So what’s the point of having a multi-million mansion if you never live in it? That’s what many people are asking after reading an MSNBC.com article about heiress Hugette Clark, who inherited her father’s Montana mining fortune and promptly became a recluse. However, that doesn’t mean that she’s given up her family’s estates, including very expensive properties in California, Connecticut and New York.

Her father was once a senator and copper magnate reported to be among the richest men in the world whose political career was ruined after it came out that he bought his way to power. Now 104, Clark has chosen to spend her remaining days inside a hospital — her health reportedly deteriorated and she has spent the past 22 years inside of a hospital or nursing home after the death of her mother. She’s shut out the rest of the world, only speak to her attorney and her accountant.

Her seclusion has also meant that her extensive personal properties have sat dormant for decades. She has a $100 million, almost 22,000-square foot estate in Santa Barbara called Bellosguardo which she apparently hasn’t visited in 50 years. However, a team of groundskeepers perform daily maintenance on the estate following handwritten instructions she sent decades ago.

Also sitting unused but well taken care of is her Connecticut “country home” — an almost 13,000-square foot house currently on the market for $24 million and her 42-room apartment overlooking Central Park. In fact, Clark is so reclusive that the caretakers who are in charge of maintaining her estates aren’t even sure if she is dead or alive.

Back in 2007 Architectural Digest ran some pictures of Madonna‘s luxury apartment in Manhattan’s upper west side. The interior design was done by her brother Christopher G. Ciccone. He calls the Art Deco design “Subdued elegance.” The architect was Stephen Wang.

In one of the rooms, there is a built-in mahogany buffet to complement the circa 1930 dining table and chairs by Jean Pascaud.

A Picasso pictures seats in front of Madonna’s office desk. “I love the office because I can use my fax machine and look at my Picasso at the same time,” says Madonna.

The kitchen is a little different than rest of the house theme and sports modern stainless steal setting.

The gym features soundproof walls, so the music cannot be heard in other parts of the house.

So what can $50 million buy you? If you are living in the Hamptons, it can get you a dream home in one of the most desirable locations in the United States. The Hamptons is the beach hideout for New York celebrities like Jerry Seinfeld, Martha Stewart and Puff Daddy along with a virtual Who’s Who of Manhattan’s business power brokers.

While some locations are more traditional summer beach homes others are palatial estates. Recently, Yahoo’s! Shine took a look at one of the more lavish beach homes in the Hamptons, a 31,000-square-foot mansion in Bridgehampton owned by Corcoran Group Senior VP Gary DePersia. Living spaces include a 2,000-square-foot master bedroom along with seven additional bedroom suites and a separate apartment with two bedrooms.

There are plenty of things to do within the mansion. The first floor features a family room and a full movie theater. However, the real fun begins on the lower level, which has been converted to an entertainment pavilion. It includes a two-lane bowling alley, game room and virtual golf course. Extreme sports lovers can also enjoy the rock climbing wall or skateboard half-pipe.

If the $50 million price tag is a bit out of your range, don’t worry: the house is also available for rent. It was recently rented for two weeks for $500,000. While that might be a bit more than staying at a Holiday Inn, there certainly are some incredible perks.

Northern New Jersey has long been a popular spot for rich and famous people looking for a secluded hideaway that is still within close proximity to New York. However, as The Hackensack Record points out, the combination of the credit crunch and the impact of dwindling stock prices on the portfolios of the wealthy have significantly slowed the demand for luxury homes in the area and caused prices to plummet.

This trend can be seen in the real estate sales of homes belonging to some of the area’s most public figures. Comedian Eddie Murphy’s 30-room mansion in Englewood, N.J. was listed in 2004 for $30 million. It is still on the market today, even though the asking price has been cut by more than half to $12.75 million. Hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons has also had trouble selling his 35,000-square-foot mansion in Saddle River, N.J. – it was originally offered for $23.9 million in 2007 but is now listed for $13.5 million.

The bottom line is that there is simply not the demand to meet the supply of luxury homes in the area. The New Jersey Multiple Listing Service, which tracks the luxury home market, reports that sales of multimillion dollar homes have fallen sharply in northern New Jersey since 2007. East Brunswick home appraiser Jeffrey Otteau estimates that there is a seven-year supply of properties listed above $2.5 million in Burgen County alone.

Along with a lack of demand, there is also a lack of financing. The credit crisis of 2008 limited the ability of everyone – including the very wealthy – to gain access to mortgages. Many luxury home sales relied on jumbo mortgages that were financed by mortgage-backed bonds which subsequently collapsed with the rest of the economy.

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The Plum Island Animal Disease Center has been at the heart of mystery since it was created in 1954. The level of secrecy surrounding the facility has caused it be a popular source of conspiracy theories and a frequent topic in popular culture – it was referenced in “Silence of the Lambs” and was at the heart of the 1997 novel “Plum Island” by Nelson DeMille, where it was imagined as a site for the testing of germ warfare and other chemical terrors like anthrax.



But things are going to change on Plum Island. In 2005 the federal government ordered the site closed and the research center moved to a location in Kansas. This leaves a huge, 840-acre complex on a choice location on the eastern part of Long Island’s north fork available. The Associated Press reports that the General Services Administration held town hall meetings in Long Island and Connecticut to get input on what to do with the site.

One of the main reasons that the site was moved is its potential to be a terrorist target and location close to a large population based. The Government Accountability Office reported in 2007 that the facility contained pathogens for foot-and-mouth disease along with “other pathogens known to have been maintained at Plum Island could also cause illness and death in humans.”

Opinions about what to do with the site are varied. Some people, like DeMille and many environmental activities, want the government to designate it as a park. Meanwhile, real estate developers are giddy with the thought of such prime real estate that could be used for luxury homes, golf courses or other commercial development becoming available in Long Island.

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The quarterly numbers for real estate sales in Manhattan were released this week, painting a dark picture of the current market.  While even the most uninterested layman could probably tell you that housing sales have fallen, the latest reports indicate that sales of Manhattan apartments and co-ops have fallen by as much as 58%.  This is a dramatic drop, especially when one takes a look at the deeply troubled auto industry, where sales are off by approximately 45%.

New construction and luxury apartments on Park Avenue, Fifth Avenue and Central Park West in particular have been hit hard by the housing slump.  Compared to a year ago, sales of apartments that are priced over $10 million have plummeted by a whopping 87%.  While there
were eight co-ops that closed for over $20 million in the first quarter of 2008, only one managed to close for that amount in the same quarter of this year.

A representative from Advantage Home Rates says: “Not only have the price dropped and there are very few buyers in the market now, but out of those few buyers, very few actually qualify for mortgage loans, as the requirements for mortgage loans have tightened, often requiring minimum down payments of 30% or more.”