<\/p>\n
Even celebs have to wait years for their dream homes. Picture: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Falling head-over-heels for a home without actually stepping foot in it is a universal experience \u2014 and it impacts celebrities, too.<\/p>\n
Perhaps it\u2019s a bungalow bursting with character that\u2019s been calling your name since childhood, but has been in the same family for generations.<\/p>\n
Maybe it\u2019s a lavish condo with a sprawling balcony you always notice on your way to work, but is way out of your budget.<\/p>\n
In any case, it\u2019s safe to assume that most people have a property that lives top-of-mind rent-free.<\/p>\n
While A-listers may be better positioned to make their real estate dreams come true, building their own ideal dwellings or snapping up property behind the scenes in secretive, off-market deals, they\u2019re not totally immune from having to play the waiting game.<\/p>\n
Barbra Streisand\u2019s Malibu passion project<\/p>\n
Barbra Streisand detailed the process of designing her dream home in her first book, \u201cMy Passion for Design.\u201d<\/p>\n
But before the Malibu property was transformed to fit the now 84-year-old\u2019s exact vision \u2014 which now includes an actual mall \u2014 it was a breathtaking coastal home she knew she had to have.<\/p>\n
According to Oprah.com, Streisand wanted the house \u201cfrom the moment\u201d she saw it, and waited 11 years to buy it.<\/p>\n
In July 2009, she scooped up the property for $16.5 million (AUD $23.53 million), and moved in within three days.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Barbra Streisand kept a coastal home in mind for 11 years before she was able to purchase and transform it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What was initially a single-structure home is now a full compound, featuring a personal mall. Picture: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was nothing here when we started,\u201d she said of the compound, which was initially just a single house.<\/p>\n
The renovation was certainly a laborious process, but for the \u201cFunny Girl\u201d star, it was all worth it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have something to really show for it afterwards,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The mall comes complete with dress shop and candy store.<\/p>\n
In her autobiography, My Name Is Barbra, Streisand exposed her life and career.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes it felt like my nose got more press than I did. In the cover story in Time Magazine, the writer said, \u2018This nose is a shrine.\u2019 (Sounds good!),\u201d she wrote. <\/p>\n
\u201cThen he went on, \u2018The face it divides is long and sad, and the look in repose is the essence of hound.\u2019 (Not so good.) So which is it? Am I a Babylonian queen or a basset hound? Probably both (depending on the angle).<\/p>\n
\u201cEven after all these years, I\u2019m still hurt by the insults and can\u2019t quite believe the praise.\u201d<\/p>\n
Streisand told People that her movie career hit a brick wall in 2023 for an unexpected reason. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt gets exhausting, trying to come up with the structure of the movie and then have it not happen,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI go, \u2018Oh yeah, to do this one, I have to have all these fittings for period clothes. This one, I\u2019d have to live in Arkansas to do this one.\u2019 I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s complicated, but I am complicated, I guess \u2026 I get lazy.<\/p>\n
Drake\u2019s vision-board mansion<\/p>\n
As one of the most successful rappers in the world, Drake has developed an impressive real estate portfolio throughout his career. One of his most notable transactions was his YOLO (you only live once) estate, which has an origin story just as iconic as its name.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis house was the desktop image on my computer years before I bought it,\u201d the musician told Rolling Stone in a 2014 interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, \u2018What are the world\u2019s craziest residential pools?\u2019 and when I searched online, this came up,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
In 2007, Drake unsuccessfully attempted to look for the home while he was visiting Los Angeles. Two years later, the home finally hit the market.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Drake revealed a photo of his YOLO Estate was once his desktop photo \u201cyears before\u201d he ever bought it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
After years of searching, the rapper purchased the home at a discount. Picture: Google Earth<\/p>\n
\u201cHe needed money,\u201d Drake said of the then-owner, a steakhouse-chain restaurateur who was looking to offload the home, asking $27 million (AUD $38.5 million).<\/p>\n
