Celebrity Real Estate: Whitney Houston, Charlie Sheen

By Laura Vecsey

Fan Buys Whitney Houston's NJ Estate

Whitney Houston's home has finally found an owner who feels the heat for property's unique past. Well, maybe not the "Being Bobby Brown" part, but all the success Houston did enjoy before she succumbed to addiction.

Emergency room physician Matthew Krauthamer may have been in second grade when Houston's first big hit took the radio airwaves by storm back in 1987, but he became an enduring fan of the entertainer, who died of a drug overdose in 2012. He just paid $1.5 million for Houston's mansion, which sits on 5 acres and has been vacant for years.

Krauthamer, 33, has had time to admire the property, since he has lived just a few doors down in the same neighborhood. He said he intends to restore the 1980s home to its original form and live in the place: Not a bad idea, considering its privacy, the pool house, Jacuzzi and other features.

The 5-bedroom, 6-bathroom home at 22 N Gate Rd in Mendham, N.J., sprawls a generous 13,607 square feet. It has languished on and off the market since 2009, only to be sold in February to an investment company that paid $999,900. The house had been listed for as much as $1.75 million at one point.


Winning? Charlie Sheen Lists in L.A.

Charlie Sheen is looking to dump a 1989 contemporary in the Westlake Village neighborhood just a year after the actor bought the place for $1.6 million.

The new price for the 4-bedroom, 4-bathroom home at 1896 Smokey Ridge Ave. is $1.695 million. That includes hardwood floors, custom granite kitchen and an infinity pool with views of the city.

Reports also indicate that Sheen has sold his Mulholland Estates home, which he bought last summer from producer Mike Medavoy.

"Friends" Star Selling Modern Home

Matthew Perry's Malibu beach house has gotten a new slew of sleek furniture, just in time to help the TV star sell during a boom time in the Los Angeles housing market.

Perry has relisted his home at 3556 Sweetwater Mesa Rd for $12.5 million. The 4-bedroom, 6-bath home overlooking the Malibu pier had been listed for $13.5 million for about five months from 2011 to 2012.

This is just the latest real estate deal Perry is looking to make. In the past few years, he has sold other modern properties in Hollywood Hills and West Hollywood, and has also bought a new home on the Sunset Strip.


Lenny Kravitz Might Wonder: Is It Going to Go Developers Way?

Lenny Kravtiz may have hit it big as a rocker, but he's long been working the investment and real estate game. But what does Kravitz make of a builder's proposal to turn his childhood home in Brooklyn into a 6-unit apartment building?

The developer, who bought the building in December for $565,000, has appealed a ruling that went against his plan, so there's still a chance the historic home at 368 Throop Ave in Brooklyn's Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood could get an extreme makeover.

The building belonged to Kravitz's grandparents, but a young Lenny spent weekends there until he was 10, when his family moved to Los Angeles, where his actor-mother co-starred in "The Jeffersons."