UPDATE: Ron Howard's record-breaking family dream home goes to Netscape magnate and his wife, a Victoria's Secret model

UPDATE: Ron Howard's record-breaking family dream home goes to Netscape magnate and his wife, a Victoria's Secret model

UPDATE, January 2015: So who paid $27.5 million for Ron Howard's 32-acre family dream home (you know, the one with the observatory, the two-story library, the "Cocoon" pool, the working farm ... )?

None other than Jim Clark, a 70-year-old billionaire who made his fortune on the 1990s Web browser Netscape, and his (fourth) wife, Kristy Hinze, a 35-year-old Australian Victoria's Secret model. They have two young children, named Harper and Dylan Vivienne.

The New York Post reported that they'd conducted an "exhaustive" search for equestrian estates before snapping up the Howard home within less than two weeks of its hitting the market.

The purchase price set a local record.


CLICK PHOTO FOR SLIDESHOW.
CLICK PHOTO FOR SLIDESHOW.

When we wrote about actor/director Ron Howard's family dream house a few months ago, we thought his asking price might have been a little ambitious.

Sure, the place has its own observatory and "Cocoon"-reminiscent pool. Sure, it's on a whopping 32-acre plot in the exclusive gated community of Conyers Farm, straddling Armonk in wealthy Westchester County, New York, and Greenwich, Connecticut (former, and supposedly cursed, home of the fabulously rich Leona Helmsley, among others). Sure, it's a working farm. And OK, yes, it has a "sports barn," stables, a two-story library, a 17,000-square-foot main house, trails ...

But still: $27.5 million?

Boy oh boy, as Richie Cunningham might say, were we wrong.

Ron Howard circa Happy Days and now.
Ron Howard circa Happy Days and now.

Not only did the house go for its asking price, it went into contract only about two weeks after its listing, the Wall Street Journal just reported. That's in spite of the fact that at these lofty property heights, it's not uncommon for properties to languish on the market for years. (Click here or on a photo for a slideshow of the Howard property.)

In defense of our skepticism, it is more than any other home has ever sold for in Westchester County, the buyer's agent told the Journal.

Who was the buyer? Real estate agents won't say.

But we hope they'll be as happy there as the Howards seem to have been. As we said in our earlier story, Howard and his wife of now nearly 40 years -- they were high school sweethearts, and an almost impossibly poignant photo from their childhood shows their warmth even then -- left Hollywood behind as a main home in order to raise their four children there. It was the site of two family weddings, and as recently as a few months ago Ron was sharing family photos on Instagram of brother Clint visiting.

You can click here to read the sweet tale behind the home.

Or you can click here for photos of the Howards' longtime Conyers Farm home, sold for $27.5 million.

Also on Yahoo Homes:

'Cursed' Greenwich mansion once owned by Leona Helmsley is listed at $65 million
A look at the Cunningham house on the 40th anniversary of 'Happy Days'
Robin Williams' 'Villa of Smiles' earns its name
Yogi Berra's home is as full of surprises as he is