Hot Property: Celebrity home buying and selling in L.A.

Lauren Beale March 20, 2010

Television personality and model Kim Kardashian has bought a furnished estate in the Beverly Hills Post Office area for about $3.5 million.

The new home was designed, built and decorated by Beverly Hills-based Lucien Lacasse. The Tuscan-style walled and gated house has fireplaces in the dining room, family room, living room, master bedroom and kitchen as well as outdoors.

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The two-story home includes a screening room, five bedrooms and 4 1/2 bathrooms in about 4,000 square feet. Kardashian will convert one of the bedrooms into a walk-in closet.

There are outdoor living and dining rooms, a kitchen, a pool, a spa and a waterfall — even an outdoor massage room. The lot, more than half an acre, has mature landscaping and mountain views.

Kardashian, 29, star of the reality show "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" (2007-present), grew up nearby and is familiar with the neighborhood. She first toured the home with boyfriend Reggie Bush, the New Orleans Saints running back, and later brought her family for a look.

She sold her three-bedroom, 2 1/2-bathroom Los Angeles condo in late January for $885,000, the Multiple Listing Service shows. The 1,750-square-foot unit had come on the market in September at $1,099,000.

The listing agent on the house that Kardashian bought was Marci Merliss of Teles Properties, Beverly Hills; Josh Altman of Hilton & Hyland, Beverly Hills, represented Kardashian, according to the MLS. Altman also had the listing on Kardashian's condo, and Shelley Brown of Prudential California Realty, Beverly Hills, represented the buyer.

William Holden's former desert retreat

A Palm Springs estate built in 1977 for Oscar-winning actor William Holden has come on the market at $5.5 million.

Sitting on 2.5 acres in the gated Southridge neighborhood, the 8,000-square-foot desert retreat has mountain and city light views, custom-carved double entry doors, floor-to-ceiling windows and a master bedroom suite with dual fireplaces, a 36-foot-long walk-in closet, a TV area, a sunken terrazzo spa tub and an indoor-outdoor shower.

The expansive entry doubled as a gallery for Holden's art collection. There are four bedrooms, four full bathrooms plus two half baths, a formal dining room, a guest suite, a wood-paneled media room and space for a gym or studio. An infinity pool is cantilevered over boulders.

Holden, who won a best actor Oscar for "Stalag 17" (1953), died at age 63 in 1981.

The listing agent is Scott Histed of Windermere Real Estate Coachella Valley.

Ex-Clipper parts with custom home

Former Clipper Lamond Murray has sold his custom Manhattan Beach house for $2,525,000.

The Mediterranean-style house, built in 2005, has extra-tall doors, an elevator, two master bedrooms with fireplaces and a bonus/game room with a fireplace. There are five bedrooms and 4 1/2 bathrooms in 4,062 square feet.

Murray, 36, was the seventh overall pick in the 1994 NBA draft, going to the Los Angeles Clippers. He moved on to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Toronto Raptors and the New Jersey Nets. In 2008, the 6-foot-7 forward joined the Los Angeles Lightning, a team with the International Basketball League.

He bought the property in 2006 for $2.75 million, according to public records.

The listing agent was Uni Mayesh of Shorewood Realtors, Manhattan Beach. Shannon Wertz of Northwest Realty represented the buyer.