Kurt Rappaport: Really Rich Real Estate Broker

BUYER: Kurt Rappaport
LOCATION: N. Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills, CA
PRICE: $13,2000,000
SIZE: 12,981 square feet (as per assessor), 6 bedrooms, 7.5 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Located behind gates in the most prime estate section of Beverly Hills. Spectacular stone manor w/ hand chiseled slate roof. Built with incredible quality and craftsmanship. Grand scaled room, perfect for major entertaining, beautiful grounds and total privacy. 2 story entry, spectacular living room, large formal dining, gourmet kitchen, family room, luxurious master suite, theatre, elevator and more.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Fasten your safety belts children because Your Mama is feeling long -winded this morning and we got a lot of ground to cover on this one. So grab yourself a sweet snack and settle in for a long ride through real estate whirligig of one of Los Angeles' richest and most successful real estate brokers.

Anyone who follows the high dollar real estate deals in the better zip codes of Los Angeles knows full well that Kurt Rappaport sits at the tippy top of real estate broker heap. Not only does he earn a big income by being a co-owner of the swankiest and most exclusive boo-teek brokerages in the Los Angeles (Westside Estate Agency), the man makes millions personally listing and selling the luxurious homes of the rich and famous in Los Angeles. None the less, the churlish children are more likely to remember Mister Rappaport as the man who sold his big house on Calle Vista Drive in Bev Hills to Scientology kingpin Tom Crooz and his mousy but extremely well dressed wifey Kate Holmes in April of 2007 for a eye popping $30,500,000.

On a side note, the gossip glossy Life & Style reported this week that Mister and Missus Crooz are holed up in a Scientology owned apartment while they cough up another $15,000,000 renovating the mansion that Mister Rappaport had just completed renovating before selling to the kinda creepy Crooz couple. Besides adding a 1,500 square foot closet/dressing room for the Missus and carving out space for all the Crooz family members and Scientology minders that are rumored to shack up with them, Your Mama imagines that the pricey renovation might also include creating two separate bedrooms suites, one for the Mister and one for the Missus, because it's been widely and salaciously reported that Kate sleeps in her own bedroom because Tiny Tom snores so loud that she's unable to get her bee-yootee rest.

Anyhoo, let's get back to Mister Rappaport and his new house. After selling to the Crooz's, Your Mama spent many a sleepless night wondering where Mister Rappaport and his wifey moved. Property records show the couple owns two contiguous and vacant lots on Pacific Coast Highway in Malee-boo that happen to be a few doors down from Cher. However, despite the stellar location and staggering views of the Pacific from the bluff top lots, we just couldn't picture the very rich and pampered Rappaports camped out in an RV on their property in Malee-boo.

Naturally, Your Mama put the inquiry feelers out to our extensive and well connected spider web of contacts in the Platinum Triangle, and of course we scoured the property records. But alas, we continued to come up empty handed, which only led to more nights of tossing and turning. Then, like a submarine rising unexpectedly out of the placid water, Your Mama received a phone call from the always on top of all things real estate Lucy Spillerguts who whispered in our big ear that since turning over their colossal crib on Calle Vista to the Crooz couple, the Rappaports have been shacking up in the same Country English style house on Bellagio Road in Bel Air that Hollywood honcho Sheri Lansing and her Oscar winning huzband Billy Friedkin leased for many years before they finally forked over the big bucks to buy a major estate up on Levico Way in the hills above Bel Air in August of 2005.

But children, lucky for us, Lucy Spillerguts didn't stop there with the real estate skinny on the Rappaports. Oh no children, the impressively informed tattle tale went on to reveal that the really rich Rappaports just purchased a large and lavish house on N. Crescent Drive in what is arguably one of the very best part of the Bev Hills.

Well, it didn't take Your Mama long to figure out that Mister and Missus Rappaport purchased the gigantic house owned by auto accessories and tire tycoon Lawrence Kraines (Kraco) which had been on the market for nearly a year with an asking price of $18,950,000. Perhaps not surprisingly, the house was listed with Mister Rappaport, and thanks to information we received form Our Fairy Godmother in Bev Hills, Your Mama learned that Mister Rappaport negotiated a pretty good deal for himself by paying $13,200,000 for the ornate 12,981 square foot mansion with its lush landscaping and double gated circular drive . Interestingly, according to O.F.G. in B.H., the MLS indicates Mister Rappaport paid $15,990,000. Not sure why. Perhaps there was some sort of other asset swap that totalled that number? Hmm.

Listing information for the "spectacular stone manor" indicates that in addition to the designed to impress the guests double hight entrance hall with its curving Scarlett O-Hara style staircase, there are 6 bedrooms, 7.5 bathrooms, 5 fireplaces, a large living room, a double height dining room room with lurid red wallpaper, a den, and a gourmet kitchen that Your Mama thinks could use a sear-ee-us re-do. The listing goes on to include additional rooms and amenities such as a family room, a gym, a media room with projection equipment, a brick lined wine cellar, a guest house, a service entrance for the staff (thank heavens they don't have to come right through the front door), and an elevator, because who's capable of walking up even one flight of stairs after a long night of gin and tonics in the library with the multi-millionaire neighbors?

Now children, please don't think that every real estate agent in Los Angeles lives in a $16,000,000 house, because, trust Your Mama, they do not. Mister Rappaport, bless his big fat wallet, is a rarity among real estate agents.

Your Mama wishes Mister and Missus Rappaport a happy new home...at least until one of their mega-money clients makes them an offer they can't refuse to sell the place.