Leighton Meester is A Valley Girl

BUYER: Leighton Meester
LOCATION: Encino, CA
PRICE: $1,457,500
SIZE: 2,847 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: We recognize we are far from the first gossip to arrive at this particular celebrity real estate soirée but we feel like discussing the matter anyway....

In her tee-vee life 20-something year old model/actress/singer Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl) convincingly portrays Blair Waldorf, a deeply vain, status obsessed and designer duds wearing teenage socialite whose social and real estate milieu are the tony streets and posh apartments of the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

In real life, model-thin Miss Meester comes from less than ideal circumstances: She was born while her mother was in prison on a dope smuggling conviction; Her older brother had and–uhm–ugly issue with a female; Her younger brother has unspecified but apparently significant medical needs; And she's currently engaged in an ugly legal wrangle with her mother who claims Miss Meester agreed to provide her $10,000 a month income for the rest of her life.

The young actress, who admirably owns and takes an impressively sanguine approach to her rather complicated familial circumstances, also differs considerably from her character in her choice of living situations. If snooty-tooty Blair Waldorf were to buy a house in Los Angeles, CA Your Mama imagines she might go for a fancy mansion in the flats of Beverly Hills or a sexy bachelorette pad that cleaves to a steep slope just above the Sunset Strip. When Miss Meester when hunting for a house in Los Angeles, on the other hand, she settled on a well-maintained but architecturally prosaic ranch-style residence in Encino. That' right, puppies, Encino, the spiritual if not exactly geographic heart of the San Fernando Valley.

Property records and previous reports show Miss Meester paid $1,470,000 for the updated and upgraded but mostly very ordinary house in the upscale Royal Woods neighborhood back in June 2011. Originally built in 1948, the single-story house, situated on a knoll above the street and well-shielded by a thick cluster of foliage, measures 2,847 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms according to listing information we coaxed out of the interweb.

The interiors of Miss Meester's new west coast abode are typical of rambling suburban ranch homes in southern California, meaning there are too many too-low ceilings. To the right of the narrow entrance hall there's a living/dining room with honey-colored hardwood floors, plantation shutters over the wide bank of windows, and a wood-burning fireplace. It goes without saying, we hope, that Miss Meester has the good decorative sense to hire a nice, gay decorator to do something–anything–with that disturbing, fleshy-pink wall color in the living/dining room.

The hardwood floors continue into an adjoining, almost identically sized family room at the back of the house that lacks a fireplace but does have two sets of French doors that give way to a sizable, awning-shaded outdoor living/dining area. A wide opening with glass-topped snack bar separates the family room from the galley-style eat-in kitchen that has room for a breakfast table and is outfitted with perfectly ordinary (but probably custom and very expensive) white raised-panel cabinetry, dark taupe granite counter tops and back splashes, and high-grade stainless steel appliances. For some inexplicable reason the short back splash behind the range top was done with ebony river rock instead of the matching granite as was done on the opposite wall. Just. Say. No.

The home's four bedrooms divide up into a guest/staff suite, two generously sized secondary bedrooms–one with private entrance–and a decent-sized if not huge master suite that includes a small sitting area, fireplace with glass tile surround, walk-in closet, and an attached bathroom with double-sink vanity, soaking tub, and separate glass-enclosed steam shower.

The flagstone-floored outdoor living/dining area off the family room opens to the lushly-landscaped back yard and includes a wet bar for the boozers, a water feature we find unnecessary, and electric heaters that allow the terrace to be used year round. Brick-lined flagstone walkways wind around the back of the house where there's an amorphous grass patch, a beautiful Japanese maple tree, and an ivy-covered hillside, and a built-in barbecue center.

A stone stairway ascends the hillside behind the house to a broad flagstone terrace that surrounds a rectangular, black-bottom swimming pool. An adjacent cabana has a kitchenette area with dishwasher and fridge, dual changing rooms, and a convenient 3/4 bathroom that means no one must navigate their way down the hillside staircase, across the back yard and into the house when they feel the need to purge their bodily fluids.

