Those people familiar with the shops at Bal Harbour knows how each luxury brand situated there feels the need to one up each other. This makes sense given the locations ability to attract the wealthiest Floridian buyers, as well as those who travel to the shopping center from around the world. Over the last few year Audemars Piguet has been playing with a new type of marketing campaign dedicated to enhancing the artisan-like feel of the brand. This essentially means that they want you thinking that watch makers time traveled from 1875 to the present day, and are hand-making Audemars Piguet watches in candle light somewhere in the heart of Switzerland. Most of this is true - save for the candle light.

Selling ultra luxury watches is as much about selling the final product as it is about selling how they were made. For this purpose, the Audemars Piguet Bal Harbour boutique has been temporarily transformed to include watch movement sketches, work tables, tools, and other items of traditional watch making construction. The good news is, that if you visit an actual Swiss watch making factory, all of these same tools are pretty much used - though maybe modernized a bit. Audemars Piguet does take much pride in the fact that they practice "traditional watch making" techniques. The display is a good idea , because it attempts to show a manufacture made mechanical watch in its natural element. If you are in the area, check it out. The window display will be up through the end of the year at the Audemars Piguet store at the Bal Harbour stores in Miami, Florida.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

NBC Miami tells the story of another alleged Ponzi schemer. Sean Healy is no Bernie Madoff but he may have walked off with $20 million from his clients most of which seems to have been spent on living an exceedingly lavish lifestyle. Healy and his wife, a former Hooters girl, lived in an extravagant $2.4 million mansion in Weston, Florida. A Ferrari, stretch limousine and several Lamborghinis (a pink-trimmed one for the wife) were parked in the garage and the pair also spent millions on jewelry and tricking out the home (once owned by former NFL quarterback Bernie Kosar, a man with his own financial woes) with a $500,000 home theater. According to a video shot by NBC Miami (embedded after the jump), Healy invested none of his clients money and spent it all on his belongings, inventing big returns out of pure thin air. He is currently under house arrest in New York.

The world's most accomplished Ponzi schemer -- right up until he got caught, that is -- finally lost his beach home. Bernie Madoff's Montauk house moved for $9.41 million, according to the U.S. Marshals Service, more than the $8.75 million for which it was listed. It sold on Friday, and the buyer is not being named. It only took a month to make the transaction happen.

Joseph Guccione, U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of New York, calls this "another step forward for the government," and though he didn't mention anything about the victims, one assumes that it's progress for them, too. After all, it would be nice if they got even a taste of this cash.

Several bidders tried to get their hands on Madoff's former home, which measures 3,000 square feet and has four bedrooms and three bathrooms. The losers can have another shot at Madoff glory, though, as properties in New York and Palm Beach, Florida, are listed. The former is on the market for $9.9 million, and the latter is listed for $8.49 million.

Madoff was unable to take a last walk through the halls of the Long Island residence, of course, because he's otherwise detained committed in Butner, North Carolina. But, he's adapting, having already thrown down on the block and earned himself some props.

We don't see too many blue houses up for sale, this one has been drenched in a shade of sky that stretches to the chimneys and surrounding walls. The Maurice-Fatio-designed home in Palm Beach, Florida has an fanciful, Easter-egg-like delicacy to it. Fatio designed homes inspired by European nobility and mansions during the 1920 and 1930s. Today's home is located in a prime location near the shops of Worth Avenue and near the beach. It has three bedrooms and a separate guest/staff quarters. The small backyard includes a pool. It is listed at $6.5 million.

The third tower of The St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort is expected to be finished next February, and the resort will open its heavy glass doors to early adopters in 2011. Sitting on 1,000 square feet of sable blanc at the north end of Miami Beach, the three 27-story towers will house 511 rooms in various sizes and flavors of sumptuousness. The move south, like a snowbird from that biggest of apples, is intended to be a relocation of the New England grandeur that Colonel John Jacob Astor IV inaugurated when he opened the first St. Regis in NYC in 1904.

