Actress Busy Philipps takes a big loss on her 2,204-square-foot house in the Whitley Heights area of Los Angeles’ Hollywood neighborhood, selling it for $1.075M — almost $275K less than she paid for it in 2005

Actress Elizabeth “Busy” Philipps has sold her 2,204-square-foot, Spanish-style house in the Whitley Heights area of Los Angeles’ Hollywood neighborhood at a pretty significant loss for $1,075,000, and we’re pretty sure that the bargain-seeking buyer is a celebrity as well (although one we are not as yet able to identify). Philipps is continuing to live in a different house in Whitley Heights.

In a Big Time Listings exclusive, we can report on Philipps’ sale of her house at 6867 Iris Circle in Hollywood. Records show that Philipps, 29, sold the house in early January.

Built in 1923, the “Dawson’s Creek” actress’ now-former house at 6867 Iris Circle has four bedrooms and four baths, according to public records, or three bedrooms and three baths, according to listing information. Features in the house include a steam shower, a clawfoot tub, hardwood floors, a new chef’s kitchen with stainless steel appliances and a Wolf stove, a security system, and a rooftop patio off the master bedroom, according to listing information. Outdoor features on the gated and minuscule, 0.08-acre (3,568-square-foot) lot, which easily has to be one of the smallest celebrity-owned tracts we’ve ever run across, include tropical landscaping, city and mountain views, and an outdoor spa, according to public records and listing information. Philipps, who gave birth to her first child last August, first listed the house last June for $1,425,000, but later lowered its asking price to $1,249,000. She had purchased the house in late 2005 for $1,349,000, according to public records.

Philipps sold the house because she and her screenwriter husband Marc Silverstein now own a 4,867-square-foot house nearby, which they purchased in March 2008 for $2,100,000, according to public records.

The reason we believe that the buyer of 6867 Iris Circle is a celebrity is because records show that the buyer was the whimsically named In God We Trust. Although we haven’t yet figured out who the celebrity is behind the In God We Trust (and we are of course asking our readers to do so), we would note that the money manager whose name appeared on the deed of this transaction is none other than that of Barry Greenfield. Longtime, loyal readers of our column know that Greenfield has represented a plethora of celebrities in their home purchases over the years, including Hilary Swank, Jason Priestley, Ivan Sergei, and others. (For the record, actor/magician Harry Anderson has in the past owned L.A.-area property under an Ingodwe Trust, but we don’t believe Harry bought this house; he strikes us as being pretty comfortably ensconced in his current digs in Asheville, N.C.)

So, dear readers, we reach out to you and ask: which celebrity purchased this house from Busy Philipps? Who is the new owner of 6867 Iris Circle?

Check out an online listing sheet for Philipps’ former house at Curbed LA’s coverage of the house when it first came on the market. Also, take a look at a still-extant official site for the house.

One final note of trivia: numerous accounts, including our pal E.J. over at the Movieland Directory, contend that Rachel Bilson owned this house from November 2004, when she purchased it from actress Rose McGowan for $1,235,000, until Bilson sold it in late 2005 to Philipps for $1,349,000. Our review of public records shows nothing to dispute that.