Home Front: So, what does $9.2 million buy?

At $9.2 million, this may be the highest-priced residential real estate listing ever seen in Sacramento.

Folsom agent Fred Wilcox is marketing a nearly completed 15,800-square-foot house on 40 acres off Salmon Falls Road by Folsom Lake near El Dorado Hills.

"I think this is the most expensive ever in the region," he says. "If you win the lottery, this might be the house you want to buy."

Among the home's amenities: 10 bedrooms, 10 baths; a 1,400-square-foot gatehouse with two bedrooms and two baths; and an orchard with 80 fruit trees.

But that doesn't begin to describe the half of it. Imagine a garage with 35-foot ceilings, big enough for a basketball game. Imagine a stunning great room and two commercial-size kitchens, big enough for a party of hundreds or a giant wedding.

The house, five years in the making, is filled with dark cherry-wood cabinets, chandeliers and exotic ironwork on all the stairways, suggesting a vineyard in its design. It has an elevator down to an 800-square-foot wine cellar, then back upstairs to the third-floor, 5,400-square-foot family quarters.

Outside, the house is framed by two huge walkways, 232 feet long and 12 feet wide. Arches on the sides and curved monastery-style windows suggest one of California's historic missions.

Wilcox calls it "kind of a Tuscan villa."

The grounds are unfinished. But imagine them with palm trees, fountains and pools, he said.

The house is built like a giant compound with four sides surrounding a large courtyard. It exudes power.

"The perfect buyer is a developer-type person who wants to take this and finish it out -- or a group that wants to have sort of a commune," Wilcox said. The other perfect person is someone who wants to have a compound for the family, he said.

There will be room for 35 cars and a staff.

The land also can be subdivided into 5-acre residential lots, says Wilcox. It's all surrounded by valley oaks and evergreen hills where only a handful of large houses look down on the property.

Many real estate players say there's no housing slump among the region's wealthiest residents. And it's only been on the market for about a month.

Wilcox says its local owner, who prefers anonymity, has decided not to move in. To see what $9.2 million gets you these days, visit Wilcox's Web site: www.eldoradohillsestate.com.

Get that house in order

Every year in Rocklin, Placer County's most successful real estate agents share their tactics with others in the business. For an outsider, it's a great view from the streets and tells a lot about the market.

In July 2006, the tone suggested a real estate slowdown that was deepening but might be short-lived. At last week's annual roundtables, the talk was different. Foreclosures, short sales, tightened credit and the immense competition of too many houses for sale dominated the discussions.

"Last year we talked about things you should do. This year they're must do," said Lisa Morris and Stacy Moffat, agents who sell and stage houses together.

In a region with nearly 16,000 houses for sale, the two typically raise eyebrows with the notion that people decide in 15 seconds whether or not they like a house.

They talk every year about cleaning oil stains off driveways and taking magnets and soccer schedules off refrigerators. They tell how dirty houses make buyers feel apprehensive and start to disengage. They advise owners to paint with neutral colors to please the majority. And they suggest carrying a Magic Eraser and Restore a Finish to touch up and get rid of stains.

This year the duo added a couple of new anecdotes.

One was about being chased by wasps and bees after opening the door of a vacant for-sale house. The other was brown lawns. "If you have that foreclosure, maybe you should water it," Morris said.

Homeownership falls

Tighter credit and troubles in the housing sector are clobbering the nation's homeownership rate, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Homeownership dipped in April, May and June to 68.2 percent, lowest in four years.

Quarterly numbers aren't available for California. Last year, 60.2 percent of its households owned homes, according to the bureau.

The report shows black Americans have seen the biggest drop in home ownership. Statistics indicate 46.3 percent of black households own their homes. It was 49.7 percent in 2004.

Homeownership for Hispanics and many Asian Americans has risen since 2004, according to the census. About 59 percent of Asian and American Indians own their homes. Fifty percent of Hispanic households are homeowners and 75.4 percent of white households live in homes they own, according to the census.

Paying their way

Ever since California voters passed Proposition 13 in 1978 to cap their property taxes, home builders have wrestled with the question: Does a new house really pay for the services it requires -- or is it a drag on local and state government treasuries?

The answer is critical to both sides in battles over that new subdivision proposed next door.

Home builders say they're contributing plenty to government -- up to $100,000 per house these days -- in infrastructure impact fees. But cities needing to buy police cars and build parks often prefer stores and sales taxes to houses and their property taxes.

Who's right?

Builders are back with a new study saying they're paying their way and then some. According to their study -- by the Blue Sky Consulting group, which includes former Davis administration finance director Tim Gage -- new houses provide a significant one-time benefit and positive ongoing annual revenue.

That ongoing revenue averages $771 for cities, $190 for counties and almost $3,500 for the state from each new house, says the study. The report, financed by the California Homebuilding Foundation, a builders group, is called "The Housing Bottom Line, Fiscal Impact of New Home Construction on California Governments."

Given the state's contentious growth landscape, it's likely not the last word on this.

About the writer:

• The Bee's Jim Wasserman can be reached at (916) 321-1102 or jwasserman@sacbee.com.