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In Malibu, Spears Gets A New Lease

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By RUTH RYON, Los Angeles Times

Published: October 27, 2007

LOS ANGELES - Britney Spears ... again?

The 25-year-old pop star, who is in a custody battle with ex-husband Kevin Federline, has leased a Malibu home with the option to buy it in six months. The asking price is slightly more than $9 million.

The seven-bedroom, 8,500-square-foot house is on five acres in a canyon with towering trees and parklike grounds.

The French-style estate, built in 1942, was just remodeled and has a great room with a fireplace; a master-bedroom suite with two bathrooms; a third-level bonus room; and a basement with a media room and wine cellar. On the grounds are a guesthouse, pool, spa and room for horses.

It's a family home with ocean and mountain views, and it's nowhere near the nightclubs on Sunset Strip the singer liked to frequent with her friends.

Spears should have enough money to buy the property she is leasing because she sold her Serra Retreat estate, also in Malibu, in August for $10 million.

That home, on 1.5 acres, had a dance-workout room, recording studio and 'endless entertainment possibilities,' according to the Multiple Listing Service. The seven-bedroom, 9,200-square-foot house is in a gated community.

Hoop Star's Ex Plans To Downsize

The Pacific Palisades home that Basketball Hall of Famer James Worthy and then-wife Angela Wilder bought in 1996, the year they divorced, has been sold for nearly $2 million.

The five-bedroom, ocean-view house is in the Summit, a gated community with three tennis courts, a pool, a spa, a gym and - appropriately - a basketball court. The couple bought the 3,200-square-foot home as a place for Wilder and the couple's two children to live.

The house has four bathrooms, a granite kitchen, oak and hardwood floors, and a large master-bedroom suite with a sitting room and plantation shutters.

Now that the children are grown, Wilder, 45, wants to focus on her writing career in a smaller home. She wrote the book 'Powerful Mate Syndrome,' published in 2004, leading to appearances on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show,' '20/20,' '48 Hours' and CNN. Now she is writing a sequel.

Worthy, 46, who played with the Los Angeles Lakers, is now basketball television analyst.

No Longer Mayor's Neighbor

Few folks have a mayor as a neighbor, but such has been the life for actor-director Al Morgenstern, who owns the only home immediately adjacent to Getty House, the official residence of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Now, Morgenstern has put the 1923 Mediterranean and its guesthouse on the market for about $3 million. The home, in the Windsor Square neighborhood, has high ceilings, heavy cornice moldings, a coffered ceiling and original tile. Morgenstern and his wife, Loretta, moved into the main house in 1972. Loretta, an actress, died in 2005.

Garrett Drops Price

Emmy Award-winner Brad Garrett, who played Ray Romano's big brother on the CBS series 'Everybody Loves Raymond' and co stars in the Fox sitcom ''Til Death,' may be feeling the pinch of the slowed-down market.

Garrett, 47, put his 10,300-square-foot compound on 1.2 acres in the Hidden Hills section of Los Angeles on the market for about $9.5 million about six months ago. He recently dropped the asking price to $8.79 million.

The luxurious French Country complex has six bedrooms, eight bathrooms and a theater, playhouse, gym, wine room, guesthouse, six-car garage and pool.

Wilder Sells Bel-Air Home

Actor-writer Gene Wilder has sold his Bel-Air home for slightly less than $2.73 million.

The ranch-style house, with three bedrooms and 4 1/2 bathrooms in 2,700 square feet, was promoted as 'an extraordinary remodel opportunity.' The house is one story with an open floor plan and a guest cottage.

Wilder appeared in New York this month as the co-host for a screening of 'Young Frankenstein' to benefit Gilda's Club, a nonprofit support network to raise cancer awareness named for his wife, Gilda Radner, who died of ovarian cancer in 1989.

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