"Affordable" mansions

WINDERMERE, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Cool and classy, an enormous beauty sits along the pristine Tibet-Butler Preserve inside Keene's Point of Windermere.

Welcome to La Cascada! Built in 2007, this Spanish Mediterranean palace went on the market for nearly $2.7 million.

“We had several offers on the home when it was on the Parade of Homes . And naturally, we declined some of those offers. In hindsight, we should have considered them more, but it's a different ball game today,” says builder, Bill Sauerwine.

PHOTO GALLERY OF LA CASCADA>>>

A "ball game" you can play says high-end home realtor, Lorraine Barrett. “Now's a great time to get a mansion. You can really get a lot of value, and there's a lot of wow factor in a million dollar house these days.”

La Cascada is nearly 5,500 square feet. That's indoor space.  But simply remove two walls, and you've just increased living space by an additional 1200 square feet!

It's a spectacular place to entertain. It features an outdoor kitchen with the finest in stainless steel appliances and a whirlpool, nestled in a cave.

It also has granite counters, exquisite trim, and stone flooring all over, a walk-through his and hers master bathroom shower, a second floor devoted entirely to a clubhouse and cigar lounge on the outside.

“They are still value-packed homes. They still have all the necessary components to make it an estate. However, the values have dropped substantially,” says Sauerwine.

Get this -- the values have dropped in half! La Cascada now has a buyer who's paying 50 percent of the home's original price of $2.7 million.

“The builder could not stick-and-stone build this again and duplicate this,” says Barrett. “Very tough to stomach. A lot of Maalox!” laughs Sauerwine.

Deals like the one at La Cascada are now flooding the market.  Now's the time to get off the fence and make your deal.