The real estate market will be enthused by the sale of a sprawling waterfront Greenwich estate in Connecticut. The 13,000-square-foot mansion called Copper Beech Farm was sold for a whopping $120 million. This is a new record for the industry as it is the largest sum ever paid for a home in America. Apart from the mansion the mega deal includes two islands in the Long Island Sound. The mansion boasts of 12 bedrooms and also features a 75-foot pool, grass tennis court and stone carriage house. Even at this high price the deal could be called a bargain as original listing price of the property was pegged at an astonishing $190 million.
Greenwich Time that carried the story about the sale confirmed the new record referring to real estate agents who called it the most expensive property sold in America. According to them the previous record was held by a property in California which was sold for $117 million in January 2013. It is an estate located in Silicon Valley, spread over 9 acres and features a mansion with 8,900 square feet of living space. The new record holder is anonymous as the Copper Beech Farm has been bought through a limited liability corporation to protect the privacy of its new owner. The insiders in the know were only willing to confirm that the buyer was not local.
Copper Beech Farm was built in 1896 and has seen many owners including Andrew Carnegie’s niece Harriet Lauder Greenway. It was bought by John Rudey and his wife Laurie in 1982 for $7.55 million. Mr. Rudey who owned timber companies took out mortgages regularly to finance the estate. After 2006 fairly large mortgages were taken out on different sections of the estate. There were mortgages with Bank of America as well as M & T Bank. Copper Beech Farm started suffering when Mr. Rudey’s companies started doing badly. Some of his large investments in land did not produce the expected timber because of environmental restrictions. Bank of America had initiated foreclosure proceedings against Copper Beech but Rudey fought back claiming the bank was indulging in predatory lending practices. However he had to sell the trophy home in the end.
