Starwood Hotels & Resorts veteran Barry Sternlicht is looking for real estate to surge in Greenwich, Connecticut. The wealthy New York City suburb got spanked over the past year as the city's financial industry gurus saw their bonuses jobs disappear and flooded the market with ostentatious homes on the market at a time when buyers were few and far between. A year later, Sternlicht thinks this town is ready to stage a comeback.

Sternlicht just raised the asking price on his 5.8 acre estate in Greenwich to $5.95 million, even though the local market is about to finish its worst year in the past 30. Jean Ruggiero, Sternlicht's real estate broker, said he pushed up the asking price because "we felt like we were giving it away." People showed some interest in the home, and the fact that other sellers were cutting prices didn't mean that Sternlicht had to follow. "Just because people are lowering their price doesn't mean it's right, because he's not a desperate seller, "Ruggiero said of Sternlicht.

The new number is 8.3 percent higher than the $5.495 million Sternlicht previously asked, even though prices for single-family homes in Greenwhich dropped 40 percent year-to-date.

Originally, the home was put on the market at $8.25 million in June 2008, and it was cut three times from September 2008 to April 2009. It boasts a tennis and shuffleboard court, pool and guest house ... and is of course gated.

Even at $5.95 million, Sternlicht will come out ahead. He bought the place in November 1994 for a mere $2.93 million.

Earlier a bunch of you lamented that we didn't have the $100 million listing in Charlottesville, Virginia up yet. Thanks to a kind gentleman for directing me toward the listing which has now gone live. The Wall Street Journal broke the story that Virginia winemaker and philanthropist Patricia Kluge has put Albemarle House, her 300-acre English country estate up for sale for $100 million,making it one of just a handful of listings in the nine-figure range. Kluge is the former wife of John Kluge, a billionaire who founded the Metromedia. She has been living in the area for a while making wine and working on a development called Vineyard Estates which is selling multi-million homes in the area.

Her estate is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and James Monroe's Ash Lawn-Highland on over 300 acres. On the grounds there are three ponds, a pool as well as a pool house, log cabin, a greenhouse and several staff cottages. The main house was completed in 1985 and spans over 25,000 square feet with 45 rooms. The home was designed by architect David Easton and his team and includes a theater, library, recreation room with spa and sauna, a card room and an Islamic gallery featuring an antique Syrian fountain. It's a bit of a pastiche, gilded Versailles-like rooms contrast with simpler spaces that have a more Early American style. Should you have some leftover cash after buying the home you can turn the front grounds into an 18-hole golf course. Arnold Palmer has already designed it.

Any guesses on a final sale price?

Think Lenny Dykstra had the poshest pad in the Southern California community of Thousand Oaks? Not hardly. Check out this incredible home on 23 acres. The French formal home has amazing grounds that feature elaborate ornamental flower beds. Large terraces and a fountain lead to an infinity pool with a fountain. The two-level home is over 16,000 square feet of space. Around 3800 square feet of that is taken up by the master suite which includes two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a gymnasium. The gourmet kitchen is large enough to require two islands. Everything in this home is done on an elaborate and grand scale. It's rococo for the modern age, all swags and flourishes and curlicues but with a healthy dose of technology (the huge media room boasts a massive screen and motorized arm chairs). This home is listed at $29.9 million.

If you were waiting for the bottom, it looks like you just missed it. Home prices in the Hamptons are on their way back up, rising 4.7 percent in the third quarter. Houses priced in the range of $2 million to $5 million led the charge. In fact, the number of properties clocking in at more than $2 million (including the former getaway of Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, which went for $9.41 million) jumped 44 percent -- 46 sales occurred from July through September this year. And, the median price for this part of Long Island increased from $860,000 last year to $900,000 this year.

The action appears to have been driven by buyers who'd normally look for something close to $10 million ... who began to see what they could get for a mere 20 percent of that price. When opportunity knocks ... you know the drill.

Even with this bit of good news, the number of homes sold last quarter fell 2.3 percent, with those fetching less than $500,000 posting the largest decline (22 percent). So, all isn't rosy in the land of the wealthy, unless of course, you're still wealthy.

The next luxury condo building in Boston is going to be closer to the ground than expected. Local windbag controversial real estate developer Don Chiofaro has been fighting a losing battle over the new building and is finally yielding to pressure from the community. The $1 billion plan involves two towers, with commercial space in the shorter sibling of the residential tower.

A decorative arch atop the residential building (which would also include a hotel) would push the building from 690 feet to 780 feet. Removing the arch and cutting the size brings it down by 155 feet – to the 625 feet that the Massachusetts Port Authority will allow. Anything higher, Massport says, would get in the way of nearby Logan International Airport's air traffic.

Chiofaro tells the Boston Globe, "I have no problem with 625 feet, if that's where [we] end up," leaving room for a small victory that would put this Icarus a touch closer to the sun. Given how scarce his friends were when he nearly lost his International Place towers a few years ago, I'm betting he isn't likely to get much above the Massport cutoff.

When the building is finally finished, residents will get fantastic views of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, along with unbeatable bragging rights.

