Leighton Meester has snapped up a charming ranch-style home in the hilly district of Encino, Los Angeles.

The $1.5 million purchase was spotted by The Real Estalker, which helpfully informs us the 2,847-square foot property comes with 4 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms. It is situated in the well-heeled Royal Woods neighborhood.

The home is, as The Real Estalker points out, somewhat removed from the image of Blair Waldorf, the snooty teenage socialite played by Meester in Gossip Girl. But while it isn’t the most ostentatious or glitzy of Hollywood homes, these pictures suggest a tastefully understated abode.

Built in 1948, the single-story suburban home features a living/dining room with hardwood floors, a wood-burning fireplace, and plantation shutters. Next to this, there’s a family room at the rear of the house with two sets of French doors that open on to a large outdoor living/dining area with an awning for extra shade. Thick hedgerows keep pesky paparazzi away.

The family room is separated from the galley-style kitchen by a glass-topped snack bar. The kitchen itself is fitted with white raised-panel cabinetry, granite counter tops, and high-grade stainless steel appliances.

Meanwhile, the four bedrooms consist of a guest suite, two good sized secondary bedrooms (one with a private entrance), and a generously sized master suite with a small sitting area, fireplace, walk-in closet, and an attached bathroom with double-sink vanity, soaking tub, and steam shower.

Behind the house, there’s a stone stairway down the hillside that leads to a flagstone terrace with a black-bottom swimming pool. Next to that, there’s a cabana with a dishwasher and fridge, changing rooms, and a small ¾ bathroom.

Catch a few more images at The Real Estalker!

Leighton Meester Buys $1.5 Million LA Mansion [Pics] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Life just gets more unbearable and squalid for 80-year-old multi-gazillionnaire Rupert Murdoch and his 42-year-old wife Wendi Deng.

Fresh from the News Corp. hacking scandal, The Real Estalker reports that the media mogul has made a $5.7 million loss on his mansion in Long Island. The final sale price? $9.1 million.

Murdoch put the mansion, named ‘Rosehearty,’ up for sale on the open market in June 2007. Back then, it carried a price of $14.8 million. Four years later, that figure has collapsed.

So, what does $9.1 million get you nowadays? Well, Rosehearty is a stately 1900s Colonial mansion with 11 bedrooms, 7.5 bathrooms, a 950-square foot guest house, and a 50-foot swimming pool with pool house.

Measuring around 10,000 square feet, the mansion also comes with a 950-square foot guesthouse, a garage that’s big enough for eight cars, a beach cabana, and a floodlit tennis court.

The Real Estalker notes that the sale should still be considered a rumor for now, as it’s yet to appear on property records, but someone may have got themselves a bargain from poor old Rupert.

Hopefully Mr. Murdoch can be consoled while he reflects on his loss in his $44 million Fifth Avenue triplex. Or his 8,651-square foot Wallace Neff-designed mansion in Beverly Hills (11 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms). I hear either suffices.

If you’d like to see more pics of Murdoch’s modest pad, The Real Estalker has ‘em up.

Rupert Murdoch’s Long Island Mansion Goes For $9.1 Million is a post from: The Inquisitr

When we think of the goods times and going on spending sprees buying things we might not really need the last thing we would think of is the Amish doing the same thing. Well think again because according to a post on the Wall Street Journal Online the Amish men of northern Indiana enjoyed the economic surpluses of the early 2000’s just as we did.

Some Amish bishops in Indiana weakened restrictions on the use of telephones. Fax machines became commonplace in Amish-owned businesses. Web sites marketing Amish furniture began to crop up. Although the sites were run by non-Amish third parties, they nevertheless intensified a feeling of competition, says Casper Hochstetler, a 70-year-old Amish bishop who lives in Shipshewana.

"People wanted bigger weddings, newer carriages," Mr. Lehman says. "They were buying things they didn’t need." Mr. Lehman spent several hundred dollars on a model-train and truck hobby, and about $4,000 on annual family vacations, he says. This year, there will be no vacation.

Source: Douglas Belkin – Wall Street Journal :: A Bank Run Teaches the ‘Plain People’ About the Risks of Modernity

Just as with us in the more ‘modern’ world it all came crashing down for the Amish as men who had earned anywhere from $50.00 to $30.00 per hour in various industries found themselves out of work. During the high times even the most treasured traditions of ‘helping thy neighbor’ seem to go by the wayside as the cash rich Amish hired outside companies to do work for them so that they wouldn’t have to repay in kind. Now that the hard times are here though there has been a slow return to their traditional values.

In Indiana, a back-to-basics movement appears to be taking root. More patches of produce have sprouted behind Amish homes this summer. Restaurants are entertaining fewer Amish customers. Mr. Lehman says neighbors "are more considerate of each other now."

Some men have started their own businesses close to home. Mr. Lehman makes mattresses in his workshop. Harlan Miller, a 34-year-old father of five who was laid off in February, started making fruit butter, which he sells at a local market. Freeman Miller (no relation), 54, who was laid off after 30 years in manufacturing, builds wooden caskets for pets.

Source: Douglas Belkin – Wall Street Journal :: A Bank Run Teaches the ‘Plain People’ About the Risks of Modernity

It’s amazing how the power of money can easily corrupt even a faith and community like the Amish.

Not even the Amish are immune to hardship is a post from: The Inquisitr