You might think celebs just splurge on Lambos or private jets. But guess what: plenty of them quietly moonlight as landlords, amassing rental portfolios that would make your head spin. In fact, many big names have covert real estate plays. And no, they’re not juggling all that themselves. Behind every famous landlord is a team of property managers and accountants.
In other words, these stars use professional property management so they don’t end up dealing with leaky faucets or late rent checks. It’s no accident they stay out of the headlines. Insider even reports that celebrities often buy through LLCs or trusts to keep their names off the records. (Smart move, right?) Think of it like an invisible empire: famous on the red carpet, anonymous on the deed.
A modern apartment building, symbolizing the kinds of rental properties celebrities might quietly own. Sometimes you’ll never see the celeb’s name on the mailbox, but the cash flow is real. Take Beyoncé and Jay‑Z, for example. This power couple literally made real estate history in 2023 when they paid nearly $200 million for a Malibu estate. To be fair, that’s their own home, not a rental. But they also own an $88 M Bel-Air mansion and a $26 M Hamptons house, plus other properties around NYC, Miami, New Orleans… you get the idea.
Taylor Swift is another heavy hitter. Over her many “eras” she’s been snapping up homes since 2009: Wall Street Journal estimates her portfolio now tops $150 million. And Jennifer Lopez? J.Lo has crisscrossed the country building a bi‑coastal empire, from a $32.5 M Florida mansion to a $61 M Beverly Hills compound. Heck, Rihanna isn’t just dropping albums; according to one profile, she’s rented out “quite a few enviable homes, condos, penthouses… over the years in New York and London”. Even she treats property like a revenue stream.
All those mansions and penthouses tell the tale: these celebs treat real estate as passive income. To run it all, though, they don’t have time to DIY. Instead, they lean on property managers. This Earnest Homes blog points out that if you own high-end homes from afar, “you need a management partner with experience leasing high-end homes”. In human terms: hire a pro who can deal with tenants, tech issues, rent collection, and all the paperwork.
In addition, https://relypm.com echoes this: their whole sales pitch is that property managers (the human kind) and great systems can handle leases, maintenance, and even evictions for you. So yes, when you hear that a star owns “ten houses,” imagine ten calls to the handyman every month and how grateful they must be to have people on call.
Hidden Landlords in Plain Sight
It gets better. Some celebs’ property empires are downright stealthy. Ron Weasley, err… Rupert Grint is one example. The former Harry Potter star has quietly built a UK real estate business called Eevil Plan Properties, focused on fancy rental homes. His portfolio is reportedly around £24 million (about $46 million NZ) , all hidden away under that company name. And he’s not alone in secrecy.
Arnold Schwarzenegger famously started with a $10,000 down payment on an L.A. apartment building. He lived in one unit and rented out the rest, kickstarting a cash-flow empire. (Imagine the Terminator mowing the lawn!) Tyra Banks is another surprise landlord , remember how frugal she used to be? Well, her accountants told her to spend, and now she owns at least four homes in Los Angeles. None of these press themselves on flashy tabloids; instead, each property is usually managed by a team.
And even the roles you wouldn’t expect can flip into real estate success stories. Talk show queen Oprah Winfrey has dozens of homes: from her Montecito ranch to cabins in Colorado and islands in Belize, though she tends to use them herself. Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi literally turned home-flipping into a side hustle: they’ve bought and sold at least 20 Southern California homes, often pocketing big profits. Their motto could be “sell high, buy low, repeat” and yes, they rely on brokers and crew behind the scenes. So if you think only shady corporate tycoons build rental portfolios, think again: Hollywood and sports stars are right in the game.
A property manager finalizing a rental agreement with clients , celebrities hire people like this to handle their growing portfolios. At the end of the day, the lesson here is: management matters. None of the above portfolios would survive long without skilled property managers running the show.
When deals are so large, you’d probably want an assistant (or ten). As The Earnest Homes experts advise, communication and technology are key for out-of-state owners, and your local property manager is the liaison. Other property managers say: great systems and good people can let even dozens of tenants “feel more professional”, nothing “slips through the cracks”
After all…
So what’s the takeaway for you? Maybe it’s this: even famous folks plant seeds for the future. They’re not that different from you investing in a rental (except they skip the DIY part). With the right help, real estate can be a cash cow; they just happen to call their property managers instead of answering their own phones. Maybe, I think, that’s kind of inspiring. If you ever dream of building your own rental empire, take a tip from the pros: get a trustworthy team on your side from day one. And who knows? One day your own real estate story might surprise everyone, just like these stars did.