When Jay-Z and Beyoncé broke a California report by dropping $200 million on a Malibu mansion final 12 months, a well-recognized title was entrance and heart on the deal: Kurt Rappaport.
The 53-year-old actual property energy dealer represented each the consumers and the sellers within the historic sale — an accomplishment in itself that doubtless pocketed him a number of million {dollars} in commissions. However at this level, it will be stranger if Rappaport hadn’t been concerned within the transaction. He’s dealt with seven of the ten costliest dwelling gross sales in California historical past, and the $200-million deal eclipsed the earlier excessive of $177 million, which he had set two years prior.
Uncover the change-makers who’re shaping each cultural nook of Los Angeles. This week we carry you The Connectors, who perceive that energy doesn’t journey in a straight line and know tips on how to join the dots. Come again every Sunday for one more installment.
Southern California’s actual property scene is without doubt one of the most profitable on this planet, and it’s positively probably the most public. Tens of millions of individuals observe who’s shopping for what, the place, how a lot they paid, what number of bedrooms, and the way massive the pool is. Within the age of social media, “home porn” is its personal trade.
Rappaport, a Los Angeles native, sits atop all of it. In his function as Southern California’s premier actual property agent, he serves as a matchmaker of types, taking among the wealthiest and most well-known individuals on the planet and guiding them to particular properties or neighborhoods.
He additionally strikes markets. Take Malibu, which Rappaport and his most prolific consumer, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, have reworked into probably the most costly markets on Earth during the last twenty years by shopping for dozens of properties and growing one-of-a-kind trophy houses that promote for report sums.
As Southern California’s premier actual property agent, he serves as a matchmaker of types.
Rappaport’s different purchasers have included David Geffen, Brad Pitt, Ellen DeGeneres, Ryan Seacrest and Tom Brady, amongst many, many others. Final 12 months at his French-style manor in Brentwood Park, he hosted President Biden for a roundtable assembly with California mega-donors to debate wars, divisiveness and methods to enhance the nation.
By means of a relentless circulation of emails and texts, he has the ear of virtually each noteworthy particular person seeking to purchase or promote a house round L.A., and he holds loads of affect over what and the place they store. Billions in gross sales interprets to hundreds of thousands in taxes for native governments, so whether or not a neighborhood is scorching or chilly can have a monumental impression.
Like wonderful artwork, a house is simply value what somebody pays for it, and Rappaport helps dictate what that quantity is. When the subsequent report is ready — when a billionaire pays $250 million, $300 million or $500 million for one among Southern California’s most interesting estates — Rappaport will doubtless be the one behind the deal.
