No, Ben Stiller didn’t buy in California’s Inland Empire. He spent $10,000,000 on a duplex on Riverside Drive, according to the New York Observer’s Manhattan Transfers.

Personally, I’ve grown tired of Stiller’s schtick. Oh, I enjoyed There’s Something About Mary (lawsy gracious has it really been ten years since that movie was made? have mercy) and even watched Night at the Museum (it had its moments). But Zoolander (yeah, yeah, not recent, but pretty much the start of his movie decline)? Tropic Thunder? The “guy” movies that Stiller and Sandler and Ferrell put out of late are just grating and formulaic and boring.

Anyhoo, Stiller’s parents live in the same prewar co-op, so it seems he may want to be be closer to them. Neither Jerry Stiller nor Anne Meara are getting any younger, you know (don’t get me wrong here - I think it’s sad yet inevitable that we all watch our parents get older).

The Observer reports that while Stiller’s name wasn’t on the deed, the trust’s address is his. And the apartment wasn’t on the market.

It’s rumored that Stiller and his wife Christine Taylor are planning to move into the building, but none of Stiller’s people confirmed that information. By the by, Taylor is known for such movies as The Brady Bunch (Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!), The Wedding Singer (oh, good lord, it’s been 10 years since that one, too), and even Stiller’s own Dodgeball and Zoolander.

(I know I promised another post. I’ll get you one, really I will. Still having some connection issues here. My sincerest apologies, dearest ones.)

Jamie Foxx finally sold his Tarzana home after it was listed back in April for $2,320,000. The 3 bedroom, 3.25 bath home was built in 1949 and has 5,428 square feet according to listing information. Big Time Listings broke the story of the sale.

Foxx bought the home in 1997. It’s on a little over 3/4 of an acre (reports varied between 0.79 and 0.84 acres). It sits at the foot of Braemar Country Club and Santa Monica Mountain Conservatory. The master suite has a private entrance, the dining room features an aquarium, and the media theater has a wine case and powder room. Oh, and there are soundproofed rooms used for a recording studio and vocal booth.

As we’re looking at the pictures, we see a very beige room with a bay window and fireplace. There are aquariums on each side of the fireplace. The aquarium is the only thing with any tone other than some sort of beige or tan. One of the bedrooms has a fireplace in the middle, a flat screen TV hanging above that, and oh, look! More beige, but with a few brown throw pillows tossed on the bed. On the other side of that fireplace, though, it looks like there’s a nice little sitting area with a desk and bookshelves.

The back patio has a fairly large deck with lounging furniture strewn about. It certainly looks like it could handle a nice party - perfectly fine for entertaining on a nice, cool day. And if it’s too warm, there’s always the pool, which has a pool house next to it. And just down from that is the basketball court.

What we’re assuming is the master bath has a large glassed-in shower with a nice bench to plop down in when you’re just too tired to stand upright in said shower. You know, from your workout in the home gym. Or from parties. Whatever. It also features a nice jetted tub with stairs up to it. And then there’s the vanity with those crazy bowl sinks that set on top of the counter. It’s still a little strange to us, no matter how popular it gets.

And our favorite room of the (any) house: the kitchen. Oh, you silly real estate brokers. You all mention how a kitchen sells the home and then you give us one shot from so far away that it’s hard to tell the perspective or the details. Well, we can continue to hope that you’ll learn and give us more detailed pics. It does appear that the kitchen features a fair-sized stove, probably about 6 burners. There’s an additional built-in oven, a microwave, and room for 3 televisions - 1 big and 2 small. Was someone into watching sports while in the kitchen? We do like the additional counter space that an island provides. One rarely has enough prep area.

Foxx bought an even larger 17,000-square-foot home and estate on 40 acres back in 2007, about a year before he listed his Tarzana home.

Hot on the heels of our report last night about Heath Ledger’s former SoHo apartment being on the market for $26,000 per month is the news from Big Time listings that Ledger’s home has been sold, too. His estate tried to keep the sale of the 1,861-square-foot house for $2,500,000 out of the news as much as possible.

The home was purchased in May, and the sale was recorded in July. According to Big Time, the sale deed omitted the home’s street address and Ledger’s trust name. Prices eventually become public record, though, as this one has.

The late actor originally bought the house for $2,300,000 in 2005. The home features two bedrooms, two baths, and sits on just under a 1/2 acre.

It makes you wonder why the trust representatives went to such lengths to obscure the sale. Did they not want lookey-loos coming by just to tour Ledger’s home? Or did it have anything to do with Ledger’s baby mama Michelle and all the drama surrounding her and Ledger’s estate? No one’s talking right now.

Heath Ledger’s last residence is on the rental market for $26,000 a month. That’s $4,000 more than Ledger was paying for it. Interestingly, while Ledger died in January, it was already being quietly shopped in February just weeks after his death.

Apparently even an actor’s untimely death won’t stop a hot rental market. Or will it? The place was not immediately rented as brokers thought it would be. So it went off the market and is now back on.

