Forget the winery fantasy for a moment, let's return to the bed and breakfast fantasy. Imagine owning this piece of real estate and being the owner of a small inn in Key West, Florida. The Southernmost Point Guest House is located on Duval Street in the heart of Key West's tourist area near the official southernmost point of the Continental United States. The historic mansion is on a corner lot with gardens leading to the pool, parking, trellised patio and a wide porch that wraps around the building. There are 10 bedrooms and eight bathrooms and seven spacious apartment units in two buildings. According to the Southernmost Point Guest House website, some of the apartment condos are for sale for $650.000. This beautiful spot is listed at $4.25 million.

The listing for the much-talked-about Brooke Astor apartment has hit the market. Mrs. Astor, who died at the age of 105 last year was one of the grand dames of New York society. Her home at 778 Park Avenue is considered to be an exceedingly prime New York co-op. The five-bedroom apartment has high ceilings, six terraces and five wood-burning fireplaces. A reception gallery with a wet bar, leads to a living room with a wood-burning fireplace and views up and down Park Avenue. The famed corner library has gleaming red laquer walls (the Real Estalker Mama chillingly described them as looking as if they are "dripping the blood of the under-privileged"), a wood-burning fireplace and French doors opening onto two terraces. The formal dining room also has a wood-burning fireplace and French doors leading out to a terrace. The kitchen includes a pantry, service hall, and three maid's rooms, a set-up which worked well in Mrs. Astor's days but might now be reconfigured into a large eat-in kitchen and family room for today's owner. There is an additional bedroom that can be used as a maid's room or reconfigured to be a second bedroom with ensuite bath. The private quarters include a sitting room with terrace, a separate powder room, and guest bedroom. At the end of the hall is in a corner room with a lovely wood-burning fireplace, terrace, and views toward Central Park. There are 20 closets. This co-op is listed at $46 million.

Only the very, very wealthy can apply to get into the Rosario-Candela-designed 778 Park Avenue co-op. As Max Abelson of the NY Observer pointed out, any potential owner will have to put 100% down and show more than enough cash to pay the steep monthly maintenance of $17,251.

Another new resort is planned for Belize, an area that has been experiencing a major development boom over the past few years. The Palmetto Bay Resort at Maya Beach will be located on Belize's Placencia Peninsula in an area situated on 16 miles of white sand beaches and backed by the scenery of the Maya Mountains. Palmetto Bay will offer beachfront real estate and four star amenities and will be the first development in the Caribbean designed 'green' from inception.

The first phase of the gated resort, which is currently under construction, will be comprised of 36 whole ownership, luxury beachfront condominiums ranging from approximately 1,100 to 4,500 square feet, each with open views of the Caribbean. Prices will start in the high $200,000s. The turnkey one- two- and three-bedroom residences are spread through two low-rise buildings. Designer Julieanne Dobson who also worked on Francis Ford Coppola's Turtle Inn in Belize will create the interiors using warm woods and natural stone, vibrant contemporary textiles, and niche lit Mayan and African inspired art.

Ownership at Palmetto Bay Resort will include access to fitness facilities, conference rooms with wireless internet; 24-hour reception and security; fully equipped luxury kitchens with gourmet utensils and stainless steel appliances; balcony barbecues; and lush, mature landscaping with use of indigenous fruit trees and plants. The property will feature a 300-foot oceanfront infinity pool, a 400' private beach, beach boardwalk, and private dock.

Green factors include geothermal, solar, and water filtration technologies, which alone is estimated to conserve 1,000 gallons of water per day at full occupancy. Sales have begun on the property.

Madonna recently bought some more space in her New York City co-op building and now it looks like she's set to divest herself of some real estate. The Sun reports that Madonna is looking to sell Ashcombe, her English country house in Wiltshire. She and Guy Ritchie bought the home in 2001 for £9 million and are now hoping to put it on the market for £12 million. The eight-bedroom home is listed as a Grade II structure by English Heritage. It was originally part of a larger building and was restored in the 1930s and 1940s by the photographer Cecil Beaton. Madonna and Guy are reportedly selling because they do not spend enough time at the estate especially since Madonna has been recording and touring again. We wish them luck, this is certainly not the best time to be selling England's housing slump is starting to rival the problem we have had in the States.

