A RECORD PRICE - $10,250,000 FOR THIS HOME

This French-English country mansion in Belleair Bluffs set a new sales record for a Tampa Bay area home.

When REALTOR Frank Malowany with Smith and Associates told CEO Robert Glaser that they represented the buyers in the Bay area’s highest-priced real estate transaction, they both knew the real estate market was on the upswing.  The price of $10,250,000 bought the buyers a distinctive 12,935 square-foot gated home that sits on a two-acre bluff overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway.

The home was featured for sale in the March/April 2008 issue of Tampa Bay Magazine.  Needless to say, the home is the epitome of luxury with extraordinary features, such as a tennis court, 220,000-gallon heated swimming pool with a waterfall and large spa, koi ponds, a media room with a “starlight” ceiling and wet bar, an elevator and a 22,000-bottle wine cellar.

Malowany, who is among Tampa Bay’s top luxury real estate specialists, is noted for his sale of many exclusive properties as is his firm. Both Malowany and Glaser agree that there is a positive momentum in sales, which demonstrates that the real estate market is consistent.  The best priced, well-located homes are selling; and the buyers who have chosen to wait, believing that prices will continue to fall, are finding the homes they wanted are now sold and that the former selection they had to choose from has been reduced. As proof that the luxury market has been the least effected, Glaser states that, since January 1st of 2008, they have participated in 16 sales of homes over two million dollars and 28 homes over a million dollars.  Malowany and Glaser agree that buyers are evaluating their purchase options by comparing location, condition and amenities, as they continue to acquire properties that meet their needs – despite the negativity in the press about the housing market in our area.  The times are changing; and with less new product coming to the marketplace, the better properties are selling quicker.  In time, the pendulum will have swung the other way, and the demand for housing will exceed the supply once more.