Best-selling author Dean Koontz has been on something of a residential real-estate buying spree in Irvine in the past six months. Just before the high holidays, the writer picked up an attractive contemporary Hacienda-style estate in the Shady Canyon community of the California city, and earlier this spring he shelled out a substantial sum for a contemporary Tuscan-style fairway estate on the Shady Canyon golf course. The two purchases totaled over $22 million.

Not to worry, though; Koontz had plans to sell his present home, a whopper of a place a few miles east of his new stomping ground. He marketed the property near Newport Beach quietly starting in January, and along came mortgage billionaire Glenn Stearns with $50 million to buy it. The estate is situated in the Newport Coast community, and anchored by a 30,000 square foot house.

The estate fills out a cul-de-sac overlooking the ocean. Koontz christened the place ‘Amazing Grace’. The interiors turn to art deco and Frank Lloyd Wright for inspiration, and include a lounge with a curved bar, a home theater, and a library with illuminated stacks.

The sale represents a record for Orange County. The record had previously been held by the 2016 sale of Twin Points, an estate in Laguna Beach, which sold for $45 million. That property was initially listed at $75 million.

Koontz is a prolific author whose books have sold over 450 million copies.

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