After power couple Kelly Dodd and Rick Leventhal were axed from their network TV jobs last June, the real work began.
Dodd, a former “Real Housewives of Orange County” star, was let go from her gig on the reality show the same week Leventhal left his 24-year career at Fox News.
But the free time gave them space to pursue an unexpected venture: In November, a year after they got married, the couple bought a modest house and plan on flipping it into a boutique hotel.
Dodd and Leventhal dropped $715,000 on a three-bedroom, three-bathroom Palm Desert fixer-upper, records show.
“I like something that is really ugly in the beginning and then you can make it beautiful,” Dodd, 46, told The Post.
Coincidentally, the project could lead them back to reality TV. Several producers have already approached the couple about being the stars of a home-improvement show, The Post can report.
“We already have producers reaching out to us wanting to do home-renovation types of shows,” Dodd revealed. “But we are exploring our options and seeing what the best deal is for us.”
Leventhal, 61, told The Post the transaction was done in an all-cash deal this past November.
“We really want to hold on to the property and rent it out like a hotel,” Dodd told The Post. “We want to build a separate casita, so we can get our hotel license, and build a pickleball court. It has a pool, and we are going to build a spa. We are going to put in a lot of money into the house.”
They made the purchase after plans of another project fell through.
“We bought a nearly 2.5-acre lot last spring at the Polo Estates in La Quinta and hired an architect to draw up plans for a nearly 7,000-square-foot home we planned to use and rent out,” Leventhal explained….