Tag Archives: Top Ten Real Estate News

Even Tropical Realty “Feeling The Pinch” As Bahamas Island Lists Without Reserve

A Bahamas Island You Can Own! (Maybe)

If you want to live like Nicolas Cage, David Copperfield, Johnny Depp, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, who own islands in the Bahamas, the 721-acre Little Ragged Island is going to auction.

Little Ragged Island, also known as St. Andrews, is currently listed at $14.5 million USD or $18.8 million CAD. This pristine island is located on the southernmost part of the Bahamas with miles of sandy beach and the Bahamas’ calm, blue waters. The property will sell with “no reserve” to the highest bidder regardless of price.

According to the listing from Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions, “St. Andrew’s offers a blank canvas of rolling hills and calm warm waters awaiting boundless opportunities for development.

Be it a picturesque residential settlement, an expansive tropical estate with miles of private beaches to wander, or a boutique resort with more than enough acreage left to add an entire 18-hole golf course. Surrounded by azure ocean waters and fringed with pristine white sand beaches, elevations vary from sea level to a hilly 40 feet (12.2 meters).”

The auction runs from July 25th to July 29th at Sotheby’s casothebys.com website. Buyers can bid remotely from almost anywhere in the world. From our friends at toptenrealestatedeals.com.

Silicon Valley Mansion May Set New Sales Record

California’s San Francisco Bay area is the United States’ most expensive real estate market, with a median home-sale price of USD$1.3 million (CAD$1.7 million). Toronto and the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) is Canada’s most expensive real estate market, with a median home-sale price of CAD$1.3 million (USD just under $1 million).

Unlike its southern neighbor Los Angeles, the pricey San Francisco mansions belong not to movie and TV stars but to the movers and shakers of the technology industry. The Bay Area boasts the country’s highest concentration of tech companies and tech jobs, earning the region the nickname “Silicon Valley” after the material used to make computer chips.

A home in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood sold for USD$43.5 million (CAD$55.8 million) in 2021, which is the current record for the area’s biggest sticker price, but a new listing in the ultra-exclusive town of Woodside aims to shatter that record. Styled like an Italian villa, the spectacular compound has been listed for USD$110 million (CAD$141 million).

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65 foot pool.

Sitting on over three acres of some of the most sought-after real estate in the world, the grounds feature a 65-foot pool with spa, an entertainment zone with an outdoor kitchen and fire pit, landscaped gardens that include fountains, a vineyard with more than forty olive trees and a rose garden with over one hundred roses as well as a private hiking trail. Nestled behind high-tech gates, the compound offers a 14,000-square-foot main home as well as a separate executive office and conference center, a fitness center/massage/hair salon building, and a two-bedroom guesthouse. 

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Golf simulator? Check.

Retractable glass walls, French oak floors, and hand plastering on every surface complement rare Italian marbles inside the luxurious mansion. Crystal chandeliers and marble fireplaces feature throughout. The enormous main kitchen features two waterfall-wrapped islands, marble counters, top-of-the-line Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances, and custom-built-steel-and-glass cabinetry, while a separate chef’s kitchen offers extensive storage space plus a BlueStar range with two ovens. 

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Master suite.

The primary suite is a work of art featuring a barrel-vaulted foyer with leather-front and glass-display cabinets that conceal a refrigerator and Miele laundry and a cathedral-beamed ceiling with chandelier. The sectionalized wardrobe room is couture-worthy. A two-sided Davinci fireplace is shared with the bathroom, which also has heated limestone floors and a marble bath for two. Each additional bedroom includes a customized walk-in closet, outside entrance, and en-suite marble bath.

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Designed for the high-tech lifestyle, the home is controlled by state-of-the-art automated systems that take care of every need for comfort, convenience, and security from behind the scenes. The home’s fantastic amenities include an Atmos Dolby screening room, a golf simulator, indoor-and-outdoor lounges, and an epic wine salon for 6,000 bottles. 

