Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi buy back Californian ranch for $18.4m

Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi have bought back a Californian ranch they flipped just three years ago, spending millions of dollars extra to secure the keys once more.

The pair has splashed about $US14.3 million ($18.4 million) on Rancho San Leandro, an equestrian estate in an exclusive gated community in the Montecito Valley that neighbours Oprah Winfrey’s estate.

It’s almost double the $US7.2 million the A-listers paid for the sprawling estate back in late 2017, with the prolific property flippers going on to sell the block to Tinder cofounder Sean Rad for $US11 million just eight months later.

Rad returned the estate to the market in 2019, Dirt reports, but delisted it in early 2020, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic caused the first wave of lockdowns in the US. Records reveal he has now resold the property to DeGeneres and de Rossi.

The purchase comes after DeGeneres announced she would end her long-running daytime television show after the upcoming 19th season and after the couple sold their Beverly Hills estate for $US47 million after a little more than a month on the market.

Rancho San Leandro is a nearly 2.5-hectare equestrian estate that offers views of the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Ynez Mountains. The home has about 630 square metres of internal living space, spread across multiple dwellings, and a stable and tack room, that overlook a fenced dressage arena and paddocks.

The original ranch home was built in a Hacienda style in the mid-1800s and has one large main bedroom suite, a gourmet kitchen, a large open plan living and dining area – with fireplaces at each end of the room – a wine cellar and games room.

A separate guest wing, known as the Monterey House, offers another three bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a living room, kitchen and outdoor terrace with a fireplace and dining areas. Adjacent to this is a formal library, exercise studio and a three-car garage.

The couple are big fans of Montecito in Santa Barbara County, having bought and sold multiple homes in the neighbourhood. Last year they made a multimillion-dollar profit on a flipped Tudor-style home they sold to pop star Ariana Grande, sold a Bali-inspired estate in the area for $US33.3 million, and splashed $US49 million on a mega-compound owned by talk show host Dennis Miller.

They also sold a $34 million residence in Montecito in 2018, making $7.5 million on the sale in five years.