flying dog ranch

11 Biggest Luxury Home Price Drops 2010

Filed under: Estates

Some believe that the Great Recession hasn't been an equal opportunity devastater. While we can all agree that it has shot a cannonball through what was once the middle class, not everyone thinks that the uber-rich have experienced their fair share of the misery. Here are some examples that might prove otherwise.

1) Albemarle House, an elegant mansion located in Virginia's Blud Ridge Mountains, came on the market in 2009 at $100 million. In a blink, the price was slashed to $48 million and now it sits listed at $24 million -- a $76 million or 76% price cut. Think that didn't hurt?

The home is near Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and James Monroe's Ash Lawn-Highland. The 25,000-square-foot main house has 45 rooms and includes a theater, card room, library, and Islamic gallery that features an antique Syrian fountain. There is a pool, pool house, log cabin, greenhouse and a number of staff cottages. The grounds are large enough to install an 18-hold golf course -- which Arnold Palmer has already conveniently designed.

Sotheby's has already auctioned off the artwork and furniture, bringing in $15.2 million and the owner's jewelry fetched another $5 million.

Who are the poor souls behind this financial disintegration?
Patricia Kluge and her husband Bill Moses opened the 907-acre Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyards in 1999. Expansion plans -- and the loans that came with them -- appear to have been their Achilles' Heel. That and the recession, of course. The bank that foreclosed on the business last fall wasn't interested in producing wines and instead sold off the pieces.

Michael Rankin, Sotheby's International Realty, has the listing.

Gallery: Albemarle

Tags: albemarle house, biggest price drops, flying dog ranch, pecos river ranch, real estate, sloane mansion, val kilmer, villa colina

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Flying Dog Ranch, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

With Bootjack Ranch finally sold off we need a new high-priced Colorado ranch to obsess over. Fortunately there's another hound in the hunt. Today's estate, the Flying Dog Ranch, is a total of four parcels of 245 acres with possibilities for riding and hunting. The property is located in Woody Creek, Colorado, the home of the late Hunter S. Thompson and actor Don Johnson. Nancy Pelosi also has a home in the area.

The Flying Dog Ranch is one of the last remaining original ranches in the Aspen area and is adjacent to National Forest land with private access into the forest. It has extensive water rights, pastures and stables. The property includes the original homestead cabin built in the 1800s as well as the log cabin-inspired main house. The main house has log ceilings, a gym and unique spiral staircases with steps of logs that lead to an open second floor. This home is listed at $56 million.

Gallery: Flying Dog Ranch