The top of the U.S. luxury market has been on a tear. 

Last month, a Greenwich, Conn. estate sold for $120 million, making it one of the most expensive residential properties ever sold in the U.S. 

Then over the weekend, that record was smashed by the sale of a $147 million compound on Further Lane in East Hampton to hedge fund manager Barry Rosenstein.

See how all these recent sales stack up.

#11 The penthouse of New York's (unfinished) One57 skyscraper sold for $90 million.

The penthouse at the top of the under-construction One57 sold in May of 2012, reportedly to a group led by hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman. The still-to-be-completed pad sounds incredible, with almost 11,000 square feet, over two floors and access to the building’s amenities, including a 65-foot pool with Central Park views, a library, theater, and gym.

Photo: Courtesy of Extell Development Company

#10 A historic Bel Air estate was scooped up for $94 million.

Way back in 2000, financier Gary Winnick bought this gorgeous 1930s mansion from tycoon David Murdoch for $94 million (around $129 million today). Winnick had previously purchased the estate in 1979 for $12.4 million. The main house is over 28,000 square feet, with seven bedrooms, a 15-car garage, full-sized basketball court, and a putting green.

Though the home is technically off the market, it’s rumored to be quietly for sale for $225 million.

Photo: Calisphere via UC Libraries

#9 Donald Trump's Palm Beach Estate sold for $95 million.

Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev scooped up Donald Trump’s Palm Beach estate in 2008. The 69,000-square-foot home has a 50-car garage and 475 feet of oceanfront property. It is rumored that Rybolovlev has plans to level the home and rebuild despite having only entered the property a few times since his purchase.

Wealthy individuals looking to invest in real estate should check out Tel Aviv, Dublin, and Chicago.

Those are three of cities identified on a new list of "rising stars" for real estate investors from real estate developers Candy & Candy, Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management and Savills.

The 12 cities on the list are set to "outperform the prime world cities and show strong residential price growth as they become more fully invested" in the next few years, and may offer lower-priced alternatives to "safe haven" cities like London and New York, the report writes.

Here's the list, from most expensive residential property to least. "Prime" real estate is at the top-tier of the market, in the most desirable neighborhoods; "Secondary" real estate is the bulk of the residential market — mainstream properties in ordinary neighborhoods.

And a map showing where those cities are located:

According to the report, real estate is becoming an increasingly mainstream asset class for ultra-wealthy investors. Investors from markets – Germany, Japan and the United States – account for 39% of global real estate holdings by ultra-high-net-worth individuals (those with assets of $30 million or more).

SEE ALSO: The 11 Most Expensive US Homes Ever Sold

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ASTORIA — The Steinway Mansion, a sprawling property that once belonged to the famous piano-making family, has been sold to two men from the neighborhood, according to the broker and local pols.

The 27-room mansion closed Friday for $2.65 million, according to Lauren Cornea of Amorelli Realty, who represented both the seller and the buyer in the deal, along with brokers Paul and Christina Halvatzis.

Cornea identified the purchasers only as Steinway Mansion LLC, and said that while she isn't aware of their future plans for the site, the mansion's landmarked status means the historic house will remain intact.

"The property is landmarked on a federal, state and city level, so it cannot be knocked down. It can't even be altered without permission from Landmarks, so it is heavily protected," she said. "It will always remain the Steinway Mansion."

A local group had been pushing to buy the mansion to turn it into a museum, but it is not clear what the building will be used for. However one local pol indicated that the new owners are receptive to the idea of public use.

The mansion, located at 18-33 41st St. not far from the Steinway & Sons piano factory, has been on the market since 2010, according to the brokers.

It belonged to the Steinways from the end of the 19th century until the 1920s, when it was purchased by the Halberian family, who owned it for the decades after.

"Saying goodbye to a family homestead for almost 90 years is very sad, and I hope the mansion lives on forever," said Michele Kazarian, daughter of late owner Michael Halberian, who said the new owners have promised to "maintain the integrity of the house."

"That was a key issue for me, and they said they would," she said.

Local preservationists and elected officials have pushed for a community use for the mansion, forming a coalition last year called The Friends of Steinway Mansion which sought to rally support to acquire the property and turn it into a museum or cultural center.

"We're disappointed that we were not able, at this time, to get the mansion," said Bob Singleton, who heads the Greater Astoria Historical Society and who helped form Friends of Steinway Mansion.

"However, we are very much interested in meeting with the new owners and discussing the opportunity of possibly doing some public programming," at the space, he said.

City Councilman Costa Constantinides said he has met with the mansion's new owners, whom he described as "two local guys," who grew up in Astoria and who are open to the idea of a public use for the house.

"They're very interested in working with the community to see this property become part of the fabric of the neighborhood," he said.

SEE ALSO: 5 Life Lessons You Should Learn As Early As Possible

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David Stockman, the former budget director who is largely associated with "Reaganomics," and his wife Jennifer Stockman, president of the Guggenheim Foundation, just purchased a 4,902-square-foot penthouse in Yorkville, according to The Real Deal.

