The heirs of the late Leona Helmsley have cut the price of her Greenwich, Conn., home by 40 percent to $75 million from $125 million (property taxes alone are $1.8M). Helmsley and her late husband, Harry, paid $11 million for the property in the early 1980s. The renovation of the 20,000-square-foot, Jacobean-style mansion led to her conviction for tax evasion in 1989 after she billed her company for millions of dollars in costs related to redoing the home. She served time in federal prison for the crime. The $50 million reduction is believed to be the largest price reduction ever on a U.S. house.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Christina S.N. Lewis (04/20/2009)