Ellen DeGeneres is at it again — flipping multimillion-dollar homes like they’re playing cards. The talk show titan just offloaded her sprawling blufftop estate in Carpinteria, California, near Santa Barbara, for a whopping $96 million.
The buyer is Robert Friedland, a mining billionaire with a taste for prime real estate, according to the Wall Street Journal.
DeGeneres, who scooped up the luxury property less than two years ago for around $70 million, made a cool $26 million profit on the resale.
A few months ago, she and her wife, Portia de Rossi, shelled out $32 million to reclaim a Santa Barbara mansion they sold to Friedland earlier this year for the same price.
Carpinteria, a celebrity magnet on California’s coast, has attracted big names like George Lucas and Kevin Costner over the years.
DeGeneres’ former estate there spans 10 acres and features an 8,000-square-foot home complete with exposed wood beams, a cabana and a guest cottage. The power couple snagged the place from hedge-fund guru Bruce Kovner in 2022, who had originally listed his 22-acre compound for $160 million before selling off parcels.
Kovner still owns a neighboring chunk of land, which he’s trying to unload for $75 million.
The Carpinteria home sits on Padaro Lane, one of the priciest and most exclusive spots in the area.
Meanwhile, DeGeneres and de Rossi have also snatched up a vacant 3-acre property next to their reclaimed Santa Barbara estate for $6 million, adding even more land to their growing portfolio.
The property itself, a nearly century-old home sitting on 8 acres, fits right into the couple’s penchant for historic properties with a luxurious allure.
Friedland, the founder of Ivanhoe Capital, has been busy flipping properties of his own. He recently sold another Carpinteria property for $49.6 million, just a year after buying it for $46.9 million.
DeGeneres and de Rossi’s real estate empire isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Back in 2020, they dropped $49 million on a Montecito estate from comedian Dennis Miller and his model wife, Carolyn Espley-Miller.
As for the local market, Santa Barbara, Montecito and Carpinteria are on fire.
Single-family home prices in South Santa Barbara County jumped 8% in the first half of 2024, with the median sale price hitting $2.265 million, according to Village Properties, as cited by the Journal.
Sales volume also surged 19% compared to last year.