The couple reportedly paid $14.85 million, $50,000 above the most recent asking price. The apartment was sold by real estate developer Alexandre Bosoni. 

The five-bedroom, six-bathroom penthouse is located in the newly constructed 170 East End Avenue, which, according to the Corcoran Group, has a ton of perks.

The building includes features such as a Pilates room, golf simulator, and a children's interactive room with computer games.

This is what 170 East End Avenue looks like. Some of the perks include a yoga studio, squash court, and movie theater.

The apartment boasts 11.5-foot ceilings, which is especially nice when there are ceiling-to-floor windows. Here are the views you get in the living room.

The formal dining room includes a wood-burning fireplace, private balcony, and fits a 16-person table.

The super rich come from all over the world to buy a place in New York City, so realtors are constantly looking for ways to make their properties stand out. It's a dog eat dog world.

That's why CORE Group's Raphael Chejade-Bloom and Jarrod Guy Randolph commissioned this 360 degree tour of their new listing $25 million condo listing at 845 United Nations Plaza.

"We found Jason Sievert (360 Virtual Visions) in California and were just blown away," said Chejade-Bloom in an e-mail. "The tour enhances the detail quality in a singular way."

Using this tool you get to see every angle of this 4 bedroom, 4.5 bathroom stunner. Zoom in and out. Click on the floor plan to go directly to certain rooms, or just wander through the apartment moving your mouse up and down to check the space out from ceiling to floor.

You can also click on the little "i" icons to get details about specific pieces of furniture, like the chandelier in the Great Room/Kitchen where the tour starts.

Have fun.

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Gary Barnett’s One57 is the most talked-about residential project to hit the city since 15 Central Park West.

But while it may be providing juicy, of-the-moment fodder for the industry, the land for the 90-story skyscraper took a decade for Barnett and his team at Extell Development Company to assemble.

The long process was worth the wait for him. Barnett reportedly had to put up only 10 percent of the $700 million equity investment for the $1.4 billion tower, which is located on West 57th Street overlooking Central Park. (He convinced two Abu Dhabi–based investment funds, Aabar Investments and Tasameem Real Estate Company, to cough up the rest.) Extell and its partners are expected to gross about $2 billion in sales from the project, according to news reports.

This month, The Real Deal took a close-up look at the glassy behemoth — from its 10 closed sales to its other notable, in-contract deals. We also reviewed amendments that Extell recently filed with the state Attorney General’s office that detail some of the quirky rules that the building’s owners, wealthy and powerful as they may be, will be required to follow, and outlined the building’s operating budget and revenue intake. Needless to say, the tower shouldn’t be hurting for cash if enough owners pony up for storage bins, some of which are asking a stratospheric $4,000 per square foot.

And despite controversy along the way, which has played out in 19 civil suits against the building, the mega-project comes with outsized expectations and many unconventional flourishes. Read on for a look.

NYC’S priciest storage bins?

Deeded underground parking and maid’s quarters are old news; these days the latest “extra” up for purchase in New York’s priciest condos may be the least sexy: storage bins. At One57, there are 21 of them up for grabs, but those who need the subterranean space to stash away their bric-à-brac can expect to pay big. One57 is asking $216,000, or about $4,000 a square foot for a 54-square-foot bin, according to a recent amendment that Extell filed with the AG.

As a point of comparison, that price rivals the average per-square-foot price of a condo at Jared Kushner’s Puck Building penthouses at 295 Lafayette Street.

“I’ve never seen that at any other buildings,” said CORE’s Emily Beare, one of the city’s top luxury brokers. “Usually, buildings of that caliber would include a storage unit with the apartment.”

Three of the 30-square-foot storage bins are asking $110,000 each, or about $3,667 per square foot. In comparison, similarly sized bins at 15 CPW go for about $35,000.

Policing the pets

One57 residents are permitted no more than two “orderly domestic” pets, such as dogs, cats, caged birds and aquarium fish. And while many buildings have tight security for guests, One57 will have the same for Fido. According to the building’s bylaws, residents will be required to give the board a photograph of their pets. And owners’ furry friends cannot have visitors — non-resident pets are animalia non grata.

But Beare said that’s par for the course at high-end buildings these days and that some white-glove co-ops take their pet surveillance a step further. “Some co-ops even have ‘pet interviews,’ where a buyer’s pet has to meet the board,” she said.

That’s not the only area that the board has a say in. Buyers who wish to get into the holiday spirit might want to buy elsewhere. The building does not allow decorative lights for those who wish to deck the halls — or their own windows — for the holidays. In fact, even curtains and blinds in individual units must be approved by the board.

But these types of rules are not unique in the residential trophy tower world: 15 CPW has similar restrictions on window decorations. And the rule has not deterred buyers.

