Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran found her slice of heaven in a trailer park.
The millionaire real estate investor behind one of the biggest firms in New York’s history, The Corcoran Group, has a $10 million duplex in Manhattan and has sold her fair share of luxury properties.
But if she had to pick one place to live, it would be the double-wide mobile home overlooking the Pacific Ocean she bought for $802,000 in 2017.
That was until it was destroyed in minutes.
The two-and-a-half bedroom home in the Tahitian Terrace Mobile Home Park was gutted by the Palisades Fire that devastated Los Angeles neighborhoods in January.
The property she has cherished for the last seven years, and has spent $150,000 renovating, was reduced to ashes along with the rest of the neighborhood.
Now she and devastated residents from the tight-knit community are desperate to find out when they can return, and are stuck in limbo as the owner decides whether she can salvage what’s left and rebuild.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Corcoran said some of her traumatized former neighbors are confused and waiting with ‘bated breath’ over the future of the mobile homes.
Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran said she is determined to rebuild her three-bedroom trailer at the Tahitian Terrace mobile home park, which was destroyed by the Pacific Palisades fire in January
A stunning view of the Pacific Ocean from Barbara Corcoran’s mobile home before it was destroyed
She added that she would rather rebuild her beloved Pacific Palisades home than settle in her New York City penthouse.
‘Nothing’s coming down definitive at all [on plans to rebuild]. But I do know one thing — every single person I have spoken to, which is just about everybody in the park at this point, is waiting with bated breath to build their new home. No one is thinking of leaving,’ Corcoran said.
‘There are very elderly folks who have lived at the park for years, and they panic a lot.
‘But in the absence of information there is always false rumors. Anything like that makes people nervous, and I don’t think I even expected to hear anything quantitative from the owner.
Corcoran has been helping displaced Tahitian Terrace families rent temporary homes or stay in hotels.
There were more than 200 residents who lived in the 158 prefabricated homes. All but one was destroyed in the blaze.
Many were in their 80s and 90s, on fixed income and depended on the park’s rent control after careers working in civil service or the entertainment industry as crew members.
Others were younger middle class families who were attracted to a more affordable part of the wealthy Pacific Palisades enclave.
Some who live in Tahitian Terrace have been back since the fire to try and retrieve any belongings that survived. Most found nothing left.
Corcoran said she decided to buy at Tahitian Terrace when she got tired of staying in Beverly Hills hotels when she would tape Shark Tank.
Compared to the multi-million dollar mansions surrounding it, the property with pristine ocean views was a steal at just $802,000.
She described it as her ‘special hidden secret’ and was immediately drawn to the people who lived there.
Barbara Corcoran said she decided to buy the $802,000 property when she got tired of staying in Beverly Hills hotels while taping Shark Tank
Corcoran called her trailer-by-the-sea her ‘little Taj Mahal’
She bought the double-wide trailer in 2017. It was the largest mobile home on Tahitian Terrace
Corcoran showed off her slice of heaven in a tour for TikTok influencer Caleb Simpson. She fears she may never be able to return
The beachside mobile park community consisted of mostly seniors and middle-class families who worked in the entertainment industry or worked for nearby cities
‘I think I was only rich one in the whole community, and I swear to God, I liked it that way,’ Corcoran said.
‘If rich people moved in, it would’ve been a very different kind of neighborhood. The town of Palisades is definitely ‘rich’ but a lot of the people who lived in that park were not.’
‘It’s funny, I live in a lot of places, and I love all my homes because I love fixing them up, renovating, decorating, as many women do,’ Corcoran told Daily Mail.
‘But I have to say, when I used to think about my homes and think, ‘What home, if I had one home, if I was going to hit the poor house and I just had to live one place, pick the one place?’ It would have been my trailer.
‘It’s such a simple way to live. I’m definitely going to, actually, if I can rebuild it, I’m going to dump my other houses and just move in there. That’s what I’m going to do and be happily ever after.’
But plans to restore the community to its former glory could take years.
Mary McDonald, star of Bravo’s Million Dollar Decorators, is one of the co-owners of Tahitian Terrace.
The oceanfront site has been in her family for generations, but the fire has thrown its future into doubt.
However, panic among displaced residents is growing after some were given their deposits back recently, a source told DailyMail.com.
McDonald, a decorator who boasts a list of celebrity clients, holds the key to what happens next with Tahitian Terrace.
