News & Politics

Luxury Homes: December 2005

Aspen Institute's Elliot Gerson sells to lawyer Rick Rule for $3.7 million. Architect Aric Moore settles in DC home for $3.7 million. Car dealer Jim Koons buys for $2 million.

Some sales information provided by American City Business Leads; Diana Hart of Randall Hagner Real Estate.

IN VIRGINIA: Healthcare executive Bryan Dearing and his wife, Mary Beth, bought a five-bedroom Colonial in Ashburn's Quail Pond Estates for $1,124,000. The house listed for $1,149,000 and has a stone-and-brick patio, views of a backyard pond, and a three-car garage. Dearing is CEO of Northern Virginia Community Hospital in Arlington and Dominion Hospital in Falls Church.

Lawyer Thomas Downs and his wife, Jennifer, bought a four-bedroom Colonial on Heather Brook Court in McLean's Langley Oaks for $1,415,000. The house listed for $1,400,000 and has a marble foyer and recreation, exercise, and game rooms. Downs is a partner at Patton Boggs, a DC law firm.

IN DC: Louisiana political couple Kyle and Lynnel Ruckert bought a four-bedroom Victorian rowhouse on Massachusetts Avenue on Capitol Hill for $800,000. Kyle Ruckert is chief of staff to Louisiana senator David Vitter; Lynnel Ruckert, Vitter's former deputy campaign manager, is a lobbyist working on Katrina reconstruction.

Political analyst and writer Alvaro Vargas Llosa and his wife, Susana, bought a two-bedroom townhouse on 37th Street in Burleith for $805,000. The house has a chef's kitchen with a breakfast bar. Llosa writes articles and lectures on world economic and political issues.

Writer Emily Yoffe and her husband, John Mintz, a Washington Post reporter, sold a brick house on Warren Street in North Cleveland Park for $900,000. The four-bedroom, four-bathroom home sold for $121,000 above its list price.

IN MARYLAND: Car-dealer mogul Jim Koons bought a four-bedroom Colonial on Abbey Terrace in Potomac's Avenel for $2,000,000. The house listed for $2,295,000 and has fairway and lake views of Avenel's golf course. Koons is CEO of Jim Koons Automotive Company, which owns 15 dealerships.