Baltimore is buzzing over a big sale at the Ritz-Carlton Residences in Baltimore. A penthouse condo in the pricey project has sold for $12.6 million making it the largest condo deal at the project and in the city. Rumor has it that the buyer may be best selling author and part owner of the Orioles baseball team Tom Clancy. Clancy has created a suspense thriller empire that includes many books including the Jack Ryan series as well as a line of Clancy-branded video games.

The apartment is actually three combined penthouse units which equal nearly 12,000 square feet of space with four bedrooms, six balconies, a home theater and three semi-private elevators.

The announcement of the sale follows the recent news that a man had sued the developer of Baltimore's Ritz-Carlton Residences to get back the return of the nearly $1.1 million deposit he put down on three units there. In the suit he claimed that the representatives of the project's developers told him that he could buy the units at a special price and resell them without ever going through a closing. But on November 12, his lawyers filed a notice with the court that they are dismissing the case without prejudice. Sales have been slow at the project, since it opened in 2008, 22 out of 191 units have been sold.

Sports stars has a habit of retiring to Florida where the weather is warm and the living is easy. Luxury Real Estate recently announced the listing for a Jupiter, Florida home belonging to Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies.

The five-bedroom home is located in the Admirals Cove Golf and Yacht Club in Jupiter. Schmidt bought the home in 1991, two years after playing his last major league game. The 8,500 square foot home has been renovated with new kitchen appliances, a butler's pantry and wet bar, master suite with his and hers baths, exercise room, media room and study. The home has a pool and a full guest house with a bath. It has 120 feet of water frontage with a dock suitable for a large yacht. A golf membership must be sold with the home.

Rob Thomson, of Waterfront Properties says that Schmidt and his family love the Admiral Cove community and are looking for a more suitable home within the community now that their children have grown up. This home is listed at $4.5 million.

From the LA Times Hot Properties:
--Jason Winer, an executive producer and director of the ABC comedy "Modern Family," has listed his three-level Hollywood-area town house shown above for $599,000. Winer is selling because he is moving to a larger house in another Los Angeles neighborhood. He bought the town house in 2006 for $560,000. The listing is here.
--Annette Cook, the founder and chief executive of Barefoot Dreams, and her husband, Stan,have sold an ocean-view contemporary in Malibu for $3 million.
--Actor Conrad Bain has listed his longtime Brentwood home for sale at $3.175 million. The listing is here.
--Music industry executive Mark Mazzetti has sold his Hollywood Hills-area home for $1,089,000
--Actress Sandra Will Carradine has listed her beach house in Carpinteria's gated Rincon Point community for $4.29 million. The property website is here.

From Cityfile's Buyers and Sellers:
--Washington power lobbyists Tony and Heather Podesta have picked up a New York pied-à-terre, paying $3.247 million for an apartment at the Sohmer Piano Building at 170 Fifth Avenue.
--via the NY Observer, The Sloane mansion, which was once listed at $64 million, is now listed with a new broker and a new lower price, $39 million. The listing is here.

--via the NY Observer, a one-bedroom (plus library) apartment in the Sherry Netherland building has gone on sale for $9.5 million. The listing is here.

--Actress Kristen Johnston has closed on the sale of her duplex at 296 West 10th Street. The two-bedroom apartment with a solarium and terrace was listed for $1.795 million and sold for $1.7 million to costume designers John Orberg and Janet Kuhl.

--via Curbed, Armon Bar-Tur, a managing director at SafeHarbor Capital Partners, and his wife Rebecca, have found a buyer for their townhouse at 92 Charles Street. The four-bedroom home, which the couple bought for $6 million in 2006 and listed for $14.95 million in October, has gone into contract after less than a month on the market.
--Hedge funder Steve Stuart, who left Fortress Investment Group in 2007 has found a buyer for his 35th floor apartment at the Park Laurel on West 63rd Street. The four-bedroom condo, which Stuart bought for $5.4 million in 2004 and put on the market for $10.8 million in October 2008, sold this week to an unidentified buyer for $7.4 million.
--via the NY Post, real estate investor Michael Hirtenstein is the mystery buyer who has agreed to purchase financier Armon Bar-Tur's townhouse at 92 Charles Street for "about $13.5 million."
--via Curbed, Gigi Mahon, an interior decorator, author, and the wife of former Citicorp vice chairman Thomas Theobold, has put her two units at the Plaza on the market for $22.5 million. Mahon bought the two units separately for $3.66 million and $10.02 million back in 2007. The listing is here.
--via the NY Post, Mets outfielder Gary Sheffield and his wife have gone into contract to sell their home in Alpine, NJ. It had been listed for $5 million.