[Thanks, Lana]

A large chunk of land in California's Santa Ynez valley has been carved into large ranch property. The Ranches at Figueroa Canyon are five ranches being being offered for sale. Four architects are designing conceptual main house and ranch site plans, each tailored to specific ranch properties: Howard Backen of Backen Gillam Architects based in Sausalito and St. Helena, California; Barry Berkus of B3 Architects and Berkus Design Studio in Santa Barbara, California and Scottsdale, Arizona; Jonathan Foote, Architect in Tucson, Arizona and Livingston, Montana; and David Leavengood of Leavengood Architects in Seattle, Washington.

Each architect will provide a conceptual design for one of the ranch properties, covering the main ranch house and a site plan for ancillary buildings such as a ranch manager's residence, guest house, barns, entry or pool. Buyers may opt to work with the architect who provided the conceptual plans for their ranch, choose one of the other Preferred Architects or select an architect outside of the Preferred Architects Program.

The Ranches at Figueroa Canyon range from 187 to 1,176 acres and each has one or more legal parcels served by water and utilities. The areas were traditionally used for cattle ranching but could now be home to vineyards and equestrian facilities, as well as a private residence. The five ranches – College Ranch, Ranger Peak Ranch, Vista Largo Ranch, Corrales Creek Ranch and Lost Trail Ranch – range from $6 million to $24.5 million.

Musician Moby is facing real estate woes on both coasts this week. He has been trying to sell his charming New York co-op in the El Dorado since last summer (check out pictures from our estate of the day posting here) but seems to be having trouble finding a buyer his co-op board will love. Moby bought the two-bedroom tower apartment for $4.5 million in September 2005 and it is spread out over four levels and has terraces with terra cotta tiles, stone parapets and of course, mega views. He originally listed it at $7.5 million and found a buyer but the El Dorado co-op board turned the buyer down. Moby got smart and Main Street reports that he is now offering $75,000 as a finder's fee to anyone who can help him find a buyer that can pass muster.

As we heard a couple months ago, Moby and his friend fashion designer Stacey Bendet bought a $3 million house in the Hollywood Hills with the plans to turn it into a showplace for stylists and celebs with the garage as Moby's recording studio. Now neighbors aren't thrilled with idea of a music studio in the area and are warning him not to pursue the renovation. A neighbor said to the NY Post that they kicked Prince off the street for making noise and so Moby should be careful. Gee, life as a peace-loving vegan millionaire is tougher than I thought.

It's the season for worrying every last deduction you can possibly take on your taxes. As you are sweating those last minute details here's a story to make your blood boil. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Oracle CEO Larry Ellison will get a $3 mllion tax break because his Japanese-style home in Woodside, California is "functionally obsolete."

Ellison's Octopus Holdings LP bought the 23-acre site in May 1995 for $12 million and then sent to work on a nine year project constructing his version of Xanadu, a lavish 8,000-square-foot home based on a Japanese emperor's 16th century estate. Ellison seems to have a taste for all things Japanese, he also bought a home in Atherton in 1987 and turned it into a Japanese-style palace with seven bedrooms, a traditional tea house, bath house, gardens, a koi pond and waterfalls on 2.8 acres. That home was quietly put on the market in 2005 for $25 million. The property website for that home is here.

According to the Chronicle, the assessor's office based its January 2005 valuation of Elllison's Woodside home on reproduction costs, the $166.3 million it should have cost to build the home. The construction actually cost more than $200 million. But attorney William Bennett representing Octopus Holdings argued that the property was worth only $64.7 million at that time and in the two tax years, since entitling Ellison to a $3 million rebate on taxes paid. The appeals board agreed and so the $3 million will come from San Mateo county's property taxes paid this year. Of that $3 million it is estimated that nearly $1.4 million would have gone to schools in the area .

