As Newsday reports, Richard Gere already has a home in North Haven, New York and so he's a motivated seller when it comes to his Water Mill home. Richard Gere and wife Carey Lowell have lowered the asking price for the seven-bedroom farmhouse from $8.8 million to $7.2 million,

Gere had his New York apartment in Julian Schnabel's Palazzo Chupi on the market for almost a year (it was last listed at $15 million but the listing has now disappeared). The charming Too Many Maples in Water Mill was bought by Gere and Lowell for $2.75 million back in 2001. The home is on a 1.2 acre lot that includes a swimming pool, guest house and artist's studio. The gracious country residence has been given a comfortable renovation that has the offhand casual appeal that it often takes quite a bit of money to attain. Antique wood floors and vintage light fixtures add to the classic style. Details like a farmhouse style table in the dining room and white marble counter tops set the stage for lazy food-filled weekends while the wide porch offers the perfect place to wile away the afternoon. What say you, is this photogenic home owned by a photogenic couple right priced now or will they have to dip closer to the $5 million mark in order to get it to contract?

A bunch of celebrities including Mariah Carey, Seal, Richard Gere, Sharon Stone and Paris Hilton wound up at the Mardan Palace Hotel in Antalya, Turkey this Memorial Day weekend. The NY Post reports that Carey picked up a $1.5 million paycheck for performing at the opening of the hotel which bills itself as "Europe's most expensive hotel." The Post says Tom Jones also got the same fee. Other celebs reportedly earned more modest sums simply for showing up. Pics from the event in the gallery below.

Richard Gere has put another of his homes up for sale. Gere had his New York apartment in Julian Schnabel's Palazzo Chupi on the market for almost a year (it was last listed at $15 million but the listing has now disappeared). Now one of his homes in the Hamptons, the charming Too Many Maples in Water Mill, New York is listed. The Real Estalker reports that the renovated farm house was bought by Gere and his wife Carey Lowell for $2.75 million back in 2001. The seven-bedroom home is on a 1.2 acre lot that includes a swimming pool, guest house and artist's studio. The gracious country residence has been given a comfortable renovation that has the offhand casual appeal that it often takes quite a bit of money to attain. Antique wood floors and vintage light fixtures add to the classic style. Details like a farmhouse style table in the dining room and white marble counter tops set the stage for lazy food-filled weekends while the wide porch offers the perfect place to wile away the afternoon. The home is listed at $8.8 million.
Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

A came across this organization when writing about Pippa Small's jewelry and thought I just had to include it in our Charity of the Day series. Survival International's mission is to protect tribal people's land and culture across the globe from encroaching governments and corporations whose expansion may very well wipe out these native populations. These secluded communities won't be able to preserve their way of life if other ambitious parties are not held in check. Support for this organization is possible through active participation such as sponsoring events, writing letters or becoming a campaigner (joining Richard Gere and Pippa Small as well) or through various levels of donations. Their website does a fantastic job of sharing their cause and enlightening those of us who wouldn't have known the depths of this struggle otherwise.

Larger-than-life artist/auteur Julian Schnabel has slashed the price on a duplex in his controversial Pepto-Bismol-pink Palazzo Chupi by more than $2 million. The apartment in question, one of several luxe spreads in the building, was originally listed at $27 million earlier this year, then quickly increased to $32 million, but Schnabel just lowered the asking price to $29.5 million, the Wall Street Journal reports. Richard Gere bought one of the lower-floor apartments for $12 million last year and recently put it back on the market for $18 million.

The apartment's Old World features include 14-ft. tall plaster walls, massive hand carved fireplaces, handmade bronze railings, solid stone and tile floors, and wood ceilings, all hand-selected by Schnabel -- as do those in the rest of the building, which is featured in Vanity Fair's May issue. The price cut is probably indicative of the slightly slumping Manhattan real estate market, which many feel to be mostly recession-proof. You can view the listing here.

For months the possibility of living with Richard Gere has been one of the quiet selling points for Palazzo Chupi, director Julian Schnabel's monument to his own Schnabeliciousness in New York's West Village. Now that dream is over, Gere's full-floor, four-bedroom apartment is listed with Sotheby's. Gere's apartment has some benefits over the over two apartments which are listed at $27 million and $32 million, mainly that it's a little less over-the-top and doesn't have that odd avocado-colored kitchen. Curbed states that Gere bought the apartment in September for $12 million and has listed at $17,995,000. Is New York ready for "Venice in Manhattan?" We'll have to wait and see how long these places stay on the market.

UPDATE: As of January 2009, Gere's home is listed at $15 million.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Mel Gibson has put his estate in Greenwich, Connecticut on the market for $39.5 million for the 28-room Tudor-style mansion on more than 75 acres. Gibson bought the home in 1994 for a reported $9.25 million. It has 15 bedrooms, 12 full bathrooms, a great room with a 40-foot ceiling and a massive fireplace and landscaped grounds that include a maze. The listing is here.
--Christie Brinkley is set to relist her Tower Hill estate in Bridgehampton. It was last on the market for asking price of $26.5 million.
--Fashion designer Tory Burch has just rented a s home in the Hamptons for the next four weeks for around $360,000.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Seagram liquor heir and Warner Music Chairman and C.E.O. Edgar Bronfman Jr. has sold his 31-foot-wide townhouse at 15 East 64th Street. It will become the second townhouse in New York City history to break the $50 million mark. He downsized into 1040 Fifth Avenue which was listed at $19.5 million.
--John Cleese, who recently put his gorgeous California ranch on the market for $28 million, has bought a New York apartment for under $1.5 million.
--A two-bedroom loft at 380 West 12th Street was sold by American socialist leaders Jack Barnes and Mary-Alice Waters for $1,872,500.
--Gregg Hughes of the Opie and Anthony radio show has bought a 40th-floor apartment in the Trump Place complex for $3.35 million.

