Naturally, it’s got a view. You’d expect that from a $9 million house.
It’s also got a dining area that could host a benefit auction, with tall ceilings and an adjoining Italian-style terrace overlooking Puget Sound.
“You can seat 100 people in here,” said Windermere Real Estate agent Lisa Strain.
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Advertising executive Ron Elgin and wife Bonnie are downsizing, and it’s time to sell. If rising home prices lift all mansions, that’s good news for them–and a lot of people, apparently.
Recently, CNBC reported that the Census Bureau estimates more than a million homes nationwide are worth $1 million or more.
The Elgins’ four-bedroom, five-bathroom Magnolia, Wash., waterfront estate–priced at $8.9 million–is one of nine Puget Sound-area properties listed in the second annual edition of Ultimate Homes, a glossy, 170-page, Princeton, N.J.-based publication compiling the 1,000 most expensive listings nationwide.
Leading the way in the local listings? A $53 million Medina, Wash., waterfront estate built by the late medical-eyewear magnate Peter LaHaye.
The 30,000-square-foot, six-bedroom manse has been on the market since the late 1990s, when it was listed at half that much. It’s even got its own, registration-required Web site: www.medinawaterfrontestate.com.
Don’t even think about moving to the house if you can’t lay down a 10 percent down payment and a $301,000 monthly mortgage.
No, these aren’t your daddy’s mega-mansions. These fortresses of the fabulously wealthy go for an average $14.5 million, and some could pass for vacation resorts, corporate offices or Russian train stations.
“At this level, it’s not about shelter anymore,” publisher Rick Goodwin said. “It’s about creating a property that reflects their success and their personality.”
As Goodwin puts it: “Billionaires are looking to separate themselves from mere millionaires.”
The listing that trumps all is, fittingly, a 75,000-square-foot Palm Beach property that Donald Trump picked up for $41 million at a bankruptcy auction. After a little remodeling–Trump added 12 bedrooms to the original three–the so-called “House of Friendship” now lists for $125 million.
Back in the day, a million-dollar home might have been all that, but the Census Bureau’s 2004 American Community Survey says there are 14,000 of those in the Seattle area alone.
So if you really want to impress, you need a house with an 18-hole golf course and 14 gardens and fish-filled ponds–the $75 million Bridgehampton, Mass., estate that’s No. 2 on the list.
No. 3 is a $70 million Manhattan penthouse atop the Pierre Hotel whose $45,000 monthly maintenance fee includes full use of hotel facilities. Its 3,200-square-foot living room overlooking Central Park, the literature says, “could be considered one of the most spectacular rooms in the world.”
Along with the $53 million Medina home (No. 11) and the Elgins’ Magnolia estate, the magazine’s Seattle-area listings include two Mercer Island, Wash., properties (a $40 million “mansion of fairy tales” and a $29.5 million home with tennis court and helipad); a Bainbridge Island, Wash., manse ($8.2 million); and an $18.5 million “country estate” in North Bend, Wash.
Getting into these homes requires not just a hefty bank account, but also an ability to translate Realtorese.
These homes aren’t just nice–they’re “unparalleled,” “resplendent,” “truly incomparable” or “worthy of the highest distinction,” with views that are alternately “sweeping,” “unending,” “panoramic” or “uncompromising.”
Says one agent of his $65 million Beverly Hills listing: “A residential property’s ability to flaunt such an impressive apportionment has simply not happened in recent memory.”
Just try imagining you and your breakfast-nook self traipsing around in homes with architectural features you can’t even conceive owning–because you have no idea what they are. OK, au pair suites are one thing, but would you know what to do with architraves, a lath house or a porte cochere?
In case you’re curious, they’re 1) the molded frames around doors or windows; 2) an open-sided structure giving shade to young plants; and 3) a carriage entrance or driveway shelter that covers you as you get in or out of your car.
On the other hand, you couldn’t go wrong with others featuring built-in wood-fire pizza ovens, fully automated home theaters with velvet stage curtains, Jet Ski docking stations or a 2,200-bottle wine cellar, either.
Back in Magnolia, the Elgins’ 7,320-square-foot house has a fireplace big enough to walk into, laundry facilities throughout and a modest second floor that feels cozier than the first.
There’s the main bedroom, with its pop-up TV and water vistas; a fitness room; an office with kitchenette.
“It’s got everything,” Strain says. “You don’t even need to go downstairs.”
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The house was built in 1995. The couple wanted a home that could accommodate not only frequent charity functions but visiting kids and grandkids.
Unlike other mega-mansions that demand to be noticed, this home is discreetly built on a low grade. Visitors must descend 38 steps to reach imposing front doors with knobs as big as a toddler’s head.
The number of agents marketing homes at this level of the stratosphere is tiny, and they’re always in touch with each other. In other words, don’t try to fool your way into one of these ultraluxury bad boys.
Open houses? Forget it. No one gets in but high-end brokers and their clients.
“Who’s been in a $9 million house?” Strain says. “Not many people. There’s a high curiosity factor.”
“You want the sex appeal, the sizzle,” she said. Fancy Web sites with flattering photos are becoming the norm, and this home’s site capitalizes on its Italian influences and amazing sunset vista. “It’s all about wanting to be in a little Tuscan villa,” she said. “It’s the romance of living on the water and having your family and your 200 closest friends over.”