Ellison's home decline in value is shocking in an area that boasts very expensive real estate thanks to the Googleaires, people who made their fortune at Google and invested in big homes locally. The reason for the dip in value is essentially that Ellison created a home that no one else would want to buy. The home is said to suffer from "significant functional obsolescence" because the Japanese architecture, elaborate landscaping and over improvements to the property have made it a home that is costly to maintain and has reduced value to to others.

Ellison, who has a net worth of $25 billion according to Forbes, has turned his attentions to Southern California in recent years. In 2005 he picked up five lots in Malibu's pricey Carbon Beach area for a reported $65 million and is said to be looking into buying an NFL franchise for Los Angeles.

As the Chornicle article points out, perhaps the only good news out of this may come from the fact that it draws attention to the fact that homeowners can have their property values reassessed. With the declining real estate market in many regions some people may be in a situation where their property is being over-assessed but they are not aware of it.

[Thanks to Uncle Roger and Lana for calling our attention to this one]

Louis Kahn only designed 3 major architectural homes in his career and one of them, the Escherick House (named after the woman for whom it was built, Margaret Escherick) is up for auction. Its address is in Philadelphia and according to some it's his best residential creation and has "mature style" and a "warm and human quality" to the interior (and I tend to agree).

So the house will be sold, but unlike most houses its price will not only reflect the local regular real estate market but also the art market. Valued at $2 million only about half of that is unbiased structural and land values -- the rest is all artistic and historical sentiment.

Paul McCartney may have to pay $48.6 million in a divorce settlement to Heather Mills but he's in no danger of going broke anytime soon. The divorce settlement reveals the extensive of McCartney's massive fortune, which is over $750 million. McCartney has invested well in both art and real estate. The Daily Mail reports that McCartney's real estate holdings include a townhouse in St John's Wood, London, a Manhattan apartment, a Long Island, New York estate, a Beverly Hills home, a 1,500 acre estate, a country retreat in the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland and other homes sprinkled throughout the English countryside. The bulk of his wealth comes from his business assets including shares in Beatles songs and his investments and he has a cool £15 million in the bank.

At the start of the month, the NY Post's legendary real estate columnist Braden Keil reported on a $65 million sale of an estate in the Hamptons. Now he has said that the exclusive six-acre estate on the enviable Gin Lane has been purchased by Tiger Woods and his wife Elin. The property is anchored by a 3,200-square-foot Colonial Revival main residence, a 7,500-square-foot guesthouse and a four-car garage with staff quarters. We covered the property as an estate of the day in January.

But did Tiger really buy this home? The agent for the property, Beate Moore of Sotheby's International Realty tells Newsday's Laura Mann that Tiger did not buy the property and Radar says they have talked to Tiger Woods's reps who also confirm that Tiger has not bought this property. It's no longer listed so someone did buy, we'll just have to wait for property records to solve this mystery.

For a while it seemed that Miami might be one part of Florida that was if not immune from the real estate slowdown, protected a bit by its size and cachet. But now prices have started to plummet and putting many real estate speculators in trouble. The Miami skyline is dotted with cranes as buildings continue to go up but thousands of condo units are waiting either unsold or in foreclosure.

The numbers in Miami are startling, According to a report in Canada's Globe and Mail, prices citywide were 17.5 per cent lower in December than a year earlier with the value of some condos down by as much as half. And as more condo projects in progress are finished up the numbers could even go lower. Condos with sexy names and alluring promotions such as Jade and Vue are now facing millions of dollars in mortgage defaults and foreclosures. It's been a disaster for both investors and developers. In fact, two prominent Miami condo developers who were facing condo problems have died of heart attacks.