One57’s budget — revealed

Extell estimates that the building will generate $8.25 million in its first year of operations — which started on July 1. The biggest contributors to that income are projected to be residential common charges, which should come to an estimated $7.45 million, according to filings with the AG’s office. Hotel common charges should tack on another $775,000.

By comparison, during 15 CPW’s first year, the projected common charges were about $6.6 million, according to that building’s offering plan. That means that residents at the 94-unit One57 will pay a far heftier sum, on average, than their counterparts at 15 CPW, which has 202 units.

On the expenses front, One57 has earmarked $2.5 million just for heat and hot water, perhaps with the expectation that residents will be using their Tuscan marble tubs to take long baths. The tower will also dish out about $1.57 million to its staff for salaries, wages and benefits.

And the building will spend $1.43 million on electricity, and nearly $1 million on “services and supplies,” which may, at least partly, account for the cost of cleaning One57’s 8,400 windows to ensure pristine views.

Keep reading at The Real Deal >

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These homes may have what may be the ultimate party amenity: a swim-up bar in the pool.

And we thought these only existed at all-inclusive resort.

Our friends at Estately helped us compile a list of houses across the country where you can practice your mixology and breast stroke simultaneously.

Not surprisingly, the majority of the homes were located out west or in the south, where warmer weather adds to the whole "it's 5 o'clock somewhere" feel.

If only these homes came with personal bartenders as well.

Pretend that you're spelunking down a sea cave in this nature-inspired pool.

This 9,000 square foot Mediterranean mega mansion in California also comes with maids quarters, a home theater and wine cellar.

Address: La Habra Heights, CA

Price: $12 million

There's plenty of room for thirsty guests at this six-seat bar.

This pool not only has the bar, but also cascading waterfalls to accent the 10,000 square foot California home with two master bedrooms and a billiards room.

Address: Indian Wells, CA

Price: $3.495 million

It's all about the ambiance at this Texas watering hole.

You might think you're back in ancient Greece with the Doric style columns mounted in the backyard, but the large Texas house includes modern amenities like a fire pit, hot tub, and subdivision tennis court. 

Address: Houston, TX

Price: $795,000

India's wealthiest man Mukesh Ambani's 27-story skyscraper home in Mumbai has topped the Forbes List of the most expensive billionaire homes in the world.

The 400,000-square-foot house is named Antilia after a mythical island in the Atlantic.

Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, reportedly spent between $1bn (€728m, £593m) and $2bn for the construction of the house.

That equals the construction costs for 7 World Trade Center, the 52-story tower that stands just north of Ground Zero in Manhattan with 1.7 million square feet of office space.

"The title of the most outrageously expensive property in the world still belongs to Mukesh Ambani's Antilia in Mumbai," Forbes said.

The 570-foot skyscraper includes six stories of underground parking, three helicopter pads, and reportedly requires a staff of 600 to keep it running.

Construction on the building started in 2008 and finished late in 2010.

The second in the Forbes list is Lily Safra's Villa Leopolda, in Villefranche-sur-mer, France. Spanning over 20 acres, the property is reportedly one of several waterside homes that King Leopold II of Belgium built for his many mistresses.

It was valued at €500m, when Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov tried to buy it in 2008. Prokhorov eventually backed out of the deal, losing his €50m deposit.

The third-most expensive billionaire home is Ira Rennert's Fair Field in New York. The property, which has never traded hands, is valued at about $248.5m in its latest tentative tax assessment.

The property boasts of 29 bedrooms, three swimming pools and its own power plant on premises.

Recently sold at $237m, a penthouse at One Hyde Park, London is the fourth one on the list. The apartment was sold to an Eastern European, who is believed to be a billionaire.

Lakshmi Mittal's Kensington Palace Gardens in London is the fifth most expensive home in the world. Hedge fund billionaire Noam Gottesman sold the property for $22m in 2008.

The steel magnate is believed to own three homes on the high-security street known as 'Billionaires Row', including a neo-Georgian mansion near the Israeli embassy.

Forbes noted that property values are going up in the ultra-luxury market. Of the 20 most expensive homes in the world owned by Forbes billionaires, only six were priced at less than $100m.

"Although the market cooled off a bit in 2013, with no properties trading hands above the USD 100 million mark, 2014 has kicked off with a bang. London set a new record, and three homes have sold for more than $100 million so far this year in the US alone," Forbes said.

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The luxury market has received a lot of press for the outrageous prices buyers are paying. And at almost no building is that truer than at One57, where the average price per square foot is $6,888, according to the building’s offering plan.

The 94-unit tower, which officially launched sales in late 2011, is now 75 percent sold, according to an Extell spokesperson. Two of those sales eclipsed the $90 million mark, the spokesperson confirmed, meaning that when they close, they’ll break the city’s current $88 million record, which was set at 15 Central Park West.

