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The most expensive home for sale in NJ is in Colts Neck, a $28 million horse-filled estate

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WellSpring Farm, a 160-acre equestrian estate in Colts Neck, has seven bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a world-class barn, a wine cellar and more. Now all it needs is a deep-pocketed buyer who loves horses.

The property that Robert and Laura Vukovich owned and had been for sale on and off for the past three years is now back on the market with an asking price of $28 million, making it the most expensive home for sale in the state.

“It’s a world-class property,” said Tom Postilio, a real estate agent with Compass and the listing agent for the home. “It’s probably a very specific buyer. But buyers who are interested in horse-related activities are drawn to Colts Neck because of the wide-open, open farmlands.”

The property, listed for sale by Postilio and partner Mickey Conlon, is set back from Route 537 and boasts a 3,500-bottle wine cellar, a fitness room, a 12-seat home theater and an Olympic-size swimming pool. The nearest neighbor appears to be Laird & Co., America’s oldest distillery.

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According to observers, Colts Neck is still very desirable. The town offers seclusion in otherwise densely populated New Jersey, with easy access to New York and the beaches, and it is home to two of Monmouth County’s biggest celebrities, Bruce Springsteen and Jon Stewart.

Homes there take slightly longer to sell, an average of 61 days in the first five months of the year, compared with 43 days in Monmouth County, according to figures from the New Jersey Association of Realtors and trade associations Monmouth Ocean Regional Realtors.

But in the first seven months of the year, the average price of a home sold in Colts Neck was $1.25 million, and sellers received 98% of the asking price, according to the Monmouth Ocean Realtors group.

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“The Colts Neck market is strong, it’s healthy,” said Pascale Coppola, a broker with Heritage House Sotheby’s International Realty in Holmdel. “There’s not a lot of inventory right now like there is in other cities.”

WellSpring Farm has taken longer to sell than most, first hitting the market in June 2021, according to Zillow’s property history.

The estate was built over the years by Vukovich, who founded Roberts Pharmaceutical Corp., an Eatontown company that bought and sold specialty drugs in late-stage development. He took the company public in 1990 and was chairman when it was sold to Britain-based Shire Pharmaceuticals Group in 1999 for $1 billion in stock.

Vukovich bought the Colts Neck property in 1999. And he began buying racehorses, housing them in the 24-stall barn or eight-stall quarantine barn on the property. Among his winners: Leave No Trace, who won the 2022 top-level Spinaway Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Saratoga Race Course.

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The Vukoviches decided to downsize and move to their home in Florida, Postilio said. They have put WellSpring up for sale.

How much does it cost? A buyer who puts 20% down and takes out a 30-year mortgage with an interest rate of 6.81% would have a monthly payment of $171,694. While the buyer would save on monthly HOA fees, maintaining the 160-acre property will likely require a dedicated team; the property is so expansive that mowing the lawn is a near-constant chore.

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“The luxury market itself is doing pretty well, but this is a very specific type of property,” Postilio said. “While no one is obligated to run it as an equestrian facility, it seems like that would be the ideal buyer. It would obviously take years to assemble a parcel of land of this size and go through the construction process. So there’s a tremendous amount of value in buying a completed property and a fully operational property.”

“There are staff running the home and staff looking after the equestrian facilities, which we think would be invaluable to the potential buyer,” he said.

Michael L. Diamond is a business reporter for the Asbury Park Press, covering New Jersey’s economy, real estate and health care since 1999. He can be reached at [email protected].