From Newsday's Real LI:
--Jamie Drake, the interior designer who counts Mayor Bloomberg as one of his clients, has put his East Hampton, New York home on the market for $2.9 million. The listing is here.

A Matinecock, New York mansion will go up for auction on November 17 auction. The auction is being held by Grand Estates Auction and the home will be sold to the highest bidder, with no reserves and no minimums and buyers must present a $50,000 certified check in order to bid on the property. The 5.33-acre estate is appraised at $10 million.
--Lands End, the 13.35-acre Sands Point estate which may have been the inspiration for Daisy Buchanan's home in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Great Gatsby," is back on the market with an approval for a five-lot subdivision and a price of $30 million. The property has a 25-room mansion was designed by Stanford White and built in 1902. The listing is here.
--Private eye Bo Dietl has gone into contract to sell his Manhasset home. The former cop and occasional TV commentator bought the home for $2.3 million in 2004, listed it for $3.295 million in August and is reportedly selling for "just over $3 million."


From ShelterPop:
--Ellen DeGeneras has purchased a horse ranch outside of Westlake Village, California.
--Lndsay Lohan and Sam Ronson both recently moved from their leased houses in the Beachwood Canyon area of Los Angeles and into leased condos at the very same West Hollywood high-rise building where Nicole Richie once owned multi-million dollar digs. Sam's previous place on Beachwood Canyon Drive iscurrently available for lease at $4,350 a month and Lindsay's former rental on El Contento Drive is also up for rent for $8,900 a month.

From AOL Real Estate:
--Check out a list of the most expensive homes on the market in the United States.

From the NY Post:
-- Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts have been spotted checking out listings at 120 11th Ave.
--Louise Sunshine, is helping her son, broker Sam Sunshine, sell the One Beacon Court apartment owned by her husband, Martin Begun. The apartment is listed at $6.75 million.
--Singer Frankie Valli has been showing some interest in a $3.3 million, three-bedroom apartment at the Rushmore, a luxury condo development on the Upper West Side. The apartment is now listed as 'in contract.'

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Connie Chung and Maury Povich are in contract to buy a home listed for $8.98 million in the Embassy Row area of Washington. The couple, with their son, plan to move from New York in 2010 or 2011.
--Former Lehman Brothers president Joseph M. Gregory has gone into contract on his seven-acre Manchester, Vermont estate, which he listed for $2.48 million. He bought the seven-acre Vermont property for $675,000 in 1993. His 2.5-acre oceanfront estate in Bridgehampton, New York remains on the market with an asking price of $27.9 million.


From the Real Estalker:
--Hollywood talent manager Jeff Kwatinetz has listed his four-bedroom Malibu home for $7.299 million. The listing is here.
--Sophia Loren's son Edoardo Ponti and his wife Sasha Alexander have listed their four-bedroom Los Angeles home for $2.135 million. The listing is here.
--Designer Max Azria has listed his home in Beverly Hills for $6.899 million. The listing is here.
--Celebrity hair stylist and reality television star Jonathan Antin has listed his four-bedroom home in Toluca Lake for $1.999 million. The listing is here.

From Zillow Blog:
--Curt Schilling has reduced the price of his Medfield, Massachusetts home again. It is now listed at $4.5 million down from an original $8 million.

Entertainment journalist and Dancing with the Stars co-host Samantha Harris and her husband Mark Hess have listed their home in the Westwood area of Los Angeles, California home for $1.595 million. Records on Property Shark show that they bought the four-bedroom home for $1.6 million in 2007 and so the pair won't make any money on the deal.

The Spanish-style home has wood beamed ceilings, hardwood floors, a freshly remodeled kitchen and a master suite that includes a bathroom with an extra large shower with double shower heads. A pretty pink princess room is decorated for the couple's two-year-old daughter and there is also a multicolored playroom. The home has a private sundeck.

[via Move Trends, via Celebs Digs HQ]

What's not to love about a castle that sits under the Hollywood sign? Especially if the price has been chopped from $7.5 million (the price the house was listed for in June 2008) to $4.7 million?

