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LoanDepot’s Anthony Hsieh Pays Record $61 Million for Orange County Mansion

James McClain
·3-min read

Just four months after it was first listed with a $68 million pricetag, a mansion in Orange County’s Newport Coast neighborhood has sold for a still-incredible $61 million, the L.A. Times first reported. Records reveal the billionaire buyer is Anthony Hsieh, the high-profile Taiwanese-American business magnate who founded LoanDepot, the Orange County-based mortgage juggernaut that bills itself as the nation’s fifth-largest retail mortgage lender, having funded nearly $250 billion in loans since its 2010 inception.

The $61 million sale price is, by several million dollars, the most ever paid for an Orange County home, and one of only three residential transactions to ever break the $50 million barrier. Earlier this year, businessman Glenn Stearns paid $50 million for author Dean Koontz’s architecturally vague Newport Coast megamansion; back in 2018, automobile billionaire Larry Van Tuyl tossed out $55 million for a two-house compound in Corona del Mar.

The house was built and sold by Mark Donegan, the former CEO of industrial goods giant Precision Castparts. Completed in 2017, the multi-level structure is best described as a contemporary Mediterranean mega-villa in style, with six bedrooms and a total of 11.5 bathrooms in nearly 19,000 square feet of living space. Per the listing, there’s also a mansion-sized, 6,800-square-foot subterranean garage that can easily swallow 12 luxury vehicles. An infinity-edged swimming pool, a huge courtyard, and walls of glass are just a few of the home’s numerous amenities.

But perhaps the most surprising thing about this $61 million Orange County estate is that it’s not oceanfront — nor is it anywhere close to the water, for that matter. Located in the hills far above the Newport coastline, the one-acre property is at least a good 10-minute drive to the beach, though there are stunning ocean views from nearly every room in the house. The estate lies within the 24/7 guard-gated Crystal Cove development, the mansion-filled enclave home to local and international billionaires, including a notably large percentage of homeowners who hail from Mainland China. For the privilege of living behind the exclusive Crystal Cove gates, Hsieh will pay $2,500 per month in HOA dues.

In any case, Hsieh has no need for an oceanfront home in Newport Beach. That’s because he already owns one — since 2014, in fact, when he paid $16 million for an 8,000-square-foot Mediterranean mansion that sits on Linda Isle, the guard-gated island overlooking Newport Harbor.

Hsieh, an avid sailor and fisherman who is also something of a LinkedIn social media celebrity — his relentlessly frequent posts and activity on that platform have become the stuff of online legend — also once owned another Newport Coast mansion. Records show he sold that place back in 2015 for $9.4 million to its current owners: the Merage clan, the billionaire Iranian-American family best-known for inventing Hot Pockets.

Rob Giem of Compass held the listing; Tim Smith of Coldwell Banker repped Hsieh.

Launch Gallery: Inside Anthony Hsieh's $61 Million Newport Coast Mansion

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