*ot* Keeping Up With the Smiths
The 10 most common surnames of homebuyers paying
more than $500,000 during the past 12 months.
1. Smith
2. Lee
3. Johnson
4. Miller
5. Brown
6. Williams
7. Jones
8. Anderson
9. Chen
10. Cohen
From wsj:Home Front
Private Properties
By FELICIA PAIK
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Leaving Napa
Yahoo! Inc. president Jeffrey Mallett, 35 years old, and his wife, Claire, purchased a Northern California estate from Oscar- and Emmy-winning television producer David Wolper. The Malletts paid $9.1 million for the 25-acre property in Napa, according to local brokers. Yahoo is based in Santa Clara.
Mr. Wolper, 71, and his wife, Gloria, who are moving back to Los Angeles, listed the property four months ago. The Wolpers bought the property in 1989 and built the 7,500-square-foot main home. They also redid the existing nine-hole golf course. Located in Napa Valley's wine country, the estate is known as Vineyard Knolls, although it has no vineyard. Mr. Wolper's credits include the television miniseries "Roots" and "The Thorn Birds." Jocelyne Monello of ReMax/Napa Valley handled the transaction.
E-Buyers in Wyoming
And speaking of Internet millionaires, some "dot-com" moguls have taken their money to roam the range in Wyoming. J. Joe Ricketts, 58, founder and chairman of Ameritrade Holding Corp., the Omaha, Neb., online broker, has purchased 1,248 acres in Sublette County south of Jackson, Wyo., for an undisclosed price, public records show. The asking price was $25 million.
Joe Kraus, co-founder of Excite Inc. this summer purchased 70 vacant acres also near Jackson, according to public records. Mr. Kraus, 28, paid $9.7 million for the land, which is part of the 1,300 acre Crescent H Ranch. In May, At Home Corp., a company that delivers high-speed Internet access over cable lines, completed its $7.2 billion acquisition of Excite, forming Excite At Home Corp., which is based in Redwood City, Calif.
Portions of the Crescent H are being sold off by John Thornton, a Chattanooga, Tenn., entrepreneur and developer, who bought the ranch in 1997 for $52 million after a foreclosure on the property. He divided it into 30 parcels at 35 acres. He gave 175 acres to the local land-preservation trust, kept 60 acres for himself and put the rest on the market. To date, he's sold 21 parcels for a total of more than $80 million.
For other Internet moguls yearning for a sprawling property, a 91,000-acre ranch is on the market in Laramie, Wyo., for $30 million, and a 33,000-acre ranch in Casper, Wyo., is up for sale with a price tag of $24.5 million, excluding the livestock.
Appreciating Homes
Massachusetts, Colorado and California had the nation's highest home-appreciation rates for the 12 months ended June 30, with increases of 9.3%, 8% and 7.7%, respectively, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight in Washington, D.C.
Average U.S. home prices increased 5.3% in the second quarter from a year ago. The federal index tracks average house-price changes in repeat sales or refinancings on the same single-family properties.
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