Elon Musk bought the former mansion of actor and comedian Gene Wilder. Now his nephew has become his squatter
Elon Musk has also been affected by the squatter phenomenon. According to Xataka media colleagues, the entrepreneur is in trouble.
In 2013, and despite his detachment with real estate, Elon Musk bought the former mansion of thepopular actor and comedian Gene Wilder. It was a property located in Los Angeles, in the exclusive area of Bel-Air Country Club.
The house, which was located directly across the street from Elon Musk’s then Los Angeles mansion, had been Wilder’s home since the late 1970s. In 2013, a trust linked to Musk bought the property. The Tesla CEO paid $6.75 million for the house, but his interest in the mansion was not related to its real estate value, but to maintain the actor’s legacy and the personal pieces that decorated its walls.
Elon Musk put the house up for sale with conditions
Seven years after the purchase, in 2020, Musk decided to put the house up for sale for a price of $9.5 million. However, he did so under one particular condition: the buyer had to commit to keeping the house as it was, rather than demolishing or radically changing it.
Jordan Walker-Pearlman, nephew of Gene Wilder, and his wife, Elizabeth Hunter, showed interest in the house, but the high price was beyond the couple’s budget. Walker-Pearlman had spent much of his childhood there, so he had a strong personal bond with those walls.
Since the couple seemed to comply with the condition of respecting Wilder’s legacy, Musk agreed to lower the price of the mansion to $7 million and agreed to finance the purchase. However, and here comes the most curious part of the story, it would be he himself who would lend the couple around $6.7 million so they could buy the house he was selling them.
Years later, non-payments arrive
Four years after the purchase of the mansion, The Wall Street Journal published that a company linked to Musk has filed a notice of default on the loan and will proceed to foreclose on the mansion.
According to the U.S. media outlet, Walker-Pearlman and his wife have been falling behind on payments on Elon Musk’s loan after suffering financial difficulties following the Hollywood screenwriters’ strike in 2023. Although the notice of default technically allowed forcing the sale of the home within 90 days, Walker-Pearlman and his wife continue to live in the property.
The legal terms allow the owners to force a sale of the property to pay off the debt. Therefore, Walker-Pearlman and his wife decided to put the house up for sale voluntarily for a price of 12.95 million dollars, according to the specialized media Mansion Global, thus doubling the profit of the property in only four years.
What has not been revealed is whether the couple will maintain the condition of preserving Gene Wilder’s legacy for the new owner, or the need to sell it to cover the debt will take priority.
Despite the unpleasant non-payment situation that has ensued, Walker-Pearlman maintains a positive attitude toward Musk and his willingness to preserve his uncle’s legacy.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, the owner expressed that he does not feel there is any tragedy in the situation. He acknowledges that “Elon gave us a magical opportunity. I have no complaints. I no longer wanted to continue to owe Elon morally. We already owe him a spiritual debt,” Wilder’s nephew assured the WSJ.
