A brand-new 13,077-square-foot spec mansion in Brentwood Park has sold for $26 million, a price that comes with a hidden asterisk: the seller now owes Los Angeles roughly $1.43 million under the city’s mansion tax, on top of standard closing costs. The property at 12846 Highwood Street, developed by Westside Estate Agency co-founder Kurt Rappaport, closed on September 1 after first hitting the market three years earlier.
Rappaport represented himself in the sale, according to The Real Deal, while Compass agent Josh Flagg brought the buyer, described by Rappaport as a local business executive. Flagg, who stars in Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles, declined to comment on his client, per the same report. The half-acre gated property, built in a warm-contemporary style and completed in 2023, spans five bedrooms and nine bathrooms and includes a Dolby Atmos movie theater, a wine tasting cellar, and a wellness center with a gym, sauna, and massage room, according to Carolwood Estates.
The final sale works out to $1,988 per square foot — a steep discount from the home’s original 2023 asking price of $39.9 million, or $3,049 per square foot. It had most recently been listed at $34.5 million, or $2,638 per square foot, before finding a buyer this month.
A Mansion Tax Bill Bigger Than Most Homes
Because the deal closed within Los Angeles city limits, it triggers Measure ULA’s 5.5% transfer surcharge on the full $26 million sale price — a bill of roughly $1.43 million owed by the seller, according to the Los Angeles Office of Finance. The tax, in effect since April 2023, applies to sales at or above $10.9 million after annual inflation adjustments, on top of standard municipal and county transfer fees…