 2022, the couple broke a Santa Barbara County record with the purchase of a five-bedroom, eight-bathroom Tuscan-style mansion and an adjacent parcel of land in Carpinteria for a whopping $70 million.