Ledger had only been renting the place around 4 months or so, moving in after he finished his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, an office, laundry room, gourmet kitchen, and a nice balcony, according to the New York Post. The building uses an intercom system with a keyed elevator for security.

Besides his role in the Batman saga, Ledger was probably best known for his role in the controversial Brokeback Mountain. I read the original short story by Annie Proulx when I was in college, and let me tell you, my darlings, that it was an amazingly written love story. It took my breath away. At it’s most basic, that’s really what the story was. I didn’t see the movie, but have heard that Ledger did an amazing job. Just like it was said of him as the Joker. It really is too bad when we lose someone so talented at such a young age.

Image: Howie_Berlin (cc)

British actor and Monty Python alum John Cleese has listed a home in Fernald Point in Montecito for $10,750,000. The house has 3 bedrooms and 4.5 baths. The listing also mentions a fireplace, two garage bays, security system, spa/hot tub, sun room, and a wine cellar.

Better than all that is the view. It is right on the beach and the home is carefully built to take advantage of just that. There’s a family room that’s mostly windows and a large skylight. Additionally, there’s a sun room that is mostly glass. With stunning views. It opens onto the patio.

With all of that glass, including small windows at the floor level of several rooms, the home is considered “infinity-edge” architecture. Like an infinity-edge pool. Only without the pool water. Or hole in the ground.

Listing information also boasts a guest apartment.

Of course, we really wish there were more interior shots of the home so we could have a look around. Exterior shots and a couple of indoor shots are all that’s available at this time. The LA Times reports that the master suite occupies one full level of the home and has a sun room, two walk-in closets, a dressing room, and a glassed-in shower with steam.

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Justin Long, actor and Mac spokesman, has listed his Hollywood Hills home for $1,495,000, according to Big Time listings. The Los Angeles home has two bedrooms and two baths. Other features include a salt water pool, outdoor living room, and media room. The sale even includes plans and permits for a second story addition.

Long reportedly bought the house at the end of last year for around $1,400,000. So he’s had it less than 9 months and the plans and permits are included. Sounds like he’s just trying to get rid of the place, and will probably not make much of a profit, if any.

Just a few notes about the home. The kitchen has a very industrial look, with lots of stainless steel and glass-front cabinets. Not too bad, and perfectly functional. Certainly there will be plenty of buyers whose tastes run along those lines.

The living room has large windows overlooking the back (and we assume, the pool). It has lots of light and a nice, long couch with ample seating room. The accent wall is a nice touch. Not a big fan of leaning pictures on the buffet, rather than hanging them, but that’s just us.

The outside has a lot of seating and entertaining space. Several seats around the pool area, including multiple lounge chairs, and a covered area that was probably the part listed as an outdoor living room.

And both bathrooms have flat, square sinks and modern hardware. In one, the water comes out through the mirror. We’re sure someone with tastes other than ours will love those features. We’re not big fans of square, shallow sinks. However, the large showers are a plus. The lack of a bath, as far as we can tell, would be a minus for us, as it’s pretty hard to wash a wiggly infant in a shower. The home has many amenities that are perfect for a single person or a couple, though.

It’s a nice home. The yard looks quite private, which is nice if you want to jump into the kidney-shaped pool au naturel.

Admittedly, besides Mr. Long’s Mac commercials and his association with Drew Barrymore, we really haven’t seen too much of his work. There will be ample opportunity to see more, as he has a LOT of projects in the hopper according to IMDB.

Actress Anne Heche is bailing out of Vancouver, having listed her 3,863-square-foot home there for $2,450,000. Since her TV series, Men in Trees, was canceled Heche has been looking for more work (maybe she should have stayed with Ellen). But in the meantime, maintaining the expense of a home while being unemployed and paying large sums of child support have become too difficult for her. (So much so that she asked for her child support to be reduced because she was practically broke.)

It’s really too bad that she has to get rid of this place because it really is quite lovely. It has plenty of trees and yard surrounding it, yet it’s close to the waterfront and ski resorts. It has a very lodge-y feel to it, which we imagine is simply perfect for West Vancouver winters.

The listing touts a chef’s kitchen, and let us tell you, darlings, that they may just be right. There’s a center island that can serve as a prep area as well as informal seating and an extra bit of storage. There seems to be ample counter space. The sink and dishwasher appear to be stainless. And the kitchen has tons of wood - as does the entire house, really.

The formal dining room has space for a large table and beautiful cabinet. The ceiling beams are exposed and there’s a chandelier as well. A large bank of windows brings in light and gives a beautiful view.

The living room also has exposed beams and a high ceiling. There’s a fireplace at one end and a wall of windows/doors on the other. It pulls in a fair amount of light, but it doesn’t have as much natural light as one would probably want. Maybe it’s just the time of day or angle - we can’t really tell.

The home has 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and 6 fireplaces throughout. Did we mention the wood? Because there’s a lot of it, especially in the entryway where you have wood on the floor, walls, stairs, and in a big portion of the detail work. It’s almost overwhelming, but the tone is quite rich and inviting.

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