Famous TV mansion that struggled to find a buyer for 14 years is finally sold

It's one of the most recognizable mansions in Malibu Wine Country having appeared in iconic TV shows and now it has become the most expensive property ever sold in the tiny celebrity hotspot. 

The 38-acre Rocky Oaks Estate, that comes with five acres of vineyards, has been on and off the market since 2012 but finally found a buyer.

In June 2012 the Tuscan-style home with five bedrooms and five bathrooms initially hit the market for $43 million but was delisted after a year as it struggled to find a buyer.

It was relisted again in August 2022 for $49.5 million and since then has had a number of price cuts until finally going under the hammer at auction. 

Despite fetching a fraction of the initial asking prices, it sold for $12.995 million which made it the most expensive home ever sold in Malibu Wine Country. 

And if the property looks familiar, it is because it has featured in the movie The Hangover: Part III and on TV shows including The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Keeping Up With the Kardashians and 90210. 

John McNicholas, a realtor with Compass who handled the sale of the property, told the Daily Mail: 'Within a week of dropping to under $13 million, we had three offers on the table.

'We picked a strong buyer who was qualified and we felt comfortable would close.'

The name of the buyer has not been disclosed. McNicholas added: 'This house is famous due to The Hangover.

'It looks like a castle. It's on a road that goes between the valley and Malibu, and you can see it from so many points on the road.

'The owners who sold it were the original owners. When they bought it, all that it had was the driveway. 

'They built it from scratch. They were the ones that took the empty mountain top.'

He said it took them a couple of years to build and it's truly unique. 'It's literally 360-degree views over all the mountains, the ocean, the Channel Islands National Park.

'On one side you could see the ocean and the mountains. On the other side you can see mountains, but you can see a lot of the city of Los Angeles too.

'It became something that was one of a kind because there's nothing else like it.

'The construction quality, the craftsmanship, just everything about it.

'They built the house with the idea that it was going to be like a replica of a castle in France or Italy.

'All of the stone on the exterior of the house was imported from France. They went and found a ruined castle that was collapsed and bought all the stone and imported it to the US.

'It would be illegal to replicate it. You couldn't get the permits anymore.

'This is the only house now in the entire area with a position that's right at the very top, right on the top of the mountain ridge.

'Nothing else in Malibu has anything like this.'

The 7,665sq ft home is split over three levels and has amenities including an elevator, and a three-car garage with EV charging.

There is an infinity pool and hot tub along with a rooftop terrace to take in the views. 

The estate has been owned by the Leight family since August 2005, when they bought the lot for $3.5 million. 

Billionaire Howard Leight Sr is behind Malibu Rocky Oaks, which grows 10 grape varietals and produces red, white and rosé wines. 

His son, Howard Leight Jr, had been running the vineyard most recently and while the estate’s vines and irrigation systems were part of the sale, the Malibu Rocky Oaks brand was not.

McNicholas explained to the Daily Mail what made the sale of the vineyard with the property so unique and said: 'This Malibu wine country is so small, it's like a couple square miles.

'There's only a couple different vineyards that produce in there.

'Because of the volcanic qualities of that soil, this little area got a designation that was called the Malibu Coast AVA.

'It's in this just-right small little zone where they gave that federal designation to produce wine.

'There's no more new wineries allowed in the area.'

He continued: 'They produced eight different types of wine.

'The wine is sold in restaurants all over Malibu.

'It was sold in all the grocery stores locally in Malibu.'

McNicholas explained that the 2018 Woolsey Fire had added to the difficulty of selling the property over the years as the blaze 'burned everything around the house.'

He said: 'This house survived because of how it was built. Everything below it burned around it.

'Because it was built on top of the mountain on an elevated platform made of concrete and stone. 

'It burned all the way up to the house, almost to the bottom of the foundation, but it never touched the house.'

The Palisades wildfire in the area last year also had a huge impact on how challenging making a sale was. The January 2025 Palisades Fire burned for 31 days and was the most devastating in Los Angeles County history. 

Twelve people died and 37 square miles of land was burnt, destroying 6,845 structures, including multi-million dollar mansions. 

The Woolsey Fire killed three people and forced 295,000 people to evacuate. It destroyed 1,643 structures as it burned from November 8 to November 21, 2018. 

'I think that scared away a lot of what would have been the buyer for this property,' he added.

'It's like buying a house on the beach in Florida right after a catastrophic hurricane.'

But moving forward McNicholas said the property has a lot of potential to continue being rented out short term, especially for TV shows.

He said the previous owners had a professional management company who handled the rental.

'It was extremely lucrative,' he said. 'They were charging thousands of dollars a night.

'We're talking hundreds of thousands of rental income.

'In some years, more than $500,000 from renting it.'