Living large in Sonoma County

Tucked into the hills of Sonoma County are exclusive, private estates still commanding prices that seem from a gilded age.

Real estate values have plummeted for a typical home in Sonoma County, but not for the ultra-premium, multimillion-dollar end of the market.

Currently, there are 20 residential properties in Sonoma County listing for more than $5 million.

The affluent buyers are seeking a Wine Country lifestyle that includes a showcase home, land, views, privacy and often a small vineyard. Add to that some gorgeous landscaping and amenities such as a guest house, swimming pool and maybe a tennis court.

“When you get north of $3 million, you’re really getting into spectacular properties with more acreage and some real ‘wow’ factors,” said Rick Laws, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker in Santa Rosa.

While Napa County has been the traditional prime domain for ritzy Wine Country properties, Sonoma County is increasingly being sought out by the rich, often as a location for a second, or even third, home.

“I’ve sensed a shift in the last year or two. Sonoma is holding its own with Napa,” said Diane Krause, a Frank Howard Allen Realtor who just sold a $6.4 million estate off Norrbom Road in Sonoma. “It used to be everyone first wanted to go to Napa. I find it equally split now.”

Farther up Norrbom Road, actor Danny Glover of “Lethal Weapon” fame just sold his home on a 40-acre property for $4.1 million to hedge fund manager Nathaniel Simons and his wife, Laura Baxter Simons, both 42.

Realtors say the buyers of the exclusive properties tend to come from wealthy Bay Area enclaves, but might have made their money in banking, venture capitalism or managing hedge funds.

The multimillion-dollar properties usually aren’t snapped up immediately. The $5-million-plus homes on the market now have been listed for sale for more than six months, on average.

“You don’t have a climate in the market where people are just throwing money at properties. A few years ago they were,” said Sheri Morgensen, a San Francisco agent for Sotheby’s International Realty. “Buyers are approaching cautiously now, doing their homework.”

As she spoke, Morgensen stood in the chef’s kitchen of one of her listed properties, a $6.5 million estate on 23 acres in Dry Creek Valley near Healdsburg, one of the most prestigious appellations in California.

It came on the market in April. Two qualified potential buyers toured it last week.

“It’s very sophisticated, stylized,” Morgensen said of the grand scale of the house, its contemporary design and massive picture windows offering views past slate patios, Japanese gardens, a Koi pond, vineyards and up the valley.

A well-stocked wine cellar was off to the side, near the garage sheltering a Ferrari and a Bentley sedan.

The property sold for just under $4 million five years ago when purchased by the current owners, who Morgensen said are in the furniture manufacturing business and travel extensively.

As so often is the case with the high-priced properties, the buyers and sellers like to keep a low profile and will require real estate agents to sign confidentiality agreements.

Morgensen also is handling what could be the most expensive piece of real estate on the market in Sonoma County — a $29 million, 640-acre ranch off Wallace Creek Road featuring two “exquisite” homes among redwood forests, heritage oaks and vineyards.

“It’s a world-class ranch,” said Morgensen. “Very significant people have looked at it.” She said inquiries have come from as far away as China.

Real estate statistics show there has been a slight drop — 7 percent — in the median price of expensive homes in Sonoma County between May 2007 and May 2009. But because the pool of homes in that range is small and the properties tend to be unique, experts caution that it is hard to read anything meaningful into the data.

Laws, who prepares a monthly real estate report for The Press Democrat, said there has been a slight downward trend in the number of sales of high-end properties.

For example, at the end of May, there were 64 residential properties for sale for more than $3 million. Three sold during the month.

In May of 2008, there were 52 for sale and two sold.

And in May of 2007, there were 51 on the market and five that sold that month.

Along with a slight increase in inventory, prices for the high-end properties have come down slightly. But Laws said “it’s not like the market is glutted, or there’s been a cataclysmic change,” similar to the flood of foreclosed properties that helped drive down prices at the low end of the housing market.

“For the most part, when you get north of a million (dollars for a house) people have a little more financial staying power and they’re not necessarily forced to dump these properties,” he said.

On the other hand, even the upper crust can be more cautious about spending.

“I think the bottom line is our economy obviously slowed down in the last few years and it affects everyone’s wallets,” he said.

Real estate agents say that when a special property comes along at an attractive price, even if it’s in the multiple millions of dollars, there are ready buyers with money. And it’s often done with cash.

“It has slowed somewhat, but there are definitely buyers out there buying high-end properties,” said Mary Anne Veld-kamp, a Coldwell Banker Realtor. “People are looking for value.”

Selling a super-premium piece of real estate can take a national, even international marketing effort. It’s all about exposure, including display ads in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, and Web sites that feature rare and unique luxury real estate.

“It only takes one. It’s only one buyer,” Morgensen said.

Library researchers Vonnie Matthews and Teresa Meikle contributed to this story. You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com.