Now that’s a lot of green

Clearly, someone who isn’t particularly nervous about the economy -- and certainly not real estate -- is hedge-fund manager Louis Moore Bacon, who recently shelled out $175 million to purchase Trinchera Ranch in Colorado. In the world of residential property, it easily tops the $103 million spent this year for an estate in the Hamptons area of Long Island, N.Y.

The ranch, part of the estate of Malcolm Forbes, is the largest in Colorado with more than 171,000 acres and five residences.

The purchase price still falls short of the world record, which was set this year by Sheik Hamad of Qatar, who dropped about $200 million on a penthouse condo in London.

-- Mary Umberger