After Elon Musk tweeted he was “selling almost all [my] physical possessions,” to his 33.6 million Twitter followers late last week, many chalked up the bold pledge as par-for-the-course blustering from the full-time Twitter troll and tech tycoon.
But now it appears the Tesla and SpaceX chief was actually quite serious. He’s already listed two of his six homes in L.A.’s Bel Air neighborhood, asking $30 million for his longtime main residence and $9.5 million for a much smaller home across the street, which was previously utilized as a private schoolhouse for his children. Both homes are listed as “for sale by owner” and include a motley batch of mostly non-professional photographs, including one that shows two of Musk’s Teslas sitting in his driveway.
While eschewing realtors by selling directly is not typical in L.A.’s high-end market, particularly when the seller is a high-profile celebrity, it’s certainly been done before. Earlier this year, Jeff Bezos paid a record-shattering $165 million for David Geffen’s titanic Beverly Hills compound, in a deal consummated without the aid of any agents. The moguls’ attorneys simply reviewed the documents and oversaw the transaction, likely saving Geffen millions in real estate fees.
Of course, Musk has always opted to forge his own unique path in life, sometimes to the consternation of his fans and detractors alike. Just prior to casting off his homes, he tweeted that Tesla’s stock price was overvalued — prompting a massive price dip and tanking the company’s value by $14 billion.
The larger Bel Air house, asking $30 million, sits behind gates and a veritable forest of tall hedges and mature trees. Originally built in 1990 and since extensively renovated, the towering structure has more than 16,000 square feet with seven bedrooms and 11 baths. Musk picked up the property in late 2012, paying $17 million, though it’s likely appreciated in the years since.
Across the road lies the other house, far more modest and wholly unpretentious, spanning about 2,600 square feet with a kidney-shaped swimming pool. From its hilltop perch, the 1951 sprawler — the former residence of Gene Wilder — has views across the Bel Air Country Club fairways and to the city lights beyond.
But even if Musk manages to unload both properties himself, he’s still got those four other Bel Air homes — one purchased for $4.3 million, another for $20 million, and the latest one ran him $6.4 million. His priciest property, however, is a blocky contemporary mansion that he bought unfinished in 2016 for $24 million and has since spent millions to complete. Whether those will come to market in the near future remains unclear.
One person who did not take kindly to the news of Musk’s great real estate sell-off was his longtime girlfriend, the musician Grimes, with whom he welcomed a baby boy on Monday.
My gf @Grimezsz is mad at me
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2020
It’s not know where Musk plans to live once — and if — all his California homes are sold, but Grimes does own her own house in Pasadena, purchased back in 2017 for $1.7 million. That property, however, has been undergoing extensive renovations and is not currently livable.