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Real Estate Paparazzi: Avril Lavigne ready for change in address

While Canadian-born superstar Avril Lavigne was recording the chorus of her latest hit, "Girlfriend," in eight languages last month, she also was talking L.A. real estate. Lavigne and her husband, Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley, have bought a Bel-Air home for about $9.5 million.

Lavigne, 22, wanted to build a home but settled on buying one that was fairly new with substantial upgrades.

The three-story house behind gates has eight bedrooms and 10 1/2 baths in 12,000 square feet.

The Tuscan-style residence, on an acre, also has an elevator, an office, a state-of-the-art kitchen, a steam shower, a sauna, a pool, a spa and garage space for 10 cars.

Lavigne's move to court international fans is being studied by other artists as record sales in North America continue to decline, Billboard magazine reported.

The pop-punk star initially targeted her fans in Asia, where she makes 30 percent to 40 percent of her global album sales.

Lavigne, who released her debut album, "Let's Go," in 2002, is scheduled to appear as the musical guest next weekend on "Saturday Night Live." Her third album, "The Best Damn Thing," is due out April 17.

Filmmaker/playwright stages

Malibu beachfront sale

Tyler Perry, a filmmaker whose "Daddy's Little Girls" recently hit movie theaters, has put his Malibu beachfront home on the market at $5.35 million.

The producer-director-writer-actor hasn't used his Malibu retreat much. The tri-level contemporary, with 61 feet of beach frontage, has two bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths in 3,000 square feet. It also has walls of glass and remote-controlled drapes.

Perry, 37, is based in Atlanta, where he used the city as a setting for the film "Diary of a Mad Black Woman."

Perry made his debut as a film director and writer with the grass-roots hit "Madea's Family Reunion." He is also known for his theatrical productions.

Historic home of Dodgers

owner makes homerun sale

The longtime Lake Arrowhead retreat of Walter Francis O'Malley, the onetime L.A. Dodgers owner, has been sold for close to $1.7 million.

O'Malley, who died in 1979 at age 75, and his wife, Kay, made the five-bedroom Swiss chalet their vacation house soon after he brought the Dodgers from Brooklyn to L.A. in 1958.

The lakefront, 4,000-square-foot home, designed by the O'Malleys, was sold by the family after he died. The current seller owned it for more than 15 years. The home includes a single-slip dock and a dock house with a kitchen and a fireplace.

Drama begets drama, home moves

from one producer to another

Blake Masters, creator and executive producer of Showtime's new series "Brotherhood," and his wife, Melissa, a talent agent at the Paul Kohner Agency, have purchased the L.A. home of Laurie McCarthy, executive producer of the recently canceled NBC series "Windfall."

She also was a producer of "CSI: Miami" and "The Handler."

The residence in the Beachwood Canyon section sold for slightly more than $1.5 million.

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