From their moving performances onscreen to their chart-topping music hits, celebrities are undoubtedly talented individuals. For many, however, the talent doesn’t stop on set or in the studio. Many celebrities also seem to have a knack for home improvements.
Whether or not they plan to actually live in the house they are working on, current loan market trends make luxury home purchases a great investment for celebrities. Lenders are being more lenient with jumbo loans, but rates favor those with a very high credit score who are able to make a 20% down payment.
Akon, Megan Fox and Shirley MacLaine are three celebrities who have poured their time and energy into their homes and are now reaping the benefits.
Akon recently put his newly renovated Los Angeles home up for sale for $3.5 million, although for a half million more he offered to include the furniture and equipment from the recording studio.
The hip hop and R&B artist purchased the home for $1.9 million last summer and went at it with white paint–literally. The 4,098 square foot house and all of its accessories were made completely white.
He must be doing something right because he’s already had an offer for the place.
Also in L.A., “Transformers” actress Megan Fox and her husband, “Beverly Hills, 90210” actor Brian Austin Green, are on the search for a new home after recently selling their upgraded mansion.
After purchasing the home in 2009, the couple transformed the old school 4 bedroom, 5 bathroom home into a very desirable, modern luxury house. Equipped with an updated sound system and movie projection screens, large, wallpapered walls and colorful tiles throughout the kitchen and bathroom, the home was listed at $3.995 million.
A couple states over in New Mexico, actress Shirley MacLaine is also on the move. After spending many years in her secluded Abiquiu home, MacLaine is looking to move to the more lively capital city of Santa Fe.
The desert property, totaling 7,450 acres, is home to what MacLaine calls the Plaza Blanca Ranch. The estate is being sold for $18 million, and not at the recommendation of her real estate agent. Rather, the number was a suggestion from a psychic. Either way, it
s a lot of money.
The estate is eco friendly, including a sustainable and off–the–grid horse barn, chicken coop, pool, yurt and caretaker’s house. There are greenhouses on the property as well.
A house is an investment, and these celebrities have all worked hard to make their homes a worthwhile one.