Think: mirrors. Lots of them. The Yabu Pushelberg interior scheme (from the firm that has lent a helping hand to Prada, Tiffany, the Mandarin Oriental, and so on) will naturally focus on textures and materials: Movingui hardwood walls, marble and travertine flooring, and etched plaster walls will abound upon entry. Guests and residents are no less looked after, with spa-like bathrooms, enclosed walk-in showers, and overflow soaking tubs. Granite makes its necessary appearance for the kitchen countertops, and the cutlery drawers will even be pre-slotted, so you'll never mistake your butcher for your cleaver.

Residences come in one-, two-, three-, and four-bedroom sizes, range from 1,777 to 6,868 square feet, and start at $1.9 million. If you need more convincing -- and proof that that this St. Regis has left behind most of its New York City roots -- the balconies alone start at 455 square feet, larger than a fair number of Manhattan apartments. Amenities will include white-glove butlers, 24-hour room service, a 12,000 square foot spa, and someone to do your grocery shopping for you. Because, you know, you'll be hungry when you finally roll in from Nikki Beach...

Another celebrity who has had to scale their real estate expectations to the current economy is wrestler Hulk Hogan. Back in 2006 he listed his Belleair, Florida home which was featured in "Hogan Knows Best" for $25 million. Since then he's gone through subsequent TV shows, a messy divorce and a whole platter of family drama we won't get into here. But now the Hogans are selling off two Florida homes as part of the final division of assets. It's not known who gets what.

The Belleair home is a French country style manor on the water.The 17,000 square feet include a guest apartment, and a boat house. The property includes large lawns, several garages, boat lifts and a floating dock. Inside the listing pics appear to be the same ones we saw in 2006 showcasing Mrs. Hogan's flouncy feminine decorating style mingling with the needs of a large family home. The home can now be yours for $13.9 million although I suggest we'll see this one dip to being 50 percent off of the original price at least before the "sold" sign hits the lawn.



The other property is far smaller, a Key West style three-bedroom home right on the beach in Clearwater. The home, which appears to be barely lived in, has three bedrooms that includes a master suite where the wallpaper doesn't just cover the walls but is on the ceiling too. It is listed at $2.3 million.


[via Move Trends]

Some people like the ease of living in a golf community. But what if your sport isn't golf? If you prefer hunting, a private sporting community near Okeechobee, Florida called Pine Creek Sporting Club is for you. The community is about an hour from West Palm Beach, and founding members include Tullio Fabbri (world renowned shotgun maker), Jack Nicklaus, Nick Price, and Tucker Frederickson (a former NFL #1 draft pick). The gun-friendly development boasts over 1000 acres of quail fields, guided hunting, a members lodge, aviary, dog kennel, a sporting clay course, a rifle and pistol range and a simulated quail flush course. Non-shooting related amenities include concierge service, helipad, a treehouse restaurant, bocce courts, swimming pool and horse stables. The community includes smaller cabin properties and larger ranch properties. The first ranch home, owned by developer and former cable tv company CEO Steven Myers, was recently completed.

The three-bedroom ranch was designed by West Palm Beach's REG Architects, Inc and has sun-aged cedar planking, French doors and windows with mullions, a tin roof, and swings on the covered front porch. The designer planned the interior colors to bring the outside in and the home is being sold furnished. The art and accessories were chosen to accent the shooting lifestyle and feature hunting, birds, antiques, and horses. This home is listed at $2.35 million. The community is offering 22 40+ acre ranch sites that range in price from $800,000 to $1.2 million.

Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

Palm Beach has taken its hits over the past year in the wake of Bernie Madoff but now the elite Florida enclave has a new place to welcome guests. The Palm Beach Post reports on the opening of The Omphoy Oean Resort which is a narly $100 million resort on the location of a former Hilton hotel. The resort is designed to combine a peaceful retreat with a bit of South Beach style- an infinity pool and flatscreen televisions contrast with ebony pillars in the lobby and a lounge area with a row of gongs. The restaurant is run by chef Michelle Bernstein who has been denoted as one of the best chefs in the South by the James Beard Foundation. The spa is run by Exhale and offers massages, facials, yoga and more. This hotel is the first major oeceanfront one to open in Palm Beach in a while and the idea is to create a resort that is a newer and more hip option than the venerable grand dames of Palm Beach: The Breakers, The Four Seasons and The Ritz-Carlton. The Omphoy has just 134 rooms and offers more of a boutique hotel experience. The resort has an opening deal that starts at $149 a night (rooms will run in the $400 to $700 range in the winter).