TV personality Debbie Matenopoulos and her soon-to-be-ex-husband Lionsgate Entertainment music executive Jay Faires have re-listed their Norman-style castle, once known as Wolf's Lair. The couple reportedly bought in 2002 for $2.9 million. Because of the association with Hitler's bunker of the same name, plans are to change the name to something, well, more castle-y.

The turreted 5,485-square-foot castle that sits on 3.3 acres was built in the 1920s and includes a two-bedroom guest house designed by architect John Lautner. The main house was built by and named after L. Milton Wolf, the developer of Hollywoodland. In fact, the Hollywood sign that sits behind the home was put there by Wolf to advertise Hollywoodland. ( The original sign bore that name and was covered with 4,000 flashing electric light bulbs.) There is a heart-shaped black-bottom pool and eight bedrooms total on the property, which sits high above Los Angeles' Beachwood Canyon.

Lure about this property is legendary. Wolf, something of a ladies' man, reportedly installed a secret apartment under the gatehouse where he entertained, ahem, privately.

Bugsy Siegal's former castle -- the one Madonna owned subsequently -- is right up the road a piece. Castillo del Lago is listed at $9.95 million, making the former Wolf's Lair a relative bargain.

Ernie Carswell of Teles Properties, Beverly Hills, has the listing.

Today's San Francisco home isn't just a piece of celebrity real estate, it's a before and after. We first checked out the home of Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett in 2006 when it was listed at $12.5 million. At that time the Georgian home in Pacific Heights was so decked out in velvet and wine colors that one commenter called it the "Shady Rest Funeral Home." Even the kitchen was red. The home disappeared off the market but now as the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties column reports, it's back. And it's a whole lot brighter inside. Hammett has had this home for a while. He paid $2.56 million for the home in 1993. The home has eight bedrooms and a music studio and a billiard room with a bar in the basement. The renovation did not change any of the home's beautiful lines and vintage wood details, but those touches are showcased much better against a more neutral palette. The former music studio is now repurposed as a family recreation area and the listing states that the area would be perfect as a home theater. This home is now listed at $9 million.

From the LA Times Hot Properties:
--The Beverly Hills home of the late DJ Adam " DJ AM" Goldstein has come on the market at $3.795 million. The listing for the midcentury one-story home, shown above, is here.
--Lakers player Sasha Vujacic will be among the first owners to call the W Hollywood Residences home when the building opens in mid-January. He has purchased a two-bedroom condo in the 15-story building.
--Author and screenwriter Brian Garfield has sold his Beverly Hills Post Office-area home for $1.795 million.
--The Antonio Moreno estate, a 1930 mansion named for the film star who lived in it until 1935, has sold for $4.2 million.
--Football great Joe Montana and his wife, Jennifer, have listed their 500-acre estate in Sonoma County's wine country for $49 million. The property website is here.

From the NY Post:
--A mysterious Asian real estate investor by the name of J. Lo has been renting a $100,000-a-month Park Imperial condo that belongs to Kobi Alexander, a former technology executive-turned-fugitive who's on the lam in Namibia. He has also signed a contract on a seven-bedroom condo at the Park Laurel building on West 63rd Street for close to its $28 million asking price. Lo also put a bid of close to $40 million on a Time Warner Center apartment owned by Internet pioneer Todd Wagner even though that residence isn't on the market. Lo also checked out a $31 million penthouse at Trump Park Avenue but has yet to make an offer there.
--Pharmaceutical mogul Richard Ullman has just sold his condo at One Central Park West for around $17 million.
Ullman also owns a condo at 15 Central Park West, which he bought for $23.5 million and then tried to sell for a sky-high $75 million price tag that found no takers.
--The new rental building at 808 Columbus Ave. has gotten some star power. Residents in the luxury building include Shannon Elizabeth and "Law & Order" actor Anthony Anderson.

