House-flip firm in escrow on Kanye West’s gutted Malibu digs

A crowdfunding firm that has flipped homes since 2018 said it’s in contract to buy Kanye West’s gutted Malibu home at a big discount.

Belwood Investments, originally founded in Folsom, is in escrow on West’s home at 24844 Malibu Road for $21 million, according to the company’s marketing lead David Contreras.

The real estate firm acquires homes, partially funded with individual investors who sign up through the company’s app. Belwood says it works with non-accredited investors willing to put up at least $1,000, which is then secured through a trust deed. The business model is to renovate the home and sell it.

The Malibu price would be a steep haircut for rapper and music producer West, who now goes by the name Ye. He put the home on the market in January with a $53 million ask. The price was then slashed in April to $39 million.

The Oppenheim Group’s Jason Oppenheim has the listing. If the property trades for $21 million, it will represent a 60 percent discount from the asking price in January.

Contreras said Belwood is working with The Agency’s Jean-Baptiste Rugiero on the deal. The Agency declined to comment.

The home’s current state has been well publicized. 

In 2021, West paid $57.3 million for the property, then tore out the windows, doors and wiring. The gutted structure spans roughly 4,000 square feet with four bedrooms and five bathrooms, but it currently lacks plumbing, electrical, HVAC and interior finishes.. 

Minimalist designer Tadao Ando redesigned the house, which took 1,200 tons of concrete and 200 tons of steel to build. 

Belwood is keen on bringing the house back to Ando’s original vision. The flipper estimates restoration costs of about $6.5 million for a project expected to take 12 to 16 months, according to Contreras.

A broker price opinion report prepared for Belwood by Rugiero and reviewed by The Real Deal estimated the property’s final value once restored to be more than $50 million.

“It seemed like a great opportunity, considering the history of the property and the architect who designed it,” Contreras said of what attracted the company to the investment.

If the deal closes, it would mark Belwood’s first Malibu property.

The investment firm, according to Contreras, plans to work with Marmol Radziner’s Leo Marmol and Ron Radziner, the original architects of the home when it was built in 2013 for financier and art collector Richard Sachs.  

After West purchased the property in 2021, he directed the demolition crew to remove everything from tubs to light fixtures, according to a report from The New Yorker in June. Workers were instructed to remove all traces of windows, air conditioning, heating, cable, wiring, bathrooms and more, the report said.

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