When it comes to selling your home these days, anything can help. The sellers of this home in Alpharetta, Georgia have something up their sleeve, a celebrity endorsement. Demi Moore rented this home while filming "The Joneses" a movie she stars in with David Duchovny. Moore, her assistant and chef stayed in the home for five weeks and her husband Ashton Kutcher, visited to celebrate her 46th birthday. The five-bedroom Cape-Cod-style home which is now for sale has Moore's quote thanking the owners for the stay proudly displayed on the property website. The 8,000 square-foot home on 3.5 acres is for sale for $675,000. It has newly refinished hardwood floors, a gourmet kitchen, breakfast room and a sitting room. Other features include a library, two-room office suite and a large front porch.

Former NBA basketball player Antonio Davis and his wife Kendra have put their Roswell, Georgia home up for sale. The pair bought the over 16,000 square foot home a couple of years ago. According to an Atlanta Journal Constitution article, Kendra, an interior decorator did the decorating herself. The six-bedroom home is a mix of formal and informal spaces. The "grand salon" has French doors which open to the outside. The kitchen is integrated into the family area and features a leopard print chaise, the sort sometimes seen at the foot of a bed, posed in front of the granite-topped kitchen counter. As you might expect the home is full of sports memorabilia and has a basketball court. Like some other basketball players' homes I have seen this one has a mural or two including basketball-themed murals in two of the children's rooms and in the arcade worthy game room. This home is listed at $4.2 million with Elite Real Estate. Check out the virtual tour here.

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

The real estate hijinks around the "Real Housewives" shows continues. TMZ reports that Lisa Wu-Hartwell of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" has lost her Atlanta-area home. Hartwell and her husband, former Oakland Raiders linebacker Edgerton Hartwell bought their Duluth, Georgia home for $2.9 million in 2007 but sold it in a short sale situation this month for $1.9 million. The couple are reportedly ensconced in a new home on ten acres.

The real estate machinations surrounding the housewives are epic. We've seen several of the Orange County housewives including Jenna Keough and Tamra Barney flirt with foreclosure and short sales. A couple of the New York housewives have been trying to sell their homes including Jill Zarin and Kelly Bensimon.

Today's estate is one of Georgia's most lavish. Dean Gardens in Johns Creek was created by Larry Dean, a software entrepreneur, who created this massive home with 58 acres that include elaborate gardens. Dean has been trying to determine what to do with the home and surrounding property for several years including floating ideas for turning it into a subdivision with condos. The listing says the home was recently appraised for $35 million. It includes two carriage house apartments, a caretakers cottage, wedding chapel, Asian tea garden, grass tennis courts, amphitheater, conservatory ,lake and 18 hole golf course.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently reported that the property has been on and off the market for 15 years for prices ranging from $20 million to $40 million. Compared to that the current price of $13.9 million seems like a steal.

The details here are just extraordinary, a hodgepodge of tastes and styles. The rotunda was inspired by Florence's Brunelleschi Cathedral. Art Deco and Art Nouveau flourishes abound in the bedrooms. Much of the terrace level is given over to a Moroccan theme and a game room has a 1950s diner look. A separate website devoted to the home shows off the many theme rooms including the Peacock room, the Egyptian suite and the elaborate French bedroom.

While we are constantly reminded of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we often lose site of the people serving. Sure, we support the troops and lament the fact that some are separated from their families for a year or longer ... with unfortunate regularity. But, these concepts remain abstract from those who don't don the uniform every day. Many have a friend or family member serving, but the vast majority is another step removed from the sacrifice. Chuck Ley, founder of the organization Cigars for Soldiers, is bridging the gap. His effort has added a personal and genuine touch to a "support the troops" message that the mainstream media has forced into cliché too soon.

Ley, like me, was a soldier. While my service entailed comfy pencil-pushing positions in Uijongbu, South Korea and Fort Gordon, Georga, he was an infantryman – the real deal – wounded in action in Mogadishu, Somalia. It wasn't the event immortalized in Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down, but few realize that we fought more than once over there. Though back in civilian life for more than a decade, Ley has not forgotten his time in uniform, and many of his friends continue to serve.

From time to time, Ley would get a phone call or e-mail from overseas, a friend in some far-flung place. The tone varied from casual inquiry to begging to near-demand: send cigars. How could a cigar-smoking former soldier refuse?

