LUTZ —

Luxurious real estate doesn’t look – or cost – what it used to.

“There are $4 million estates in Lutz and the Riverview area that are now less than $1 million,” said Keller Williams real estate agent Rande Friedman. “There’s a condo in Channelside that was $1.5 million, and now it’s $700,000.”

Most homeowners have seen values drop, but these prices are so low because they’re owned by a bank. And the bank wants to get rid of them.

In fact, there are so many foreclosed luxury homes, that Friedman created a website to list them. In three weeks, PoshForeclosures.com already has about 400 local listings.

The Tampa Bay area and Florida are among the hardest-hit by foreclosures in the country. Friedman has a theory on why the foreclosure crisis finally caught up to the rich.

“A lot of the people who got into the luxury market in 2005, 2006 were making their money from real estate.”

So when the market crashed, so did their incomes.

Plus, just like the rest of the population, many luxury buyers took out adjustable-rate mortgages. Many of them have come due recently. That, combined with job loss and sinking home prices, led to an uptick in foreclosures of once-luxurious homes.

That means hundreds of luxury homes sit abandoned. But that could be good news for those ready to buy now.

Potential buyers of luxury foreclosures also don’t have to worry about trashed homes as much as buyers of lower-end houses. That’s because banks usually take better care of them, Friedman said.

“People are still living in them, maintaining them, so they’re not the deserted, desolate foreclosure feeling,” Friedman said. “They really are truly nice properties.”

PoshForeclosure.com currently lists foreclosed homes that are for sale in Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties.

On the website there are estates that were listed at $1.5 million in 2006 and are now being sold for $500,000.

“All buyers are expecting great deals these days, and upper end buyers are especially savvy,” says Friedman.