While only 13 units in the building have closed to date — closings started late last year —roughly 60 others are in contract. The closed units, which TRD detailed on the below chart, range in price from $3.6 million to $30.6 million. While most of those deals are not the sexiest in the building, they are hugely important to moving the building into its next phase. And many of the in-contract deals — the most prominent of which are outlined below — are expected to close in the coming months. See below for a look at both.

Unit: PH 75
Price: $90 million to $100 million
Buyer: Consortium of investors led by hedge-fund titan Bill Ackman

Ackman and his fellow investors are in contract for this 13,554-square-foot duplex condo on the 75th and 76th floors, which was asking $115 million. Its most notable feature is a two-story, 51-foot-wide glass enclosed “winter garden” with a curved glass roof. Ackman, the CEO of the hedge fund Pershing Square Capital, has said that the buy was purely an investment, and he would not look to live in the apartment.

Unit: PH 90
Price: More than $90 million
Buyer: Unknown

This 10,923-square-foot duplex on the 89th and 90th floors has six bedrooms and six-and-a-half bathrooms and had an asking price of $115 million. It was snapped up last May for more than $90 million by a mystery buyer. The apartment’s pièce de résistance, sources said, are its panoramic views of the city and Central Park. From the unit, Vanity Fair’s Paul Goldberger wrote in a recent essay “you feel as connected to the sky as to the ground.”

Unit: 82
Price: Just over $50 million
Buyer: Silas Chou

The heir to a Hong Kong–based fortune, Chou is worth $2.4 billion, according to Forbes, and was part of the two-person team that took apparel brand Michael Kors public in 2011. His 6,240-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom unit at One57 was most recently asking $57.5 million.

Unit: 85
Price: Just under $50 million
Buyer: Lawrence Stroll

Canadian fashion tycoon Lawrence Stroll, the other half of the Michael Kors IPO dream team, is reportedly worth $1.8 billion. He paid just under $50 million for his 6,200-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom unit shortly after sales at the building launched. Extell’s most recent asking price for the apartment was $62 million.

Unit: 59A
Price: $30 million
Buyer: George Constantin

The man behind commercial real estate investment firm Heritage Realty Services snapped up this 4,483-square-foot, three-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom unit in a sale that officially closed in April. Before founding Heritage, which has $400 million in assets, Constantin was at real estate firm Helmsley-Spear. He currently lives in Westchester, according Heritage’s website.

Unit: 48A
Price: $17.5 million
Buyer: Richard Kringstein

The CEO of apparel maker Herman Kay Company, which makes outerwear for brands such as Anne Klein, opted for this 3,228-square-foot pad on the 48th floor, which has three bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms and was most recently asking $20.5 million.

Unit: 40F
Price: $9.6 million
Buyer: David Beyda

Beyda is the CEO of Town & Country Living, a prominent linen manufacturer. His 2,289-square-foot pad on the 40th floor was most recently asking $9.95 million.

Unit: Unknown
Price: $6.5 million
Buyer: Unnamed Chinese businesswoman

This buyer generated international headlines when she bought this pricey pad for her daughter, in the anticipation that it would come in handy when her kid would attend Columbia or Harvard. The catch? Her daughter’s still a toddler, just two years old.

SEE ALSO: Meet The Big Shots Who Live At 15 Central Park West, The World's Most Powerful Address

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Many of us who’ve grown up in or around military households are familiar with the six Ps. It’s a military mantra created to encourage preparation in tasks big and small. The six Ps are: Prior proper planning prevents poor performance.

Failing to plan for small daily tasks is one thing, but failing to plan for one of the biggest purchases in your life can lead to severe repercussions. It’s arguably the worst thing you could do before buying a home. You owe it to yourself and your family to prepare in advance for the homebuying process. 

Here are four tips that can help.

1. Educate yourself.

It’s imperative for first-time buyers to become familiar with the homebuying process. If this isn’t your first rodeo, it’s still a good idea. The lending and real estate markets have significantly changed from even just a few years ago.

Here are four questions you should look into:

• What type of mortgage product best suits your needs: conventional, FHA, USDA or VA?
• Should you obtain a fixed-rate or adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM)? (Here’s a guide to their differences)
• What’s the real estate market like in your area? Are homes selling quickly with multiple offers on the first day, or are they languishing on the market?
• What’s the maximum mortgage payment you can make comfortably? (Here’s a calculator to crunch the numbers)

This is also a good time to check your credit reports (you can get free annual copies) and credit scores to see what your credit situation is, and come up with a plan to improve it if you need to. You can see two of your credit scores for free every month on Credit.com.

You can avoid a large number of surprises by determining the answer to these questions prior to starting your new home search.

2. Select a lender and real estate agent.

You’ll be working with your loan officer and real estate agent throughout the entire homebuying process. You will spend multiple hours with them face-to-face and on the phone. Search through unbiased mortgage reviews and talk with several agents and lenders to find the ones that will provide you the best customer service and quality experience.

