Our own perusal of the property records confirms Miz Giveyousomedirt's accounting of the ugly matter and reveals twenty-something year old Miss Bell's secluded residence nestled snugly into the thickly wooded hills above Studio City with an easterly view over the neon lights of CityWalk at Universal Studios was snatched back by the bank in late January of this year (2012).
Records show Miss Bell, formerly engaged to producer Kevin Mann and now engaged to actor Dax Shepard (Parenthood, Baby Mama, King of the Hill, Punk'd), picked up her Studio City spread in November 2006 when the then 22-year old coughed up a very grown up $3,100,000 for the 2.6 acre property situated at the tail end of an exceptionally long private drive shared with two other homes.
The property in question was purchased through a trust but multiple online resources identify the property as owned by Miss Bell. Furthermore, the property in question is easily linked to Miss Bell as she had it photographed in all it's low-key glam glory in 2009 for InStyle magazine who described the the the house as a "seven bedroom, 5,500 square-foot, Spanish-style home...on 2.5 acres, dotted with lavender, bougainvillea and abundant jasmine."
The Los Angeles County Tax Man, for what it's worth, shows the two story Mediterranean-ish mini-manse was built in 1969, measures 3,867 square feet and includes just 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. Make of those discrepancies what you will.
The InStyle article went on to reveal that Miss Bell hired L.A.-based lady-decorator Stacey Vuduris to give the interior spaces a face lift and that the house was a virtual dorm with a constantly rotating cast of house guests and roommates and at one time "shared her home with six roommates" and three impossibly cute canines.
Miz Giveyousomedirt told Your Mama that Miss Bell moved out not too long after the InStyle article came out at that for most of the last couple of years the house has been vacant. Recent aerial photos of the property shows the gardens and swimming pool areas aren't being taken care of in a particularly fastidious manner as they were when Miss Bell was in residence.
As far as we know and can tell buy a brief and entirely unscientific sweep through public property records, Miss Bell does not own any other property in Los Angeles but her fiancée Dax Shepard still owns the 3 bedroom and 4 bathroom high-hedged and double-gated ranch-style residence in the Los Feliz area records show he scooped up in December 2005 for $1,325,000. Perhaps it's there Miss Bell decamped or perhaps not, we don't know.
photos: Francois Halard for InStyle via Stacey Veduris Design
