A Timeline of Ellen DeGeneres’s and Portia de Rossi’s Local Real Estate Transactions

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi have done it again: 319 San Ysidro Road, the previously rebuilt 1919 estate that they bought in June 2023 for $22.5 million, has just sold to an unknown buyer for $32 million. That’s well off the initial price of $46.5 million, or even the more recent price of $39.95 million, but given that they worked on the house for all of four months—and only make cosmetic and landscaping changes—they must have made a tasty profit.

To celebrate the occasion, here’s a rundown of the 20 21 properties that DeGeneres and de Rossi have held around here over the years. (I’m sure there are others, and this doesn’t include the many in L.A.). Since 2006, they have spent at least $350 million on Montecito/Padaro Lane real estate. UPDATE: Thanks to the reader who reminded me about 655 El Bosque. If I missed others, please let me know.

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650 ASHLEY ROAD
In the fall of 2006, DeGeneres and de Rossi acquired the 1926 George Washington Smith estate at 650 Ashley Road for $15.75 million, selling it a year later to former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife, Wendy, for $20 million.

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2840 HIDDEN VALLEY LANE
In 2013, the women paid $26.5 million for a 1930s Wallace Frost villa (later restored by interior designer John Saladino) on 16.88 acres in eastern Montecito. In 2018, they sold the property for $34 million, a far cry from the $45 million they had initially asked for it.

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655 EL BOSQUE
They bought the Montecito three-bedroom in July 2016 for $5.9 million, selling it five months later for $6.3 million.

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308 ENNISBROOK DRIVE
In the fall of 2017, DeGeneres and de Rossi bought the Rancho San Leandro hacienda—with an original adobe circa 1850 and a 2006 house—for $7.196 million; the following spring, they sold it to Tinder founder Sean Rad for $11 million. Fast forward to 2021, when the women bought the property back from Rad for $14.314 million. By January 2023, they were ready to move to Padaro Lane, and they sold 308 Ennisbrook for $21 million. The buyers, explained Dirt, were “Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe and her Texas oil heir husband Michael Herd. […] Wolfe’s acquisition of the property and venue is perhaps ironic, considering she co-founded Tinder alongside [Sean Rad], but departed the tech giant in 2014, later filing a lawsuit that accused Tinder executives of sexual harassment.”

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3443 PADARO LANE
In October 2017, DeGeneres and de Rossi spent $18.6 million on a Carpinteria beach house. Not quite two years later, cosmetics entrepreneur Jamie Kern Lima and her husband, Paulo, took it off their hands for $23 million.

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568 TORO CANYON ROAD
The women paid $6.7 million for the 1917 farmhouse on 10 acres in August 2018; a year later, Brian Robbins (now president and CEO of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon) bought it for $6.982 million. He subsequently sold it in the fall of 2022 for $11.35 million.

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2955 EAST VALLEY ROAD
In early 2019, they spent $27 million on the five-bedroom, 10-bathroom Balinese-style property known as Salt Hill. And in November 2020, they sold it to Groupon co-founder Eric Lefkofsky for $33.3 million.

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UPPER VILLAGE CONDO
In the summer of 2019, they paid $1.4 million for a two-bedroom condo, presumably for staff.

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210 MIRAMAR AVENUE
DeGeneres and de Rossi reinvented this quirky Hedgerow property—two antique English barns, moved here and conjoined into a house—after buying it for $3.608 million in January 2020. Five months later, singer Ariana Grande took the bait, paying $6.75 million for it. She sold it in September 2022 for $9.1 million.

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1590 E. MOUNTAIN DRIVE
This one has so far eluded the official record: DeGeneres and de Rossi bought the 10,812-square-foot Mediterranean for $26.96 million in September 2020, then flipped it a month later for $29 million to a Bay Area couple.

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2957 EAST VALLEY ROAD
In September 2020, while they still owned the Balinese-style Salt Hill property, they paid $2.85 million for a fixer next door. The following month, they unloaded it for $3 million to developers who built a compound that went for $16 million in the fall of 2023.

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588, 592, AND 596 PICACHO LANE
In October 2020, DeGeneres and de Rossi bought Dennis Miller’s Montecito compound for $49 million—and turned around and flipped it a year later to an unknown buyer for $55 million. The deal was off-market, so there’s no way to know how much, if anything, was done to the property.

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1134 HILL ROAD
In December 2020, the women paid $2.9 million for a single-level midcentury house near Butterfly Beach. They still own it.

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141 HIXON ROAD
In July 2021, they bought 141 Hixon Road in the Hedgerow for $3.65 million—and offloaded it a month later for $3.665 million.

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321 ENNISBROOK DRIVE
DeGeneres and de Rossi spent $12 million on a three-bedroom Ennisbrook house in September 2021, zhooshed it up, and five months later, put it back on the market for $13.9 million. It sold quickly for $13.4 million.

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1863 SAN LEANDRO LANE
Also in September 2021, they purchased a 1,400-square-foot Hedgerow house for $2.95 million, presumably for staff. They still own it.

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848 HOT SPRINGS ROAD
Kinka Usher, a director of TV commercials, built Villa Tragara in 2014 as a passion project: the 11,947-square-foot house, on a 2.45-acre lot at the corner of E. Mountain Drive, was “inspired by a childhood trip to Spain, where he was impressed by a Ferrari Dino sports car and the Alhambra” (per the WSJ). But when he put it on the market for $29 million in October 2019, it likely proved too idiosyncratic. The price was cut twice to $19.95 million, then raised to $21.5 million once pandemic-related demand surged. And that’s when DeGeneres and de Rossi pounced, purchasing the property for $20.95 million in February 2022. Not long after, 848 Hot Springs was offered as a pocket listing. DeGeneres and de Rossi proved they still have the golden touch: music manager Scooter Braun shelled out $36 million for the property in August 2022.

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1530 LINGATE LANE
In April 2022, DeGeneres and de Rossi bought a 1925 three-bedroom house in the Hedgerow for $8.068 million and promptly turned around and offered it as pocket listing. It went for $8.409 million that July.

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2781 PADARO LANE AND 2801 PADARO LANE
In August 2021, retired hedge fund manager Bruce Kovner and his wife, Suzie, listed their 22-acre oceanfront property, 2779 Padaro Lane, for $160 million; it consisted of two houses, one older and one newer, on separate lots, along with three other vacant lots. At the time, the newer house, 2781 Padaro Lane (9,066 square feet on 3.44 acres) was also offered separately for $80 million, along with the 6.58-acre adjacent vacant lot at 2801 Padaro Lane. In December 2022, in the biggest residential sale in South County history, DeGeneres and de Rossi paid $69.947 million for 2781 and 2801 Padaro Lane. (The older house, 2779 Padaro Lane, is currently listed for $55 million.)

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1530 WILLINA LANE
The women took a rare loss on this cute Hedgerow cottage, paying $5.4 million in April 2022 and selling it a year later for $5.128 million.

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319 SAN YSIDRO ROAD
In June 2023, DeGeneres and de Rossi paid $22.5 million for Pompeiian Court, a rebuilt 1919 estate on eight acres near Montecito Union School, and gave it a glam makeover. RF Montecito LLC just snapped it up for $32 million. I’m hoping “RF” stands for Robyn Fenty…. UPDATE 2/28: Sources say it’s more likely the same mining magnate who recently dropped $46.9 million on Padaro Lane. UPDATE 3/1: Robb Report confirmed that the buyer was indeed Robert Friedland.

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DeGeneres/de Rossi photo: Kelly Sullivan/Getty Images. Love real estate? Sign up for the Siteline email newsletter.