From Cityfile's Buyers and Sellers:
--Thomas Renyi, who retired as chairman and CEO of the Bank of New York last year, has picked up an apartment at 920 Fifth Avenue for $7.55 million, $2.55 million less than what it was first listed for in April 2008.
--The Hampshire House apartment once owned by the late Wall Street titan Zalman Bernstein is back on the market at a discount. The 25th-floor residence first went on the market for $17.5 million in 2007 but is now priced at $11.5 million. The listing is here.
--Arlene Farkas, the ex-wife of real estate heir Bruce Farkas, has cut price of her 14-room duplex at the River House. The five-bedroom co-op first hit the market for $15 million last November and is now listed for $12.3 million.
--Retired Phillip Morris executive Murray Bring, and his wife, Kathleen, have sold their 14th-floor apartment at 935 Park Avenue for $3.625 million.
--via NYT, sculptor Louise Bourgeois has been identified as the buyer behind the purchase of costume designer William Ivey Long's townhouse on West 20th Street. Bourgeois' Easton Foundation picked up the building for $4.75 million and will use it as an exhibition space and archive.
--via Curbed, Christopher Nixon Cox, the grandson of Richard Nixon, has sold his two-bedroom apartment at 10 East 70th Street for $1.4 million.
--via NYT, hedge fund manager Steve Eisman, who took a loss on the sale of his old apartment at 1125 Park Avenue back in August, has bought a four-bedroom penthouse duplex at 1120 Park Avenue for $7.4 million, 36 percent less than the original asking price.
--Investor and philanthropist Ephraim Gildor has fond a buyer for his duplex penthouse at the Park Laurel. It was listed at $28 million.
--Victoria's Secret president Ed Razek has sold his one-bedroom co-op at 32 East 64th Street for $2.25 million.
--Deborah Doyle McWhinney, who was appointed as the head of Citi's Personal Wealth Management division this spring, has paid $2.88 million for a co-op at 25 East 86th Street.
--Hedge fund manager Paolo Pellegrini has closed on the purchase of a 3,500-square-foot apartment at 88 Central Park West. Pellegrini and his wife Henrietta paid $9 million for the co-op, down from the $10.995 million asking price that owners Ray Errol Fox and Jean Thomas were seeking.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Software mogul Marty Sprinzen has found a buyer for his apartment at 838 Fifth Avenue. He bought for the ninth-floor residence for $15.8 million in 2007 and put it on the market for $24.5 million in May.
--Abigail Disney, Walt Disney's grandniece, put her two 300 West End Avenue apartments on the market for a combined $13,445,000 in 2008. She had paid the singer Harry Belafonte just $10.75 million for them a year and a half before. Last month, she and her husband sold off the apartments for $7.2 million, $3.55 million less than they'd paid.

From the Chicago Tribune's Elite Street:
WBBM-Ch. 2 political editor Mike Flannery has listed his longtime 17-room mansion in Beverly for $1.25 million. The listing is here.
--An 11-room, red brick center-entry Colonial-style house in Kenilworth that served as actor Steve Martin's family home in the 1987 movie "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" has sold for $1.4 million after initially being listed in 2007 for $2.995 million.
--Tammy Walker, wife of the late Northwestern University football coach Randy Walker, has taken a big loss on the 13-room Colonial-style house in Wilmette that she and her husband purchased shortly before his death in 2006, selling it for $1.555 million.

From Homes and Property UK:
--Pete Townshend's ex-wife Karen has sold Tennyson House, the Twickenham mansion where she and Pete raised their three children. The three-story Georgian brick house sold for £5.5 million.
--Comedians Lenny Henry and Dawn French have dropped the price on Hyde End Farm, their six-bedroom Grade II-listed Georgian home near Newbury. It was listed at £3 million through Strutt & Parker but is now down to £2.25 million.

From the Real Estalker:
--Michael Bay has picked a large piece of land in Bel-Air. He paid $10.9 million for a 4.93 acre, 3-parcel property with beautiful views. The current main house measures 6,067 square feet and includes two bedrooms but Bay may be planning to tear the house down.
--Did CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper and his partner buy a firehouse on West Third Street in New York City's Greenwich Village?
--Lisa Marie Presley has listed at home in Hidden Hills, California for $8.95 million.
--Media heir Lachlan Murdoch and his wife Sarah have spend $23 million Australian on Le Manoir, an estate in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia. The mansion was sold at auction by the French Government who used the Bellevue Hill estate as their consulate.
--Rumors are swirling that Tom Cruise paid $18 million for a home in San Francisco's Sea Cliff neighborhood but the Real Estalker thinks the buyer could also be Larry Ellison.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Casino mogul Steve Wynn has paid $7.5 million for a Sun Valley, Idaho home.
NBA player Allen Iverson has cut the price of his Villanova, Pennsylvania home again. It is now listed at $3.25 million. It was at $3.999 million when we checked it out as an estate of the day last year.

