The Press Enterprise

A 1.5-acre-plus Mediterranean-style estate in Bighorn Golf Club built by late hair transplant pioneer Dr. L. Lee Bosley has sold for $8.5 million.

The deal makes it Palm Desert’s priciest of 2021 so far.

Another $500,000 covered the furnishings in this 16,404-square-foot desert getaway, designed in collaboration with architect Bob Ray Offenhauser and completed in 2003.

The property has appeared on and off the market since 2017 for as much as $18.5 million. It reappeared on the Multiple Listing Service again in March 2020 for $11.995 million, just as the Covid-19 pandemic spread across the United States.

By autumn, it had dropped its ask to 10.95 million.

“When Covid hit, we were unable to do open houses and everything was by appointment,” said Markus Canter, the luxury properties director at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties who handled both ends of the deal.

Cristie St. James, also of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties, was the co-listing agent.

“That didn’t affect this house as we don’t do open houses for such exclusive properties, but it did affect the property we were marketing to the world,” he added.

The property attracted buyers from the West Coast to the East Coast and as far away as Canada.

A video tour was produced to show potential buyers “the sophistication and elegance and one-of-a-kind setting that you experience living in this home,” Canter said. “That was instrumental in expressing that this is truly one of the most unique properties that you’ll find in the Coachella Valley.”

Against the backdrop of the San Jacinto Mountains, the property sits on a private artificial lake that separates the oasis-like grounds from the fourth green of the Tom Fazio-designed Canyon Course.

The compound has a main house and two guest suites for eight bedrooms and 11 bathrooms.

There’s a gourmet kitchen in the main house with a refrigerated walk-in pantry and a dry pantry.

The kitchen opens onto the family room, where pocketing walls of glass offer direct access to the infinity-edge pool, pizza oven and a large greenhouse.

An outdoor shower is a feature of the master suite, also appointed with an antique tub, two bathrooms with three closets and an office.

A wine room, theater and gym add to the perks of what’s expected to be a multi-generational family getaway for the new owner, who first reached out to the agents during the Thanksgiving holiday.

On April 28, it closed as Coachella Valley’s second-most expensive home sale of 2021 so far.

According to the MLS, the top seller is a La Quinta compound that belonged to Giveback Homes founder Blake Andrews and in March for $12.6 million.

Property records show the owner took ownership of the property through a trust overseen by Hollywood business manager Harley J. Neuman. Variety reports the Encino-based founding partner at Neuman and Associate represents such clients as Ellen DeGeneres, Scarlett Johnsson and Zoe Saldana.

“The luxury market has never been more attractive than it is today,” Canter said. “Brand new luxury homes are being built in some of the most sought-after desert communities that previously wouldn’t have even been considered” are attracting “high net-worth buyers, mostly from Los Angeles but also Orange County and San Francisco, who are paying higher prices than we have seen in the past.”

by Sandra Barrera | Daily News
Published: April 30, 2021 At 4:30 p.m | Updated: May 6, 2021 @ 9:13 a.m.

full article

Photos by Josh Spooner/ Courtesy of Markus Canter, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties