Indian American Entrepreneur Anita Verma-Lallian Buys Matthew Perry’s Los Angeles Home for $8.55 Million
- The real estate consultant and film production company founder conducted a pooja at her new property “to honor the positive aspects” of the deceased actor’s life.
Real estate consultant and film production company founder Anita Verma-Lallian has bought the Los Angeles home of actor Matthew Perry. She reportedly purchased it for $8.55 million last month, nearly a year after the death of the “Friends” star.
Verma-Lallian, 42, is the founder of Camelback Productions, described as “Arizona’s first female and South Asian-owned film production company,” which focuses on South Asian storytelling. She is a well-known commercial real estate consultant as well. She began her company, Arizona Land Consulting, after leaving her family business, Vermaland, a development and banking company. The business is now run by Anita’s parents, Kuldip and Binu Verma, along with her sister Jennifer.
A supporter of Kamala Harris, Verma-Lallian co-hosted a fundraiser for the vice president and her husband Doug Emhoff. “I’m encouraged by their push and aspiration for economic growth in Arizona,” she said at the time. She was also among attendees at the recent Diwali celebration’s at the White House.
The news of the Perry home purchase broke after Verma-Lallian posted photos of a pooja she conducted to bless her new property. “I am Hindu, and it’s customary to do a blessing and prayer anytime you buy a new home,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “We were so lucky to have our Panditji from Arizona come to the house to do the blessing,” she added. The pooja was held beside the pool where the Perry’s body was found last October, following a Ketamine overdose.
In the Instagram post, Verma-Lallian expressed her excitement to share the news. “The moment I walked into the home, I absolutely fell in love with the features, especially the view of the Pacific Ocean,” she wrote. “We knew it was ‘the one’ and decided to write an offer on it immediately.”
Herself a real estate developer, she said she “believes every property has a history that we may or may not know about, and every home carries the energy that the current owner brings to it,” she wrote. So she “chose to honor the positive aspects” of Perry’s life, “his immense talent, and all the joy he brought to so many people.” However, “the decision to purchase the home had nothing to do with the previous owner, just our love of the home,” she added, noting that they “plan to keep some of the design elements,” especially “the batman logo in the pool.”
According to The New York Times, “the 3,500-square-foot, midcentury modern home” was built in 1965. It has “four bedrooms, ocean views, wine storage and walls of glass,” the Times said, adding that Perry bought the place in 2020 for $6 million.
At the launch of d Camelback Production last January, Verma-Lallian said she decided to expand her horizons due to the lack of diversity in the industry. “I want my children to see themselves when they watch TV,” she said. “I want my daughter’s dream to become an actress to become a reality. Skin color shouldn’t be a barrier to that.”
In an July interview with CanvasRebel magazine, Verma-Lallian talked abut her foray into real estate. When she was working for her family’s business, Vermaland, she “noticed a lot of opportunity within the real estate industry for large developers and small investors to invest in land.” After she finalized “a large transaction,” in June 2020, she decided to go out on her own and launch Arizona Land Consulting. “My business concept was original and uniquely tailored – I was motivated to create a mechanism for small investors to participate,” she said.
Top photo: Entrepreneur Anita Verma-Lallian performs pooja at her new home in Los Angeles, which belonged to actor Matthew Perry.