Challen Cates buys L.A. mansion from Shonda Rhimes for $3,400,000 in Hancock Park

Actress/Producer Challen Cates has moved up, or moved down, depending on how you look at it. She's moved down the hill from her home of over a decade located above the Chateau Marmont, which she purchased in 1999 for $972,500, and has it currently listed for sale for $2,795,000. But she's moved up in the real estate world by purchasing a traditional, Spanish-style Hancock Park mansion from Grey's Anatomy
Writer/Producer Shonda Rhimes for $3,400,000 in December of 2010. Shonda Rhimes has taken a loss on this sale, having purchased the home in December of 2005 for $3,885,000. But with the success of Grey's Anatomy, she's been able to move up as well, still living in Hancock Park, having purchased the home of musician Beck Hansen for $5,600,000 in early 2010. Beck, in turn, has taken a loss on that sale as well, having purchased the house in mid-2007 for $6,750,000.

See a virtual tour of Challen Cates' new Hancock Park home:

Hancock Park

See a virtual tour here of the house in the hills that Challen Cates currently has on the market:

Hollywood Hills

Other Hancock Park residents include Jason Alexander, David Schwimmer, Kathy Bates,
Patricia Arquette, Fred Savage, Patricia Heaton, Rob Zombie, Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas, etc. Evidently, this stately, historic Los Angeles neighborhood surrounding the Wilshire Country Club is quite the celebrity enclave. The land was originally purchased in 1863 by Major Henry Hancock, whose son, G. Allan Hancock, developed the residential subdivision in 1920. The Hancock Park Homeowners Association was established in 1948 and is responsible for maintaining the original character of the neighborhood with a strict set of guidelines with regards to what you can and can't do to your property.

This report has been provided courtesy of Celebrity Address Aerial

Actor Chris Pine buys $3 million Hollywood Hills compound from actor Jason Lee

 

Zillow listing of this property

 Celebrities often purchase properties from other celebrities.  Why is that?  I think that it has something to do with a property being given the green light as celebrity-safe; that is, private.  Chris Pine paid $3,104,000 on November 4, 2010, yet Jason Lee paid $3,350,000 on November 21, 2007, thus selling the property at over a $200,000 loss, not including real estate fees.  I guess that this has something to do with the real estate downturn which has affected high end properties as well.  More striking is that the property previously sold for $2,200,000 on April 13, 2000.  More astonishing still is that it sold for only $800,000 on April 29, 1997.  Clear evidence of a real estate bubble.

There is a wonderful virtual tour website that is still functioning:

Hill Oak Compound

What a step up this is for Chris, having previously lived in a very modest Silver Lake rental.

This report has been provided courtesy of Celebrity Address Aerial