JUST a few months after having purchased a place in Carmel, a hotspot for retired Tinseltown stars, it seems Brad Pitt could be leaving Hollywood for good.
The 58-year-old acting legend has put his giant Los Angeles compound - made up of five houses - up for rent, where he’s lived for the last 28 years.
In July, Pitt spent $40million on American author D.L James' former home, known as “Seaward,” in Carmel, a luxury coastal town in California.
Carmel-by-the-Sea is a favorite for aging stars like the late Doris Day, Joan Fontaine, and Betty White. Clint Eastwood also calls it home.
Moving also makes life a lot more difficult for Pitt to see his six children while living a five-hour drive up the west coast.
The surprise move by Pitt, who used to share the compound with Jolie and the kids while they were together, has been discovered through a publicly-available mortgage agreement.
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His management has completed the agreement with the Canadian bank, City National Bank (CNB), nicknamed the "bank of the stars.”
In June, Pitt’s long-time manager, Cynthia Pett-Dante, signed a "deed of trust and assignment of rents" with CNB.
The “assignment of rents”, is a special type of mortgage solely for rental properties, allowing the bank to collect the rent directly from a tenant if Pitt fails to keep up with the loan repayments.
As part of the deal, Pitt has also agreed to a $17.5million line of credit with CNB - called a "Home Equity Line of Credit Agreement."
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This means he’s allowed to borrow any amount from the bank up to that agreed figure.
Realtor Billy Rose is a former real estate attorney and celebrity agent, who's co-founder of The Agency, which buys and sells high-end property across the globe.
Rose explains that such a line of credit isn’t uncommon for the rich and famous, especially if it’s secured at a low-interest rate.
This is because it can be used to purchase assets or property, which will rise in value at a higher rate than the interest charged.
It’s unknown if Pitt funded the Carmel purchase with this line of credit.
He says: "You have an asset, which you use as security for a loan, and during the days of two or one percent [interest], then you have a line of credit where they’re not really charging you anything in interest.
"For some people, it’s a way of making money - I can take out the money that I’m paying one percent on, then I can use it to buy something, an asset or property."
Forbes valued Pitt’s net worth at around $300million, but it doesn’t always mean a celebrity has tens of millions in readily available cash, Rose said.
Rose, who’s not connected to the Pitt deal, added: "Banks take pretty high risks, they’re going to appraise your house and give you a percentage of its value.
"A lot of wealth is tied up, but it's maybe where they [a famous person] think: 'I want a line, I’m going to take it, if I should ever want it or need it.’"
Like most celebrities, Pitt has bought his properties through trusts.
His Los Feliz compound is owned by The Briarcliff Trust and Pett-Dante is the trustee.
Pitt began building his compound in July 1994 when he purchased a six-bedroom, Craftsman-style house for $1.7million.
Two years later, he purchased a small house for $380,000 at the back of his land and, in 1998, acquired another neighboring house for $475,000.
When he was with Jolie, Pitt bought another small property in 2008 for nearly $1.3million.
Finally, he purchased a huge barn structure with a secret cave and its own bar for $1.1 million in 2009.
In 2014, Pitt and Jolie installed a skatepark by the side of their main villa, which now wraps around one side.
There are three pools and Pitt also purchased land across the road for a tennis court.
Pitt, who has always taken an interest in architecture, wanted to create a free-flowing compound, which was in keeping with the original houses in the area, dating back to 1915.
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His friend, director Andrew Dominik, says: "You go to the homes of most movie stars and they're like really, really nice hotel rooms. Brad lives in pieces of art.
"There's a breeze blowing through every window. As soon as you walk through the door, you feel stoned."
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