Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are quietly trying to sell the $61 million Beverly Hills mansion they’ve been sharing since 2023, a source tells PEOPLE — and the way they’re doing it is actually pretty common for A-list couples.
Celebrity real estate agent and A million dollar listing in Los Angeles Star Josh Altman, who is unrelated to Affleck and Lopez’s list but has sold homes for Kim Kardashian and Heather Dubrow, tells PEOPLE why some stars choose their approach.
“Selling a home is a very public matter on many different levels,” says Altman. “Today, everyone has access to information on the Internet. People can find out how you live from pictures. They get to know how your house stands, how the rooms look. It’s actually quite an invasive process, in general.”
Altman says it’s not just big stars like Lopez and Affleck who are selling off-market, but also prominent business people and anyone known in their community who want to keep their business under the radar.
Altman, who runs the Altman Brothers team at Douglas Elliman with his brother Matt and wife Heather, says much of their business is off-market.
Josh Altman.
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Inside Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s multi-million dollar real estate empire as they quietly list the marital home
“Especially if we live in Hollywood, just because of the location, at least 25 to 50 jobs a year will be celebrities, high-profile celebrities,” he says. “Some of them like the press, and some are the complete opposite and don’t. They have enough media and would rather not get any more.”
As for Lopez and Affleck, who have dominated headlines amid reports of marital strain, Altman sees two reasons why they might not want to go public with their assets.
The first is that listing photos would reveal “the way they live.”
“I doubt we’ll ever see any pictures of the house now, as they lived in it with their belongings in it. I really doubt it,” he adds.
Another reason is that a public listing would likely attract visitors with no real intent to buy.
“I’ve faced this a billion times before,” Altman says. “There will always be people who pretend [to be potential buyers] because they are simply happy to see the house or tour the house, or they want to see the house of a famous person. I suspect access will be very limited. These will be people who will be pre-qualified and [have] as proof of funds as you can imagine before they get access to it.”
“There will probably be more background work required before rendering than you might normally see,” he adds.
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Beverly Hills.
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Behind Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s Decision to Sell Their $61 Million Mansion (Exclusive Source)
And because properties priced over $50 million are so rare, Altman says all of LA’s upper echelon agents will know when one becomes available.
“We’ll know who to call and get access to and we’ll know it’s available, whether it’s on the market or not,” he says. “And usually when someone wants to spend that kind of money, they’re probably going to get one of those top agents.”
He says a $61 million home, for example, is “completely different” than a home in the $3 million range, for which the seller would be “missing out on a huge pool of buyers” if they didn’t put it on the market publicly.
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Altman also points out that at that price point, the buyer is likely to be someone “extremely high-profile” who may not want press.
“If it’s off the market, the deal could be done without the media getting involved and without people talking about it,” he says. “So we can just hear it’s sold at some point when the deal is done, not ‘Hey, we’re in escrow,’ and everybody starts talking about it. Some deals have been done in the past and it just becomes a media event before it closes.”
Altman adds of Lopez and Affleck’s house: “Personally, I love that house. I think it’s amazing. It is one of my favorite houses.”
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Monica Schipper/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images; Lumeimages/Shutterstock
The couple purchased the home in spring 2023 after tying the knot in July 2022. Reps for Lopez and Affleck have not commented on the news.
The 38,000-square-foot home sits on five acres of land, and the home has “12 bedrooms, 24 bathrooms, a 12-car garage and a pool, plus a sports complex with basketball and pickleball facilities, a gym and a boxing ring,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
Sources said Satin star lives in a Beverly Hills mansion while Affleck stays in a rented house a few miles away while filming his movie Accountant 2.
Bravo A million dollar listing in Los Angeles returns for Season 15 on Wednesday, July 10 at 9:00 PM ET/PT.
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Source: HIS Education