The \u201cDegrassi\u201d alum snapped up the property at a steep discount, purchasing it for just $7.7 million (AUD $10.98 million) in 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201cI stole it from him!\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n
A decade later, Drake would eventually let go of the property, selling it to Los Angeles Rams Quarterback Matthew Stafford in a packaged deal that also included a Hidden Hills estate. Together, the properties went for $11 million (AUD $15.69 million).<\/p>\n
Julianne Moore\u2019s eclectic Manhattan penthouse<\/p>\n
Actress Julianne Moore recently opened the doors of her gorgeous West Village duplex penthouse for an apartment tour with Architectural Digest.<\/p>\n
During the walk-through, \u201cThe Big Lebowski\u201d star revealed she had been eyeing the unique property \u2014 which sits on the top floor of a 1920s building that was previously a hotel \u2014 since long before it was ever on the market.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The two-bedroom duplex is filled with natural light and has multiple private terraces. Picture: Supplied<\/p>\n
Although Moore did not hint at a timeline, she did spill her feelings on the dwelling, which she said she \u201chad spotted\u201d while she \u201cwas wandering\u201d one day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were so lucky to find this apartment,\u201d she said of the beautifully-lit two-bedroom. \u201cI think it is one of the most beautiful apartments in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barbara Corcoran\u2019s 20 year Upper East Side wait<\/p>\n
\u201cShark Tank\u201d star Barbara Corcoran knows a thing or two about success, so it\u2019s no surprise that she eventually made her way into an Upper East Side dwelling she fell for in 1992.<\/p>\n
At the time, the real estate mogul was working as a messenger to make ends meet, and was making a delivery to the owner of an opulent Manhattan home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, \u2018My god, I\u2019ve never seen anything as beautiful in my life,\u2019\u201d she told the New York Times.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Barbara Corcoran waited more than 20 years for a chance to buy the Upper East Side penthouse she called home for a decade. Picture: Getty Images<\/p>\n
At the time, Corcoran asked the then-owner to get in touch if she\u2019d ever like to sell the home. Over 20 years later, she heard back.<\/p>\n
In 2015, she purchased the property for $10 million (AUD $14.26 million), and it served as her primary residence until she parted ways with it a decade later, selling it for $12 million (AUD $17.11 million).<\/p>\n
\u201cI never thought I would ever leave,\u201d she shared. Ultimately, she chose to do so because her husband, Bill Higgins, was unable to handle the home\u2019s staircase.<\/p>\n
Holly Madison\u2019s fairytale cottage<\/p>\n
Holly Madison remembers the exact moment she first saw her charming Hollywoodland tudor.<\/p>\n
The \u201cGirls Next Door\u201d alum was filming an episode of the reality series \u2014 which ran from 2005 to 2010, and had taken the cast to Sunset Ranch to produce a horseback riding scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw all these adorable Seven Dwarf cottage-looking homes, and I\u2019m like, \u2018What is this place?\u2019\u201d she shared in a home tour published to her YouTube channel in March 2026.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Holly Madison was impressed with the fairytale aesthetic of the Hollywoodland home she eventually purchased. Picture: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Likening the property to \u201cRapunzel\u2019s tower, or a Snow White Cottage, or a witch\u2019s house,\u201d Madison later purchased the home for just under $1.5 million (AUD $2.14 million) in 2012, four years after she had ended her seven-year relationship with Playboy founder Hugh Hefner and moved out of the infamous mansion.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy favourite thing about the house is, it\u2019s very woodsy,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re in L.A., but it feels like you\u2019re out in the forest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Madison has also said that the home is \u201chaunted,\u201d a claim that was explored on a 2021 episode of \u201cGhost Adventures.\u201d Despite the alleged spooky activity, she doesn\u2019t plan to let go of the home, hoping to \u201chang onto\u201d it \u201cwell into retirement,\u201d and someday pass it onto her children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even celebs have to wait years for their dream homes. Picture: Getty Images Falling head-over-heels for a home…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-643109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}