Most Epensive Homes Sold in 2009

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.