Dennis Quaid Flips Out in Pacific Palisades

SELLER: Dennis and Kimberly Quaid
LOCATION: Pacific Palisades, CA
PRICE: $3,150,000
SIZE: 3,421 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: We're not sure if veteran actor Dennis Quaid and his third wife, Kimberly Buffington Quaid, will divorce or reconcile—some recent reports on the internets and gossip glossies say they're still to divorce but are once again coupled, whatever that means—but we do know they've caught an acute case of The Celebrity Real Estate Fickle.

In February of this year (2013) the on-again/off-again couple, parents to young twins, paid $3.1 million for a boxy, single-story contemporary house near the Marquez Knolls area of Pacific Palisades, CA that they flipped back on the open market this week with a slightly higher asking price of $3,150,000.

Current listing details show the house was originally built in 1959—obviously it's been extensively re-worked since then—and has four bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms in 3,421 square feet of recently refreshed interior space.*

Current listing photos show Mister and Missus Quaid made some small but important cosmetic changes in their brief ownership of the home that include darkening the hardwood floors, painting the striated wood cabinetry in the kitchen snow white, replacing the wall-to-wall carpeting in the master bedroom with espresso brown hardwood floors and eliminating one of the two walk-in closets in the master suite in order to accommodate a raised sitting area.

A secured street-level gate opens to a long flight of concrete steps that climb up the the house that sits above the street to maximize privacy and over the tree top views. The open concept main living space includes a living area with massive concrete fireplace surmounted by an inset flat screen t.v., a roomy dining area, and a galley-type kitchen equipped with low snack counter, high snack counter and top grade commercial-style stainless steel appliances.

A family room separates the three guest/family bedrooms from the master suite and opens through sliding glass doors to a cozy interior courtyard. The master suite occupies an important corner at the front of the house in order to maximize the views and includes two alls of sliding glass doors, an elevated sitting area, a fitted walk-in closet the size of a small bedroom and a spacious bathroom with double sinks and a cacophonous pixilated pattern tile treatment around the super-sized soaking tub and separate glassed-in steam shower.

While the best views are from the grassy terraces at the front of the house the terraced backyard isn't without its charms and amenities that include slatted overhangs for sun protection, a bit of grass for piddling pooches, a plunge-sized salt water swimming pool with elevated spa, a dining terrace, and a built-in barbecue center tucked in to the steep hillside that's planted with what appears to be native flora and foliage.

Other features and creature comforts of note include an over-sized walk-in pantry behind the kitchen that does double duty as the laundry room, a high end audio/visual system, and a camera-equipped security system.

Mister Quaid has sold off much of his once fat property portfolio the last few years. In 2005 he sold a six bedroom and six bathroom house in L.A.'s tony Brentwood Park 'hood for $7.1 million and in late 2009 he sold a Colorado River fronting residence located a bit northwest of downtown Austin, TX for an unknown amount. In December 2011 Mister Quaid off-loaded an equestrian compound in Pacific Palisades that he bought in the late 1990s for $1.83 million and sold for $9.5 million.

In February 2011 Mister and Missus Quaid shelled out $5,312,500 for an 11,000+ square foot contemporary residence set high on a bluff above Lake Austin in Austin, TX. A suspension bridge and switchback staircase connects the main house to the water's edge where there's a boat house, swimming pool and helipad. It wasn't long after they bought the lakeside retreat before the Quaids sued the sellers—Austin bigwigs Blake and Monic Byram—for "breach of contract, fraud and negligent representation" and sought to nullify the sale of the property. We're not sure how all the legal brouhaha turned out but property records show the property was sold by Mister and Missus Quaid in late 2012 for $4,375,000 to the owner of a large, multi-brand car dealership and his wife.

*The floor plan included with online marketing materials from the time Mister and Missus Quaid acquired the property show four bedrooms and three full and two half bathrooms. We're not really sure if the Quaids made an alteration to the bathroom situation but given that current listing details indicate there are 4.5 bathrooms we have to assume they did, right?

listing photos: Prudential California
floor plan: Partners Trust

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