Cyberhomes.com, a property evaluation and neighborhood information site from Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions (FNRES), a division of Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE: FNF), today reveals findings from a recent study of the homes belonging to the 2008 Lead and Supporting Actor and Actress Oscar nominees. Based on property appreciations in each nominee’s specific zip code, data reveals that only the nominees who live outside of the Hollywood and Manhattan zip codes are winning in the housing market, including Tommy Lee Jones, Laura Linney and Daniel Day-Lewis.
“Most people imagine life as an actor in one of two cities – the beach and poolside comfort of the Hollywood Hills, or the posh, urban lifestyle of Manhattan,” said Kris Goodfellow, Director of Product Management for Cyberhomes. “Our data shows that this year’s nominees are living far outside these zip codes and instead residing in areas where they are seeing larger returns on property investment.”
Aside from the Oscar nominees who live outside of the United States, three of this year’s nominees do not reside in the standard celebrity zip codes. Both Laura Linney (“The Savages”) and Daniel Day-Lewis (“There Will Be Blood”) own homes in far Northern Connecticut, and Tommy Lee Jones (“In the Valley of Elah”) lives with his wife in Terrell Hills, a community northeast of San Antonio, Texas. Surprisingly, these three nominees are the only stars where home prices are appreciating in their zip code.
According to Cyberhomes.com (www.cyberhomes.com), the suburb of Terrell Hills – which falls in zip code 78209 - shows the highest appreciation over a two-year period. From January 2006 to January 2007, home prices in Tommy Lee Jones’ neighborhood have appreciated nearly 12 percent, above the national average. In the 06068 zip code where Linney and Day-Lewis live in Connecticut, home prices are also appreciating – but up only 3 percent since January 2006.
The three Oscar nominees that do reside in Hollywood are paying more for their properties, but are not seeing home prices appreciate in their zip code. The median home value in Hollywood and Beverly Hills is about $2.5 million, but home values have depreciated more than 5 percent since January 2006. George Clooney (“Michael Clayton”) has an eight-bedroom Tudor above Laurel Canyon in the Hollywood Hills, where homes have a median value of just under $1 million. Hal Holbrook (“Into the Wild”) and his wife, Dixie Carter, own a home in the famed 90210 zip code. Their Beverly Hills home is valued by Cyberhomes at $3.27 million. Right outside Hollywood resides Casey Affleck (“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”) and his wife, Summer Phoenix. They own two properties estimated at more than $1 million each in the Mulholland Drive area.
Three nominees do live in New York, where property is also more expensive – and home prices are also depreciating. Manhattan dwellers include Amy Ryan (“Gone Baby Gone”) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (“Charlie Wilson’s War”), both of whom inhabit the West Village, while Ruby Dee (“American Gangster”) is a longtime resident of suburban Westchester County. The West Village is a very popular choice for celebrities, but home prices are down 3 percent since January 2006.
Cyberhomes is most known for the breadth and depth of its property database, which includes more than 100 million property, ownership, sales and mortgage records, covering more than 85 percent of the United States population. More than 575,000 new ownership records are added every month, verified from the original source, and the data is enhanced with more than 10 years of proprietary property information. Cyberhomes valuations give users access to most of the same information that real estate professionals use to evaluate homes from the databases of Fidelity National Information Services - the leader in property information, services and technology for agents, brokers, MLS, appraisers and lenders.
About Fidelity National Financial
Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE:FNF), is a leading provider of title insurance, specialty insurance, claims management services and information services. FNF is one of the nation’s largest title insurance companies through its title insurance underwriters - Fidelity National Title, Chicago Title, Ticor Title, Security Union Title and Alamo Title - that issue approximately 28 percent of all title insurance policies in the United States. FNF also provides flood insurance, personal lines insurance and home warranty insurance through its specialty insurance business. FNF also is a leading provider of outsourced claims management services to large corporate and public sector entities through its minority-owned subsidiary, Sedgwick CMS. FNF is also a leading information services company in the human resource, retail and transportation markets through another minority-owned subsidiary, Ceridian Corporation. More information about FNF can be found at www.fnf.com.