Miss Meester's current boob-toob gig films in New York City so–we presume–that's where she lives most of the time. There are various older reports floating around online that mention Miss Meester's Big Apple apartment. One report from 2009 makes special note of the custom closets she had installed and another, also from 2009, says Miss Meester went all diva-like with her New York City neighbors and asked all the other residents on her floor to not smoke cigars and cigarettes in their apartments because she "'develops a sore throat if she's exposed"' to smoke. Your Mama freely admits that we do not know where Miss Meester resides in New York City and haven't an iota if she still lives in the same building where she (allegedly) banned neighbors from smoking or the same apartment where she had custom closets installed.

Although she only became a household name and much-yakked about style icon since joining the cast of Gossip Girl in 2007, the Teen Choice Award-winner has been in the Business of Show since since she was just a wee lassie who trod the boards of the local playhouse in Marco Island, FL. At the age of 11 she and her mother moved to New York City where she modeled and made a number of commercials. At 14 she and her mother moved to Los Angeles where she went to school and quickly landed a long list of small parts in various movies and television series. She appeared in Law and Order, Hangman's Curse, Boston Public, Tarzan, 7th Heaven, 24, Surface, Shark, Numb3rs, and Entourage. Since Gossip Girl she's frequently found her way to the silver screen in (mostly not very good movies like) Date Night, Country Strong and Monte Carlo.

listing photos: Prudential John Aaroe

U.S. to lower the size of mortgage it will guarantee - but I don't think that's going to have too much of a negative impact

Here's an article from today's L.A. Times about lower loan limits that will go into effect at the end of September.  While many of my colleagues are wringing their hands over this change, I'd like to point out three things. 1) The limit is reducing from $729,750 to $625,500.  So any loan amount over $625k will now need to have jumbo financing. Therefore this will really only impact home buyers, and home prices, between those two loan amounts only -- that's only a price spread of $104,000+.  2) Jumbo rates are at an all-time low. 3) Yes, many of the areas I serve have high home prices; but a greater amount of neighborhoods have home prices that don't exceed $600,000 in the first place.  So will there be wide-spread harm? It remains to be seen, but I doubt it.

Photographer Cindy Sherman Snags Springs Spread

BUYER: Cindy Sherman
LOCATION: East Hampton/Springs, NY
PRICE: $4,650,000
SIZE: 3,500(ish) square feet 4-5 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Starting sometime in the 1940s writers and artists–many of whom became internationally recognized poster children of the Abstract Expressionist movement–began to collect and colonize in Springs, NY, a thickly wooded peninsula northeast of downtown East Hampton. Although you can hardly get further from the ocean in the Hamptons, these artists and writers chose the less than prime area north of the Montauk Highway in part due to its relative affordability compared to the by then already quite pricey communities located in more bikeable proximities to ocean beaches.

Early arty-farty residents and renters in Springs include a long list of art and literary world luminaries like Kurt Vonnegut, Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollack. In 1945 Mister Pollack and his artist wife Lee Krasner paid–are y'all sitting down for this?–$5,000 for a 1.25 acre lot on Springs Fireplace Road. They borrowed the two thousand dollar down payment from art patron Peggy Guggenheim and they later bought an adjacent parcel that brought their holdings in the Hamptons to around 5 acres.

It was here in Springs–in a small shingled barn–that Mister Pollack painted many of his most famous drip paintings; Miz Krasner painted her powerful and sometimes aggressive-looking abstract compositions in the main house until after her husband died and she took over the barn-studio. Mister Pollack perished in an automobile accident on Springs Fireplace Road in 1956 while Miz Krasner lived and worked in Springs until 1984. The iconoclastic couple's home and studios remain preserved as the Pollack-Krasner House and Study Center.

Mister Pollack and Miz Krasner are buried in Springs' Green River Cemetery along with other creative types long and closely associated with the Hamptons including architect Charles Gwathmey, artist Hannah Wilke, and poet Frank O'Hara.

The Springs' deep roots with the New York City art and literary scenes may (or may not) have influenced the decision by conceptual photographer and art world queen bee Cindy Sherman to spend some big bucks to snatch up an historic, 10.2-acre waterfront spread in the still-arty enclave. Property records show Miz Sherman recently used an eponymous corporate entity to pay $4,650,000 for her new hideaway in the Hamptons that's less than three-quarters of a mile up the road from the former home and studios of Mister Pollack and Miz Krasner.

Property records Your Mama peeped reveal Miz Sherman purchased the undeniably pricey but still understated property from a former Wall Street executive and his wife who had themselves only bought the Springs' spread in June 2009 for $5,200,000. A few quick flicks of the well-worn beads on our bejeweled abacus shows that amounts to a $550,000 wham-bam-thank-you-maam to the financier's pocketbook not counting carrying costs, improvement expenses, and real estate fees.

A white picket fence runs along the front of the almost crushingly charming compound that encompasses a perfectly weathered and postcard perfect shingled farmhouse, a perfectly symmetrical barn/garage, and an additional shed/storage barn perfect for parking the rider mower required to cut the acres of well-maintained but not–thankfully–overly-manicured lawns.

A significant portion of the house dates back to around 1835 according to listing information we scared up out of the interweb. There are 4-5 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms in about 3,500 square feet over three floors. The house has been updated and modernized–note the stainless steel appliances in the kitchen and the L-shaped open plan of the living and dining rooms–while retaining many original and quirky architectural treasures such as wonderfully-worn wide-plank wood floors, twelve- and 20-pane sash windows, an exposed brick fireplace in the living room and a pleasing amount of hand-hewn wood beams throughout.

At some point an extension was added to the back of the house that now contains the eat-in countrys-style kitchen and a window-lined den/family room that has a long view across the tree-sprinkled backyard and over the prairie-sized lawn towards the sparkling water. A peninsula counter with butcher block counter top divides the eating area from the small but well-equipped kitchen that's admittedly short on work space but long on high-grade commercial-style appliances, an ample walk-in pantry and a windowed laundry room.

Front and back stairs lead up to the second level where two bedrooms at the front of the house–one has a fireplace–share a hall bathroom. The master suite at the back of the second floor isn't large but does have a wood-burning stove flanked by built-in under window storage cabinets, a small sitting area, and a smaller closet. The attached bathroom does have a window for P.P.V. (Proper Pooper Ventilation) but it is so dang tiny Your Mama frets that a claustrophobic would have to endure a panic attack just to do their dirty business or brush their teeth.

A door hides a narrow staircase that climbs up to the third floor, once an attic space with vaulted and beamed ceiling but now a casual but dramatic suite with living area/bunk room lined with closets, a separate bedroom, and a full bathroom. This third floor facility is, it should be noted, the only one in the house with a proper bathtub. That doesn't disturb Your Mama who would rather run bamboo shoots into our eyes than wallow in a vat of boiling and possibly bubbly water like we're stew meat but it might really irk those who do find bathtubs relaxing and don't want to climb a lot of stairs to access one. Anyhoo, with some good sound proofing in the floor this third floor suite would make a lovely and private master retreat, at least for someone who does not mind paying close to five million clammers to climb two flights of stairs just to get to bed.

The wee kitchen opens into a wee-er porch that connects to a decent-sized dining deck that wraps around the back of the house and has unexpected and delightful curved corners. The deck drops off to vast and broad lawns that surround the house and extend all the way down to the reedy marsh.

A gravel drive connects the street to the symmetrical barn/garage with cupola and weather vane. Perfectly aligned and over-sized barn doors painted a deep green slide open to frame the long view over the grassy field that stretches out towards the marshlands and water. The unfinished but spectacular interior has a poured concrete floor, soaring ceilings and a stand up loft space. It's almost too nice for parking a car, even a fancy one like Miz Sherman surely drives. An smaller adjacent barn/shed structure offers additional storage space lawn and garden care, beach chairs, patio furniture and market umbrellas.

A swimming pool fenced with pickets and surrounded by a blue stone terrace is set so far from the house–where the nearest bathrooms are located–Your Mama worries thoughtless children and lazy adults alike will opt to pee (or worse) in the pool or the encircling foliage rather than dart the long distance to the indoor plumbing facilities.