Mary McDonald, star of Bravo’s Million Dollar Decorators, is one of the owners of the Tahitian Terrace mobile home park. The Bravolebrity said she is still unsure if they can even rebuild
Brandon and Swea Zamel dig through the remains of their burned home at Tahitian Terrace on Jan 24, 2025
She admitted to DailyMail.com that there has been some confusion over deposits, but she acknowledges that rebuilding the mobile homes would be an enormous undertaking.
Like many others picking up the pieces from the fires, she is waiting to find out when they can clean up the site.
And she and her brother have not yet made any definitive decisions on whether they will rebuild.
‘We have not said one way or the other because we are still exploring what it would even take to rebuild, McDonald said. ‘It’s a huge undertaking. We can’t even get answers as to when it will be cleaned up.’
McDonald said her grandfather, who was an attorney, built Tahitian Terrace in the 1960s.
‘My grandfather built it as a project and he loved the Palisades,’ McDonald said. ‘So obviously, there’s a lot of memories for us there too. It’s a very special place.’
McDonald confirmed some residents who asked for their deposit back were provided their money.
‘It is not a functioning, operating mobile home park as it stands, so if they ask for a deposit back, we’re just doing the right thing,’ McDonald said.
‘There’s a lot of rules that have to do with mobile home park ownership that has nothing to do with whether we’re reopening or not.
She added: ‘We are still exploring what to do just like the rest of the world. People are making assumptions that has nothing to do with the park ownership. We’re waiting for the city and what they can do to even clean it up.
‘And if that’s not cleaned up, we can’t even deal with the infrastructure to know what is. We are in the same exploratory period as the rest of the people in the Palisades.’
Mary McDonald said some of her tenants have asked for their deposits back, but she and her brother, who also owns the land, have yet to decide if they will rebuild
Street signs at the mobile home park melted in the heat of the fast-moving Palisades Fire
Residents at the mobile home park said they are anxiously waiting on the land owners’ decision on whether they will rebuild, which could take years
Many of the mobile homes were occupied by seniors on fixed income who have lived there for years. Others worked in the entertainment industry or are civil servants who were able to afford the beachside trailers because of rent control
Corcoran said she has spoken to a lot of her former neighbors, many who want to return to the park and rebuild.
The businesswoman said the ocean view was not the only reason why she wants to come back.
‘I’ve lived in New York most of my life, so you don’t find friendly people here,’ she said. ‘They’re so old fashioned and ask, ‘Can you come over and play a game of checkers? Like, ‘Wow, I haven’t been invited to checkers since I was 12!”
Corcoran said more than 80 percent of her neighbors were seniors on fixed income and middle-class families who worked in civil service or the entertainment industry as crew members.
‘It was slow-paced and almost the entire community was retired,’ she said. ‘And when they did work, they were staffers. They were radio men. They were mic men. The lady I bought the house from was a stunt woman. So everybody’s humble.
‘I could go on forever. I mean, what I miss so most of all, which I didn’t think I’d be able to say this, is I really miss my neighbors. I don’t think I’ll ever find I don’t think I’ll ever find that combination again.
‘You’re in a great location on a cheap price and you have every neighbor agreeing with you. It was just delicious!’
After the January fires destroyed the mobile home park and most of the Pacific Palisades, Corcoran set up a GoFundMe for her neighbors.
The GoFundMe page has raised a total of $187,604 to date, and Corcoran has matched it with her own funds.
She said some of her neighbors initially refused the financial help until others who were in more desperate need were taken care of first.
Mary McDonald posted this picture on her social media on Jan. 8, 20204. ‘Devastation. I was born and raised in Los Angeles and have lived through many fires and floods and this is the worst yet in Los Angeles. May we all say a prayer for everyone’s safety first and all who have lost their homes,’ she wrote
‘We gave away the money so fast that people needed their first month’s rent,’ the TV star said.
‘They needed hotel money. That really made me realize that people really had nothing. We bought people walkers. We bought one lady a wheelchair. They left it all behind.
‘Most of them who needed money started the conversation with an apology and said they really could wait.
‘They wanted neighbors who really needed money to have the money first. Everybody was for their neighbor, and that’s an unusual thing. Everybody was so generous.’
When asked if she would consider buying the land if the current owners decide to sell, the Shark Tank star said she would pass.
‘God, I never even thought of that,’ Corcoran told the Daily Mail. ‘First of all, I don’t think I could afford it. Honestly, it’s like 200 houses, 200 little plots, I think.
‘No, I wouldn’t welcome a new business, and that would be a full time business for that kind of development, even if you had all the help in the world.
‘I’m too smart. I know too much about development. However, I would make every motion I possibly could to make sure we could rebuild.’
