Situated on a 20-acre hilltop in Thousand Oaks, California, this sprawling mansion belongs to the tennis great Pete Sampras. Completed in 2009, the 16,000 square-foot property boasts a gated driveway, seven spacious bedrooms, 12 baths, enormous closet space, and panoramic views of lush rolling hills.

The inside of the two-story mansion is stunning. In addition to the spacious bedrooms and many baths, the home also comes with a large theater and game room with a separate poker room. Minimalists will love the classic furnishings and blend of teak, white oak, and Anigre woods. The single-family home also features imported stones and high-quality finishing throughout, including a beautiful spacious kitchen.

While the interior is impressive, there are other features that make this Lake Sherwood home extremely irresistible to potential buyers, especially the ones outside of the main residence. Not surprisingly, the custom-built mansion comes with a north-south-oriented lit tennis court, the place where Sampras practiced his game. The property also comes with a separate 2,000 square foot gym, and a large fully-contained guest house. Love to swim? This ideal home is not short of a large infinity pool overlooking the valley. The entire lot measures over 850,000 square feet.

So how much for this sprawling mansion located at 390 West Stafford Road? The asking price is $19,950,000 million, but that’s a deal compared to the original price. In March 2010, Sampras listed the home on the market at $25 million.

Although retired, Sampras enjoyed a 15-year career and was former world champion. He has received 14 Grand Slam singles titles and is considered one of the best tennis players of all time. He is married to actress Bridgette Wilson.

Lake Sherwood is a beautiful community located in the Santa Monica Mountains and nearby Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village. With a little less than 700 residents, Lake Sherwood is known as a gated golf-club community. Nearby schools include Westlake Elementary School. Want to know your neighbors? Other famous people who have lived or still live in the community include hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, singer Paul Anka, singer Tom Petty, and Britney Spears. Sylvester Stallone also owns a home in the area.

Hollywood history buffs prepare yourselves: for a handsome $12 million dollars you can live in Farralone, the mansion where Frank Sinatra lived, and where Marilyn Monroe is said to have met with John F. Kennedy for a tryst. The glamorous estate is found in Chatsworth, C.A. and its connections to Hollywood royalty and their history runs deep. It also sits on a 14 beautiful acres.

The house dates to the start of the 1950’s, and was designed by the same folks who were responsible for two American structures that are recognized around the globe: San Francisco’s iconic Transamerica Pyramid Building and Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center. Talk about a home with cultural import. Dora Hutchinson, an American heiress to a banking fortune (Chase Manhattan Bank), was the original inhabitant and the person whom many would shower in flowers and praises for her tireless work to host fabulous parties!

According to Forbes.com, Lucille Ball, Paul McCartney, Ava Garner, and Judy Garland all sang, danced, and schmoozed at this place. The home’s pool is not only the location of the last photo shoot session of the former Mrs. Joe DiMaggio, but for a period of time she lived in the guesthouse, whose square footage is a comfy 1,000 sq. ft. More recently, the home has appeared on television and film in “Mad Men,” “Californication,” Jennifer Hudson’s and Beyoncé Knowles’ Dreamgirls, Will Smith’s Ali, and an Usher music video.

It’s reported that the house’s income from location shoots has climbed to as much as 2 million in one year. Because it is so lucrative, the home has a production studio inside as well as a production studio-funded manager to work out shooting scheduling and compensation. If you’d like some more cherries thrown in, know that the property comes with a young vineyard and around it is a nature preserve.

Do you ever wonder where the nation’s wealthiest citizens spend their time? Or, exactly how much money they have? As we all know by now, President Obama is trying to make the rich cough up more in taxes, however, just how much are they paying now? If you’re really curious to find the answers to these questions, all you need to do is look it up using an IRS database of income tax data.

Although it does not reveal details, the IRS publishes the information into broad categories, with the top tier of income at $200,000 and higher. However, for many people, including politicians in need of income increases, this amount does not qualify as rich.

In an effort to find out more about the nation’s wealthiest citizens, Forbes.com scrutinized the data by putting a magnifying glass on the neighborhoods where the average income is around $1 million. The results revealed a series of tax returns from 64 extremely wealthy areas, including Fisher Island, yacht owners in Miami, and Manhattan.

