Rumor Has It...

...according to two separate but equally well-connected Tinseltown real estate insiders, sit-com superstar and outspoken conservative Patricia Heaton (The Middle, Everybody Loves Raymond) and her less successful English actor and documentary filmmaker husband David Hunt (The Bituminous Coal Queens of Pennsylvania) have very quietly allowed their huge house in Los Angeles' hoity-toity Hancock Park 'hood to be shown by a well-known local real estate agent with a price tag of around $12,000,000.

Property records an other online information portals reveal the traditionally-minded Showbizzers paid $4,850,000 for the drop dead dee-voon Elmer Grey-designed mansion that the L.A. County Tax Man indicates was built in the 1920s, measures a huge (but hardly mega) 8,398 square feet and includes 5 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms.

The hedged and gated house and property were photographed forArchitectural Digest (December 2009) and the article states much care was taken by designer Bebe Johnson and Ellen Geerer to retain and restore many of the home's original and exquisite architectural details that include the prodigious use of colorful and highly desirable ceramic tiles from the esteemed Malibu Potteries company. (The house was, according to the A.D. article, owned by Rhonda Rindge whose mother founded Malibu Potteries.) 

The Hunt-Heaton estate consists of two lots that encompass a prominent corner property landscaped for privacy an an chunky and elegant two-story main house, gated motor court, detached three-bay garage with additional living quarters above, numerous terraces and patios, a broad expanse of well-watered lawn, and a swimming pool complex with cabana. The adjacent lot, records indicate it was purchased at the same time as the residence, has some mature shade trees, a peaceful parterre that overflows with rose bushes and citrus trees, a burbling fountain or two, lighted tennis court, and a second vast flat and well-watered lawn.

While our sources for this are impeccable, this is all just a bit of celebrity real estate rumor and gossip, children. Got it? Rumor and gossip.

In March 2007 Miz Heaton and Mister Hunt spent $1,145,000 to acquire an airy 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom condo in West Hollywood they first put on the market in the summer of 2009 with an asking price of $1,195,000. Since then the 1,640 square foot condo crib has bee de- and re-listed (at least) four times and currently carries a price tag of $949,000. A few quick calculations on Your Mama's bejeweled abacus shows that best case scenario, with a full price sale, the Hunt-Heatons face a $196,000 slam to their pocketbook not counting carrying costs, real estate fees and the $100,000 in "designer upgrades" listing information states they put into the property.

Property records (and other online resources) reveal the Hunt-Heatons also own a multi-parcel property just a few blocks from the shore of Lake Erie in Miz Heaton's hometown of Bay Village, OH, just outside of Cleveland.