It has been my tradition to recap the most expensive home sales on Super Bowl Sunday’s Show. The most expensive single family home sold in the U.S. in 2009 was in Aspen, Colorado for $43 million. This 25,000-square-foot, on 4.5 acres has 11 bedrooms, including the guest house, 15 bathrooms, gym, four powder rooms, wine cellar and a pool.  That is a far cry from the glut of $100 million plus homes of recent memory.  In 2006, we thought that the luxury market wouldn’t’ be affected like the broader market.  As 2008 went from bad to worse, some blamed the excess inventory of luxe properties.  When Lehman Brothers fell in September of 08, reality set in. Now properties in that range are either being drastically reduced or are quietly going off the market. In 2008, the cheapest house on The Forbes Top Ten  list was $75 million, now there are 4 priced under that on the list, and they still have houses that came on two and three years ago.

In Rhode Island, as overall sales fell in 2005 thru 2007 the high-end market remained  stable with about 190 sales per year. In 2008 there were  138 high end sales, and that dropped to  93 in 2009. In 2006, Rhode Island had a record house sale of $17.15 million.  The most expensive home sold last year was Astors’ Beechwood Mansion on Bellevue Avenue for $10.5 million.  It came on the market in 2007 for $16 million and appraised at just under $7.14 million. Wrentham House, an 1891 stone mansion on Ocean Avenue in Newport, sold over the summer for $6.51 million. The historic property, designed by Richard Morris Hunt and landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted, had been on the market for more than four years, and had been earlier priced at $14.4 million. The 14,400-square-foot mansion features 22 rooms,13 bathrooms, and 8 bedrooms. Wrentham House had been abandoned since the mid-1960s, when an abutting property owner, bought the property and left it vacant.  The previous owners bought the house in January of 2000 for $1.35 million and put 6 million into the renovation and obtained historic tax credits worth $1.1 million to renovate the mansion.

This Week’s Real Estate Insight

Do you think any of those buyers took advantage of the tax credit?  If any of these properties are going to be the new buyer’s primary residence, they would be crazy not to! The credit is set to expire in April, so don’t delay, there are bargains to be had in all price points.

This week Rich and I spoke with my good friend Krista Watterworth, designer/ host of HGTV’s Splurge and Save. Long time Real Estate Insight listeners will remember Krista’s lending her style and expertise on our show in the past, and from her other HGTV series including Save My Bath, You Should Live Here, and The Big Reveal.
Splurge and Save is a half hour design makeover series that shows homeowners how to get the biggest bang for their buck. Using her design secrets, Krista shows how to pull together any room, how to build the right budget for any room, and, of course, how to stretch every dollar. From furniture to rugs to window shades to accent tables, Krista pulls all the pieces of a room together on budget and in high style. High style doesn’t always have to be high cost; Using one or two really nice pieces as a focal point, and complementing them with more budget friendly options is a great way to stretch a dollar when designing One example from the show is when she put a designer chair next to a knock-off sofa or repainted an old end table and topped it off with a $500 vase.
And while she never did share the passion for cooking her big Italian influenced family had growing up, she did learn from watching them that attention to detail, balance of color and flavors, and careful selection of ingredients were the secret to all great recipes. These are the sensibilities that Krista brings to her website, RoomRecipes.com , a great blogging community about practical home design. Recent posts include Five Cool Room Updates for Under $20.10, and Organize the Kitchen.

This Week’s Real Estate Insight

For sellers, adding a little designer flair to a home could give you the advantage to stand out from your competition and get your house sold. Some studies suggest the ROI on staging can be over 300%, but even if you break even on your investment, if staging can make the difference between selling the house at all or languishing on the market for months, you are still way ahead of the game. Television shows like HGTV’s Splurge and Save can give great tips for the budget minded homeowner.