Bestselling author Anne Rice is heading for warmer climes: she's selling her house in La Jolla and moving to the desert.
Less than a year after buying a luxury home in the city's tony La Jolla neighborhood, author Anne Rice is selling the dwelling and moving to the desert for a warmer climate and simpler life, her real estate agent said.
"She still loves La Jolla very, very much," said Connie Adams of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. "She had been used to the heat of New Orleans for so many years, and she found La Jolla cold."
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Rice decided to move west in 2004 after attending a book-signing at Warwick's bookstore in La Jolla. Her son, Christopher, lives in Los Angeles and her husband had died in 2002.
She bought a 3,000-square-foot home in downtown San Diego for $2.35 million, but quickly decided she needed more space and put it back on the market.
Last February, she bought the three-story, 10,089 square-foot La Jolla home for $8 million and replaced the deck with French limestone balustrades, said Adams, who represented her in the purchase. The 13-year-old home, which sits on a third of an acre of land, has six bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a gym with a sauna and steam room, an upgraded media room, wine cellar, elevator, four-car garage, pool, spa and ocean views, according to the property listing.
The selling price includes the furnishings, some of which come from the finest antique stores in New Orleans, Adams said.
"It's completely furnished, down to the last fork and napkin," she said.
Rice recently closed escrow on a $4.2 million home in Rancho Mirage, a desert community 85 miles northeast of San Diego.
