Variety: Drumming Up Buyers for a Celeb Pedigreed Home

From Variety

A secluded Hollywood Hills mini-estate with an impressive showbiz pedigree has come for sale at just under $3 million. Three-time Oscar nominee Mark Ruffalo owned the half-acre spread for about five years before he sold it in 2009 to actor-musician Zooey Deschanel and her then husband, Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard. Zooey and Gibbard split in 2012 but it wasn’t until 2015 that Deschanel sold the property for a wee bit more than $2.3 million to the current owner, a style-savvy drummer in a five-time Grammy-nominated indie band.

A quintessentially southern Californian combination of the relaxed and the sophisticated, the scenic property is sequestered behind an unsightly iron fence and fortified with a high-tech security system that includes high-definition cameras. Outfitted with a smartphone-controlled home s-automation system, the roughly 3,000-square-foot main residence is thoroughly updated with three bedrooms and three bathrooms.

Adjoining living and dining rooms, the former with a fireplace and wood-beamed ceiling, open onto courtyard gardens. The eat-in kitchen is a culinary dream, with an imported stove that costs as much as a well-maintained used car. The property also offers a quaint guest cottage, a garage converted to a soundproofed recording studio and a cute-as-a-button children’s playhouse.

Los Angeles CA Real Estate & Homes for Sale