Disclosing the many homes in the life of Mitt Romney

By Erika Riggs, Zillow

After a barrage of pressure to release his tax forms, former Massachusetts Gov.?Mitt Romney revealed his?income this week, confirming what most already knew: He's the wealthiest of the GOP candidates, earning $42.5 million over the past two years.

The presidential contender grew up in relative wealth as the son of American Motors CEO and former Michigan Gov.?George W. Romney. Since then?Romney has been?no stranger to high-end real estate, having owned properties in Massachusetts, Utah, New Hampshire and California.

Here is a look at some of the homes of Mitt Romney.

Childhood home ? Detroit, Mich.

Romney spent the first five years of his life in this 5,500-square-foot home in Detroit's upscale?Palmer Woods neighborhood before moving to the city's Bloomfield Hills suburb. Although Detroit real estate has been hard hit in the past few years, Palmer Woods real estate remained steady. However, even an upscale location couldn't save Romney's childhood home from foreclosure or the wrecking ball. After falling into disrepair in 2009, the house was one of 3,000 Detroit homes razed in the city's renewal plan.

Belmont, Mass.,?mansion

According to property records, Romney and his family purchased the 7-bedroom, 6.5-bath home in Belmont in 1989 ? five years after Romney founded Bain Capital. The Romneys' home sold for $3.5 million in 2009 ? a gain of 293 percent over the?purchase price of $890,000 two decades?earlier.

Situated on 2.44 acres and within a 25-minute drive of downtown Boston, the 6,434-square-foot colonial was an ideal home base for Romney, his wife, Ann, and their five sons for 20 years.

Wolfeboro, N.H.,?compound

In 1997, the Romneys plunked down $3 million for a summer home situated on 11 acres of lakefront in New Hampshire. The three-story, six-bedroom contemporary sits along Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, "the oldest summer resort in America."

With a 5,400-square-foot main building and additional guest house, the estate is currently worth an estimated $10 million. Home to the Romney crew ? children and grandchildren ? each summer, the estate gave Romney deep roots in New hampshire, a factor that may have been decisive in handing the candidate his only early-season victory so far.

Park City, Utah, ski home

In 1999, the Romneys picked up another vacation home. This time, the family decided on a mountain ski getaway in Park City, Utah. At the time, Romney was working as CEO and president of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, where he is credited with restoring?credibility to?the scandal-plagued organizing committee. Romney's leadership in the Olympics was largely viewed as a success, leading him to write "Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership and the Olympic Games," about his experience.

More chalet than cabin, Romney's seven-bedroom, 9.5-bath home sits at the end of a cul-de-sac on nearly 11 acres. Park City is a premier destination for snow sport enthusiasts, and?real estate there doesn't come cheap. Romney's home was no exception; the 9,514-square-foot home sold in 2009 for a little under the $5.25 million asking price.

La Jolla, Calif.,?beachfront home

When Romney purchased his $12 million La Jolla home in 2008, he said?he wanted to be somewhere where he could "hear the waves." Apparently a home on the high-priced California coast was the right location.?(The median price for a home in La Jolla has fallen in the past few years but is still over $1 million.)

It may be the ideal location, but it isn't quite the ideal home, at least not yet. In August,?Romney filed an application with the city to bulldoze the single-story beachfront home and replace it with a larger, two-story one.

A spokesperson for the Romneys explained, saying:?"They want to enlarge their two-bedroom home, because with five married sons and 16 grandchildren it is inadequate for their needs."

The renovation will not begin until after the?campaign, the spokesperson said.

Boston, Mass.,?townhouse

Romney's most recent real estate purchase is also the most modest on the list. In June 2010, he and Ann bought a two-bedroom townhouse in suburban Belmont. According to property listing information, the Romneys paid $895,000 for the 2,100-square-foot home in the new residential development The Woodlands.

This was the first property the Romneys?owned in the Boston area since selling their Belmont mansion?in 2009. Previously, the Romneys had?claimed a basement apartment in their eldest son's home as their legal Massachusetts address.

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Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/25/10225753-disclosing-the-homes-of-mitt-romney

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