I'm not up to date on the on again and off again relationship between Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush but it is significant that the curvy reality television star put her home on the market a few weeks ago and now Bush, a New Orleans Saints football player has listed his Hollywood Hills home. I also suspect these two might have had the same decorator. Either that or Kardashian had a major influence on the decor of Bush's tri-level home on a cul-de-sac overlooking the city.

The four-bedroom home has views all the way to the ocean with a glittering swath of city spread out below. It is filled with touches that seem Kardashian inspired including zebra print cushions in the living room and a master suite with an apricot-colored padded headboard. Masculine touches reassert themselves in sports jerseys mounted on the staircase, a pool table on one of the home's many terraces and a wonderful walk-in gentleman's closet. This home has one of the most makeout friendly home theaters I've ever seen. It's decked out in black and red velvet. The football star also seems to have a love of his own monogram, his initials appear throughout the house including in the velvety red elevator. This home is listed at $5.099 million. According to the LA Times Hot Property, Bush bought the home for $4.7 million in 2007 for use as his off-season home.

The main home of the Jenner- Kardashian clan also remains on the market. It was originally listed at $3.395 million but is now listed at $2.995 million.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Virginia winemaker Patricia Kluge has put her 300-acre English country estate in Charlottesville, Virginia on the market for $100 million.
--The widow of William Rubin, who is credited with playing a crucial role in shaping the collections of New York's Museum of Modern Art, has listed a 13-acre estate in the south of France for €6.15 million. The home, shown above, is about 12 miles northwest of Saint-Tropez and overlooks the village of Plan-de-la-Tour where Johnny Depp has a house. The listing is here.
--Former Bear Stearns chief operating officer Alvin H. Einbender, 80, has cut the price of his Manhattan apartment, a onetime gym in the former New York City Police Headquarters downtown. It is now listed at $19.95 million which is 33 percent off the original listing price in May 2008. The listing is here.


--A Beverly Hills home which once belonged to Oscar Award winner, Richard Dreyfuss is on the market for $1.999 million. The listing is here.

From the LA Times Hot Properties:
--Actor Larry Hagman and his wife, Maj, have listed their longtime home in Ojai. The 43-acre property is on the market for $11 million. The property website is here.
--Los Angeles Lakers forward Lamar Odom has listed his Manhattan Beach home for $2,399,000. The listing is here.
Designer Stephan Basil Yacobian has listed his Spanish Colonial in the Hancock Park area at $1,595,000. The listing is here.
--A 1920 Spanish-style hacienda in Brentwood owned by actor Dylan McDermott and actress Shiva Rose has sold for $6.5 million. It was listed at $11 million in August 2008 when we first checked it out as an estate of the day.

--A 1929 Spanish-style estate in Bel-Air that traces its Hollywood history back to silent film star Colleen Moore is listed for sale at $15.95 million or for lease at $39,000 a month. The listing is here.
Actress Ali Larter of the NBC sci-fi drama "Heroes" has purchased a home in the Hollywood Hills for $2.925 million.


From Cityfile's Buyers and Sellers:
--Israeli-born entrepreneur Beny Alagem has closed on the sale of his three-bedroom apartment at 15 Central Park West. Alagem and his wife Adele bought for the unit $15.4 million in April 2008 and listed for $24 million last June but ended up selling for $19.9 million. The buyer is Stuart Peterson, an early investor in YouTube, who set the record for purchasing the most expensive home in Bay area in 2006.
--via Curbed, Armon Bar-Tur, a managing director at SafeHarbor Capital Partners, and his wife Rebecca, have put their townhouse at 92 Charles Street on the market for $14.5 million. The listing is here.
--Broadway costume designer William Ivey Long has sold his Chelsea townhouse for $4.75 million.
--Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch has closed on the purchase of an apartment on the 46th-floor of One Beacon Court next door to the apartment he already owns. He paid $8.3 million for the apartment, or nearly $1 million less than what it was first listed for back in February.
--Aubrey Barth, a managing principal at Lazard Alternative Investments, and his wife Meredith, have paid $3.3 million for a three-bedroom co-op at 1128 Park.

