The latest star to do so is actress Gabrielle Union and hubby Dwayne Wade. Their upcoming TV Special, All-Star Flip aired on April 12th. It follows the couple as they attempt to turn drab to fab in Florida with an outdated ranch home. The difference with this big-hearted couple as opposed to other flippers is that all proceeds are going to charity.

One of the best known flippers is Ellen DeGeneres. Passionate for interior design (she even had her own show on HGTV (Ellen’s Design Challenge), the comedian/talk show host has been flipping luxury LA pads for years. One of her most successful was in July 2014 when  she sold LA’s Brody House (built in 1949, the home has a history of cutting edge design and philanthropy) to Napster founder, Sean Parker for $55 million, netting herself a $15-million payday.

The spa inside the famed Brody House.

In total Ellen bought and sold 7 properties in a decade from 2006 to 2016. Her famous friends have come in handy as buyers (Ryan Seacrest) and renters (Nick Jonas). In just over that time she’s made a net profit of $3.4 million. Sure, A-list celebs earn more for film roles and endorsements but as walking-about money, it’s not bad.

Another well known flipper is actor Jeremy Renner. He and business partner Kristoffer Winters have been flipping homes for years (it’s up to 20 at this point — homes not years). Some of his earlier flips were well documented in website The Wrap. Renner revealed at one point he was making more money flipping houses than acting. The actor said that being amongst the sheetrock, studs and power tools “keeps me grounded.” Most recently Renner has flipped his mother’s house at 201 Elmwood Court in Modesto, Ca., which was purchased in 2007, 7 years after the actor started flipping homes to supplement his income. Renner was hands-on with his mom, Valerie Clearley’s house. She plans to move to LA to join him and her grand kids. Wonder if Renner has a flip in mind to pass on to her there?

Modesto, California

It makes sense that creative types would get into house flipping. Whether creating music or mosaic backsplashes, Grammy winner Beck got in on the house-flipping fever when he purchased and restored a home in Brentwood, LA in 2016. He listed it for $3.75 million, over $700,000 more than he purchased it for.

Sharon Osborne, talk show host and reality TV star, has always been an astute business woman, so of course, she’s a serial house flipper, having remodeled dozens of homes in LA. Her one-hour TV Special was called Sharon Flipping Osborne. “I’m damn good at it,” she said of her house flipping skills on the show. We wouldn’t doubt it.

The post When Celebs Flip Homes The Profits Are Almost As Big As Their Egos appeared first on Haute Residence by Haute Living.

The branded building seems to have found  a home in sunny South Florida, where five are set to open by 2021 according to Mansion Global. With a large international populous, familiar with iconic names in fashion and cars, the trade off for developers looking to sell quick, is an astute one. In New York, where there seems to be an ongoing demand for high-end real estate, luxury brands veer toward hotels rather than residential property (Restoration Hardware, West Elm, Equinox, Shinola). In London, however, the 50-storey “Versace Tower” (real name: Aykon London One)  is Britain’s first branded fashion high rise, located in the Nine Elms regeneration zone. It’s pretty swanky with the “V” for Versace Home in marble patterns inlaid into the walnut floors. The high priced tower is due to be completed in 2020. Over half of its units have been pre-sold.

Elsewhere, luxury branded residences have been well established. Dubai opened its Armani hotel in 2010, while the same company’s eco-friendly complex with Smart Hero Group in Beijing was completed in 2017. The diversifying Italian fashion house also plans to craft interiors at Century Spire in Manilla, Philippines. Fendi partnered with DAMAC Properties, creating the interiors of Dubai’s DAMAC Residenze, which also opened last year.

What a developer receives for the privilege of stamping an iconic brand’s name all over their property is instant credibility and name recognition. International buyers purchased $7.1 billion of South Florida residential properties in 2017 according to the Miami Association of Realtors — a 35 percent slice, up 41.4 percent increase from the year before. So, in a strange land a familiar name goes a long way in assuring investors their money is safe.

“Miami is more of a flashier type of city, than other areas like New York or Chicago that are a little more conservative,”  said Jon Paul Perez, vice president of Related Group, one of the developers behind Residences by Armani/Casa, set to open in the city in 2019.

Where branding is concerned, one South Florida property has been creating headlines for a while — The Porsche Design Tower. A collaboration between Dezer Development and Porsche Design Group, the building comes with a high powered automobile elevator transporting drivers and their rides from street level to their apartments. Don’t expect to see any low-end rust buckets chugging into the building.

Other famous car companies have got up to speed on trading wheels for steel frames. Britain’s Aston Martin, famous for ejecting 007’s villains into the sky, has teamed up with Argentinian developer G&G Business Developments for their own Miami-based tower, which is expected to be finished by 2021. Signature amenity touches, like the hand-stitched leather door tabs—sourced from a Scottish village—and  the carbon fiber lobby furniture — ensure that the famous car company isn’t there in name only.

The numbers for each deal differ. Typically the developer will pay the brand a percentage of sales, usually 2 percent to 5 percent explained Edgardo Defortuna, the president and CEO of Fortune International Group.

Many of the buyers don’t live in Miami or even the US on a full-time basis and are simply looking for a place to park their cash.

“We’d seen the Armani building in Dubai and were convinced” said Robert Thorne, CEO and founder of Miami-based The Wellness Habitat Co, who purchased a two-bedroom unit on the 25th floor at Resdiences by Armani/Casa two years ago for $1.4 million. “We knew our investment was going to be secure.”

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