When interviewing lenders, keep these questions in mind:

• Who will be your point of contact throughout the process?
• What is their average closing time?
• Do they have a good Better Business Bureau rating?
• If you are obtaining a specialty loan such as a VA mortgage, are they intimately familiar with its requirements?

When interviewing real estate agents, keep these questions in mind:

• What’s their availability? Does it match yours?
• How long have they been working in your market?
• Do they have specific experience working with specialized loan products such as FHA financing?
• Do they understand what homes will or will not meet the requirements?
• Can you put your full faith and trust in them?

3. List your wants and needs.

Going into the homebuying process with knowledge of your needs and wants will benefit you in several ways. Doing so will help you identify and prioritize features and help you eliminate homes that don’t meet your needs.

As you begin shopping for a home, it may be necessary to re-evaluate your list based on the local market.

Lean on your real estate agent when you’re unsure of whether your list meshes with your budget.

4. Save!

Your out-of-pocket costs will vary depending on a number of factors, including the mortgage product and your contract negotiations. These fees typically include a down payment and closing costs.

Closing costs can vary greatly depending on your state, your lender and the amount of your mortgage.

Consult with your loan officer to get an estimate on these costs prior to shopping for homes. The average closing costs in 2013, nationwide, were $2,400.

Down payments are calculated by taking a percentage of the loan amount. They require that the borrower/buyer put the designated percentage in cash toward the home purchase. These percentages vary by loan product. Conventional loans require 5-20% down on a home. FHA loans require 3.5% down. VA and USDA loans don’t have a down payment requirement.

Calculate your estimated out-of-pocket costs. Start saving toward this goal if you haven’t already. It’s a bad idea to empty your savings to come up with your closing costs and down payment. Some lenders will even prohibit this practice. You’ll need your savings as a safety net as a new homeowner. Leave yourself a comfortable amount of cushion in savings for emergency expenses and upcoming household costs.

SEE ALSO: Here's How To Figure Out How Much House You Can Afford

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Actually, overall Manhattan Home Sales are 45% All-Cash.

I want to make sure that the 80% number doesn’t become embedded in our housing market mindset. I’ll explain.

Recently a friend passed along a post in the Washington Post titled: 8 in 10 Manhattan home sales are all-cash and my jaw dropped.

The author, who I am a fan of, got this information from Realtytrac, who I am also a fan of, but I knew it was either wrong or misinterpreted.

Over the years I’ve played around with NYC mortgage data, usually incomplete and very dirty, from various sources and have combined that with frontline feedback from our own experience as appraisers, as well as from real estate brokers and lenders.

I had come to the conclusion that roughly half of Manhattan home sales (co-op, condo & single family) were probably all-cash and condos are definitely well over 50%. I used the logic that foreign and high-end buyers are a large part of the all-cash market, especially within the new development space. And it makes sense – while condo end loan financing is tight, new development condo end loan financing is beyond tight.

The reason the Realtytrac 80% figure jumped out at me was the fact that co-ops account for about 60% of sales and have the highest concentration of entry level and middle class demographics in Manhattan. I was very skeptical that virtually all the market-majority co-op buyers were paying all-cash, especially in the tepid economy we are stuck with.

So I reached out to Daren Blomquist, Vice President at RealtyTrac who is often the point person on their data releases. I indicated that the 80% figure seemed off and wondered if it excluded the co-op market. It didn’t. However even an 80% all-cash share for only single family and condo sales seemed like a stretch. He said he would look into it and within an hour they could see an issue with their co-op data feed. They were already working on the issue (and why I like Realtytrac). He shared their 1Q14 Manhattan information (I omitted the suspect co-op data) and here are the key numbers:

Their Results
All-Cash Condo Sales 60.78%
All-Cash Single Family Sales 73.08%

I came up with a new methodology, which looked at the ratios seen in Douglas Elliman sales – the largest real estate brokerage company in Manhattan – with a sales mix is generally consistent with the overall market mix and applied their results to the overall market, and I saw this:

Our Results
All-Cash Co-ops 36% (no revised Realtytrac results yet)
All-Cash Condos 58% (similar to Realtytrac’s 60.78%)

I didn’t have the single family (fee simple) results compiled so I went with Realtytrac’s 73% because: their fee simple (condo) data was consistent with ours, the single family market is skewed much higher price-wise than the condo market (i.e. skewing towards cash buyers) and the single family market share is very small. In fact the market share is so small that the overall 45% all-cash ratio wouldn’t change unless I dropped the single family market share down to 6% from 73% but even then the overall cash ratio would only drop to 44% from 45% – so you get my point (my apologies for the excessive wonkiness on this but it was necessary).

As a result and represented in the table at the top of this post, it is reasonable to say that the overall Manhattan all-cash home sale market in 1Q 2014 was 45% of all residential sales. Got it?

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The iconic New York Palace hotel completed its $140 million renovations last year. Among other things, the renovations included two new triplex suites: The Jewel Suite by jeweler Martin Katz and The Champagne Suite.