From the NY Post:
--As we mentioned a few weeks ago, Kimora Lee Simmons, has reduced the price of her home in Saddle River, NJ, to $16.5 million. After she sells she plans to buy a Manhattan residence.

--"Iron Chef America" judge Karine Bakhoum, known as the "Iron Palate," has put her three-bedroom, two-bathroom co-op on East 69th Street on the market for $2.35 million. The listing is here.

--Designer Isaac Mizrahi has been spotted checking out an apartment at the ultra-luxe 200 11th Ave. building. Domenico Dolce, half of the Dolce & Gabbana design team, recently closed on two penthouses for $29 million. Mizrahi checked out a three-bedroom unit listed for $6.413 million. The listing is here.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Developer Bruce Ratner has picked up a three-bedroom oceanfront house off Long Beach's Arizona Avenue. He paid $2 million to a Manhattan couple, Seema Kalia and hedge fund manager Vedula Murti.

--From BrickWork: The London Property Blog:
--Singer Robbie Williams may be selling the Wiltshire mansion that he bought at the start of this year for as much as £1 million loss according to The Sun. The Compton Bassett House is an 18th-century manor which was once the country home of Lord Norm Foster of Thames Bank (the architect of The Gherkin and others).
--James Hewitt, once the 'most hated man in Britain' when he tried to sell Princess Diana's love letters to him, has listed his bachelor pad in South Kensington for £865,000. The listing is here.

From Move Trends:
The former Studio City home of Neil Patrick Harris is back on the market. He sold the home for $1.325 million in 2007 and it is now listed for $1.149 million. The listing is here.
--A Beverly Hills post office area home that once belonged to actor Ed O'Neill is back on the market for $1.995 million. The listing is here.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
"X-Files" creator Chris Carter has paid $5.45 million to purchase a three-bedroom home in Santa Barbara, California.

From the Real Estalker:
--Colin Hanks has picked up a Spanish-style home in Los Angeles for $1,025,000.
--Actor Henry Simmons has listed his Los Angeles home for $1.397 million. The listing is here.

From AOL Real Estate:
--The home next door to Barack Obama's home is now listed for $1.849 million. The property website is here.

From Zillow Blog:
--Former Alaska governor turned memoir author Sarah Palin and husband, Todd, are building something on the parcel they purchased on July 14, 2009 about 10 days after Palin announced she would resign as governor. The building is right next to the Palin home in Wasilla.

La Palmerie, an estate we showcased as an estate of the day back in January when it was listed at $26.5 million has closed for just $12.8 million. A source reports that the builder had to come to the closing with cash to finalize the deal. The original land owner who sold the property to Clark French to build this estate is the son of the new owners that purchased the estate.

In the case of hip-hop clothing designer Marc Ecko, it's hard not to blame the real estate. The NY Posts reports that Ecko has been forced to give up control of his own trademark in a move to stave off a total meltdown. He signed over a 51 percent interest in the Marc Ecko brand to Iconix, a New York company that owns brands like Joe Boxer, Candie's, Rocawear and London Fog for $63.5 million in cash plus $90 million in financing for a newly formed joint venture.

Ecko's penchant for lavish spending led him to invest in some pretty pricey properties. He is currently trying to lease out space in his 280,000- square-foot headquarters in Midtown. The building includes everything from a recording studio to a basketball court. As Ecko told the Post, he's had "a crazy, wild ride." Part of that wild ride also includes his 30-acre estate in Bernardsville, New Jersey. The estate known as Stronghold was bought by Ecko and his wife, Allison for $7.4 million in 2005. Since then they've spent in excess of $20 million in construction costs to renovate and update the home. The estate, which was originally was built by Prudential Insurance founder and US Sen. John Dryden in 1899, is not for sale but it might not move quickly if it was placed on the market. It's the sort of white elephant which has a tendency to linger in the MLS.

While the construction on the house was taking place Ecko and his family stayed in a four-bedrom Colonial home next door. That home was listed for sale in March for $1.299 million. The home is on five acres and has been renovated with a gourmet kitchen. It includes a master bedroom suite with a walk-in closet, a downstairs recreation room and a bonus room with daylight windows and a full bath. It remains on the market with a reduced price of $1.099 million.

Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler hasn't put down permanent roots in Chicago yet. The Chicago Tribune reports that he is currently renting a three-bedroom house in Lake Forest for $3,750 a month. Cutler does have some real estate in Colorado he is trying to unload. He was traded to the Bears from the Broncos in April and has a pair of homes in Colorado up for sale.

His main home appears to have been a four-bedroom house in Parker, Colorado which he purchased in 2005 for $1.34 million. The home is in a community called Timbers and sits on 1.5 acres of land. Outside the home there is a seating area, patio, bar and fire pit. Inside the home has all the usual luxurious features like a a wine room, gourmet kitchen and great room with massive fireplace. Bachelor-friendly details include a billiard room with a complete wet bar, home theater, a poker room and a bathroom that features a urinal facing a poster of Marilyn Monroe. This home is listed at $1.675 million.

Cutler also owns a five acre property in Elizabeth, Colorado that is for sale for $699,900.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--A Hollywood Hills home once owned by actress Dorothy Dandridge is on the market at $3,495,000. The restored 1926 Mediterranean has three bedrooms and three terraces with city views. The property website is here.
--Singer Melanie Brown, otherwise known as Scary Spice, has bought a five-bedroom home in the San Fernando area for about $3.15 million.

From the Chicago Tribune's Elite Street:
--Former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon has sold his mansion in Northbrook, Illinois for $2.85 million and moved to Florida.
--Former Chicago Bulls forward Antonio Davis has taken a loss on his three-story house in Naperville, Illinois selling it for $1.4 million. He Davis also has a contract to sell his mansion in Burr Ridge, which is listed for $3.299 million, and he has a waterfront lot in Plainfield on the market for $399,000.
Former Chicago Blackhawks center Alexei Zhamnov has sold his 11-room home in Lincoln Park for $2.725 million.



From the Boston Channel:
--Add Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez to our list of slow sellers. He's cut the price on his condo at the Ritz Carlton in Boston from to $8.5 million $7.9 million.


From the NY Post:
--While in New York City Jeremy Piven stayed for a week in a triplex penthouse at the Prime condo building at 333 W. 14th St. which is listed for $5.9 million. The listing is here.
--Rolling Stone founder and publisher Jann Wenner has closed on a Hamptons home 6,300-square-foot, three-story waterfront home on Old Montauk Highway for $11.9 million. The home which was listed for $14.9 million, is within a half-mile of Bernie Madoff's old beach house.
--After rejecting Related Companies President Jeff Blau's $31 million bid last May, the co-op board at 820 Fifth Ave. found a buyer for homebuilder Ara Hovnanian's full-floor fourth floor unit. The new buyer is Kenneth Griffin, the founder, president and CEO of Citadel Investment Group in Chicago who reportedly paid just under the $35 million asking price. Tommy Hilfiger once owned the apartment, though he never lived there and the co-op board also rejected Ron Perelman and Steve Wynn.

From Christie's Great Estates:
Legendary director Ingmar Bergman's family compound in Fårö, Sweden, has been sold.


From Brickwork: The London Property Blog:
-- An Edwardian villa in Sheffield Terrace, Kensington W8 which was once the former London home of Madonna is listed for rent for £13,000. The listing is here.
--R&B singer-songwriter Craig David's Hampstead penthouse is for rent at £6000 a week. Earlier this year it was for sale for £6.25 million. The listing is here.


From ShelterPop:
--Grammy winning Dixie Chick Emily Robison has listed her large loft in the old Duerler Candy Factory in San Antonio, Texas for $1.5 million. The 4,800 square foot loft was purchased as raw space and converted into a four-bedroom family home. The listing is here.

From Homes and Property UK:
--Prince Harry's girlfriend Chelsy Davy has moved into a two-bedroom Belgravia flat which cost £1.65 million.
--Perthshire landowner Jamie Montgomery is selling Kinross House, his 17th century ancestral home overlooking Loch Leven, for £4.25 million through Strutt & Parker. The mansion has 15 bedrooms, a ballroom, 80 acres and a cricket pitch. The listing is here.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Julian Schnabel has finally sold the triplex penthouse at Palazzo Chupi. Artist and director turned developer Julian Schnabel once wanted $32 million for the unit but settled for $10.5 million. The buyer is William J.B. Brady who bought a $15.5 million unit in the building several years ago. The Chupi duplex remains on the market for $12.95 million.

