Why Would Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck Sell Their Home Off-Market? Celeb Realtor Josh Altman Explains

PEOPLE talked to the ‘Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles’ star to find out why high profile stars opt for low profile listings

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are quietly trying to sell the $61 million Beverly Hills mansion they’ve shared since 2023, a source tells PEOPLE — and the way they're doing it is actually very common for A-list couples.

Celebrity real estate agent and Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles star Josh Altman, who is not associated with Affleck and Lopez's listing, but has sold homes for Kim Kardashian and Heather Dubrow, tells PEOPLE why some stars choose their approach.

“Selling your house is a very public thing on many different levels,” says Altman. “Everybody has access to information these days on the internet. People can find out how you live from pictures. They get to know how your house sits, what rooms look like. It's actually a pretty invasive process, in general.”

Altman says it’s not only massive stars like Lopez and Affleck who sell off-market, but also prominent business people and anyone well-known in their community who wants to keep their business under the radar.

Altman, who leads the Altman Brothers team at Douglas Elliman with his brother Matt and wife Heather, says a big part of their business is conducted off-market.

Related: Inside Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s Multimillion-Dollar Real Estate Empire as They Quietly List Marital Home

“Especially living in Hollywood, just because of location, at least 25 to 50 deals a year are going to be celebrities, high-profile celebrities,” he says. “Some of them love the press, and some of them are completely opposite and don't. They get enough press and they would rather not get any more.”

As for Lopez and Affleck, who’ve dominated headlines amid reports of marital strain, Altman sees two reasons why they wouldn’t want to publicly list their property.

The first is that the listing photos would reveal “the way that they're living.”

“I doubt we'll ever see any pictures of the house now, as it's lived in with their stuff in it. I highly doubt it," he adds.

The second reason is that a public listing would likely attract visitors with no actual intention of buying.

“I've dealt with it a billion times before,” Altman says. “There's always going to be people who pretend [to be potential buyers] because they just get a kick out of seeing a house or touring a house, or they want to see a famous person's house. I assume that the access is going to be extremely limited. It's going to be people that are going to be as pre-qualified and [have] proof of funds as you could ever imagine before they get access to it.”

“It's probably going to be more background work done before showing than you typically would ever see,” he adds.

Related: Behind Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's Decision to Sell Their $61 Million Mansion (Exclusive Source)

And because properties with a price tag north of $50 million are so rare, Altman says all of the upper echelon L.A. agents are going to know when one becomes available.

“We're going to know who to call and get access and we're going to know it's available, whether it's on the market or not,” he says. “And typically when somebody is looking to spend that type of money, they're going to come through, probably, one of those top agents.”

He says a $61 million house, for instance, is “totally different” from a house in the $3 million range, for which the seller would be “missing a huge buyer pool” if they didn’t put it on the market publicly.

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Altman also points out that at that price level, the buyer is probably going to be someone “extremely high profile” who may not want the press.

“If it's off-market, a deal might be able to get done without press getting involved and without people talking about it,” he says. “So we may very well just hear that it's sold at some point when the deal's done, not ‘Hey, we're in escrow’ and everybody starts talking about it. Some deals have gotten done in the past where it just becomes almost a press event before it closes.”

Altman adds of Lopez and Affleck’s home, “Personally, I love that house. I think it's amazing. It's one of my favorite houses.”

The couple purchased the home in the spring of 2023 after they tied the knot in July 2022. Reps for Lopez and Affleck have not commented on the news.

The 38,000 square-foot home is located on five acres of land, and the house has "12 bedrooms, 24 bathrooms, a 12-car garage and a pool, plus a sports complex with basketball and pickleball facilities, a gym and a boxing ring," per the Wall Street Journal.

Sources have said the Atlas star is living in the Beverly Hills mansion while Affleck is staying at a rental home a few miles away while filming his movie The Accountant 2.

Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles returns for season 15 on Wednesday, July 10 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

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