When Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez first reunited in 2021, one of the first big things they did together was look at real estate in Los Angeles. Ben owned a Brentwood home close to his ex-wife Jennifer Garner, and J.Lo has had her own home in LA for years. Their house-hunting was a signal that they were really serious and ready to build a life together with their blended family. In the nearly two years since then… they still haven’t managed to buy a f–king house together. They keep house-hunting and putting offers in on these mega-mansions and the deals keep falling through and/or Bennifer cancel the deal while they’re in escrow. It’s kind of insane that this keeps happening, and it just happened again. They were seen house-hunting on Sunday (the photos in this post) in Pacific Palisades just as they pulled out of escrow on another home.
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck can’t make up their minds … they have dropped out of escrow again on a house they were about to buy. Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ … JLo and Ben have pulled the plug on the Pacific Palisades home which they seemed set on buying for $34.5 million.
Our sources say … they were supposed to close escrow last Friday, but just before it was signed, sealed and delivered they pulled out.
As we reported, they were spotted at a nearby mansion last Tuesday — while they were still in escrow on the other house — so it looks like they weren’t sure about the house they were about to get. Our sources say they are now in escrow on ANOTHER house. We don’t know if it’s the same one they looked at Tuesday. We’re told they looked at yet another house last week as well.
At least one of the estates they looked at last week was going for more than twice what they were spending on the one that just fell out of escrow. This is at least the second house they’ve been in escrow on but bailed on at the last minute.
What’s going on here? Is it just “rich-people sh-t”? Or is something weirder going on? Both J.Lo and Ben are rich, although I would assume that Jennifer has more money coming in consistently. They’re married now, they’re settled, they obviously want more room for their blended family and their young children. When you get to this price point, are you just pulling out of escrow because you don’t like the kitchen hardware or the third en suite? Are they looking to buy something move-in ready or do they want something they can renovate to their tastes? I genuinely don’t get it.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
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- Pacific Palisades, CA – Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck seen together putting their eye on a new house in the palisades area, blocks away from where he used to live with Jennifer Garner. Pictured: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez BACKGRID USA 5 MARCH 2023 BYLINE MUST READ: LaStarPixMEDIA / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Pacific Palisades, CA – Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck seen together putting their eye on a new house in the palisades area, blocks away from where he used to live with Jennifer Garner. Pictured: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez BACKGRID USA 5 MARCH 2023 BYLINE MUST READ: LaStarPixMEDIA / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Pacific Palisades, CA – Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck seen together putting their eye on a new house in the palisades area, blocks away from where he used to live with Jennifer Garner. Pictured: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez BACKGRID USA 5 MARCH 2023 BYLINE MUST READ: LaStarPixMEDIA / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
I don’t know why people have been jumping to the conclusion that this somehow signals trouble in their relationship. Sometimes it’s just real estate sh-t. Sometimes you find out something about the property itself at the very last minute that makes you scuttle the deal. It has happened to me. You can find out about problems with the property that will become your responsibility as the new owner, and you may not want to take those on yourself. It could be problems that could take a long time to rectify, and you may not want to wait that long to move, so you start over from scratch and find another property, or you move to the number two on your list.
This is more common than people think.
I think it’s just real estate drama. These properties cost more than what many people will earn in several lifetimes. I don’t blame them for being picky and backing out because of something unforeseen that came to light. Maybe they got wind that a potential neighbor would build something that could be detrimental to the property they wanted to buy.
The weather they’ve been having in California lately may also be a factor. It may have brought to light location problems that wouldn’t have been noticed otherwise.
Or they could just be picky.
Must be nice to be able to afford such options.
Not to be the pessimist here but I sense trouble in paradise. Ben just seems unhappy and miserable since they got married.
It could also be that J.Lo is just very particular. She’s always been particular about her lodgings.
OTT but did anyone see the Lubitsch house in Million Dollar Listing? I was so relieved to hear someone bought it to restore it. Because I’m sick of tech bros and their horrible batman caves, smashing Hollywood history.
I don’t think I saw that episode, but I agree with you–it’s pains me to watch people buy these historic homes as tear-downs. I just googled the house–wowzers!–definitely dated & in need of some upgrades, but I hope they maintain the historic feel of the house. That’s something else that bugs me, updating the interiors to modern esthetics that completely mismatch the original architecture & feel of the house.
Maybe they just enjoy house hunting and dreaming up plans together, but when it’s time to get serious and do the work, they retreat back into the safety of their current abodes.
Buying a house is such a pain in the neck. You’ve got the competition with other potential buyers, and then if you’re accepted, the negotiations based on the appraisal and various inspections can be fraught. You can decide not to go further because the seller was not playing ball at this stage. It’s happened to me twice. I wouldn’t want my house hunts to be in the news….
I don’t think people in Bennifer’s income bracket have that much competition or care about inspections.
Why not care about inspections?
I bet they would if there was….
