Nicholas Cage‘s former ranch in Malibu has just found a new buyer!
The deal closed on November 7, 2013 for $6,300,000, as first reported by the LA Times. That’s a far smaller sum than the $10,300,000 “The Rock” actor paid for the Malibu spread in 2000. The seller is clothing designer Masud Sarshar.
When Cage owned the property, he first tried to sell it for $23 million, and from there, the asking price kept trending downward. While the land didn’t fetch $23 million, it’s worth a pretty penny, as its one of the largest land-holdings available in Malibu. Just minutes off the Pacific Coast Highway, the 3 parcel property has lakes, cattle and horses. Existing structures on the land include an indoor garden, a caretakers residence, horse pasture, and 2-bedroom and a 2-bathroom guest house with luxurious amenities tucked in a beautiful grove of oak trees. The property boasts its own extensive network of horse trails and boarders the Santa Monica Mountains’ network of trails.
The sale of this ranch reminds us of Cage’s many real estate woes. In 2009, when the IRS came after him for unpaid taxes that totaled more than $13 million, he had just completed a massive land grab for high-priced real estate that included a private island in the Bahamas, a Medieval castle in Germany, a country manor in Rhode Island, a castle in England, a haunted estate in New Orleans and more. His list of properties and high-priced possessions – like nine Rolls Royce vehicles, a prehistoric dinosaur skull, and exotic snakes – could really go on and on.
Notably, he first listed the former Tom Jones/Dean Martin mansion at 363 Copa De Oro Road in Bel Air for $35 million, but ultimately sold through bankruptcy for $10.4 million.
As Cage’s financial woes became public, he famously sued his business manager, Samuel Levin, alleging negligence and fraud. Levin counter-sued, stating that he warned Cage that he was living way beyond his means and urged him to spend less. Levin’s filing states that “instead of listening to Levin, Cage spent most of his free time shopping for high ticket purchases, and wound up with 15 personal residences.”
Cage and Levin confidentially settled their suit in September 2010, and Cage has been trying to dig himself out of his financial mess ever since.
Images via Kathleen Doyle of Kathy Doyle Estates, who represented the seller in the sale. Michael Cunningham of Pritchett-Rapf & Associates represented the buyer.
