Underpriced at $100 Million
A group of homeowners is holding firm on an ambitious goal – to break the record for the most expensive home sale in American history. The price to beat is $103 million.
Two years ago, only a handful of homes in the U.S. had ever been listed for $75 million, let alone $100 million. Even the highest residential sale to date – investor Ron Baron’s $103 million purchase earlier this year of a 40-acre compound in East Hampton, N.Y. – was never publicly listed. There are five contenders for the current prize, including a Beverly Hills compound once owned by William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies that’s listed for $165 million; the Aspen home of Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, which has been visited by the past three U.S. presidents ($135 million); and an estate overlooking Lake Tahoe with a staircase modeled after the one aboard the Titanic (a dark horse at $100 million). All have come on
the market since summer 2006.
Robert Kass, who is co-listing the fourth contender – a Los Angeles chateau for $125 million – recently spent a month traveling to London, Moscow, Istanbul, Dubai and the Côte d’Azur, meeting with potential customers.
Donald Trump, whose Palm Beach estate rounds out the list at $125 million, dismisses Prince Bandar’s $135 million asking price as a case of “some character putting on a price just to try to top Trump.”
The international home sale record is thought to be held by a London property that sold in 2004 for £70 million (about $128 million at the time). A Paris home is on the market for €100 million, or roughly $135 million.
Wall Street Journal, August 2007
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