The Sea Island resort in Georgia is the latest luxury business to be hit by hard times. Back in August, Sea Island laid off around 500 workers, nearly a quarter of the staff. Now the resort is facing bigger financial trouble. The resort, which hosted the G8 Summit and has been visited by presidents, celebrities and dignitaries of all sorts, has been owned for six decades by the family of William "Bill" Jones III, its current chairman and CEO. The economic downturn has meant empty hotel rooms for the luxury enclave which has been struggling with debt since a massive redevelopment and expansion of the resort that cost more than $400 million. More of the expensive homes on the island are also up for sale than usual.

According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle the family is said to be exploring a possible sale of equity in the company to get their hands on some ready cash. They may also be considering selling other real estate but it's not a great time to be doing that either. The resort is doing everything it can to keep the Jones family in charge but the ambitious real estate development on the island was planned for a different time and the resulting jeavy debt could now mean some big changes are ahead.

This Tudor style home in Atlanta, Georgia goes by the name of Rossdhu. It was built in 1918 and sits on 4.47 acres. The property includes a carriage house with two apartments, six garages and a lighted tennis court. The main home has been restored with a modern kitchen, luxurious master suite with his and hers dressing rooms and baths, exercise room and a wine cellar. The home's heavy paneling does make it a bit dark and the current level of clutter makes it hard to appreciate the fact that the interior spaces are actually pretty grand. At $14.5 million it's priced near the top end of the Atlanta real estate market but there aren't too many homes like this in the area.

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

Former quarterback Michael Vick's infamy certainly isn't helping his real estate sales. Vick, who is currently serving a prison sentence for his role in a dog-fighting ring, can't seem to sell his Atlanta home. As the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties column reports, he has cut the price of his luxury Atlanta home to $4.1 million, from $4.5 million after it has sat on the market for a year. The eight-bedroom home in the Sugarloaf Country Club in Duluth, Georgia has lake views and a grand look with two-story foyer with a curved double staircase and dome, a two-story study, a home theater, wet bar and a gymnasium. The only sign of Vickness is that big number seven set into the den floor. Vick bought for $3.78 million so even if he sells for the $4.1 million listing price he won't be making a lot of money.

Vick's even more infamous piece of real estate, the home which was the site of the dog kennels, is up for auction yet again, this time for $590,000 on December 12. Developer Wilbur Ray Todd Jr.bought the home for $450,000 from Vick last year and wanted to sell it for over $1 million originally.

As we mentioned recently, a wine collection, Vicktory Dogs, raises money for the rehabilitated dogs who live at an animal sanctuary in Utah.

UPDATE: The home was put up for auction but there were no takers and it remains on the market.

Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes

With baseball in the playoffs, the annual shuffle of free agents is set to begin. One possible free agent is left-handed pitcher Tom Glavine of the Atlanta Braves. Coincidentally, his Alpharetta, Georgia home is also on the market. Glavine and his wife Christine have a seven-bedroom brick home on 1.95 acres. No big spender here, the Real Estalker reveals that Glavine spent just $146,700 for the lot which is in the gated community called the Country Club of the South (a community that was also home to Usher and Whitney Houston).

Glavine's home is an impressive 14,550 square feet and done in an elaborate style that includes columns, curved staircases, large crystal chandeliers and tall windows adorned with elaborately swagged curtains. Oh I could go on about the curtains but the Real Estalker summed it up by calling them "some of the ugliest swagged curtains Your Mama has ever seen." And they aren't just in the living room and the dining room, the Glavine's curtain craze has made it into the bedrooms and bathrooms as well.

As befits a sports star, the home does have a large recreation area downstairs with a black granite wet bar, a wine cellar, a billiard area, exercise room and a putting green. The home also includes a media room, a second kitchen and a library/office. There is also a swimming pool on the grounds.

This home is listed at $3.75 million and it looks like the Glavines may be moving just down the road. It seems they paid $620,000 for a another in the Country Club of the South community in 2001 and that lot now has a new home with a baseball diamond in the backyard.

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

The beautiful Chinquapin Plantation in Thomasville, Georgia is a distinctive piece of real estate offering both formal garden spaces and plenty of unspoiled land. The plantation was owned by Alexandra Kauka and her late husband, German cartoonist, Rolf Kauka. A Worth article from 2006 details Kauka's decision to donate some of the land next to the estate. The home itself is located a bluff overlooking the Ochlocknee River. The Mediterranean-influenced main-house offers nearly 18,000 square feet of wide verandas, porches, public rooms for entertaining and numerous private wings and suites. The home was completely remodeled by its present owner in 1981 and then restored and expanded in 2000. The property includes a separate three-bedroom guest cottage located across the motor court from the main-house, six tenant houses, a pool house with solar-heated saline pool, four-car detached garage, barns, stables, kennels and a skeet range. The listing doesn't give a price.

