A Wal-Mart heiress is literally rolling back prices by chopping a combined $10 million off the asking price for two luxurious Texas ranches.
Alice Walton, the daughter of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, may be one of the richest women on the planet, but her luck in the real estate game has been running dry.
Long known as a respected breeder in the world of the western-style equestrian sport of cutting, Walton housed her herd of horses on two Texas ranches until her decision to sell them – and the ranches – just last year. Unfortunately, the two properties in question, the Rocking W Ranch and the Fortune Bend Ranch, have been on the market since September without a bite.
Totaling 5,872 aces of southern scenery and complete with extensive river frontage, the two ranches are located west of Fort Worth, Texas.Last year, the horse haven Rocking W Ranch was listed for $19.75 million, while Walton's Brazos River-bordering Fortune Bend Ranch was tacked with a price tag of $28.7 million. As of this month, their prices have dropped to $16.5 million and $22.1 million, respectively.
Walton's Rocking W Ranch clocks in at 1,456 acres and includes a 4,100-square-foot, 3-bedroom home, more than 250 acres of coastal Bermuda pasture, a 24-stall horse barn, and an additional horse arena.
The home itself combines the perks of country living with high tech comfort. Adorned in plaster walls and mesquite flooring, the house includes a home automation system. Placed upon a hill, the home offers a scenic view of the countryside, an amenity enhanced by its own covered deck.
Apart from horse housing, the property also includes several private, paved roads and a number of rolling hills, as well as both guest and staff residences.
At more than three times the size of Rocking W, the Fortune Bend Ranch sits on 4,416 acres and 8.5 miles of frontage on the Brazos River, just southeast of Possum Kingdom Lake.
Surrounded by riverfront and scenic limestone hills, the property's 4,346-square-foot, 3-bedroom lodge is described by Coalson Real Estate, one of two brokerages handling the sale, as an extremely unique and scenic property that is perfect for hunting and fishing.
Built in 2005, the home comes with vaulted ceilings, barn wood cabinets, sheet metal countertops, barn wood and plaster walls, and slate floors and includes a sauna, two kitchens, and a screened porch, with a horse shed nearby.
Despite her love of both horses and the country, Walton cites wanting to focus more on Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the art museum she founded in the same city as Wal-Mart headquarters, Bentonville, Arkansas, as her reason for listing – and then reducing the prices on – the two ranches.
While either a troubled or disinterested market may have prompted Walton's price roll back, the combined $38.6 million asking price for the homes pales in comparison to her $28 billion net worth, a number owed largely to her family's continued 50% stake in the retail behemoth her father founded, Wal-Mart.
