A Few Links to Keep Y'all Busy

Family matters, a funeral puppies, require Your Mama be away today. Sorry darlins.



1. Art gallerist Larry Gagosian just paid hedge hog J. Christopher Flowers $36,500,000 for the famous and famously large and expensive Harkness Mansion on the Upper East Side. Sound like a lot? It is, but it's almost $15,000,000 than brassy Mister Flowers paid for the huge house in 2006 and every inch of the interiors is still to be done.



2. Actor John Larroquette lists an ugly little in Mellenthin-style ranch house in Sherman Oaks, CA



3. Ruth Madoff, wife of convicted Ponzi putz Bernie Madoff, who used to own a penthouse in Manhattan, an ocean front home in Montauk (NY) and a water front home in Palm Beach (FL) has been found living in a modest condo in Boca Raton, FL. And she drives a Honda Civic that probably cost as much as she used to pay to have her hair dyed.

Alec Baldwin Goes Downtown

BUYER: Alex Baldwin

LOCATION: New York City, NY

PRICE: $12,500,000 (list)

SIZE: 4,137 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms



YOUR MAMAS NOTES: What's old quickly becomes new again in the world of celebrity real estate. Two weeks ago the peeps at The Post reported that Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning actor Alec Baldwin listed his long-time home at the high-toned and twin-towered Eldorado building on New York City's Central Park West with an asking price of $9,500,000.



What was not mentioned was that Mister Baldwin attempted to sell the 3 bedroom and 3.5 bathroom spread on the 22nd floor at The Eldorado way back in August 2009 with a much lower asking price of $7,500,000. It doesn't take clicks and flicks of the hard-working beads on Your Mama's bejeweled abacus to determine that Mister Baldwin and his Real Estate have seen fit to jack up the price by a full two million dollars even though, arguably, the real estate economy isn't all that much better today than it was two years ago.



Anyhoo, at the very same time Mister Baldwin listed his 22nd floor co-operative apartment at The Eldorado he also listed a second 1-bedroom unit with 12-foot ceilings on the ground floor of the building with an asking price of $1,200,000. This unit no longer appears on the open market nor is is mentioned in current listing information for Mister Baldwin's bigger unit upstairs. Make of that what you will.



Mister Baldwin has been on on the house for new digs in The Big Apple for quite some time. Originally his search centered around Upper West Side where he reportedly peeped at numerous fancy pads including places at the troubled Apthorp building and a 4 bedroom spread at The Dakota priced at $12,500,000.



Ultimately 50-something year old Mister Baldwin turned his real estate attentions downtown where his plan, as per all the New York City property gossips, is to buy a new crib where he can bunk in the lap of luxury with his much younger 28-year old lady-friend, yoga instructor Hilaria Thomas.



Within days of The Post reporting on Mister Baldwin's (re-)listing of his Upper West Side aerie, a real estate snitch whispered to the fine folks at Curbed that Mister Baldwin has signed contracts to purchase a duplex penthouse at the newly renovated Devonshire House in Greenwich Village's hoity-toity Gold Coast 'hood. The hulking red-brick pre-war edifice was originally designed by noted and beloved architect Emery Roth who, coincidentally, also designed the geometric Art Deco magnificence that is The Eldorado.



Mister Baldwin (allegedly and reportedly) opted for a 4,137 square foot penthouse pad at Devonshire House that last carried an asking price of $12,500,000. Listing information shows the posh penthouse–with interiors done up and did over by big-time decorator Victoria Hagan–contains 3 sizable bedrooms, each with private (and windowed) pooper. The large master suite, tucked into a oblique corner of the building with eastern and northern views, features an entry vestibule with coat closet–which we love–a windowed bathroom with separate glass-enclosed shower and raised soaking tub, private sitting area/study, and a dressing hall lined with closets.



The main living space pinwheels around a floating staircase and includes a formal dining room, living room with fireplace, and eat-in kitchen with center island breakfast bar plus room for a table, white Shaker-style cabinets, crisp white counter tops and grey-veined marble back splash, deep farm house sink and commercial-style stainless steel appliances.



The floor plan, as marked up in marketing materials, shows a somewhat awkward relationship between the foyer, living room, kitchen and dining room. As marked, one has to go through the kitchen or dining room in order to get to the living room. Iffin this were Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter's $12,500,000 penthouse we'd probably make the dining room the living room and the living room the dining room in an effort to promote a more harmonious relationship between the public spaces.