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

The price on this one is a bit much but there's only so much real estate on Tybee Island. Tybee Island is a wonderful vacation destination in Georgia with beautiful white sand beaches and the famed Tybee Island lighthouse. Today's home is a classic 1928 Tybee Island beach cottage. It's a four-bedroom home on 2.3 acres that includes 160 feet of ocean beachfront. The home is definitely older and in need of updates but it does have nice wood paneling and beautiful wraparound porches designed for leisurely summer afternoons. This home is listed at $12.9 million.

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

Atlanta's condo market may be slowing down but that doesn't stop people from building and planning. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution profiles Taz Anderson, a local entrepreneur who is behind a new luxury residential tower in Vinings. Anderson and his son Geoff, president of Taz Anderson Realty Co., are working on a condo project called The Aberdeen, an upscale residential development in Vinings with 55 units, some up to 4,000 square feet.

The 12-story tower will have views of downtown Atlanta and Buckhead. The project takes its Scottish name seriously and the units all have names of Scottish origin. A penthouse is listed at $2.9 million. Eleven buyers have reportedly signed contracts thus far. A healthy number but a little shy of what is generally considered enough sales to build. Given the precarious state of several other Atlanta projects it seems to be a bit of a dice roll.

Roswell, Georgia is getting a new solar-powered residential community. Weatherford Place will offer eight homes on 1.6 acres of land bordering Crossville Creek. The small community will be designed to supply its own energy. The development is going for platinum LEED certification for green building, which is the highest designation.

Each home uses passive solar design as well as solar panels and has low flow plumbing fixtures and a system to harvest and store rainwater. The energy generated by the homes goes out into the power grid and the power company credits the home for the power it produces. The homes are designed to use less energy than traditionally built homes. The homes come in several different styles offering 2,500 to 3,900 square feet of space. Each has an artist's studio with a full bath over the attached two-car garage. These homes are on the market starting at around $750,000 each.

[via The Atlanta-Journal Constitution]

I don't have great pictures or a lot of details on this one but it's special enough to cover based on size alone. This is the home of the Craven family, who owns Craven Original, a company that creates fine home gardening products and pottery. The home is an Italian-style villa on a whopping 1,410 acres at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in a small town north of Atlanta, Georgia. There are currently seven homes on the property. It took the Craven family 28 years to collect the property which is also home to 850 cows, 450 of which have calves. There are 20 barns and sheds for hay storage. The property includes miles of fencing and gates spread out over three counties. The land also includes five ponds and three miles of Chandler Creek that could maintain a 250 acre lake to produce power and water for municipalities. The land itself is zoned for 2400 plus homes, golf course, retail center or can be left as a horse and cattle ranch.

The main home is 18,000 square feet and is built on a grand scale with 16 to 32 foot ceilings and 317 arches and a 540,000 artistically laid brick, tile roof, two eight-foot by 16-foot chandeliers in the great hall. All the architectural details such as cupolas, balustrades, fountains and statues were sculpted and cast by Craven Original. Much of it such as the ironwork was manufactured by members of the Craven family. I'm told that the property is appraised at $49 million, but is available for $31 million.

Like me, the Real Estalker Mama has a weakness for gawking at truly outlandish homes. And he unearthed a doozy. La Reve, the home of Hubert and Norma Humphrey in Cumming Georgia has just about everything you could think of. Private bowling alley? Check. Golf course? Yup. How about a huge move theater, a complete gym, massage room and a toy train room. The movie is a replica of Atlanta's Fox Theatre and the train room is a replica of the old Central Georgia Railroad from Atlanta to Macon to Savannah that Hubert Humphrey worked on for 17 years as a train conductor.

This home is another in the long line of what I call Xanadu homes, the ones where someone spends a great deal of cash constructing a home of epic proportions and then finds it a little unlivable. This one is approximately 47,000 square feet on 90 acres and is a stunning monument to excess. There are 82 rooms, two elevators and 62 televisions. The grounds include a heated swimming pool, pool house, spa, private playground, stables, tennis court, formal gardens and a guest house. At $45 million this is easily the most expensive estate in Georgia. As the Atlanta Constitution noted, it might be a while before this one is sold, homes of this magnitude often sit on the market for a while and although the home may well be worth the price, finding someone willing to pay it will be a challenge.