--Katie Lee is paying Billy Joel $3 million for their West Village townhouse as part of her their divorce. The couple purchased the home in 2005 for $5.9 million.
--More than a year after art dealer Daniel Wildenstein sold his family's mansion at 11 East 64th Street for $42.5 million, the 29-foot-wide townhouse has reportedly gone back on the market for $37 million.
--Ex-Morgan Stanley vice chairman Bruce D. Fiedorek has listed his fifth-floor apartment at 998 Fifth Avenue for $34 million. The listing is here.

From the WSJ's Private Properties:
--Real-estate mogul Steven Roth of Vornado Realty Trust was the buyer of Bernard Madoff's beach house in Montauk, N.Y.
--Real-estate investor Jeff Greene bought a Beverly Hills property out of receivership for $35 million in 2006 and then put another $15 million into the renovation. Now, instead of selling in a slow market he has put the 25-acre estate up for lease for $250,000 a month. The 43,000-square-foot main house has 11 bedrooms, 14 baths and a 6,000-square-foot ballroom and the property includes six acres of wine-producing vineyards. The listing is here.

From Rented Spaces:
--Madonna sued by her neighbors for noise.
--He works so his tenants have homes.
--Comfort tops fall home decor trends.
--Cash in on wine mistakes.
--Do you live in one of the most stressed-out cities?
--Is mustache decor a hot trend?

Whitney Houston is in the midst of a comeback (complete with a new album and an appropriately contrite appearance on Oprah) and she's shedding the trappings of her old life including some real estate. The Real Estalker reveals that Houston has listed her home in Mendham Township, New Jersey. The five-bedroom contemporary home sits on a five acre lot with a pool, pool house and tennis court. The Real Estalker Mama says that Houston bought the home in 1987 and it appears very 1980s in its style with a circular theme that includes a domed sky light, semicircular walls of windows and a curved wall of art glass. The home is over 12,500 square feet of curving windows draped in lackluster swags, floors in neutral carpeting and pale terracotta tile and anonymous decor. In the master bedroom the bed is mounted on a dais facing a television and topped with more circles in the lighting fixture. It was probably the height of fashion at one point but now it seems a bit dated. It is listed at an even $2.5 million but Property Shark shows an assessed value of $5,640,700 and a tax bill of $87,609.

When this blog launched in December 2004 one of my very first celebrity real estate stories was about Eddie Murphy's Bubble Hill estate in New Jersey. In five years many things have changed but Murphy's desire to unload this mansion hasn't abated. The estate immortalized in Murphy's song "Bubble Hill" in 1989 recently went through a renovation to make is as blandly luxurious as possible.

The 32-room house is on a four acre knoll in the Englewood's East Hill section. The gated and walled,mansion is around 25,000 square feet and includes large entertaining areas. While much of the home has been smoothed out and beiged-up to appeal to the masses one thing still survives, the wood-paneled billiard room with the red curtains, jukebox and the neon signs spelling out "Bubble Hill." This home was at $30 million five years ago making it the most expensive single-family home in the state at the time. At its current price of $14.99 million, it's no longer even the most expensive home in Englewood.



UPDATE: The Real Estalker reminds me this isn't the only Hill in Eddie Murphy's live. Clove Hill Farm, which we covered in 2006 when it was listed at $9.95 million is now listed at $5.95 million.

As long as I have baseball on the brain tonight with the playoffs going on I figured I'd show you the home of former major league pitcher Bret Saberhagen. Saberhagen, who played for the Kansas City Royals, the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox, owns a home in Calabasas, California which he recently put on the market. The rebuilt, renovated and remodeled gated compound is on 1.2 acres that includes two guesthouses, a putting green, horse show and bocce ball arena and a 5,600-square-foot main home. Details in the main house include a home theater with eight recliners and a 90-inch screen, a wine cellar that can seat 12 and a family room with a wet bar and multiple flat screen system for watching multiple sporting events. Outside in the cabana there is another flat-screen television so you are never too far away from the latest scores. The decor is a bit heavy on the sports bar look but you have to like a player who displays not just his own but lots of other jerseys on his walls. The LA Times Hot Property column reports that Saberhagen is looking to move a little closer to the ocean but plans to stay in California. This home is listed at $3.25 million.