Newport Beach estate lists as short-term rental for $250K a month

Wanted: renter willing to shell out $250,000 a month for a 13,000-square-foot mansion in Newport Beach’s Newport Coast.

Baja Washington, a locally based limited liability company, has listed the never-before-lived-in-house at 7 Clear Water in gated Crystal Cove, the Orange County Register reported.

The newly built Mediterranean-style estate is among the most expensive month-to-month listings in OC.

“You don’t typically see these brand-new mansions, no matter what market,” broker Josh Altman of Douglas Elliman Real Estate, whose firm holds the listing for the estate, told the Register. “Whether it’s L.A. or Newport, this is as topnotch as you will see: the best of the best.”

“Topnotch” means a three-story hilltop mansion with sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean.

The seven-bedroom, 11-bathroom house sits on two-thirds of an acre, and comes with a circular wine cellar, state-of-the-art theater and spa with a sauna, steam room and cold plunge pool.

The dining room has a stocked wine wall. The living room has a 30-foot glass wall that slides open to the backyard’s double swimming pools, a barbecue center, fireplace and an 80-inch TV.

The basement level contains a furnished bar, lounge and billiards room.

The lease listing seeks what Altman estimates is the monthly maintenance cost of a $70 million home. The owner, who declined to comment, may also consider a short-term lease, such as three months in the summer.

Baja Washington bought the lot in 2016 for $7.1 million.

There are now 11 coastal mansions for rent in Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and Dana Point for $100,000 a month or more, with 7 Clear Water seeking the highest rent, according to Homes.com.

Last year, there was one closed lease listing at or above $100,000, which asked $350,000 a month but leased for $150,000, according to Steven Thomas, chief economist at Reports on Housing. 

No such rental contracts closed between 2020 and 2022. And in 2019, only one went for $195,000 a month. Not all mansion rentals are listed on the open market or registered in public records, as many lease deals aren’t public. 

Many mansion owners can be open to renting, Thomas said.

“What I’ve noticed in looking at all of the high-cost luxury leases is that in order to get those high amounts, many are actually open to renting it out for a month or two on a short-term rental basis,” Thomas told the Register. “A lot of these are furnished, which means they probably rent these out and then come back and live in them.”

Such leases are not for everyone.

“This is a big-time property, so the tenant is just as important as the money,” Altman added. “The type of person who would rent a house like this is going to easily have a worth of more than $100 million.”

— Dana Bartholomew

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