THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Friday, February 21, 2020 |M1

MANSION

Big Deal

Ken Griffin is

buying Calvin

Klein’s Hamptons

compound.M7

Veteran Loans

Changes to terms

are great news

for high-end

buyers.M10

HOMES|MARKETS|PEOPLE|REDOS|SALES

Palace in London, where Queen

Victoria married Prince Albert.

Mr. Mapelli Mozzi, 36 years

old, slight of build, and dapper in

a navy suit with gold cuff links, is

unlikely to be given a royal title

after the wedding. But he already

has an aristocratic lineage, as the

eldest son of Count Alessandro

Mapelli Mozzi, an Olympic skier

and scion of a blue-blooded Ital-

ian family.

After Mr. Mapelli Mozzi’s par-

ents divorced, his mother, Nicola

Williams-Ellis, married the late

Christopher Shale, a businessman.

Mr. Shale’s close friendship with

Prince Andrew and Ms. Ferguson

meant Mr. Mapelli Mozzi has

known Princesses Beatrice and

Eugenie since childhood. The cou-

ple announced their engagement

on Instagram in September 2019.

But right now his focus is on his

Please turn to page M14

New Luxury in a Lost Corner of London

The development firm of Edo Mapelli Mozzi, who is about to marry Britain’s Princess Beatrice, has

renovated a tract of homes in formerly decrepit Leinster Square to appeal to buyers in search of space

THE YEAR 2020is shaping up to

be a landmark year for property

developer Edo Mapelli Mozzi.

His biggest project to date, re-

turning a rundown hotel to its

original residential use as apart-

ments for affluent Londoners, is

almost finished.

On May 29, he will co-star in

the latest British royal wedding,

marrying Princess Beatrice,

daughter of Prince Andrew and

Sarah Ferguson, at St. James’s

BYRUTHBLOOMFIELD

Mr. Mapelli

Mozzi, far left,

and a bedroom

in a model

apartment in

Leinster

Square, left

FROM LEFT: TARAN WILKHU; BANDA

cense from the National Associa-

tion of Realtors.) We then looked

at the mavericks who eschew hir-

ing a real-estate agent—with their

attendant 5% to 6% commissions—

and market their properties them-

selves. The result is the first

Seller’s Guide, a deep dive into to-

day’s market conditions, with in-

sight, strategy and advice from

sellers, agents and experts who

have recently closed deals in every

market condition.

Please turn to page M8

R

eady, set, sell. February

is the month when the

spring market looms

and sellers nationwide

begin prettying their properties

and readying them to list.

To help aspiring sellers pre-

pare, The Wall Street Journal,

with an analysis by Realtor.com,

identified the top 10 luxury mar-

kets that currently favor either

buyers or sellers. (News Corp,

owner of The Wall Street Journal,

also operates Realtor.com under li-

BYKATYMCLAUGHLIN

$7.684

MILLION

TO

$14.845

MILLION

Price range of

Leinster Square

apartments

Despite the tough market for sellers,

Michele and Scott Sprauer, above, sold

their New Jersey home for full price in

one week for $1.22 million. They bought

the home for $665,000 in 2005.

BUYER’S

MARKET

THE 2020

SELLER’S

GUIDE

What to know before selling in a high-end

buyer’s and seller’s market, plus a look at

selling luxury real estate on your own

The staged kitchen of Stacy Reed’s

home, below, in Arlington, Va. It sold

for $2.05 million. Her family built

the house for $875,000 after buying

a teardown for $900,000 in 2006.

SELLER’S

MARKET

The Boulder, Colo., condo that owners

Brandon Ward and Jason Clinton, above,

sold themselves, without an agent, for

$1.425 million. They bought it for $745,000

in 2014 and spent $546,000 on renovations.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT : GARRET BUELL/STUDIO BUELL, JASON MYERS FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL; WINNI WINTERMEYER FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL; JASON D.

CLINTON & BRANDON SCOTT WARD; LYNX MEDIA & PHOTOGRAPHY; RYAN COLLERD FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL; HOMEVISIT PHOTOGRAPHY (2)

FOR SALE

BY OWNER

Jami and Ryan Miller, below, got

a full-price $2 million offer on this

Nashville home. The deal included all

the furnishings. They built the house

in 2017 and it wasn’t on the market.