A cosmetics mogul and his wife are testing prices in the Los Angeles luxury housing market instead of lipstick shades. 

Dean Factor, co-founder of Smashbox Cosmetics, and his wife Shannon are listing their roughly 8.5-acre estate in Sullivan Canyon for $48.5 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Factors spent more than a decade rebuilding the property from the ground up before opting to sell. 

The couple bought the then-dilapidated site at 1900 Old Ranch Road in 2011 for $8 million. At the time, the existing house contained asbestos, the landscaping had dried out and the grounds had effectively become an unofficial dog park, Shannon Factor told the Journal. The Factors salvaged hardware and fixtures from the original home before replacing it with a roughly 17,000-square-foot residence designed around a rustic California ranch aesthetic. 

The home drew inspiration from legacy California properties like the San Ysidro Ranch and Will Rogers’ Pacific Palisades estate, Shannon Factor said. The finished product leans heavily into the wellness real estate trend that has become a staple at the high end of the market, complete with advanced air and water filtration systems, solar infrastructure, a private well, infrared sauna, an ozone-treated pool, a gym, yoga and massage room, and an elevator. Outside, there’s a private lake, fruit orchards, medicinal herb gardens and enough land for the family to keep chickens, ducks, honeybees and tortoises over the years.

The listing lands as the Los Angeles luxury market grapples with Measure ULA, the city’s so-called mansion tax, which has slowed deal volume above the tax threshold. The city has collected more than $1 billion in revenue for affordable housing and homelessness prevention efforts. Earlier this month, the city got the go-ahead to spend its first major tranche of Measure ULA dollars with Mayor Karen Bass’ signature on the inaugural Homes for L.A. Notice of Funding Availability deploying $351 million of Measure ULA funds raised. 

Dean Factor, whose great-grandfather founded the Max Factor brand, sold Smashbox Cosmetics to Estée Lauder in 2010. He is now a private investor. The Sullivan Canyon home would be his latest residential disposition after selling his Malibu mansion in 2023 for $37.5 million. 

— Chris Malone Méndez

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Custom-built Bel Air mansion comes to market with $65M ask

A Bel Air spec mansion that once sought a $50 million price tag is heading to the auction block after failing to find a buyer. 

The 19,348-square-foot home at 677 Nimes Road will be sold at auction with a $30 million reserve, Mansion Global reported, citing Paramount Realty U.S.A., which is handling the sale. 

The auction for the home comes after years of languishing on the open market. The property, completed in 2023, sits on a 0.7-acre hillside lot and contains parking for up to 50 cars. Developer and entrepreneur Edward Ehsan, founder of Golden Palm Properties, assembled the property over the course of nearly a decade. He bought the site in 2015 for nearly $5.3 million when it hosted an 1,800-square-foot home that was teardown, Ehsan told Mansion Global. 

Initially, Ehsan planned a quick flip, listing the land for $15.9 million in September 2016, then pitching it with development plans at nearly $22 million when it didn’t sell. When buyers didn’t bite, Ehsan pivoted to building the largest home the city would allow. The spec project hit the market in 2021 at just shy of $50 million before a series of cuts brought it below $40 million, still without a deal.

“I wanted to maximize the potential of the land,” Ehsan said. “I don’t have a formula about how I live; I basically go with the flow.” Ehsan has been living in the home, which he says is “more like a little boutique hotel in lower Bel Air than anything else,” since it was completed.

The six-bedroom home spans three floors with multiple kitchens and kitchenettes and amenities including a cocktail bar, wine gallery, theater, sauna, a hair salon and an infinity-edge pool and hot tub facing the city. A subterranean garage beneath the pool deck fits 22 vehicles, with additional outdoor parking for nearly 30 more. 

After years of testing the traditional listing route, Ehsan is opting for auction amid a slowing Los Angeles ultra-luxury market segment. Online bidding for the property will run through June 11.

— Chris Malone Méndez

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