These two 5,000-square-foot suites are located on the 53rd floor in The Towers, the Palace's exclusive hotel-within-a-hotel.

And unsurprisingly, they're really, really expensive. The New York Daily News reported that the suites cost an astounding $25o,000 per month to rent. A single night in one of these suites costs $25,000, making the monthly charge seem like a relative bargain.

But guests who stay in these suites get their money's worth, with incredible amenities like private elevators, expert maître d’étage service, private Maybach car service, oversized outdoor terraces with private Jacuzzis, wood burning fireplaces, and complimentary champagne.

The iconic New York Palace hotel is located on Madison Avenue in midtown Manhattan.

To get to the Jewel and Champagne Suites, guests enter through The Towers, the Palace's elite hotel-within-a-hotel.

The Champagne Suite has floor-to-ceiling windows with incredible views of the Empire State Building. It also has custom artwork, like a black and white French mural.

The owner of the Connecticut estate that once belonged to acting-legend Katharine Hepburn is having a hard time unloading the property.

After three years on and off the market, the Old Saybrook home is now listed at $14.8 million, less than half of the $30 million owner Frank Sciame had asked in 2012.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the new listing for the home excludes additional parcels that were included in the previous listing.

The home had been in the Hepburn family since 1913, and Katharine lived there until she died in 2003 at age 96, according to the WSJ. The property is on 1.5 acres of land and has 680 feet of waterfront on the Long Island Sound.

The home, in Old Saybrook, is pretty much surrounded by water.

A view from the pond.

The private dock, perfect for a summer getaway.

If you've ever fantasized about having your very own Batcave, this Malibu home could make your superhero dreams come true.

Sure, it doesn't have the Batmobile or Michael Caine's charming cockney accent, but it is located underground and even has a secret entranceway, according to The Wall Street Journal.

And the Batcave, along with the mansion above it, can be yours for $24.95 million.

Dan Romanelli, the founder of the consumer-products division at Warner Bros., built the superhero-inspired space in 2006.

"Batman was something that really helped build my division," Romanelli, who worked on toys linked to the series, told The WSJ.

The nearly 6-acre, 10,270-square-foot property has five bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, an elevator, gym, and pool.

The home is located in Malibu, about an hour's drive from downtown Los Angeles, and is listed by Santiago Arana of the Agency.

Here's what you see when you drive up to Morning View Drive in Malibu.

And if you head around back, the view gets even more impressive.

Let's jump right to the underground "Batcave." It contains arcade games and the owner's collection of vintage toys.

It’s been more than a decade since I graduated from college and moved out on my own. In that time, I’ve been a renter, a homebuyer, and a home seller.

And despite all of the complexities that are part of the homebuying process, the most important piece of advice I’d ever received was simple: Simulate the cost of homeownership for three months before you buy.

A friend suggested that I do this when I was considering buying my first house in 2005. I was a 28-year-old single professional living in Columbus, Ohio. Friends were getting engaged, married, and moving into “grown-up” homes. And, frankly, I felt like a failure because I was still renting a one-bedroom apartment, which I viewed as akin to flushing $700 down the toilet each month.

So I started to research what was out there.

Much like the housing market today, inventory was low and demand was high. I began my trial run experiment by using the calculators that accompanied online listings to find homes with would-be mortgage payments that I felt were affordable — only a few hundred dollars more than what I had been paying in rent.

Then I called a mortgage lender to get prequalified. Thanks to the fact that I’d paid down all of my debt, my credit score was in great shape. The lender was even willing to provide pre-approval for an amount well beyond what I felt I could afford.

Now it was time to get serious about house hunting.

RELATED: Can’t Get a Mortgage? Debt-to-Income Ratio, Explained

First comes the mortgage, then comes …

To find something in my price range, I had to search about 15 miles away from the historic German Village section of Columbus where I’d been living. I found a condo complex I liked enough — and the realtor assured me that young professionals like myself were snatching the units off the market.

I was comfortable with a monthly mortgage payment of about $1,200, based on the $140,000 asking price. But there were additional expenses I hadn’t planned for, including the fact that my unit wouldn’t come equipped with the brand-new, stainless-steel appliances shown in the model unit. Then add on covered parking for $75 per month, as well as an $85 standard monthly condo fee that only covered snow removal and lawn care.

After discussing the property with a home-owning friend, he posed some additional questions I hadn’t considered: What type of insurance was needed to cover the interior and exterior of the unit? What were the HOA rules if I wanted to rent out the unit? How would additional maintenance costs for the shared exterior spaces — windows, roofs, gutters, and pavements — be handled?

Although I was frustrated by his questions, it made me think. Yes, I could afford the monthly payment, but given that I’d use the bulk of my emergency savings to cover the down payment and closing costs, my savings would be nil. I didn’t want to get back into debt, and as the extra costs crept in, so did the panic.

RELATED: 4 Couples, 4 Home Purchases: How Much Can They Afford?