The second floor contains a family room/den with built-in wet bar, windowed bathroom and access to two terraces, a smaller one that overlooks the building's courtyard and a larger one that hangs over tree-lined East 10th Street.



listing photos and floor plan: Stribling

UPDATE: Kim Kardashian Wedding Venue

Yesterday the tee-vee people at Extra reported–and we passed on–that the wedding of booty-fied reality tee-vee star Kim Kardashian and professional basketball player Kris Humphries would take place this weekend on the grounds of a Montecito, CA estate owned by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.



During the broadcast they showed photographs of the grounds which Your Mama immediately recognized as the property Mister Schmidt snatched up in late 2007 for $20,000,000 from comedian/chat show host Ellen Degeneres. The property, with it's stuh-ning 1926 George Washington Smith-designed Spanish Colonial mansion and acres of immaculately groomed grounds, seemed like an obvious and excellent choice for a celebrity wedding that will undoubtedly be packed to the rafters with other celebrities and high profile people.



However, today, much to our confusion, scads of reports have come out with photos provided by the industrious paps at X17 Online that show an entirely different Montecito estate as the chosen location for the Kardashian family wedding event. In fact, X17 Online's aerial photographs show the impressive estate in a frenzied state of preparation.



The, walled, multi-gated, high-hedged and heavily fortified property X17 shows, isn't far from Mister Schmidt's estate and also boasts a magnificent George Washington Smith-designed mansion. A little peeking and poking around the interweb turned up records that show the 10-plus acre estate where Kimmy K. will actually tie her nuptials knot is owned by Frank J. Caufield, a co-founder of a high-powered Silicon Valley-based venture capital concern.



Old marketing materials for the property provided by a snitch we'll call Montecito Mary, reveal that the pristine spread, dubbed Sotto Il Monte, centers around a 15,452 square foot main house completed in 1929 for Kirk Johnson, one of the founders of the First National Bank of Beverly Hills. The Santa Barbara Tax Man shows the Tuscan mansion contains only 2 bedrooms but 6.5 bathrooms. In addition to the main manse there are various barns and outbuildings scattered throughout the grounds that include a guest house, staff quarters and manager's apartment, greenhouse, shade house, a car collector's garage, pool house, gymnasium.



The vast gardens were originally designed, as per marketing materials, in 1927 by A.E. Hanson who took his stylistic cue from formal Renaissance gardens in Italy. The gardens, a complex series of interlocking garden rooms adheres to a rich formality with boxwood lined symmetrical parterres and tree-lined allées. In addition the to pretty and perfect gardens, the meticulous grounds include a north/south tennis court, an indoor swimming pool plus a 25-meter outdoor pool–that photos show will be covered for the ceremony–and great swathes of Gastbyesque lawns that slope down from the rear of the main residence.



Apropos of nothing having to do with the Kardashian wedding fete and feast...In the early Naughts Mister Caufield married a lady named Karen. After not-quite 8 years of marriage, Missus Caufield filed for divorce. Your Mama, who does not know a hole in the ground from a tin cup, does not know if Mister and Missus Caufield reconciled or finalized their divorce proceedings but we did find online documentation that in 2009 a court ruling provided estranged Missus Caufield with $406,504 in temporary spousal support. Monthly spousal support, children, monthly spousal support.



Property records show that Mister Caufield also owns at least two other posh properties in California including a 6,685 square foot mansion in the snazzy Pacific Heights 'hood in San Francisco, CA purchased in the mid-1980s from a now-deceased but once-prominent pediatrician for $1,450,000. Records also indicate that in October 2007 Mister Caufield shelled out another $2,325,000 for a 1,599 square foot penthouse pad in a converted building in the Jackson Square area just north of downtown San Francisco.



The Kardashian clan's home base is Momma Kris's krib in the horsey gated community of Hidden Hills, CA and in February 2010, before hooking up with hunky Mister Humphries, Kim Kardashian dropped $3,400,000 on a 4,000 square foot Beverly Hills bachelorette pad. We have no idea where Miss Kardashian and her soon to be hubby will settle down once they're unified in the eyes of God and government. However, iffin we were the wagering type–and we're not–we'd bet the farm that in Kimmy K.'s case, a new spouse means a new house. We shall see butter beans, we shall see.



photo: Bing

Will the Bank Boot Burt Reynolds From his Florida Estate?

Once upon a time mustachioed actor/beloved geriatric sex symbol Burt Reynolds was the Hollywood shit. Women swooned over his thickly haired chest and cavalier masculinity while men practiced smacking wads of gum and making stupid wisecracks in an effort to adopt that special brand of Burt Reynoldsian good ol' boy man-sexy.



