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Telemundo LAAug. 16, 2023
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The Tuscan-style mega villa perched high above Malibu has just been put back on the market with a price tag of $44.5 million.
The residence, known as Malibu Rocky Oaks, sits on 37 acres at an elevation of 2,000 feet in the Santa Monica Mountains. At that altitude, under certain weather conditions, the house often sits on top of the clouds.
“If you have a God complex, this is the house for you,” real estate agent Shawn Elliott of Nest Seekers International told CNBC on a recent tour of the property .
The property also includes a 10-acre vineyard with more than 10,000 grape vines sprouting from the property's sun-drenched hillside.
“To me, this is like the eighth wonder of the world,” Elliott said.
A view of the terrace and pool of the stone clad villa.
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But Elliott, who is the latest in a long line of brokers to have tried to sell the property, admits that pricing the property hasn't been easy. In fact, prior to Elliott's addition, public records show the home has been on and off the market for approximately 14 years at a wide range of prices.
In 2009, it was first listed for sale for $65 million, the home's all-time highest asking price. For 2013, the asking price was reduced to $36 million, the lowest list price yet.
The house's stepped stone terrace and infinity pool at sunset.
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Last August, the flashing listing returned to the market, with an asking price of $49.5 million. But after just five months without buyers, it was once again withdrawn from the market. This week, almost exactly one year later, it debuts again with a new price tag and a broker looking to finally nail the number and close the deal.
“We're doing a $5 million price reduction because I really think that's going to be the number that will drive buyers,” Elliott said.
A private driveway ascends the vine-covered hillside and leads visitors to the villa's stone patio and three-car garage.
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At 9,000 square feet, the home's new sales price puts the price per square foot just under $5,000, or nearly three and a half times the second-quarter median price per square foot for Malibu, which was just under $1,500, but still below the median price of nearly $7,500 per square foot fetched for city waterfront properties, according to the Elliman Report.
Real estate trade-offs are hard to come by for the 37-acre, high-altitude estate, with a 9,000-square-foot residence and its own vineyard that currently produces 15,000 bottles of wine a year, according to Elliott.
“That brings in about $300,000 a year,” Elliott told CNBC.
The terrace and infinity pool of the villa.
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Its size alone is an outlier in Malibu, where the median home sold in the second quarter was just 3,200 square feet with a median sales price of just over $4.4 million, down nearly 2% from last year.
Even the most expensive beachfront properties to sell recently pale in comparison with a median size of just over 3,000 square feet and a median price of $10.5 million; that's 13.9% more than last year according to the Elliman Report.
Public records show the property was purchased in 2005 for $3.5 million by businessman and real estate investor Howard Leight Sr. Construction was completed on the giant Tuscan mansion, designed by architect Bob Easton in 2009. Leight made his fortune in the industry of hearing protection products and sold his namesake business for $125 million.
The great room features a 35-foot ceiling and an interior balcony from the master bedroom that overlooks the living room from the second level.
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The more recent history of the limestone-clad French villa includes its appearance on reality shows and movies. The Kardashians visited in 2014 for an episode of their show on E!, the reality show “The Bachelorette” was filmed there in 2013, and in the same year, the high-end realtor appeared in the movie “The Hangover Part III.” .
Currently, Leight's son, Howard Leight Jr., is the face of the villa-vineyard combo and his Instagram account. The property is currently available for nightly rentals and for events. Elliott told CNBC that the going rate for a night during peak season is $15,000 or $105,000 per week, but the property is also listed on Airbnb, where, depending on the dates, rates can drop below $2,500 per week. evening.
Here's a look at the Malibu Rocky Oaks Estate:
The villa's dining room.
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The dining room opens to outdoor stone terraces on two sides and archways in a stone wall lead into the great room.
The main room.
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The master suite includes vaulted ceilings and two balconies, plus a wrap-around terrace.
A deck off the master bedroom with fireplace and views of the Santa Monica mountains.
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View from the interior balcony of the master bedroom.
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The third interior balcony from the master suite overlooks the great room where 35-foot ceilings are paneled in walnut.
The marble-lined bathroom and vaulted ceilings in the master bedroom.
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The villa is distributed over three levels with five bedrooms and five bathrooms.
One of the bedrooms with a bathroom for the guests of the house.
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The kitchen.
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The commercial grade kitchen includes stainless steel appliances, stone countertops and hardwood floors with a arched window that can be opened to the dining room.
Vines can be seen on the hillside just below the infinity pool. The most popular varieties of the vineyard's 10 grapes are cabernet, merlot, syrah and chardonnay.
Outdoor seating area with stone fireplace.
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A sunset view of the estate on the hillside lined with vines.
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