When Jay-Z and Beyoncé broke a California record by investing $200 million in a Malibu mansion last year, a familiar name was front and center in the deal: Kurt Rappaport.
The 53-year-old powerhouse real estate broker represented both buyers and sellers in the historic sale, an accomplishment in itself that likely earned him several million dollars in commissions. But at this point, he would be stranger than Rappaport I did not do it been involved in the transaction. He has handled seven of the 10 most expensive home sales in California history, and the $200 million deal eclipsed the previous high of $177 million, which he had set two years earlier.
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The Southern California real estate scene is one of the most lucrative in the world and definitely the most public. Millions of people track who buys what, where, how much they paid, how many rooms and what size the pool is. In the age of social media, “domestic porn” is its own industry.
Rappaport, originally from Los Angeles, is above it all. In her role as Southern California's top real estate agent, she acts as a matchmaker of sorts, taking some of the richest and most famous people on the planet and guiding them to specific properties or neighborhoods.
It also moves markets. Take Malibu, which Rappaport and his most prolific client, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, have transformed into one of the most expensive markets on Earth over the past two decades by purchasing dozens of properties and developing homes one-of-a-kind trophy. that sell for record sums.
As Southern California's top real estate agent, he acts as a matchmaker of sorts.
Rappaport's other clients include David Geffen, Brad Pitt, Ellen DeGeneres, Ryan Seacrest and Tom Brady, among many, many others. Last year, at his French-style mansion in Brentwood Park, he hosted President Biden for a roundtable with California megadonors to discuss wars, divisions and ways to improve the country.
Through a constant stream of emails and text messages, he has the ear of almost every prominent person looking to buy or sell a home in Los Angeles, and he has a lot of influence over what and where they buy. Billions in sales translate into millions in taxes for local governments, so whether a neighborhood is hot or cold can have a monumental impact.
Like works of art, a house is only worth what someone will pay for it, and Rappaport helps determine what that figure is. When the next record is set — when a billionaire pays $250 million, $300 million or $500 million for one of Southern California's hottest properties — Rappaport will likely be the one behind the deal.
