Khloe Kardashian.
ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images
Khloé Kardashian’s family reality TV show is coming to a close, after 20 seasons. Perhaps she should consider a role in real estate? She’s certainly had plenty of success in the field.
Latest evidence: She just sold her Calabasas, CA, home for a record $15.5 million in an off-market deal, Variety reported. Tomer Fridman with Compass represented the seller.
The “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” star paid $7.2 million in 2014, when she purchased the Mediterranean spread from the pop star Justin Bieber. Six years later, she’s realized quite a return on her investment.
How did Khloé command a sky-high price?
Location and market conditions played a major role.
“In Los Angeles, we’re in a seller’s market,” says the luxury agent Shelton Wilder, who is CEO of the L.A.-based Shelton Wilder Group.
“Inventory is extremely low, and demand is very high. Due to the seller’s market, property prices have been trending on the higher side.”
The celeb-heavy town of Calabasas sits on the far northwest edge of Los Angeles County and isn’t immune from the market forces propelling the L.A. market.
Wilder added that celebrity may have played a starring role.
“With Khloé Kardashian being a very well-known celebrity in L.A., star power might have played a factor here as well,” she says.
“Because of her celebrity status, her property received a lot of press—it was even featured in Architectural Digest. With lots of press and marketing coverage reaching more potential buyers, that could have driven up demand as well.”
As TMZ first reported, the youngest Kardashian sibling had quietly shopped the home in May, with an asking price of almost $19 million.
The aspirational price point wasn’t reached, but the sale still set a record for Calabasas on a per-square-foot basis. Even after pouring millions into home renovations, Khloé assuredly came out ahead.
An ultra-exclusive neighborhood
After picking up the property from the rambunctious pop star, Khloé proceeded to Kardash-ify the home.
Owned by Bieber, then a bachelor in his late teens, the party palace came equipped with a skate ramp. Khloé promptly ripped out that unique feature and set about making the home her own.
(For his part, Bieber has since settled down into married life and done some home shopping of his own. He recently purchased a swanky place in Beverly Park for a reported $25.8 million.)
Khloe Kardashian’s Calabasas home, before renovations
realtor.com
The mansion sits in the uber-exclusive, double-gated community known as the Estates at the Oaks. Only a couple of handful of homes in the neighborhood are on the market. And the market is a hot one.
“As a broker who’s closed the majority of personal sales volume in The Estates in the last few years, it comes as no surprise that more and more high-profile individuals are looking to this exceptionally sensational enclave to call home,” says Emil Hartoonian, managing partner at The Agency.
Hartoonian further extolled the virtues of the Estates for high-net-worth buyers.
“Beyond being located behind a double-gated community and unparalleled privacy, the Estates is a gem to both value and quality of life,” he says.
He tells us that as more buyers seek the tippy-top in quality in Southern California, they turn their eyes to the Estates. However, inventory in the area remains low, which lends it what the agent called “a best-kept secret dynamic.”
To further add to the mix of celebrity cachet and exclusive locale, Kardashian tapped the star designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard to reimagine the space, which was subsequently featured in a spread in Architectural Digest.
“Khloé’s house was a giant play palace built for a boisterous young man,” Bullard told AD in 2017. “We decided to give it some romance, bringing it back to its Mediterranean roots.”
Just last year, the reality star updated the interiors again, engaging the celebrated designers Waldo Fernandez and Tommy Clements, People reported. The updates lent the home a “new, fresh vibe.”
The home could be seen on the long-running E! show and also occasionally appeared as a backdrop on her Instagram account.
All about the buyer
The happy buyer, YouTube star Dhar Mann, announced his pricey purchase on Instagram.
“What better way to celebrate the birthday of my life partner @laurag_143 than to also celebrate us buying our new home,” he posted, along with a photo of his family in front of the famous house.
“The person who bought the house is someone who comes from a beauty empire,” says the luxury and celebrity real estate expert Yawar Charlie, director of the estates division at Aaron Kirman Group, Compass.
“On top of it, he’s a pretty active blogger and YouTuber. Oftentimes, people in the realm of social media like to have a statement house, a grand house.”
He adds, “This person paid a premium. They wanted a certain quality of lifestyle, and they paid for it.”
Beyond lifestyle quality and social media cachet, a number of factors came together to drive up the price point. Call it a perfect storm for Khloé’s latest real estate success story.
“The high price is a combination of the following: great location in a gated community, a larger home, and more space outside of the city due to COVID-19. It’s also a remodeled home by top designers, and I think she got a premium because she is a celebrity,” says Michael Nourmand, president of Nourmand & Associates.
Khloé didn’t stray far
The 36-year-old mother of one is already on the move to another, even newer home, according to Variety. She and her mom, Kris Jenner, have reportedly purchased neighboring, brand-new builds in nearby Hidden Hills.
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