Top 10 Celebrity Real Estate Sharks

From stars you might not have known were dedicated flippers to celebs who have started second careers in real estate, here are the top 10 celebrity real estate sharks who aren't messing around.

By: Emily Nonko
Related To:
Real Estate

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Ree Drummond

Ree Drummond, also known as The Pioneer Woman, started her blog about going "from city girl to domestic country wife" back in 2006. With her approachable, folksy demeanor it might come as a surprise that the Drummond family is one of the largest landowners in the entire country. They own a whopping 433,000 acres in Oklahoma—that's more than half the size of Rhode Island. In fact, it makes the Pioneer Woman the country's 23rd largest landowner.

Shaquille "Shaq" O'Neal

In 2006, Shaq started the O'Neal Group, a real estate and development company that's taken up projects around the country. His first deal was a $1 billion mega-project called Met Miami. In 2012, he purchased and renovated a movie theater in his hometown of Newark, N.J. Among the $7 million in renos: 300-seat auditoriums called Shaq-DX with 47-foot screens, surround sound and leather seating.

Barbara Corcoran

Barbara Corcoran is a legitimate shark, best known as one of six savvy investors featured on the ABC show Shark Tank. But she actually got her start in real estate, founding the Corcoran Group in the 1970s. By 2001, she sold off the company for $66 million and it's since grown into the largest residential real estate agency in New York. Corcoran left the real estate biz behind to become an investor, consultant, columnist, author and television personality.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio may love to buy homes as much as he enjoys churning out feature films. Most recently, the actor scooped up a Tudor in Los Feliz, Calif., from musician Moby. He owns at least six other properties, including two side-by-side apartments in Battery Park, Manhattan, a Hollywood Hills compound, and an entire island near Belize he's developing into a swanky eco-resort. It's a portfolio of high-end properties that would make any wolf of Wall Street proud.

Ellen DeGeneres

America's beloved talk show host is also a master house flipper. Time reports that she's spent at least $145 million buying a flipping extravagant pads, from a Spanish-style estate in Montecito, Calif., to a modern Los Angeles condo. She's even chronicled her dedicated house flipping tendencies in the 2015 book Home.

Jeremy Renner

Oscar-nominated actor Jeremy Renner, who can be most recently seen in the Avengers series, has a secret side gig in real estate. Before Renner blew up as a major Hollywood star, he and a business partner, actor Kristoffer Winters, started a house flipping business in which they serve as contractors, architects and interior designers. One big win: a Hollywood residence that they resold for nearly $1 million more than they paid for it.

Diane Keaton

Who wouldn't want to live in a home with Diane Keaton's touch? The Oscar-winning actress, who's appeared in everything from The Godfather to Annie Hall, flips homes in her spare time. She boasts a long history of buying, remodeling and selling charming houses in enviable locations — her latest flip was a 1920s property in Laguna Beach with views of the Pacific Ocean, beach and rugged cliffs.

Kanye West

Forget dropping albums — Kanye West is now dropping renderings. In June, the hip-hop superstar revealed his newly-formed architecture studio's first project, a prefabricated affordable housing development. Kanye, who has long expressed interest in design, has big plans to become a developer in his own right. His architecture firm's name: Yeezy Home.

Alex Rodriguez

A-Rod retired from baseball in 2016 with a solid backup — he's actually been investing in real estate since 2004. These days he's a full-fledged developer, running Monument Investment Capital, a real estate investment firm, and Newport Property Construction, which designs, develops and renovates commercial and residential real estate. Talk about a homerun retirement plan.

Rob "Vanilla Ice" Van Winkle

Vanilla Ice has left his rapping days behind and is now the star of the Vanilla Ice Project, in which he and his entourage renovate homes. As you might guess, nothing's too over the top for Vanilla Ice, with renos that include a pirate's cove, jellyfish tank and glow-in-the-dark pool.

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