This large home in Cotuit, Massachusetts takes traditional Cape Cod style to a new level. The home is on seven acres and has waterfront views. The land includes a pool area and a guest house with a turret and a circular staircase. The shingled home combines rough wood beams and exposed brick with columns and double-height ceilings to create a home that manages to be both cottage cute and a bit extravagant. The listing references a lot of France, pointing out that every room in the house features a chandelier, mostly imported from Paris, the kitchen features a professional eight burner Parisian stove and the master bedroom has glass etched doors reminiscent of Lalique styling. There are four bedrooms total and the home also has a library, fitness area and a wine cellar/grotto. The home is being sold furnished and is listed at $12.5 million.

For more prime properties and lush locations, see Luxury Homes and Mansions.

While places like Cape Cod and the Hamptons get absolutely jampacked in the summer months there are always enclaves where you can still capture the peace and beauty that drew people to these locations in the first place. Today's home is located in the town of Chatham on Cape Cod in a very private and prestigious neighborhood. The house, which was built in 2003 and designed by Francis Sullivan, is perched high above the shoreline for optimum views of the Atlantic and Monomoy Islands. The six-bedroom home has an impressive great room with stone and wood architectural touches, gourmet kitchen,large first-floor master suite, billiards room, and a lower level level filled with every amenity imaginable. The property is landscaped with lawns and lovely gardens and is listed at $12.95 million which makes it the priciest house on the market in town.

For more prime properties and lush locations, see Luxury Homes and Mansions.

In the summer it can take an awfully long time to get to the outer reaches of Cape Cod, Massachusetts but it is worth it. Today's estate is a prime example of the reason that thousands flock to the Cape once the weather warms up. It is situated on a sheltered salt water inlet with access to Pleasant Bay. The four-bedroom home is on an acre of land and it has a new kitchen, a large living room with vaulted ceilings and a screened porch. One particularly charming detail is the boathouse at the water's edge with a loft area and game room. . It is listed at $4.275 million, pricey for a home with less than 4,000 square feet but you are paying for the location in one of the most picturesque New England towns. Although the middle range of the Cape Cod market has dropped considerably, prices of the high end home still seem to be reaching for the stars.

Cape Cod style taken to its luxurious end results in this shingled five-bedroom home. It is one of five gated estate properties on 46 acres sharing a tennis court and a beach on Cape Cod Bay. The home has a guesthouse/three car garage linked to the main house by a columned porch. The home has ocean views and a look that is both classic and modern. The hardwood floors and brick fireplaces add a homespun touch and I'm a bit smitten with the barn-like great room. One end of the house has cozy sun rooms with perfect views on each floor. This home is listed at $11.5 million.

This summer is one of the first in my life that I won't be visiting Cape Cod so I have a tender spot for Cape real estate at the moment. This home in the quaint village of Osterville in the middle of the Cape offers a few key features prized in a Cape home. This Pine Island estate is surrounded by water and has over two acres of space, much of it is unspoiled marsh. A deepwater dock provides quick access to the ocean. The house itself was built in the 1930s and has a charming shingled exterior. Because it is an older Cape home the ceilings seem a bit low and some of the rooms have been updated while others look like they haven't been touched in a while. Still, the bones are good and the charm is intact. The home is listed at $9.9 million. After the jump, an upstairs in desperate need of an overhaul.