Las Vegas was one of Michael Jackson's favorite places and according to an article back in August, appearing in the Las Vegas Sun, Jackson planned to buy the Primm Compound in Las Vegas and make it his home after his London concerts. The article said that Jackson planned to call the home "Wonderland." The estate, which was then listed at $25 million offers a variety of security features that appealed to him as well as other dramatic features like a pool with a waterslide, waterfalls and a grotto guest suite built inside a cave.

Move Trends reports that the home is now listed for $16.5 million. Jackson never lived in the home but it is being marketed as Michael Jackson's Wonderland. The 10-bedroom compound has secret tunnels and many of the home's doors are bulletproof. Another detail that Jackson would have appreciated is the panic room with its own oxygen supply.

The gated compound is on ten acres and in addition to the pool there is also an equestrian center, basketball and tennis courts, golf driving range, and underground shooting range which could be turned into a recording studio. The 20-car showroom also has a deionized-water car wash and gas station. Other details include an elevator, a 5000-bottle wine cellar and tasting room, a screening room, casino game room, library, trophy room, gym and a professional beauty salon.

Update: Mohamed Hadid, he of Ritz Carlton fame, just slashed the price on his Bel-Air home from $85 million to $72 million. Will it make a difference and generate a few more land barons coming to take a look-see? Coldwell Banker listing agent Joyce Rey, the diva of Beverly Hills high-end real estate, believes so. "At the new price, this home offers a remarkable lifestyle and a great value," she says. The property, with a 48,000-square-foot main house, was featured as a Luxist Estate of the Day on Feb. 23. The home has a 5,000-bottle wine cellar and a ballroom that seats 200-250.

Today's home is an incredible new luxury compound is Aspen, Colorado that includes two large residences on two contiguous lots located on over two acres on the Ridge of Red Mountain. The compound offers direct views of Aspen Mountain, Independence Pass, and the entire valley. The main home is a contemporary estate that is 11,300 square feet with five bedrooms, a gourmet kitchen, theater, wine room, gym huge recreation room and resistance pool. The home is rendered in stone and dark wood with curved roofs and glass windows facing the mountains. The second home is a 4,178 square foot guest home with five bedrooms and a two car garage. This estate is listed at $35 million which makes it one of the more expensive listings in the area but still millions below some of the properties in the area.

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When the listing for Brooke Astor's famed New York co-op at 778 Park Avenue hit the market last year it seemed like it would be easily snapped up. After all, the five-bedrom home was considered to be an exceedingly prime New York co-op. But in between expectation and reality yawned an economic crisis that has made even the most choice pricey real estate linger on the market. This apartment hit the market at $46 million in May 2008 and as Max Abelson of the New York Observer reported this week, has now hit a new low, bumping along at $24.9 million, a price cut of $21.1 million.

The home, like Astor herself is a beauty from another era. The co-op's high ceilings, six terraces and five wood-burning fireplaces all invite envy. The home's corner library with gleaming red lacquer walls, a wood-burning fireplace and French doors opening onto two terraces seems redolent of intellect and intrigue. The apartment occupies the 16th and part of the 15th floors of the building which was designed in 1931 by Rosario Candela. A 30-foot gallery has 18th century oak floors and leads to the formal entertaining rooms which include the formal dining room with fireplace. The private quarters include two master bedrooms, one on the 15th floor and one on the 16th floor. The home still retains the service area which consists of a large servants' hall, kitchen and pantry with three maids' rooms and bath. The listing says that this space could be turned into a family room, kitchen, laundry and staff area. With the deep price cut that seems a bit more feasible although the monthly maintenance has increased over the past year. Last year it was at $17,251 and this year it is at $18,458. It's not easy to follow in Mrs. Astor's footsteps.

If you like tile you'll love today's estate in Paradise Valley, Arizona. This Spanish-style home on over four acres features tile floors, tile fireplace surrounds and tile details on walls and counters. The tile is offset by adobe walls and heavy beamed ceilings. The home has five bedrooms, a family room with a tiled bar, a wine vault, large kitchen and media room. The property includes a one-bedroom guest house and pool. It is listed at $11.9 million.

As we mentioned a little while back, the New York Observer recently reported that casino mogul Steve Wynn's New York City apartment was up for sale. Now thanks to a post from the Real Estalker, we found out that the listing has gone live. Wynn's Fifth Avenue palace is a two-bedroom apartment that measures around 3,500 square feet.

Steve and Elaine Wynn are getting a divorce (actually it's their second divorce, they were first married in 1963 but divorced in 1986 and then remarried five years later). Their full-floor apartment was once a four bedroom home but the renovation trimmed the number of rooms and expanded the spaces with an eye toward the grand and bland. The main living area was once the living room, formal dining room and library and has views over Central Park. The master suite was created from three bedrooms and has his and hers bathrooms.