He popped into the Tinseltown scene way back in the late 1950 but Mister Reynolds' professional salad days were without a doubt the 1970s and 80s when he appeared in dozens of films that include Smokey and the Bandit (I, II and III), The Cannonball Run (I and II), Stroker Ace, and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas with top-heavy country queen Dolly Parton. In the late eighties and well in to the 1990s he switched from the silver screen to the tee-vee screen with starring rolls on B.L. Stryker, Out of This World, and Evening Shade. In 1997 his all but moribund movie career was revived when he portrayed porn director Jack Horner in Boogie Nights, a role that earned him an Oscar nomination. Since then he's appeared in scads of movies and television programs, most of which we've never heard of let alone seen.



The last couple of years have not been particularly kind professionally, personally or financially for the one-time superstar. In 2009 he reportedly checked himself into rehab to cope with an addiction to pain killers and in 2010 he underwent a quintuple bypass surgery. Now, here we area in the dogs days of summer 2011 and word slips and slides down the celebrity real estate gossip grapevine that Mister Reynolds is more than a million dollars behind on the mortgage for Valhalla, his waterfront estate in hoity-toity Hobe Sound, FL



It seems almost inconceivable that a man with such a long and presumably lucrative career in the Show Business would find himself in the sort of financial pickle that would keep him from making his mortgage. However, according to earlier reports, a lawsuit filed last week in Martin County (FL) Mister Reynolds stopped paying his mortgage about a year ago and owes Merrill Lynch Credit Corporation (MLCC) around $1,200,000 in unmade payments. Should Mister Reynolds not make good on what he owes, MLCC could move to foreclose on the luxuriously appointed but decoratively kitch property, a maneuver that would put Mister Reynolds out on his 70-something year old keister.



Mister Reynolds has owned the property since 1980 when records show he paid $700,000 for the three-plus acre water front spread that includes a 12,538 square foot main mansion with 5 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms. Interior spaces include a cavernous living room, formal dining room that opens to a screened in party-porch, office with antique wood-paneling and waterfalls–yes, water falls–extensively equipped fitness facility, wine cellar, saloon-like billiard/game room, and a huge home theater with wide screen, portable popcorn maker and small organ.



The secluded and deliciously private property also includes an additional 2 bedroom guest house, caretaker's cottage, heated swimming pool with adjacent gazebo, floating helipad, and private dock plenty large enough to park a big boat (and a helicopter).



Mister Reynolds attempted to sell the estate in 2005 when it was listed with an optimistic asking price of $15,000,000 that was later raised to $15,900,000. Within a year of the price increase the price tag had plummeted to $12,900,000. Eventually the price was dropped again to $10,500,000 and then again to $8,995,000. A few flicks of the well-worn beads of Your Mama's bejeweled abacus shows the last asking price–or at least the last asking price we're aware of–represents a punishing 44% reduction from the highest number put on the property.



As of this morning, Mister Reynold's Hobe Sound residence remains on the market with an asking price of $8,995,000.



listing photos: JIC Realty

First post on my new Delaware Real Estate Blog!

First off if you are looking to buy or sell a home please visit http://www.finddelawarehomes.com which is the best place to find homes. Buying a home in Sussex County is a great decision. You can find a home ranging from a $20,000 trailer to a million dollar beach front property. Whether you want to buy a home to live in or just buy a vacation house Delaware is the place to do it in. I would suggest Rehoboth Beach or Lewes Beach as a great place to start looking. Here are some good links for Rehoboth Beach Real Estate and Lewes Beach Real Estate. Another great place to start looking for homes for sale is a community called The Peninsula Delaware. This is one of the most awesome communities in Delaware. It is a luxury community in Millsboro. It has an amazing golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus. The golf course is a par 72 and is absolutely amazing. All of the homes in this community are on the water along the Indian River Bay. Each home is as stunning as the next. These homes are great for either retiring, vacationing, or even just to relocate to an awesome place. They are also a great place to raise children. The school systems in Sussex County are top notch. They are among the best in the entire state. There is also many fun activities to do in Southern Delaware. You can go fishing, golfing, canoeing, kayaking, race go carts, or on rainy days you can watch movies. The fishing is great, you can catch flounder which is incredibly tasty. They also have other fish of all sorts that you can catch and eat. If fishing is not for you then you can go crabbing.

Delaware beaches were recently voted the cleanest beaches in the whole country. They are great for vacationing. All of the Delaware beaches are located on the Atlantic Ocean. When visiting the beaches you can rent umbrellas to shade yourself from the sun for a while or rent a boogie board to have some fun in the water. You can also fish right off of the beach in some spots. In some seasons you are allowed to bring your pet dog on the beach. You can also drive your car on the beach if you have a special permit. If you do this be sure to let some air out of your car tires so you do not get stuck in the sand. The great thing about Delaware and its beaches are all of the great real estate opportunities. So be sure to check Delaware and all of our wonderful beach homes.