Up, down and back up again, I'm noticing a strange trend in high-end real estate that might, just might, be a sign of increased real estate exuberance. Some of the most expensive homes with the biggest price dips are suddenly reversing the trend, amending previous discounts. Case in point, Greg Norman's Jupiter Island, Florida home. It first hit the market for $65 million in 2007 which seemed a bit ridiculous considering that it had been assessed at just $21 million and Norman and his ex-wife had bought the home in 1991 for only $4.9 million. Therefore it wasn't a huge surprise when the price went tumbling down to $47.5 million. But what's this? A peek at the listing with Corcoran reveals Norman has boosted the price again, all the way back up to $60 million. Why the price increase? It could herald a resurgence of Florida's high end real estate. It's definitely a reflection of the work he spent renovating the home. But while the price has gone back up the listing pictures remain the same so we can only imagine what Norman did to the place.

As the Real Deal pointed out last month, if Norman gets his asking price it would set a record price for a property on the island, a record currently held by fellow golfer Tiger Woods who spent over $40 million for a home he tore down to create a new family compound. After an acrimonious divorce, Norman married tennis star Chris Evert and the two now live in her Florida home. Norman plays on the senior's golf tour and also has various golf course projects as well as his own wine label, clothing line and other businesses. Norman's ex-wife Laura Andrassy is entitled to $17.5 million in proceeds from the eventual sale of the house.

Norman's golf paradise includes nine bedrooms over six structures. The estate is eight acres with a four-bedroom main house that was built in 1902 and has wine storage for 2,500 bottles. The main house overlooks the Intracoastal Waterway with 370 feet of waterfront, and a 140-foot dock that can accommodate a large yacht. A two-bedroom guest house faces the Atlantic and has an open porch for taking in the ocean views. There is also a grill house with a tennis court and a 50-foot pool. The listing says the estate comes with a coach house, with a four-car garage and three bedrooms and a carriage house which as a six-car garage, gym, steam room, boardroom and offices. A boat shed will also hold seven vehicles.

He's not quite as successful as Justin TImberlake but former 'N Sync member Joey Fatone has done pretty well for himself. The boy bander turned TV show host has listed his home in Orlando, Florida. The Real Estalker Mama has unearthed Fatone's lakefront home on Kilgore Road in a community known as "Millionaire's Row." Fatone is believed to have picked up this home in 2001 for $2.65 million and it was filmed by MTV Cribs shortly thereafter.

The gated 12,000 square foot home is on the Butler Chain of Lakes near Windermere. The home has six bedrooms and plenty of places to play including a large home theater room with stadium style seating, an office/study and a game room. The study shows plenty of bookshelves but alas no books, instead the shelves look to be given over to awards and directly opposite the couch there seems to be some sort of puppet theater display (a reference perhaps to the "No Strings Attached" album). The master wing includes a sitting room with butler's pantry a two-sided fireplace and a master bath suite with a sauna, steam room, shower and Jacuzzi tub. The master closet is, at 700 square feet, larger than some apartments, and includes three dressing islands.

Fatone also must like to eat and entertain. There is a large kitchen with a granite counters and island, dual refrigerators and built-in ovens. The formal living and dining rooms are large enough to host a gala event. But the real action takes place outside at the resort-style pool complete with grotto. This is the sort of sybaritic outdoor area reminds me of the type generally showcased on reality television shows where couples get to know each other in hot tubs. Near the pool there is a large summer kitchen with a bar. The property also includes a 10 car garage that is home to one of the KITT cars used on the 1980s series "Knight Rider ." The garage appears to have one of those rotating floor devices that allows the car to be turned to be driven out without any risky indoor maneuvers. This home is listed at $5.9 million a bit of an ambitious price in an area that has taken big real estate hits recently.