For what it's worth–and it ain't worth a god damn dime–this property picture perfectly defines what constitutes Hamptons real estate goodness for Your Mama and The Dr. Cooter. It may be a long slog to the ocean from Springs but we tend to cotton to and gravitate towards the understated charms of an historic compound like this over the flash and glamour of something like showbizzer Jennifer Lopez's colossal new crib in Water Mill that sits much closer to–but still not on–the beach, includes a 15,000-plus square foot main house, and was last listed at more than four times the price of Miz Sherman's new hideaway in the Hamptons. It's a no-brainer for us, really, but it's also irrelevant since Your Mama is not now nor will we ever likely be in the market for a five million dollar house in the Hamptons.

P.S. Now puppies, let's use our noggins. The listing photos reflect the day-core of the seller and not of Miz Sherman who we imagine has a slightly more off-beat way of managing her decorative choices.

listing photos: Town & Country Real Estate

American Idol Phenom Chris Daughtry Lists North Carolina Crib

SELLER: Chris Daughtry
LOCATON: Oak Ridge, NC
PRICE: $699,000
SIZE: 3,670 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Like bazillions of others around the world, once upon a reality television time Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter religiously watched American Idol. We watched Kelly Clarkson belt her way to victory in season one, we sat slack jawed when Ruben Studdard beat out Clay Aiken in season two and, against out better judgement, we managed to hang on long enough to see Carrie Underwood croon her way to pop country super stardom in season four. By the time season 5 came along our annoyance by the unnecessary boob-toob melodramatics that take place in the audition process–can you say William Hung?–and our tolerance for the fakey-fake bickering between (now former) judges Paula Abdul and Simon Cowel had done waxed and waned. The show had, as far as we were concerned, had jumped the shark.

Had we found the energy to rally for the fifth season we would have seen a bald-headed rocker named Chris Daughtry quickly climb to the top of the A.I. contestant heap only to be unexpectedly eliminated as the fourth place finalist. His fourth place finish became irrelevant, however, when it became clear and obvious that Mister Daughtry and not winner Taylor Hicks who was the break out star of the season. Taylor Hicks who? Oh. Ouch. Did Your Mama say that out loud?

Anyhoodles poodles, the ever-industrious folks over at Zillow reported today that Grammy-nominated rocker–a man married to the same woman since 2000–recently put his brick-built house in the semi-rural suburbs of Greensboro, NC on the market with a $699,000 price tag.

Zillow reports that Mister Daughtry had the house–a black-shuttered traditional sort of thing with barely a smidgen of architectural élan–on the market back in late 2010 with an asking price of $720,000.

Property records show Mister and Missus Daughtry–who have 3 children together and another that she brought to the relationship–purchased their gated Oak Ridge residence in June 2006, just a month after his being nixed from American Idol. Records also show they paid $690,000 for the 1.17 acre spread that listing information indicates measures 3,670 square feet and includes 4 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms.

The interior spaces of the house, a good portion of which are punished with a variety of faux paint treatments, features a double height entrance hall with wide columned archways that connect to the formal dining room and the not terribly "formal" living room that's focal point is a gas log fireplace flanked by some windows and a built-in entertainment cabinet for the telly. An angled breakfast counter separates the "formal" living room from the adjacent cook- and family-friendly kitchen and breakfast room. The kitchen, with walk-in pantry and decorative wood hood over the range is certainly better equipped than many but all we're going to say about it is that at least there's not a Suburu-sized pot rack hanging over the granite topped center island.

Other rooms include an office with built-in wood desk and bookshelves, a family room/den and a main-floor master suite with walk-in closet, tray ceiling, built in entertainment cabinet for the telly that's all but exactly like the one in the "formal" living room. The privately placed master also offers a private facility with two sinks, make up vanity, and a separate soaking tub and stall shower.

Trees and other foliage provide privacy for the fully landscaped mini-estate that includes broad lawns, a narrow dining deck that extends off the rear of the house, four-hole professional quality putting green, and a saltwater swimming pool and spa surrounded by terraces partially made up of geometrically set cut concrete squares with lawn growing in the gaps.

Your Mama has no inside intel about what Mister and Missus Daughtry's real estate plans are but given that they're a family of six we're guessing they want something a bit roomier where they'll be better able to escape the hateful glares and loud guffaws of their children when they become teenagers. But, then again, what do we know?

listing photos: Re/Max Realty Consultants