Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi have bought back 319 San Ysidro Road, the rebuilt 1919 estate on eight acres in Montecito that they flipped earlier this year. The couple first purchased it in June 2023 for $22.5 million, gave it a glamorous makeover, and then sold it to mining magnate Robert Friedland and his wife, Darlene, in February for $32 million (well off the initial $46.5 million asking price, but still undoubtedly for a nice profit). DeGeneres and de Rossi also are the recent buyers of 289 San Ysidro Road, a 3.15-acre vacant lot that abuts the southern edge of 319 (and gives the property a second entrance from the San Ysidro Road).
And the 319 San Ysidro Road transaction was reportedly part of a bigger deal: DeGeneres and de Rossi also sold 2781/2801 Padaro Lane, which they bought in December 2022 for $69.947 million—the biggest residential sale in South County history—to none other than the Friedlands, according to unconfirmed reports. There’s talk that the deal may have included 3165 Padaro Lane (below), which the Friedlands bought in September 2023 for $46.9 million, but nothing has shown up in official records.
Why, you ask? The rich don’t need reasons! But the possibility exists that that the Friedlands insisted that DeGeneres and de Rossi take the San Ysidro property back, and a deal got brokered as a result. According to the title report, the price of 319 San Ysidro Road was $32 million—same as what the Friedlands paid for it—while the price of 2781/2801 Padaro Lane was $96 million.
Given DeGeneres’s and de Rossi’s extensive history of real estate transactions here and elsewhere, we shouldn’t be surprised if 319 San Ysidro Road comes back on the market (or gets quietly sold) at some point. Same goes for 3165 Padaro Lane (below), if they do now own it.
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My goodness, Ellen. That’s certainly the oddest transaction I think I’ve ever heard of. Hope it makes the next memoir (I hope to ghostwrite for you one day). There’s gotta be a tale there, right?
Let me know if you’re interested in a property on the Mesa that’s not yet on the market? The one-storied, 3 bed/2 bath teardowns that are being rebuilt on the original 1959 floorplans are selling for well over FOUR million now. That may be pennies on your dollar, but half the fun is saying, “There’s no way that’s going to sell for that––OMG––it just SOLD.”
Hope to see y’all a bit more around town and it’s fun having you local.
Hey Ellen & Portia,
How about buying the TeeTime property on the Carpinteria Bluffs and give it to the people as Open Space! We’ll name it after you. Otherwise it is destined to become a resort which nobody in the area wants, except the developer. Be heroes!
The EllPort Bluffs? The Degeneres Preserve?
Michael Douglas already beat you to the old Wilcox Property, but there are plenty more you could immortalize.
Hopefully, before Ty Warner does? <––(since emojis are not supported here)