A. Mold
B. Mega-development happening nearby that would affect their privacy
C. Weather/Environmentally caused threats to safety or the house’s stability
And that’s just what I came up with on the top of my head.
I have a great great aunt that spent the first ten years of her second marriage house hunting. She liked the house she lived in, and her new husband had been a bachelor for a long time. They were both just pains in the ass and picky people. I can believe that these two are picky pains in the ass.
Well.
Could be they are having trouble agreeing because they don’t actually know each other very well.
Both relationships have been love bombing, quick engagements & it’s not a sign of success they actually married this time around. They’ve both moved from relationship to relationship without actually spending the time figuring out what they want from marriage, love, commitment. And here we go again.
Jennifer might have gone to therapy & done the work, but Ben clearly has not.
They have endless resources to custom build, buy & renovate. 2 years to buy a house is ridiculous.
I spent at least 14 months buying my small little starter house. Went into escrow twice and pulled out when the seller reneged on repairs he initially assured us he’d handle.
Two years looking for a $30-40 million home that has to house a blended family with 5 kids and the needs of two XL careers doesn’t seem ridiculous at all.
This sounds to me like they aren’t really serious about buying, or just aren’t on the same page regarding what they want. They also have 5 kids between them so finding something that works for everyone is probably tough.
This is pinging my gossip radar for sure. Either they can’t agree on the same thing or they aren’t quite ready to let go of their separate lives. Either way, it doesn’t bode well.
They live together though. So how are they not ready to give up their separate lives?
Why don’t they just buy property and build the house that they want??
SONI – from experience a major renovation or a new build is a huge time suck and a major relationship stressor and it’s not just about the money. The amount of decisions that need to get made feels endless. I love my final result ( mostly) and happy I did it but never again 😉
Friends of mine recently completed a brand new house & moved in. I marveled at how she (he had zero interest in the particulars) managed to pull together the interiors & make all the decisions about finishes & where to put what outlet & so on. That is way more than I could handle. I have zero imagination.
I can see them pulling out of these deals because of privacy or security issues regarding the properties. If it’s not that, based on photo assumption, this is Ben with cold feet. They’re newlyweds who can afford anything but he doesn’t look content or affectionate.
Considering they were in escrow I think there were problems with the houses as opposed to their relationship. I’ve been in escrow and dropped out because of problems with the inspection. Once a seller pulled out because they lost the job they were moving for. Also the down payment is probably significant. I doubt they would walk away because of something minor.
I second (third?) “real estate sh!t.” We had a buyer pull out at the last minute (literally at 4:50 on the last day of the option period when the deadline was 5 PM) and we had to rescind the offer we’d subsequently made on our prospective new home because we had to find a new buyer for our old home. Luckily it all worked out and we found the house we’re in now, which is perfect and actually better than the one we had to pull out of buying. Also, luckily, the sellers of the first house were able to contact the people who’d put in a slightly lower offer than ours and proceed with them.
I’ve had friends back out because the inspection turned up problems, because their employment or marital situation changed, or just cold feet. I’m sure they’ll find something that ticks all of their boxes and go through with the purchase. I’d also hate to have my mundane home-buying struggles reported as gossip (although I like reading about Ben and JLo’s, lol!) We looked at houses in literally every area of our huge city and it was a huge ordeal.
I’m curious to know if they’re backing out prior to the deposit belonging to the sellers in these cases (because I’m nosy!) I’m sure it’s chump change to them, but 1% of the sales price of a $34 million home is a lot!! Of course maybe that’s not a thing in high-dollar real estate, I’ll never know.
More like 10%. We generally like to see buyers put down at least 10% at the time of contract signing. For this property that would be $3.45 million that the buyer could lose if they decide to walk away for no good reason. BUT if there was some type of contingency in the contract that the seller did not meet at the eleventh hour, then the buyer can walk away and rightfully get their deposit back. I don’t know if Ben an Jen are willing to just lose out on $3.45mn just because they saw something prettier at the last minute. There may have been something related to the property itself that just wasn’t resolved in time by the seller.
Wow, you can tell it’s been a little while since I bought a home (we’ve been in our “new” house for almost 5 years.) When we bought this house, the initial earnest deposit was 1% of the sales price and an additional 4% due at the end of the option period (so 5% total) and that was what the seller was able to collect if we backed out after the option closed unless there was a breach of some kind. I suppose it’s probably variable from state to state and even from city to city; I’m in TX and admittedly know nothing about CA real estate!
They’ve pulled out twice. The first house, Ben was photographed inside through a upstairs window with a long range camera. The second house, JLo, Ben, his son and his mother were photographed on the balcony in the back garden. Just speculation on my part but I think they might have had privacy concerns.
These pictures are of the THIRD house they’ve gone into escrow (according to tmz ). The paps seem to find it pretty easy to be photographing them at this house as well. I don’t think they seem to concerned about it since it’s happened at each house they were to buy.
They always look like they’re going to completely different places.
Ben will never be “settled.”