Luxury real estate. ANGELINA JOLIE AND BRED PITT ARE PLANNING TO BUY HOUSE IN NEW ORLEANS

Neighbors have seen them come and go and can't be more tickled that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have moved into New Orleans' French Quarter.

Rayna Nielsen, who lives across the street from the early 1830s masonry mansion where the celebrity couple has been spotted, said it's great if they're going to be a part of the community.

Nielsen said the street was closed off while the couple moved in earlier this month.

Pitt's latest film, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," has been filming in New Orleans since November.

Real estate records for the house, which is near the French Market, show it was purchased for $3.5 million in cash on Jan. 2. Neither Pitt nor Jolie are named in the transaction. Mondo Bongo Trust is listed as the buyer.

A real estate listing shows the house has a grand spiral staircase, elevator, gourmet kitchen, a large private courtyard and a separate two-story guest house. It also has private parking for two cars -- a luxury in the French Quarter.

Still, just how much time Pitt and Jolie and their three children will be spending in it remains unknown. Their 5-year-old son, Maddox, is old enough to be enrolled in school, though it's unclear whether the couple has selected a school for him in New Orleans. The other two children are daughters Zahara, age two, and seven-month-old Shiloh.

Regardless, residents said Pitt, Jolie and their family are a welcome addition to the city.

The celebrity couple has helped raise awareness of the city's devastation following Hurricane Katrina. Pitt, an architecture enthusiast, teamed up last year with Global Green USA to sponsor an eco-friendly design competition to rebuild parts of the city that were the hardest hit by the August 2005 storm.

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