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Today's home in Palm Beach, Florida has the exterior facade of some of the older homes in the area but this villa on Everglades Island is new. The recently completed 7,814 sq.ft. home has a Spanish tile roof, Gothic arches and Moorish windows aping the style of Addison Mizner. This home has five bedrooms, an elevator, generator and is wired with a Lutron control system. The covered loggia looks out over the pool and patios on the water where there is a large boat dock with lift. The interior doesn't quite follow through on the grace promised by the exterior facade but it does have many of the features that today's buyers are looking and is dressed up in that particularly heavy and self-consciously ornate style that some South Florida mansions seem to favor. It is listed at an ambitious $17.5 million.
Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

The Disney-planned community of Celebration, Florida is the latest site of a condominium auction. The picture-perfect town seeks to replicate an idealized slice of small town American life but like most Florida towns it has become a victim of the real estate crisis. Now 27 condominium homes in the Artisan Park complex at Celebration which were once listed from prices of $480,000 to $600,000 will be auctioned off with suggested opening bid of just $95,000. The auction starts at 10 a.m on August 1 at the Celebration Hotel. Some units have a waterfront view and the complex includes a clubhouse with a swimming pool, cabana and restaurants all amid Celebration's cookie-cutter perfection.

[via The Ledger]

W Hotels has opened their 31st property, the W South Beach and The Residences at W South Beach in the arts and entertainment district of Miami Beach. The development includes 408 W-branded residences with Ocean Suites, Beach Bungalows, and the Extreme WOW suite (W's version of the Presidential suite). Among the food and drink destinations at the property are Wall, a bar and lounge, Spanish restaurant Solea and the celebrity favorite Mr. Chow. The hotel also bring the popular Bliss spa to Miami.

The $500 million hotel was designed by architect Costas Kondylis. The W's Living Room (aka the lobby) was designed by Anna Busta with artwork from collector Aby Rosen's private collection. The art is showcased in an environment with tufted leather ottomans, velvet curtains in eggplant purple, modern white and gray sofas, armchairs covered in white pony or slate velvet and white pony rugs splashed with gold paint. A 20-foot-high beaded curtain set off by glass walls marks the way into the W Living Room Bar with views of the pool deck and garden. If you book by July 20 the hotel is offering rates from $269 per night for stays July 16 – October 12. The Miami Herald reported earlier this month that the South Beach location has sold out for weekends in July even though the prices are higher than many other hotels in the area.

Last year, we began to see that condo associations in Florida were facing trouble. With many condo owners not paying their fees or facing foreclosure it was inevitable that the condo and homeowner associations would only be able to go on so long. The Miami Herald is reporting that with those fees remaining unpaid some South Florida condo associations are seeing bankruptcy as a way out. So far at least seven Florida condo associations have filed for bankruptcy and there could be many more to follow.

The lure for the associations is that if they are in bankruptcy the utilities they owe money to can't turn off basic services like water and power. The downside may be that it is both costly and only a stopgap measure. The condo associations still need to figure out how they are going to get their bills paid in the long run. If owners continue not to pay their dues the associations are basically hamstrung because, unlike businesses in bankruptcy, condo associations don't have assets to sell off. Potential buyers may also be concerned about investing under the shadow of a Chapter 11 filing. The bottom line is that associations basically are doing whatever they can to limp along until the real estate market picks up and happy homeowners are paying their bills once more. The only question is how long they can hold on.

The mansion that Donald Trump sold in Palm Beach, Florida last year might be at the center of a major divorce battle. Russian billionaire fertilizer mogul Dmitri Rybolovlev and his wife bought the house for $95 million back in 2008. Now Elena Rybolovlev says her husband has been unfaithful and she wants 50 percent of the couple's marital assets, a number she puts between $6 billion and $12 billion. One of the items at issue will be the 33,000-square-foot property. She has asked the court to take jurisdiction over property because she is worried her husband will begin hiding and transferring his assets. Already she says that an art and furniture collection worth around $670 million has been moved out of her reach.

The Palm Beach Post reports that in July 2008, through County Road Property, Rybolovlev paid $95 million cash for the home. Trump had bought the mansion for $41.35 million in 2004 and restored it, asking at one point, for $125 million for the home. Rybolovlev said he purchased the mansion as an investment, the couple spend most of their time in Switzerland. If he has to sell he might be in trouble. For a while Palm Beach was faring well amidst Florida's real estate turmoil but lately it seems like the bigger mansions are slower to move. One that we've been keeping an eye on, Casa Nana, has been on the market for $72.5 million since last summer. Check it out in the gallery below.