From the Real Estalker:
--Jamie Kennedy has picked up a modern house in Los Feliz owned by fashion designer Philippe Naouri which was listed at $2.275 million.
-- Salvator Xuereb and his wife writer Nikki Toscano have purchased a home in the Franklin Hills/Los Feliz area for $915,000.
--Michael Madsen's Malibu home has headed for foreclosure is now listed at $7.8 million, a deep discount since it was on the market for $9.95 million just a few months ago. The listing is here.
--Once again a messy divorce equals a house on the market. Anne Heche is splitting from her cameraman hubby Coley Lafoon and their charming Paul Williams English-style Los Angeles home is on the market for $3.795 million. The listing is here.
--Britney Spears has put her Beverly Hills home back on the market, this time for $7.495 million (up a couple million from the last time she listed).
--Rumor has it that Paris Hilton is set to put her house on the market.

From Big Time Listings:
--The official price that Josh Duhamel and Fergie paid for their new house in Brentwood is $4.875 million.
--The official price for Denis Leary's Manhattan apartment is $3.9 million.
--Nicky Hilton's new Hollywood Hills home cost her $2.8 million.
--Richard Gere's Manhattan townhouse sold for $12.8 million.


A tip from a reader, Darlene:
--If Clarence Clemmons ever wants to give up the music business, the legendary sax player could do a fine business in real estate voiceover. Check out his smooth jazz and vocal stylings to sell his home at One City Plaza in West Palm Beach, Florida.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--Damon Dash has sold his Benedict Canyon home of five years for $3.6 million.
--Frank Leboeuf, a member of the French national soccer team when it won the World Cup in 1998, has just closed escrow on a Craftsman-style home in L.A.'s Miracle Mile area for $979,000.
--Radio man Todd Leitz has sold his Sherman Oaks home which was listed at $829,000 and bought a larger residence in Studio City for about $1.5 million.
--Gavin MacLeod, captain of "The Love Boat," lived in this '60s-style home from 1976 to 2001, and now it's on the market in Palm Springs at $899,000. The listing is here.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Tommy Mottola has re-listed his North Salem home with a new price of $19.5 million, it was an estate of the day last year at $21 million.
--Producers Kathleen Kennedy and her husband, Frank Marshall, have paid $2.695 million for a pied-a-terre at 120 Central Park South.
--Rumor has it that one of the buyers of one of the $50 million-plus condo at The Plaza is Italian real-estate tycoon Luigi Zunino, the CEO of Milan-based Risanamento S.p.A., one of Italy's largest real-estate development companies.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Richard Gere has sold his New York townhouse for around $9 million.
--Mary and Donald Graham, the C.E.O. and chairman of the Washington Post Company, have paid $4.65 million for a pied-à-terre at 262 Central Park West.
--The fabulous Lindemann apartment, an estate of the day back in 2006, has sold for $16.1 million.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--A contemporary-style house in the Beverly Hills area that once was owned by award-winning pianist and composer Burt Bacharach is available for $3,495,000. The listing is here.
--Actress Lisa Vidal has reduced the asking price of her five-bedroom, traditional-style house in Los Angeles' Studio City neighborhood to $1,995,000.
--Retired major-league baseball player David Cone has sold his mansion on 10 acres in Greenwich, Connecticut for $12 million and the buyers turned around and sold the house again for an undisclosed price, according to the Wall Street Journal.
--Talk-show host Larry King has sold his longtime Beverly Hills house for an undisclosed price.

From the Real Estalker:
--Might Michael Eisner be looking to sell his massive Malibu compound?
--A house that may belong to supermodel Rachel Hunter is on the market for $2.995 million.
--Ellen Degeneres and Portia Di Rossi are selling another home, we'll be looking at this as our estate of the day later today.
--If you need a gorgeous visual experience for your Sunday take the virtual tour for the fantastic home of screenwriter Akiva Goldsman on Cole Crest Drive in Los Angeles, CA, shown above. The home has a unique A-frame studio and an amazing view for $2.595 million. Goldsman is moving onto to another gorgeous home, Anthony Kiedis's pleasure palace.
--Jack Black has listed his Beachwood Canyon home for $1.699 million.
--Russell and Kimora Lee Simmons have now put their Doheny Drive home on the market for $5.8 million.
--The Osbournes Beverly Hills home may be back on the market for $11.995 million.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--Christopher Lloyd, has listed his residence in Montecito at close to $11.3 million. It looks like this one is the Montecito home we recently featured as an estate of the day.
--Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson and his wife, Melinda, have sold their Lake Arrowhead home for close to its asking price of $6.25 million.
--A Beverly Hills home once known as the See's Candies estate and owned by a founder of the company has sold for $35 million.

Richard Gere's plans to become the latest  celebrity to open a hotel have hit a snag. The NY Daily News reports that Gere and his business partner Russell Hernandez  paid $2.7 million for a 14-acre property in Bedford, New York. They plan to turn a fixer-upper old housing into a hotel and restaurant but need town approval in order to compete renovations because the buildings on the property are historic landmarks. Gere can't get town approval until it is proven that the plan will include handicap access. Hopefully by keeping his ambitions small,Gere will have better luck than some other celebs such as  George Clooney and his ill-fated Las Ramblas project.