'Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles’s Josh and Matt Altman represented the A-listers in the record-setting deal.
Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West know how to go big!
When news broke that the superstar couple quietly sold their Bel-Air mansion for $17.8 million, there should have been no surprise that the figure set a record for the most expensive sale ever in the exclusive Bel Air Crest neighborhood. So, how did the Wests sell their home for nearly twice as much as they paid for it? ET has the exclusive details behind the sale.
“It’s all about exclusivity,” Million Dollar Listing’s Josh Altman told ET about closing the record-setting deal. Altman and his brother Matt represented both the Wests and the new buyer in the sale.
“Kim is super savvy when it comes to real estate,” Altman shared, explaining that the reality star has a particular knack for the business. Over the last decade, the pair has worked together to sell six homes for Kardashian West. “Every house that we've done business with together, she's knocked it out of the park. She's done certain things to properties that really add a lot of value. “
In the case of this home, Altman explained, Kim and Kanye did not spare any expense with the renovations. The couple purchased the one-acre home for $9 million in 2013, and spent the better part of two years transforming it into an abode that was all their own.
“Every inch of that house was thought out by Kim and Kanye,” Altman explained. “They were the designers. They were the vision.”
“They did a complete makeover on the house, and it really represents Kim and Kanye and where they are in their life right now," he continued. "It's very artistic, very minimalist. It's almost like walking through a museum.”
While the house is grand in scale, the couple opted for grey tones and minimal furniture. The Wests also repositioned the pool, installed some of the largest glass windows ever created in the state of California and added extra rooms – including a glam room with its own separate entrance and a closet that rivals the size of a single-family home.
So, after putting all of this work -- and money -- into the home, why sell it? Altman says it was time for the Wests to reinvent themselves and that’s when his work really began. In selling the home of two of the biggest celebrities in the world, there are a number of challenges to consider. Altman says he had to vet all of the potential buyers even more carefully than usual. But the biggest question was whether to tell the world the property was even for sale.
“We just made a game-time decision that when we were going to market this, we were just going to not market it,” he revealed of deciding to sell the home "off market." In the past, Altman has listed Kim’s properties to the public, admitting that the reality star’s name recognition has brought in wealthy buyers willing to lay down some cash.
“I didn't want to make a big splash [by putting it on the market publicly]. I think it would take away from the house. And when showing it, I didn't tell anybody whose house it was, because it was more about the house and what a piece of art this house is," he continued. “Once they fall in love with the house, at that point, obviously, I am going to disclose who the owners are.”
As soon as there was an interested buyer, Altman not only disclosed that that Kim and Kanye owned the home, but allowed them to personally take over the sales pitch.
“Kim gave us the tour of the house, because it was important to understand why they did what they did [when they renovated],” he revealed. “Who better to give us a tour of a piece of art than the creator of the piece of art?”
Entrepreneur and philanthropist Marina Acton, the home's new owner, told ET she was very surprised that Kardashian was there when she went to look at the property. Of her encounter with the reality mogul, she said, “It was amazing to see someone who is so popular be so down to earth.”
During the private tour, Acton was impressed by the size of the closets, the swimming pool and how the property is surrounded by nature. She also viewed two “beautifully decorated kids’ rooms” and said that it seemed like a “really happy house, a happy family house, somewhere she’d like to raise her own kids.”
After a gorgeous piano also caught Acton’s eye, she was thrilled to be greeted by Kanye West the next time she visited the home. As it turns out, one of the only renovations the Wests didn’t make before selling the home was the addition of a recording studio, designed by the 21-time GRAMMY winner. Acton, who plans to release her debut single ‘Battle Cry’ later this year, hopes to complete West’s vision, telling ET, “I just realized it’s necessary to have a studio at home for a full-time singing career."
Of Altman, Acton says she reached out to him because he's "the best of the best" and raves that the reality realtor was able to find her “a perfect house” after three months of searching. Altman did not ask her budget, but knew immediately that this home would fit her style. "He can feel what people want. He can read minds," she said.
As for Kim and Kanye, the couple is now expected to move into the Hidden Hills, California, home they have been renovating for the last few years.
Let’s see how long they decide to keep that home once it’s finished!
For more on Kim and Kanye's next major undertaking -- welcoming their third child via surrogate -- check out the video below!