The problem in Miami is just part of Florida's boom and bust cycle. Whole towns sprung up over the last few years and many have gone bust just as quickly often leaving half-built homes abandoned (for a great photo series on this check out this piece on Rotunda Sands in Mental Floss). At this point, practically the entire state of Florida is in some sort of foreclosure crisis making it easy pickings for those from across the country and around the world looking for a real estate deal. Both homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth and developers forced to sell condos at cost or in some cases for even less than it cost to build them are ready to accept all sorts of offers.

For now, the temporary bandage seems to be real estate auctions. The other day I mentioned that two prominent real estate firms in Florida are working with a major real estate auction company. And just about every day I learn of a new auction of a condo complex in Florida. Many of the auctions are absolute, meaning that bidders will take whatever they can get. The good news is that this slump cannot last forever and for those who have the means to pick up a warm weather getaway there are major bargains to be had. Maybe this is the time for Miami developers to reach out to Russian investors looking for a place to wait out the winter chill.

Need more proof that Florida's real estate market is in deep trouble? Here it is, both Sotheby's Realty and Coldwell Banker are making moves on the real estate auction front. Sol Sotheby's International Realty and Nestler Poletto Sotheby's International Realty have announced they will hold their first luxury property auction for Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties on March 28 in Fort Lauderdale, putting more than $200 million in high-end properties on the block. Most of the properties will be sold to the highest qualified bidder with no limiting conditions or amounts.

The same company that is working with Sotheby's, Daniel DeCaro Real Estate Auctions, is also helping Coldwell Banker Real Estate Florida with auctions. They now offer clients the option of auctioning off their homes in Central Florida rather than selling in the traditional manner.

One of the advantages of being a homeowner is the fact that you can change and upgrade things to however you want them. Whether you're upgrading things for your own personal pleasure, looking to increase the price tag when you sell someday, or you're just dreaming and drooling, these home improvements are something to take a look at. From luxury custom-made garage doors to smart door locks that can be changed everyday to custom wall wine racks, you're neighbors will definitely be jealous.

I don't write too much about condos in Los Angeles but we've definitely got them. For the most part they don't have the appeal of some New York condominiums when it comes to poshness and elaborate style but this one is pretty amazing. It's the double penthouse that takes up half of the highest two floors at The Wilshire on Wilshire Blvd. The condo has a private foyer and a huge and ornate two-story living room with silk draperies, custom rock crystal chandeliers, hand-made carpets and sculpted moldings. The home has a beautiful bronze and iron staircase and balcony detail, a water filtration system, four fireplaces and remote control security monitors. The walnut family room has the look of a European pub with coffered ceilings and a granite bar. The media room has a 100-inch rear screen projection system and there is a formal dining room and separate sitting room. There is a private in-unit elevator which also goes to the upper floor where there is a mahogany office, guest suite and a storage area that includes a hair salon and wrapping room, which can be converted into an additional bedroom. The master suite has an antique marble fireplace, blackout shades and soft pastels. The gentlemen's bath and dressing room has a steam shower and the ladies' bath has a spa and large closet. The building has 24-hour concierge service, 24-hour valet, gym facilities and swimming pool. This condo is listed at $11.5 million.

Even in one of the hottest real estate markets in the United States people are starting to feel the pinch of the foreclosure crisis. The AP has a story on the falling housing prices in one of the most beautiful and pricey areas in the country. In January, home sales fell more than 55 percent from the year before. The number of houses at any stage of foreclosure jumped by 152.9 percent. So far the very expensive wine towns of Calistoga, Yountville, St. Helena and Rutherford are still doing well but the city of Napa and the town of American Canyon have been hard hit, finding that the newer housing developments are particularly vulnerable both to lack of sales and forecloures.

Part of the worry for Napa is that its exponential growth has been fueled by wine tourism which may start to wane in the current economic climate. Currently condos, offices and retail stores are under construction, designed to appeal to the tourists and part-time residents. While the general wisdom seems to be that recessions do not cause people to stop drinking wine, it may cause them to cut back on winery tours which would impact other luxury retail businesses which have come to the area in the past couple of years.