Retrofitting my real estate budget

But I hadn’t given up hope. With a specific property in mind, I could now project the real cost of my monthly payments, including those condo fees ($85), condo insurance ($82), private mortgage insurance ($60), and taxes ($293).

After crunching the numbers, I figured I could still make it work if I were willing to slash some non-essential costs from my budget for good — like girls’ nights, dining out, the gym, cable, and even splurges at the supermarket. I’d also have to eliminate travel for a few years, and give up the idea of eventually owning my leased car.

It left me with an extremely tight budget — but my justification was that I was only 28. Surely, I’d get a raise every year, and once I finished my grad school program, I figured higher-paying jobs would be waiting.

It was then that my friend suggested I “test-drive” what life would be like on this new budget for three months. Since I wasn’t totally sold on the idea of being so “house poor,” I agreed it was a good plan.

For the first month, I did fine. I cut the costs I’d said I would, and even picked up a side gig pet-sitting. But months two and three proved just how little cushion I had: One of my friends asked me to be in her wedding, and I couldn’t say no. Then my cat was inexplicably unable to expel a hairball — costing me $500 to surgically remove it.

All the while, I also started to realize how much I truly loved German Village, especially its proximity to friends, work and school. By the end of the three-month simulation period, I had saved more than $1,000 — but the real takeaway was that I realized I couldn’t bow out of every unplanned life expense. And there were some sacrifices I simply didn’t want to make in order to own a home.

RELATED: Adventures in Real Estate: I Bought a House at 21

What my test run taught me

For the next three years, I continued to rent. I also changed jobs, getting a sizable raise. Thanks to the frugal habits I’d honed during the mortgage test-drive, I also saved — a lot. I bought my car in cash when the lease ended, stayed out of debt, caught up on savings and retirement, and even traveled to Europe.

Ironically, once I felt truly financially equipped to buy a home, I was able to purchase a foreclosed condo in my much-loved neighborhood — all because I waited, avoided the housing bust, and bought when the market was at a low.

Taking my potential payments on a test run ultimately helped me figure out what was important to me in a home, and taught me that it was worth the time to make a more thoughtful decision.

Embarking on the journey as a first-time home buyer is a daunting task, and your monthly payments aren’t the only numbers you’ll need to crunch. So I talked to a couple of experts and asked them what key financial questions potential buyers should ask themselves before deciding whether owning is the right move, right now.

Is my credit report in good shape? Approximately 80% of credit reports have errors— many of which can cause your loan to be unjustly denied, according to Brian G. Murphy, manager and senior mortgage planner at Colorado-based Front Range Mortgage, LLC.

So check your credit report at least three months prior to applying for a home loan, and do not close old accounts, consolidate lines of credit, or pay off old collections during that time. All of that can lower your credit score, which impacts what you’ll pay for a home loan.

RELATED: How My Credit Score Almost Cost Me My Dream House

How much can I get prequalified for? You should be able to figure this out in a 20-minute call with a lender. Just keep in mind that rules enacted to prevent another housing crisis have made it harder to qualify for mortgages.

“New lending regulations have changed the debt-ratio requirement for some loans, which may impact the consumers’ ability to get a loan,” says Richard Whitman, vice president of mortgage lending for Texas Trust Credit Union.

Do I understand the total cost? As my experience proved, the cost of homeownership comes down to more than just chipping away at the principal. There’s also the interest, taxes, and insurance to think about. The terms of the mortgage — its length and whether it has a fixed or adjustable rate — will also have a bearing on what you’ll ultimately pay. And you’ll have to stay on top of fees for private mortgage insurance (if required), closing costs, and titles and appraisals — not to mention maintenance costs, especially if you have a yard or a pool. Make sure you have at least six months built up in an emergency fund to provide a financial cushion in case you have any larger-than-expected home maintenance expenses.

And don’t forget about the “earnest money” you’ll have to hand over once the offer on your home is accepted, Murphy says. This is a good-faith deposit you make to show the seller that you’re serious about the offer, and it goes toward your down payment once the transaction is finalized.

How long will I be in my home? Consider whether the house you’ll buy today still works for your life at least five years from now. And don’t rush to purchase just because of market demand. “It’s not uncommon to see 10 to 15 homes before making an offer,” Murphy says. “And it may well take two to three offers before you make it to contract.”

RELATED: 7 Top Mortgage-Shopping Mistakes to Avoid

SEE ALSO: Here's How To Figure Out How Much House You Can Afford

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MANHATTAN — Manhattan condo prices saw a 1.4 percent dip in April from the month before, according to a report released Friday by the search site StreetEasy.

Though not a huge decline, it's the greatest monthly decrease in nearly four years, signaling that prices might have reached their peak and could begin to drop, or at least remain stable, the report says.

"While sellers still have the upper hand in the marketplace, buyers may be gaining some traction in bringing prices back down to earth,” said Alan Lightfeldt, a StreetEasy data scientist.