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Woodside is a small town with only 5,000 residents and a median home price above USD$5 million (CAD$6.4 million). Most residents are tech investors and innovators. Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle Corporation and the world’s tenth-richest man, lives down the street from the villa in a 23-acre, Japanese-themed estate. 

Known as an equestrian community, Woodside retains a rural residential character despite being only a short commute to Silicon Valley and Stanford University.

The town is ringed with nature preserves, including the Purisima Open Space and Skaggs Point. Options for entertainment include the Michelin-starred Village Pub and Bucks of Woodside, a famed hotspot for Silicon Valley’s most powerful, where many important venture capital deals have been signed.  The real estate listing is held by Scott Danser of Compass.  For the Silo, Genelle Brown/Top Ten Real Estate Deals dot com.

Photos : Paul Rollins

Real Estate Bubble? Celebrities Forced To Reduce Asking Price On Homes By Millions

Both Celine Dion and Puff Daddy have vastly reduced the prices on their mansion homes, featured this week at TopTenRealEstateDeals.com.

“Celine Drops Price on Florida Water Park Home” Grammy Award-winning Canadian singer Celine Dion and her manager husband, René Angélil, built their dream Florida home on Jupiter Island in 2010. The location offered the privacy the hard working couple wanted to relax with their children and friends and they designed an estate around a series of water features and outdoor sports activities that, along with pristine beachfront, took full advantage of the Florida sunshine and Atlantic Ocean breezes. But even for celebrities who seem to have achieved it all, life can throw curve balls.

For Sale -Now Reduced! Celine Dion's Florida home.
For Sale -Now Reduced! Celine Dion’s Florida home.

Though René had successfully fully recovered from a bout of throat cancer in 1999, it reoccurred in 2013 when he had surgery for another malignant throat tumor. Dion announced in 2014 that she would suspend her performances indefinitely due to her husband’s worsening health. In August of 2015, she resumed her Las Vegas residency at Caesar’s Palace, but lost René to cancer in January 2016 and her brother only two days later. The couple and their three children had made the Las Vegas bedroom community of Henderson their home while Dion was performing at Caesar’s Palace. She returned to the stage on February 23rd for the first time since René’s death and paid tribute to his memory and their life together in her first performance.

Their Bahamian-inspired Florida oceanfront estate was first put up for sale in 2013, the year that René was re-diagnosed, for $72.5 million. Over a period of time with no buyer interest, the price was cut to $62.5 million and recently reduced to $45.5 million.

Among many five-star features, the 5.5-acre beachfront property’s centerpiece is the 500,000 gallon water park highlighted by a slow-current lazy river connecting two pools, bridges and a twisting water slide. There is also another pool located beachside. The two-story, 10,000-square-foot main residence has five bedrooms with a second-level wraparound terrace with ocean views and multiple main level terraces. The luxurious master suite walk-in closet has automated carousels for quick access to shoes and clothing at the touch of a finger. The open-plan main level is light and airy in keeping with the subtropical climate. There are also two separate four-bedroom guest houses, tennis house, simulated golf range, pool house and beach house. Celine’s Jupiter neighbors include Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, and Palm Beach is just a few miles down the road.

Now settled in Nevada at least until the end of her Caesar’s Palace residency in 2019, Celine has stepped up her effort to sell her resort estate by engaging a new brokerage and lowering the asking price. Fenton Lang Bruner & Associates in Jupiter Island holds the listing.

“Puff Daddy’s New Jersey Mansion” Whether called Puff Daddy, Puffy, P. Diddy, or his real name Sean Combs, the Grammy-winning rapper, actor and businessman is frequently in the news, whether for his recordings, his charity or his clothing line. Most recently, he has signed on as Pharrell Williams’ team adviser for season ten of “The Voice.” Listed as number one by “Forbes” as the wealthiest hip hop artist of 2015 with an estimated net worth of $735 million, Sean has reduced the price on his New Jersey mansion  several times, now at $7.89 million.

