Rich and famous are mere mortals in soft real estate market
Like many homeowners selling in a stubbornly depressed market, Candy Spelling didn't get her asking price.
Her 14-bedroom, 57,000-square-foot mansion in the Holmby Hills section of west Los Angeles was on the market for 28 months — at $150 million, the priciest private home ever listed in the United States. Spelling eventually accepted $85 million from Petra Ecclestone, the 22-year-old daughter of British billionaire Bernie Ecclestone.
If Spelling is feeling seller's remorse unloading The Manor, she is hiding it well. "At the time it was listed, $130 million was the bottom line. If market conditions had been better, maybe I would have gotten more," says Spelling, who pocketed another $6 million from Ecclestone on artwork and furnishings after closing the sale this summer.
In a market where the housing bust has rippled through all price points, few entertainers, athletes, business tycoons or other well-heeled sellers are willing to share details about their pains or gains. But nowhere are the price cuts sharper — or more visible — than in the super and ultra-luxury markets, where prices, depending on location, range from the $15 million to $50 million-plus.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/story/2011-09-29/celebrity-house-sale/50609948/1