According to the list, the wealthiest people ranked by income live in Fisher Island, with a high-bracket taxpayer amount of $3.2 million. The second richest place is Purchase, N.Y. at $2.2 million. Coming in at third place are two other New York City suburbs, New Vernon and Alpine, N.J. at $2.1 million. Finally, the fourth wealthiest place in the U.S. is Atherton, California at $1.9 million.

If you’re wondering what the estimated net worth of the wealthiest communities are, Forbes.com offers that information, too. According to the article, the top wealthiest community ranked by net worth is Fisher Island at $57 million per high-bracket return. Coming in at second place is Alpine, at $28 million.

Forbes.com also revealed where the wealthy get their money from. According to the article, nearly half receive their money from working, while the other upper-bracket people in the 64 wealthy areas receive their money from property, including stocks, bonds, real estate, oil wells and businesses.

Renowned architect Pierre Koenig is known for designing many award-winning homes, including the Schwartz House, Koenig House No.2, and, the most famous, the Case Study House #22. However, the home that is making headlines right now is The Michael Gantert Residence.

Built in 1981, this unique residence is one of the last homes the architect built before his death. He died in 2004. It is listed on the market for $2.3 million through Crosby Doe Associates.

Foreseeing the boom of Hollywood, young businessman Michael Gantert decided to build a home after Koenig’s famous steel and glass Case Study Houses. Situated underneath the Hollywood Reservoir, this 1,994-square foot home is located at 6431 La Punta Drive, in Los Angeles California. The cantilevered design of the home appears as though it is hovering in the mountains as part of the nature that surrounds it, a common theme that set Koenig’s work apart from other architects. Onlookers from Hollywood Boulevard will see the home as a large “cubist sculpture.”

Although at first glance The Michael Gantert Residence may not scream luxury, the home boasts modern luxury living. It features an open plan living space with spectacular views of Hollywood and the Pacific Ocean. It is also extremely private. The beautiful steel and glass home is located at the end of a cul-de-sac on a private, gated road, which means it is not accessible to the general public. It is also extremely spacious and features three bedrooms and three bathrooms. If you’re looking for luxury amenities, you will appreciate the marble baths, a large walk-in closet, dining and kitchen area and a powder room. It is a two-story home; however the street level of the home is on the second floor while the bedrooms are located below. The residence also includes three covered parking spaces.

You may have seen this post back in June: Unsatisfied with his View of the San Francisco Bay, Oracle CEO Buys Next Door Home for $40 Million

We have received an email from an unknown individual who seem to know more of the facts. So we wanted to publish it here. here is the email:

This posting on your website is completely incorrect as it said Larry Ellison paid his neighbor to cut their trees. Here are the facts: The VBs had purchased a home in 2004 with mature, massive trees (In 2004, the 80-100 year old acacia was listed as largest of its species in the state, the redwoods were planted in 1959) that gave them privacy and enjoyment, as house is built around their backyard gardens. There were no disclosures of view easements and prior owner signed legal Declaration that he never topped trees for LE even though he was asked to around 1995. VBs thinned and lowered their trees several times for LE prior to the lawsuit, and offered to top them even more if he wouldn’t sue them, but they weren’t willing to remove or significantly cut trees down to 2nd level floor required, as they had evidence trees were obstructing views since late 1950s. They didn’t want to move as they loved their beautiful home and gardens. They decided it wasn’t worth it, so they just topped their redwoods down the floor of LE’s of 2nd level (22+ feet) and topped their acacia and other trees as well. No money changed hands.

If $100 million is a little out of your price range for a new lake-view home in Tahoe, how about the same place for 25 percent off? That’s the new asking price for Tranquility, a nine-bedroom, 38,000-square-foot mansion in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

Overlooking majestic Lake Tahoe on its own private lake, this eight-building estate was built in the late 1990s by Tommy Hilfiger Corp. co-founder Joel Horowitz and his wife. The main residence comes fully furnished with unique artifacts, furniture and artwork from around the globe. A walk through the mansion reveals a beautiful sky-lit entryway with marble floors, a large hall with 30-foot windows, and an impressive dining room with 300-year-old French plank flooring. Tranquility also features a cigar lounge that was designed like the one in New York City’s St. Regis Hotel.

Along with the main residence, the 210-acre property features a conservatory, guest residence, an art studio, a boat house pavilion, a gymnasium and additional residence for guest and staff.

This unique Lake Tahoe mansion originally went on the market in 2006 for $100 million. The couple reduced the price this month in order to sell the home and move closer to their kids and grandkids. One lucky buyer can purchase the home for $75.