Mansions a little less pricey

Who says the rich are different from the rest of us?

Prices have been slashed at three Buckhead trophy homes that are for sale —- including the Tuxedo Road mansion of Arthur Blank, who owns the Falcons and the Georgia Force arena-football team.

Blank’s home is now $2 million, or 18 percent, cheaper at $8.9 million. Across Tuxedo Road, Windcrofte, sometimes called the Woodruff mansion, is priced at $10.9 million, after a $3 million reduction. Former GOP gubernatorial candidate Guy Millner owns Windcrofte, once the home of Robert Woodruff, the president of Coca-Cola for more than 30 years.

The new price for Rossdhu, the 91-year-old mansion at 2900 Andrews Drive, is $11.75 million, following a 19 percent trim.

“I basically went to my sellers and said, ‘The market’s changed,’ ” said Betsy Akers of Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty, the agent for all three properties. “We have to get realistic here.”

The problem is there are plenty of luxury properties for sale but hardly any buyers.

In Buckhead, 41 homes priced at $4 million or more are on the market, Akers said Friday. In the greater Atlanta area, she said, that number jumps to 60. “It’s a very high number for $4 million and up,” she said.

Since April 2008, only four homes have sold in Buckhead for $3.8 million or more, and the most expensive cost $4.75 million, Akers said. That’s about 47 percent less than the cheapest of the three trophy homes.

Reached at the seven-bedroom Blank home, which she was inspecting for paint touch-ups, Akers said even the very rich are looking to downsize and cut expenses. The Blanks have moved to a new home.

One of the founders of Home Depot, Blank bought his 4-acre Buckhead property in 1993 for $3.38 million. The house was built in 1952 and renovated twice. Fulton County says the appraised value is $4.8 million.

Akers said it’s very difficult to price a high-end home these days because comparable sales are almost nonexistent.

“That’s where the pricing becomes more of an art than a science,” she said.