If you wanted yet more evidence of how the L.A. wildfires spiked real estate prices in neighboring communities, check out this house. Set in a prime Santa Monica neighborhood, well north of Montana Avenue, the spec-built house was completed in 2019 and first sold at the end of that year for $6.7 million—the full asking price.
The buyer then was financial advisor Ben Lincoln, CEO of Redwood Wealth Management. Lincoln lived in the house until last year, when the North Carolina native paid $11 million to upgrade to a significantly larger house on a bigger property that is set on an even more prestigious Santa Monica street.
Maybe it was pure coincidence, but even though he moved into his new mansion in 2024, Lincoln held onto his old Santa Monica house until late January 2025, about two weeks after the fires had ravaged much of the neighboring community of Pacific Palisades. Finally put up for grabs with a $9 million asking price at a time when numerous Westside folks were seeking new housing, the property was in escrow within four days and quickly sold for $10.2 million—a whopping $1.2 million over the asking price and $3.5 million more than what Lincoln had paid for the very same house only five years prior.
The all-cash winning bidder was Melissa Rivers, the actress and only child of the late comedic legend Joan Rivers. Of course, Rivers was in widely-publicized desperate need of housing as one of the celebrity victims of the wildfires—her $7.8 million Pacific Palisades home, purchased less than three years ago, was completely destroyed in the blaze.
Spacious and lavish but essentially a prototypical Westside L.A. luxury home, the traditional-style structure is painted a milky white offset by charcoal trim and features four ensuite bedrooms and a powder room in 5,000 square feet of living space. It also offers a classic open layout, with a fireplace-equipped living room greeting guests and giving way to the family room and adjoining kitchen and dining area.
The public rooms also feature white oak hardwood floors and high coffered ceilings, while the family room has a retractable Fleetwood door opening to the 9,000-square-foot lot’s backyard. Relatively compact but highly usable, that yard area features AstroTurf lawn, al fresco dining spaces and a plunge pool.
Other amenities include an attached two-car garage, a chef’s kitchen with marble countertops and premium stainless appliances, a wet bar and a “custom movie theater,” per the listing.
Three of the four bedroom suites are located upstairs. This includes the primary, which features a bathroom with a glassy shower, soaking tub, and stone countertops, plus a notably big private balcony with views of neighboring treetops.. The fourth bedroom is located on the ground floor and would likely be most suitable for a live-in staff member or overnight guests.
This is not Rivers’ first time on the Santa Monica real estate merry-go-round. The 57-year-old previously owned a larger Mediterranean-style estate that she bought in 2016 for $10.2 million and sold five years later for $15.5 million to trucking industry businessman Mike Patterson.
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