Monday, August 27, 2007

Underpriced at $100 Million

Five houses are vying to be the most expensive ever sold, market slump notwithstanding. Ben Casselman and Christina S.N. Lewis handicap the race.

It might seem foolish given the recent news from Wall Street, but a group of homeowners is holding firm on an ambitious goal -- to break the record for the most expensive home sale in American history.

The price to beat is $103 million.

Two years ago, at the peak of the real-estate boom, only a handful of homes in the U.S. had ever been listed for $75 million, let alone $100 million. Even the highest residential sale to date -- investor Ron Baron's $103 million purchase earlier this year of a 40-acre compound in East Hampton, N.Y. -- was never publicly listed. The deal was so secret that the brokers weren't named....

More (including a slideshow of the homes) at WSJ Online