Filed under: Estates

A new building in the West End/Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington D.C. is one of the priciest complexes in the area. The $100 million building called 22 West, is located at 22nd and M streets and will be home to 92 condominiums ranging in price from $838,500 one bedrooms to penthouses going for as much as $3,868,500. All two bedroom and larger units get two parking spaces and the smaller units get one space each. Also each unit gets a storage locker. Each unit has floor-to-ceiling windows, natural oak wood flooring and plenty of wiring for all audio-visual devices and building wireless and high-speed internet access. The building will have a rooftop pool, a garden terrace, a restaurant and retail stores on the ground floor. The GW Hatchet reports that the building is currently around 30% sold. it is scheduled to be completed this summer.

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Filed under: Estates

For $12.5 million this gorgeous estate in Potomac, Maryland could be your new abode. A colonial style home built in 2004, this large house has ten bedrooms, eleven baths and five powder rooms. With 2.7 acres to care about, including the 50-foot swimming pool with waterfalls and lighted outdoor tennis court, this 25,000 square feet home affords plenty of space for entertaining guests or hosting large family gatherings. Every room that could be conceived of is included — media room, wine cellars, staff quarters, exercise room and sauna, and a six-car garage. Plus it is conveniently close to downtown Washington D.C. and a few nearby airports. All it needs is a barn for horses to make it complete — at least in my eyes.

[Thanks, Matthew F.]

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Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, has become the latest member off the celebrity foreclosure club. According to the Detroit Free Press she has said that an attorney’s mistake is the reason that her $700,000 mansion in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan has slipped into foreclosure over a mere $445 in 2005 taxes and late fees. She now owes a total of $19,192 in back taxes on the property through 2007. She has plans to pay up and get the slate-roofed brick mansion on Hamilton Road (see pic at the Detroit Free Press article) back before the March 31 foreclosure deadline. TMZ has Aretha’s official foreclosure documents.

In related celebrity foreclosure news, Michael Jackson’s attorneys say that he has worked out a deal with Fortress Investment Group to save Neverland, his massive California estate which has been flirting with foreclosure for months now. The move will avoid the March 19 auction date for the home. I still say this is just a case of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Jackson likely can’t afford the home and he can’t seem to find anyone who will buy it from him.

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Filed under: Estates

Another prime Newport, Rhode Island estate has gone on the market. Like Beechwood, another Newport estate we have covered as an estate of the day, Oakwood has a connection to the Astor family. It was the 19th-century summer residence of Mary Alida Astor Carey, the daughter of William Backhouse Astor, a son of John Jacob Astor. The home was built in the late 1860s and was one of the first summer retreats for the rich in the area. It was added to in the 1870s with a three-story tower, music room, ballroom and kitchen wing all added.

The Boston Globe reports that the current owner is J. Brian O’Neill, a Pennsylvania-based real estate developer who bought the property in 2004. He has shepherded it through a redesign that included expanding the master suite and adding a luxury loo above the enclosed rear terrace that overlooks the pool. The home has maintained some of its grandeur, the most beautiful room in the house is the dining room that has walls lined with 56 hand-painted Chinese panels, but has also been updated for today’s less formal society with a family room and a home theater. Key details in the seven-bedroom home include parquet floors, a Baccarat chandelier in the music room, carved mantels and beautiful woodwork. The almost six-acre property includes a six-hole putting green, a lawn tennis court, a reflecting pool stocked with koi, a rose garden, and ancient oak and split-leaf beech trees. It is listed at $10.75 million.

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My husband and I have been thinking about turning our 401k/IRA money into annuities.  But we are concerned about:

1. Outliving our money
2. Not having enough for “play money” for those cruises we want to take.

Our financial consultant suggested variable annuities.  Since we don’t know much about them, we’ve been doing some searching.  Miranda Marquit, over at Yielding Wealth,  recently answered my question about the difference between fixed and variable annuities.

There is still lots more to learn.  It’s my understanding that with a variable annuity you don’t have to “annuitize” (take out the money each month), but you can take out money when you want to.

We’re still exploring.  I’ll keep you posted.

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