The celebs making millions flipping homes for a huge profit – and Michelle Keegan and Mark Wright are rolling in it
MORE and more celebs are making a mint buying and selling their homes.
Millionaire crooner Rod Stewart is the latest A-lister to put his plush pad on the market.
The Los Angeles home has a cinema and a football pitch, and is on sale for £56million.
That’s more than five times the £10million the singer – with wife Penny Lancaster – paid for the plot of land it stands on more than 30 years ago.
Succession actor Matthew Macfadyen and wife Keeley Hawes banked £1.25million profit after selling up recently.
They had even made the house in Twickenham, South West London, smaller after having a two-storey extension demolished and replaced with a conservatory.
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Former England footballer John Terry netted almost £20million profit on the seven-bed Surrey mansion he renovated with wife Toni.
But while some celebs are raking it in flipping properties, others have found themselves out of pocket.
Here, Claire Dunwell and Samantha Yule reveal which famous faces made a hefty sum when they sold up – and who flopped at flipping - while Andrew Landers, director at investment company gives his thoughts on why some profited, and others were left out of pocket.
Leigh-Anne Pinnock
Location: Surrey
Most read in Fabulous
Bought: £4.75m in 2018
Sold: £4.95m in Jan 2021
Profit: £200,000
THE Little Mix singer and her footballing fiancé, footballer Andre Gray, made a healthy profit on their six-bed pile in Surrey.
The pair set up a property firm with a pal.
They paid £177k for a tired-looking semi in the Wolverhampton area, transformed it and sold it for £365k in 2021, and have turned another property near it into four flats.
They have bought a former bike factory for £1m, and plan to make it into 48 flats.
The couple spend a lot of their time in Greece, where former Burnley star Andre plays for Aris FC.
They share their flips on Insta @gaorgltd.
Andrew says: "This part of Surrey is a very desirable area and this couple made a nice profit in less than three years. The property is finished to an extremely high-end standard but while they made a moderate profit after their short period of ownership, the owner/developer who actually carried out the refurbishment work would have benefited from the greatest uplift in value. It looks like they have realised where the real opportunity lies hence they have now set up their own property refurbishment business."
50 Cent
Location: Connecticut
Bought: $4.1m (£3.3m) from the ex-wife of boxing champ Mike Tyson in 2003
Sold: $2.9m (£2.3m)in 2019
Loss: $1.2m (£1m, excluding the $6m he invested in the house)
THIS incredible 52-room mansion – including 25 bedrooms and 19 bathrooms – stayed on the market for 12 years, when 50 Cent tried to sell it, listing it for $18.5m in 2007.
Perhaps the rapper’s unusual tastes put buyers off – the house featured a monumental cathedral atrium, personal nightclub, indoor basketball court, recording studio, gym and helipad.
The huge house did sell eventually, but 50 Cent was down more than a million dollars in the process.
Andrew says: "This highlights the problem with selling a property when you have over-personalised it. Prospective buyers have to factor in the costs of the works to remodel the property especially if it’s not particularly family friendly. But don’t feel sorry for Mr 50 Cent, it’s only a tiny dent in his multi-million dollar fortune."
Courteney Cox
Location: Malibu, California
Bought: $12m (£9.6m) in 2001
Sold: $33m (26.4m) in 2007
Profit: $21m (£16.8m)
Courteney and then-husband David Arquette’s stunning glass-fronted beach house was designed by US architect John Lautner.
Built in 1980, it covers almost 7,000 sq ft and features four bedrooms and five bathrooms.
The It is located on Carbon Beach in Malibu and with Friends pal Jennifer Aniston living nearby, there’s no wonder this celeb pair raked it in when they sold up.
Andrew says: "This is a great area to live based on the neighbours and owners it attracts. The house is stunning which also helps and they owned the property during a great period of capital growth when interest rates were low and most importantly they sold at the right time – just before the 2008 financial crisis. Remember, timing is everything in the property business."
Ariana Grande
Location: Hollywood Hills, Montecito City, California
Bought: $6.8m (£5.4m) in May 2020
Sold: $9.1m (£7.2m) in August 2022
Profit: $2.3m (£1.8m)
The English Tudor-style home was initially built in Surrey, England, before being dismantled, packed and shipped to California, where it was reconstructed on a 1.3-acre plot.
Pop princess Ariana bought it off US talkshow host Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia De Rossi in June 2021.
In September 2022, it was reported that Ariana had sold it for 33 per cent more than she bought it for.