For Sale- Now Reduced!- Puff Daddy's NJ home.
For Sale- Now Reduced!- Puff Daddy’s NJ home.

Combs purchased his elaborate 3.25 acre estate in Alpine in 2004 for $6 million. Built in 1999, the home has all the glamour and amenities expected in the home of one of America’s most popular celebrities. The 8,000-square-foot home has six bedrooms, six baths, foyer with double staircase and expansive formal rooms with walls of glass filling the interior with light. The basement is the activity heart of the home with its own kitchen, wet bar, home theater, an aquarium and another bedroom with full bath. There is also an indoor basketball/racquetball court and a fully equipped gym with full bath. Outside is a swimming pool with waterfall, putting green, a lighted tennis court and a six-car attached garage. Originally, Sean put the property on the market in 2011 at $13.5 million. Without a buyer, he pulled it from the market and relisted it again in 2015 at $8.5 million. Again with no buyer, he has once again dropped the price to $7.89 million. The listing agency is Sotheby’s International in Alpine, New Jersey. For the Silo, Terry Walsh.

Visit TopTenRealEstateDeals.com for more famous, spectacular and celebrity homes and real estate news.

Celebrity Homes: Casino King’s Las Vegas Mansion Going To Auction

“Las Vegas Primm Ranch”…….Michael Jackson called it “Wonderland” and his daughter said it was “Candyland.” The 10-acre compound in a Las Vegas neighborhood of casino owners, entertainers and royalty (Wayne Newton lives nearby and the Sultan of Brunei was a neighbor) was designed to be a secure and safe haven for a family, a memorable experience for their guests and a place to safely enjoy their expensive hobbies. This was its appeal to Michael Jackson, who had sights on a Las Vegas residency show and, according to Las Vegas media, had toured the home several times. Jackson was planning on making an offer on the home when he returned from his “This Is It” London residency show scheduled to run through early 2010. However, Michael died just three weeks before the start of the tour.

Completed in 1994 for Nevada casino and resort developer Gary Primm, the compound was designed for luxury, but security was Primm’s biggest concern. Primm is a big-game hunter and car collector including the “Bonnie and Clyde Death Car” that he has displayed at several of his casinos. The home was completed soon after Las Vegas casino developer Steve Wynn’s daughter was kidnapped from the kitchen of their Las Vegas home. Primm was worried about the safety of his own two children and designed the home with a 10-foot wall surrounding the property and three gates that can be controlled by the owner, eliminating the need for round-the-clock guards who might be bought off by a rival. Throughout are security tunnels, bulletproof doors, secret rooms with entries disguised as walls or cabinets and a panic room with an oxygen supply and separate underground phone lines.

The Primm Ranch includes a main estate house with 15,000 square feet, a guest villa, grotto villa, staff quarters, horse trainer quarters, equestrian barn, arena, pens and pastures, a dog villa, grotto pool with spa, waterfall and slide, all surrounded by lush lawns and palms. There is also a garage/car showroom that will house 20 cars with its own gas station for diesel and unleaded fuels, a car wash with deionized water and mechanic’s lift. With a total living area of over 21,000 square feet, there are 10 bedrooms and 19 baths. Highlights include a beauty salon, trophy room with recorded animal sounds, driving range, 5,000-bottle wine cellar, theater, casino room, gym and sauna. The grounds include a greenhouse, outdoor kitchen adjacent to the pool with a bar and guest suite accessed under the waterfall, and a tennis court. Equestrian facilities include stalls for ten horses with training and riding areas. According to the estate’s listing agent, Jackson planned on converting the home’s underground shooting range into a recording studio.

Currently listed at $14.5 million USD, Primm Ranch will go up for auction on October 10th with no reserve. The auction company handling the sale is Concierge Auctions of New York City.

Real estate is never boring at TopTenRealEstateDeals. Check out today’s most entertaining, important and unusual real estate news stories of the week. News such as “Florida Foreclosure King Losing Home,” “Burt Reynolds Finally Sells Florida Home,” and “Exotic Islands For Sale.”