Allow me to wax nostalgic for a bit. After all, this week finds me on Cape Cod, the place where I was raised, for perhaps the last time for a long time. My mother has decided to move to Florida and so I am here helping her pack up and move on. I have seen today's estate which is located in West Hyannisport from the water before, so it's neat to learn some of the details of it. The home itself is an over 10,000 square foot home that sits on nearly nine acres of prime real estate, with views of Nantucket Sound. The home was designed by Richard Bertman combining a classic New England shingle style design with turrets and a 40 foot tower. The home has an impressive white rotunda which isn't visible on the listing but can be seen on the CBT architects website. For your fitness efforts there is a window-lined pool room with a gunite pool, sauna, hot tub, and a staircase to the exercise room on the second floor which has a padded floor. There are four guest bedroom guest suites with private baths. There is an outbuilding that is home to a six car garage, a three-bedroom guest house and a caretaker's apartment with one bedroom. It is listed at $23 million which seems a bit ambitious to me given what I know about real estate on the Cape lately. After the jump, just ripping the window treatments out would really help show off the contemporary look of this home.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Deep discounts for Bubble Hill, Eddie Murphy's New Jersey home is now down to $22 million (from an original listing price of $30 million). His Dutchess County farm, known as "Clove Hill," is also listed at $$9.9 million check it out later as our estate of the day.
-- A five-bedroom apartment at 2 E. 67th St. is expected to be sold as part of an estate sale in the low-$30 million range. The prewar home has 16 rooms and several fireplaces.
--Robert De Niro is still renting Central Park West but almost bought a triplex penthouse in a renovated townhouse at 3 E. 75th St. The townhouse is back on the market for $20 million.
--The planned condo project at 485 Fifth Ave. is a no-go. Deposits have been returned and the developers are thinking of turning it into a hotel. This is a move we have seen in a lot of condo projects in trouble but not usually in ones were almost half of the units are already sold.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Her Serene Highness Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, a German noble has bought a full-floor co-op at 14 West 17th Street for $3.2 million for her daughter, Princess Elisabeth.
--Jean Pierre Collardeau, a con man who took investors for over $20 million has sold his apartment for $1.68 million. The money will go toward reimbursing his victims.
-- Designer George Beylerian has sold his 9,750-square-foot brownstone at 16 East 77th Street for $10.4 million. He bought the brownstone in 1977 for $270,000.

From the Wall Street Journal:
-- Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale have bought a Beverly Hills home once owned by actress and singer Jennifer Lopez for close to the $15.5 million asking price.
--Matthew Maxwell Kennedy, son of the late senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, has put his six-bedroom home in Hyannisport on Cape Cod on the market for $5.995 million. The shingled home is located around the corner from the main Kennedy compound The listing is here.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
Macy Gray has put her Encino home on the market for $4.559 million. Fun features of the home include a basketball court with a mural, dual staircases, a dome ceiling and pool and spa. The listing is here.
--Michael Berns, consulting producer on the CBS drama "Waterfront" has listed his Point Dume home at $3.5 million. The home has five bedrooms, access to a private beach, outdoor shower and a master bathroom that has a steam shower with a sound system and dual rainheads. The listing is here.
--Kells Jesse, a production designer and his wife, Meshell, have bought a home in La Cañada Flintridge for $915,000.
--More sports action in Manhattan Beach, basketball player Slava Medvedenko has sold his home to L.A. Kings hockey player Alexander Frolov for about $2.3 million.
--Cheryl Chase, the voice of Angelica C. Pickles on the cartoon series "Rugrats," has listed her Sunset Strip-area home for $1.2 million. The charming, traditional home has a white picket fence, three bedrooms and an office/den. The listing is here.

Another great auction from J.P. King is set for mid-September. Join me on a tour of Hedgebound, beautiful Cape Cod estate. Hedgebound is on 3.25 acres and is located in Truro, offering access to some of the Cape's least crowded and most scenic beaches. The seven-bedroom Greek Revival style home is believed to have been built in the mid-1880s. The home has been updated but not so much that it has lost its New England charm; it makes use of reclaimed materials to keep the antiquated look. Details include a large kitchen with a soapstone counter, a formal dining room, sitting area with a fireplace and beautiful porches. The land includes gardens, stone walls, rock gardens, and walking trails. There is also a carriage house with a two-bedroom apartment. Hedgebound will be auctioned off on September 21. After the jump, someone really loves the look of a trunk at the foot of the bed.

This week I'll be writing from my childhood stomping grounds on Cape Cod, Massachusetts so I had to take a look at the top property in my hometown. This brick home was built in the 1920s, a time when vacationing on the Cape was perhaps at it's most luxurious. The home has views of the Centerville River, East Bay and Nantucket Sounds and has immediate access to a white sand beach and a deep water dock. The property also includes a gunite pool, two bedroom guesthouse and a unique stone tower. The six-bedroom home could use a bit of an interior update. It is listed at $8.2 million. After the jump, classic Cape Cod.