The house boasts an impressive five fireplaces, two kitchens, two bedrooms and three bathrooms.
It features vaulted ceilings and an octagonal library with antique casement windows.
Oprah Winfrey, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rob Lowe and Meg Ryan live close by.
Andrew says: "This property is in a hot area where there is always demand for high quality and unusual houses that stand out. You can’t get more unusual than a period property originally built in the UK that is then shipped to the US.
We know that Americans love anything English so the opportunity to buy and live in an actual house like this is a sure thing to be a highly desirable property purchase.
If Ariana had decided to hold on to this property even longer, then I’m sure she could have made an even higher return."
Russell Crowe
Location: Kingsford, New South Wales, Australia
Bought: $1.45m (£800,000) in 2001
Sold: $3.2m (£1.7m) in 2017
Profit: $1.75m (£900,000)
GLADIATOR star Russell Crowe made a pretty penny when he sold this as part of his divorce settlement with Australian actress Danielle Spencer.
One of his homes for sale was a three-storey, four-unit, 1912 apartment block in New South Wales that he bought when he was frontman of the rock group, 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts.
He even let his bandmates stay there rent-free – but had to turf them out when he sold up.
Andrew says: "This was a great investment purchase in a good area that has a good rental demand. Although Russell didn’t maximise the rental opportunity by allowing his old band mates to live there rent free, the new owner can certainly achieve a good return if they decide to rent out all 4 apartments."
Sarah Jessica Parker
Location: Greenwich Village, New York
Bought: $18.995m (£15.2m) in 2011
Sold: $18.25m (£14.6m) in 2015
Loss: $745,000 (£600,000)
SEX And The City star Sarah Jessica Parker and husband Matthew Broderick had high hopes when they shelled out nearly $19m for a 25ft-wide, 6,800-square-foot, five-bedroom townhouse in New York.
They luxuriously renovated it, adding a shoe closet her on-screen character Carrie would love, and relisted the home in 2012 for $25m.
Unfortunately, the marble fireplace, private terraces and 12ft high ceilings simply didn’t cut it for potential buyers and they dropped the price to $22m – then slashed it to $19.95m soon after.
It finally sold in 2015, for a relatively paltry $18.25m.
Andrew says: "These owners were overly ambitious in a period when the world was still shuddering from the 2008 financial crisis. The reported loss of $745k would surely have been much higher once you factor in the refurbishment costs which must have been pretty high considering the work they carried out.
"Bad timing, bad purchase, bad luck."
Miley Cyrus
Location: Nashville
Bought: $5.8m (£4.6m) in 2017
Sold: $14.5m (£11.6m) in 2022
Profit: $8.7m (£7m)
WHEN Miley sold her five-bedroom, five-bathroom luxury farmhouse in 2022, it became the second most expensive home in the Nashville area, behind the $18m that Hollywood star Reese Witherspoon and husband Jim Toth reportedly splashed out on their estate in the highly prized Belle Meade area.
Miley’s former pad boasted a huge front porch, a large barn, and wood-burning fireplaces with rustic stone chimneys.
With a lift, walk-in wardrobes and a bar, the swimming pool area in the grounds no doubt helped to clinch the sale.
Andrew says: "Miley bought this property and held onto it for a perfect amount of time during a great period of capital growth, hence her hefty profit.
"She clearly bought in a safe and desirable location but there was some risk attached to the ownership of this property as it was at the top end of property values for the whole Nashville area.
"This will limit her pool of potential buyers when she was looking to sell but it looks like she came up trumps in the end."
Mark Wright
Location: Chigwell, Essex
Bought: £1,050,000 in 2015
Sold: Converted into four £1m homes. Sold three, kept one which he was renting out for £3,700 a month in 2018.
Profit: At least £2m
FORMER Towie star Mark, 36, bought a seven-bed mansion in Chigwell for £1,050,000 in March 2015 and began work after getting planning permission to turn it into four homes in 2016.
He transformed them into high-spec living spaces with mood lighting, automatic closing windows, underfloor heating and en-suite bedrooms.
He sold three for £1m each – including one to his sister – and kept one back as a rental.
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Andrew says: "This is a classic development project that has been executed superbly, maximising the planning potential and resulting in an amazing profit.
"These deals are the nuggets worth hunting for. And to top it off, a great decision was made to keep one for a high rent and this property will surely benefit from good capital growth if kept for the medium to long term."