After the "ambitious and aggressive" price increases that led to a record-breaking finish to 2013 and strong start of 2014, "we may have approached the upper price limit to where buyers are willing or able to meet sellers," Lightfeldt said.

The Manhattan median sales price was $1.3 million with the median price per square foot at $1,339 in April, the report found.

Even if prices level off, they may still be prohibitively expensive for the majority of house hunters. There's a growing disconnect between supply and demand as the bulk of buyers are looking for lower-priced homes that are not on the market, the data show. 

Nearly half of the condos on the market are in the "top tier" in terms of pricing, meaning they are listed for $1.9 million or more.  Roughly 32 percent are in the middle tier (between $895,000 and $1.9 million) and 21 percent in the bottom tier, the report shows.

But the majority of searches conducted on StreetEasy — some 59 percent — were for bottom- and middle-tier-priced condos, according to data compiled for DNAinfo.

The three most popular searches were for homes priced up to $500,000, up to $600,000 and up to $1 million, StreetEasy found.

"It shouldn't shock or surprise anybody that sellers are going to have to adjust their prices downward, even just a little bit," Lightfeldt said.

The increasingly large share of high-priced homes may indicate that those homes were unable to sell as quickly as others, he noted.

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It's one of the most recognizable houses from the movies, but no one has been willing to buy it ... until now.

The house, where Cameron Frye lived (and totaled his dad's beloved 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder convertible) in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," has finally sold for $1.06 million after five years on the market, Crain's Chicago Business reports.

The home, in Highland Park, Illinois, had initially been listed for $2.3 million, and its asking price at the time of the sale was $1.2 million, according to CBB.

While there's no word yet on the buyers of the glass-and-steel, four-bedroom home, it's safe to say they won't forget to use their parking brake.

Most people will recognize this glass garage from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Luckily for the new owners, the glass has been repaired.

The home is located in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, close enough to the city for a quick spin during a school day.

Designed by architect James Speyer, the house consists of two separate buildings.

Buying a home? If you are, one of the very first questions you’ll need to answer is, “how much of a down payment should I make?”

The answer: ideally, 20%.

Granted, it’s not easy to save 20% of the home’s sale price for a down payment. In fact, saving for a down payment remains the number one obstacle to homeownership for many Americans.

To qualify for a conventional mortgage, you need to have a down payment of at least 5% of the purchase price. However, putting less than 20% down can have significant financial implications. Not only could a 20% down payment save you hundreds of dollars on your monthly payment, but you’ll build equity in the house more quickly and save a considerable amount of money on interest.

Learn more about the benefits of a 20% down payment below:

SEE ALSO: Why One Woman Spent 3 Months Only Pretending To Buy A Home

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The affordable homes most likely to be sought after by first-time home buyers are also those most likely to be kept off the market because their current owners are in negative equity, or underwater.

Underwater homeowners — those who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth — have a very difficult time listing and selling their homes, even if they want to, without engaging in a short sale or dipping into their savings.

Among all homeowners with a mortgage nationwide, roughly one in three (30.2%) who owned homes within the bottom third of home values were underwater in the first quarter, according to the first quarter Zillow Negative Equity Report. That’s almost three times as many as in the top third of homes (10.7%). Among the middle tier, 18.1% of homeowners with a mortgage were underwater in the first quarter.

The national negative equity rate fell to 18.8% in the first quarter, with almost 9.7 million American homeowners with a mortgage underwater. More than one-third of homeowners with a mortgage (36.9%) are effectively underwater, unable to sell their homes for enough profit to afford down payments on new ones and comfortably meet expenses related to selling, such as real estate agents’ fees and closing costs.

“The unfortunate reality is that housing markets look to be swimming with underwater borrowers for years to come,” said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. “It’s hard to overstate just how much of a drag on the housing market negative equity really is, especially at the lower end of the market, which represents those homes typically most affordable for first-time buyers. Negative equity constrains inventory, which helps drive home values higher, which in turn makes those homes that are available that much less affordable.”

Negative equity has fallen for eight consecutive quarters, but fell at its lowest pace in almost two years in the first quarter as home value growth slowed. Negative equity fell from 25.4% in the first quarter of 2013 and 19.4% in the fourth quarter, while the pace of annual home value growth slowed to 5.7% in the first quarter, from 6.6% at the end of the fourth quarter.

Looking ahead, the national negative equity rate is expected to fall to 17% of all homeowners with a mortgage by the first quarter of 2015, according to the Zillow Negative Equity Forecast.

More underwater homeowners are freed from negative equity as home values rise, eventually surpassing the amount still owed on a mortgage. If home values rise more slowly, negative equity will recede more slowly. Homeowners are also freed from negative equity if their homes are foreclosed on, as homeowners’ debt is wiped from lenders’ books following foreclosure.

SEE ALSO: Why One Woman Spent 3 Months Only Pretending To Buy A Home

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