Upmarket Apartments in America Slashed By Half.

[Fiona Davies]

Oprah Winfrey has decided to sell her Chicago apartment for just $2.8million, which is half what the star paid for it just six years ago. The apartment is located in the Streeterville area of the city, which is considered a very upscale neighbourhood in 2006. She paid $5.6million for it and then decided to first sell it in 2008 at a cost of $6million. This failed as the apartment failed to secure a buyer.

Perhaps this is an example of how the property market has crashed in America as she has now decided to slash the asking price by half simply to achieve a sale. The apartment is worth more but in a stagnant property market Oprah probably feels that she has no other choice if she wants to get rid of the apartment anytime soon.

The apartment is certainly worth it’s $2.8million price tag. It is only one of thirteen apartments built in 1913 in a Beaux Arts-style building and was designed by Benjamin Marshall the architect. The apartment comprises of eight bedrooms and is 4,607sq ft in size with ten-foot ceilings inside. There is also a pantry, a wine room, solarium and library along with a formal dining room to dine with her celebrity friends.

The apartment has a master bedroom measuring 1,241sq ft in size and has a large en-suite bathroom attached along with two guest bedrooms for anyone deciding to stay over.

Agents are hoping that the apartments world famous owner might be a unique selling point for the apartment but the fact is that Oprah herself never actually lived there because she felt that there was not much privacy there due to overlooking issues. Oprah owns two other properties in Chicago because up until tow years ago it was her base as her TV show was filmed there. The long running talk show has now come to an end. It is believed that she still resides in the city but has a duplex condo nearby as her main residence when in town.

Her main home now is her estate in Montecito in California. The estate is also called “the Promised Land” and it is believed she bought it back in 2001 for an astonishing $52million. Apart from this property she also owns a farmhouse in Kula in Hawaii, a holiday home in Antigua, a ski chalet in Colorado and property in Georgia and a property in New Jersey. To visit each one she has the privilege of owning her $42million private jet to jump on and travel between each one.

Therefore many people will find it astonishing that the star has had to slash the asking price by half but when you look at the amount of properties that the star actually has and the amount of money she is worth, the sale of the property will hardly affect both her property portfolio or her huge bank balance. The star probably has the next property acquisition lined up which does not have the overlooking issues for the private TV mogul to worry about.