As the floor plan reveals the resulting layout is a bit odd. The master bedroom has been placed next to the living room to take advantage of the best views but this means that the two bathrooms are sequential rather than side by side. The kitchen is directly opposite the second master bathroom and the dining room has been shoved to the back of the apartment right in front of the laundry and utility areas. The home has been redone in shades that design books likely refer to as variations of honey, taupe, caramel and rattan but mostly it's just beige, elegant, but beige and with a hotel's anonymity. Particularly curious is the kitchen which seems to have matching granite floors and counters. The apartment is priced at an outrageous $25 million but it seems doubtful that the Wynns will get their price.

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Another beautiful home in Newport, Rhode Island has hit the market. I've had my eye on it since 2006 when the "summer cottage" designed by Richard Morris Hunt was in transition after the death of owner, Donald Tinney who had bought the home in 1956 for $25,000. Mrs. Tinney has vowed to preserve the home, a 65-room, 19th century castle that has been open for years for tours and private events and the couple had battled a long time to keep the home, waging a legal battle against a handyman that Ruth Tinney, Donald's mother, had adopted after her husband's death. The home was almost sold to Peter de Savary, the English businessman who developed Carnegie Abbey in Portsmouth but the deal fell through. The castle re-opened for tours at that time and like other homes in the area is rented out for weddings and events.

But now, as Robert Frank of the Wall Street Journal's Wealth Report reveals, the home is up for sale. The 60-room mansion was built in 1894 for Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont, the youngest son of August Belmont, of Rothschild Banking fame. It is said to have cost $3 million to build a figure that Frank says is equal to about $75 million in today's dollars. Belcourt Castle was used to display his collections of armor, medieval manuscripts and things related to Oliver Belmont's love of horses (the Belmont Stakes horse race was named for his father). The entire first floor was composed of carriage space and a multitude of stables for Belmont's prized horses. Belmont later married Alva Vanderbilt, the former wife of William Kissam Vanderbilt who converted the carriage room into a banquet hall and transformed a study into a boudoir. The house itself isn't haunted but it is said that the Gothic ballroom has haunted chairs and a suit or armor that may also be haunted. It is listed for $7.2 million with Judy Chace.

A far more well-preserved example of Gilded Age decadence, the Astors home, Beechwood Manor in Newport has been on the market for two years and started at $16 million but is now listed at $12.9 million. Oakwood, another home with an Astor provenance hit the market for $10.75 million last year and has been reduced to $7.9 million. Hopedene on Newport's famous Cliff Walk went on sale last year at $22.5 million and now sits at $19.5 million.
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When a woman can afford to lose a few million on a home she's never lived in then you know she's got some money to throw around. While arts philanthropist Iris Cantor is willing to reduce the price her four-bedroom penthouse in New York several million below what she paid for it (she paid $15 million in 2006, it is now listed at $11.9 million) so far her home in Bel Air, California hasn't had a price drop. Give it time, it's only been on the market a couple of months. At $53 million, it enjoys some pretty rarefied air at the top of the Los Angeles real estate market.

The home on St. Cloud Road bears the name La Belle Vie, and showcases a spectacularly lavish lifestyle. The home is approximately 35,000 square feet with nine bedrooms and 21 bathrooms. As the Real Estalker reported back in February, Iris Cantor and her husband, the late Bernie Cantor of Cantor Fitzgerald bought the land and built this house in the early 1990s. It's more house than any one couple could ever need and has three kitchens, 12 wood burning fireplaces and underground parking for up to 10 luxury automobiles. The decor is unbearably fancy aspiring to a Marie Antoinette level of fripperty and flounce, flawless in every detail but lacking even the vaguest nod to livability. Crystal chandeliers, marble floors and huge draperies give this home the look of a very elegant hotel. The home features fine sculpture and rooms include a family room, den, office, media room, billiard room and a beauty parlor. Will she get her price? She had the home on the market way back in 200 for $45 million but after two years there was no sale. It seems like she couldn't have picked a worse time to try again.

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We've been covering Pickfair practically since we started this blog and yet never given it full estate of the day treatment. I recently came across the sales website for the estate which features a bumper crop of photos that show how Pickfair is now. The current estate which occupies a prime spot on Summit Drive in Beverly Hills, California and has a $60 million price tag. Unfortunately the home that exists currently bears little if any resemblance to the original.

In the 1920s, this was the most fabled home in America, a stately manor owned by two of the world's most popular stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. This pair, the girl with the curls and the winsome smile, the original "America's Sweetheart" and the man with energetic physicality and devil-may-care smile, the original movie action hero captured the minds of a nation even though their romance was born in scandal. Their home, Pickfair was the stuff of dreams and legends, a place where they entertained anyone of consequence. The couple spent a fortune expanding their home, turning a small hunting cabin into a huge mansion.

Those of you who have been playing this game with me for a while may remember this home. I first checked it out in 2006 when it was still under construction. Well now the 33,000 square foot lodge is finally completed giving us a chance to do a before and after. This home was built on a massive scale and has 14 bedrooms, a 12,500 sq ft underground heated garage and more stone, wood and glass than some hotels. Each room seems to be built on a huge scale with room for the masses. This home features one amazing Jacuzzi framed by a double-height window and a wine cellar big enough to provide years of wine-soaked nights by the fire. It was listed at $25 million in 2006 and has come down just a touch to $23.8 million.

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