The real estate investor who offered Sean “Diddy” Combs $30 million for his now-infamous “freak off” mansion has broken his silence on what motivated him to put in a bid for the controversial property—and why he believes there is “painful” work to be done on it to make it livable.
Bo Belmont, CEO of California-based real estate crowdfunding firm Belwood Investments, made headlines the world over on Nov. 21 when he revealed that he had put in a $30 million offer on Diddy’s Holmby Hills mansion—which is less than half of the $61.5 million asking price.
Now, in an exclusive interview with Realtor.com®, Belmont opens up about the furor surrounding his “lowball” offer, explaining why he believes that his price is more than fair, despite the exorbitant asking price attached to the home.
One of the key reasons for his lower offer? The stigma that is now attached to the Los Angeles-area home after it was raided by Homeland Security agents and then identified as the suspected location of several of Diddy’s “freak off” gatherings, which are now at the center of prosecutors’ sex-trafficking case against him.
“It’s got a stigma attached to it,” he notes. “I have to go in and erase it. I have to completely change the Diddy vibe. We’ve come in with sage.”
Having been given the opportunity to tour the 10-bedroom, 13-bathroom mansion, Belmont explains that he was somewhat underwhelmed by what he discovered inside.
Despite the enormous opulence of the home’s exterior, it is actually very “plain” inside, he says.
“What I noticed with the property is that it is very plain,” he says. “It’s beautifully maintained, but it’s underwhelming for that price tag of $61.5 million. Competition is so high in Bel-Air and Beverly Hills right now.
“It’s a traditional, Colonial Bel-Air home. That’s not what buyers are looking for. Buyers want modern and trendy that they can showcase when they bring guests over,” he explains.
Even the property’s 1.3-acre plot needs work, he notes. While the backyard is “amazing” and offers many impressive features like a waterslide, pool, and sculptures, it has no “entertainment aspect,” which makes it seem much more “mediocre” to prospective buyers.
As for how he put together an offer that he believes is reasonable, Belmont says he had to factor in the amount he will have to invest in the property to meet his very high expectations for any home that he plans to put on the market.
In this case, he says, that number is incredibly high, as he would aim to tear out all of the finishes.
“One of the more painful things that we have to do, we have to go in and tear out the beautifully maintained finishes,” he shares. “Not gut to the studs. What we would have to do is take out older finishes and just kind of streamline it and modernize it.
“I see ourselves spending [between] $8 million and $12 million on renovation work. I’ll probably put in $2 million just in the guesthouse,” he continues. “We may need to add square footage. … The backyard itself is another $2 million.”
Belmont looked to another high-profile property purchase—Kanye West‘s gutted Malibu beach house—to give him an idea of what he’d have to spend on Diddy’s home.
“Just my lighting fixtures on [West’s former property in] Malibu are over $450,000, and Diddy’s house is three times that size. Just the lighting will be nearly $1 million,” Belmont says.
Still, Belmont hasn’t ruled out putting in a higher offer, explaining that he is open to “negotiating” with Diddy’s listing agent Kurt Rappaport, whom he believes should never have allowed the home to be listed for such a sky-high price.
“He put that number too high. It’s not going to achieve that pricing,” Belmont warns. “I don’t know the reasoning behind $61.5 million, but my $30 million price point is fair.”
Other changes that Belmont would make to the home include replacing the dated finishes in the bathrooms and overhauling the guesthouse. The latter had been converted into a recording studio in the years since Diddy purchased the property.
“The guesthouse isn’t set up as a traditional guesthouse,” he explains. “From what I’ve experienced, when you’re in Bel-Air, sometimes your guests have their own staff. They need a place to stay as well.
“Rather than staying in the main house, they would stay in the guesthouse. But [Diddy and his team] opened it all up. It’s a music studio in there. He personalized it. But for someone who has guests with staff, it isn’t accommodating.”
The garage also needs extensive work, Belmont says, having been converted into guest quarters during Diddy’s ownership.
“The garage space, they converted it to staff quarters. There’s no place to park your vehicles. It only has four car spaces,” he says. “You need to feel like, ‘I can put a Bugatti, Ferrari in there.’ They have to visualize that.
Belmont says he is willing to negotiate with Rappaport, who has been in touch with him. He also advises Diddy to take his $30 million offer seriously.
“Diddy is in a predicament where he may not need the money now, but he will: $30 million is better than no million,” he adds.
