Most Expensive Home on the Market in the U.S. is Asking $245M
The house was the star of "The Beverly Hillbillies" and belonged to late billionaire Jerry Perenchio
The most expensive home now listed for sale in the U.S. is a sprawling Bel Air, Los Angeles, mansion that found its way to the market Tuesday with a $245 million price tag.
But almost as big as its asking price is the amount that has been chopped from it.
A whopping $105 million has been shed from the ask from last August, when it was announced that the listing would be available to buy for $350 million—though it's not clear if the home was ever officially on the open market with that asking price.
The opulent estate, known as Chartwell, was made famous by 1960s TV-series "The Beverly Hillbillies," and was more recently owned by the late Univision chairman and CEO, billionaire Jerry Perenchio.
Built in the 1930s, the house first belonged to hotelier Arnold Kirkeby, whose family rented the home out for the set of "Hillbillies." It was later sold to Perenchio for $13.5 million in 1986, according to property records.
Perenchio, who died last year at 86, lived in the mansion for 30 years. During that time, he snapped up at least four neighboring parcels that nearly doubled the estate to almost 10.4 acres, according to property records. The most recent was a 1.3-acre lot on Nimes Road, for which he paid $9.2 million in 2009, records show.
Chartwell comes complete with a five-bedroom guesthouse, a 75-foot pool and pool house, a tennis court, a car gallery for 40 vehicles, a 12,000-bottle wine cellar and manicured gardens.
The property will only be shown to pre-qualified buyers, according to the listing.
The brokerages repping the property are a veritable who’s who of top Los Angeles brokers: Hilton & Hyland, Coldwell Banker Global Luxury and Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. Representatives for each firm did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
