Expensive homes on Lake Minnetonka — and why everyone asks about the $50 million house
What’s for sale now · what actually closed · clubs around the lake · what changed this month
People see a $50 million listing and assume that’s what lake homes sell for. It isn’t. An asking price is what someone hopes to get. A sold price is what actually happened. I keep those two apart on this page. If you want to talk through a bay or a house, call when you’re ready.
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Photo: Lafayette Club, Lake Minnetonka — Tony Webster · CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Asking vs sold
The highest asking price on the lake is not the same as the highest recent sale.
The $50 million house everyone talks about is still for sale. The biggest recent sale I can point to in public reporting is $13.5 million on Maxwell Bay in 2023. Those are different things. An asking price is marketing. A closing is what actually happened. This page is Lake Minnetonka shoreline only.
Asking now
Lake Point Estate
$50,000,000 asking
2770 Gale Rd · Woodland / Wayzata · still on the market
Listed by Engel & Völkers — not a Geoffrey Serdar listing
Press describes the sellers as estate / trustees · taxes about $320k a year on the listing See it on Compass →
Recently sold
Maxwell Bay · Orono
$13,500,000 sold
Closed July 24, 2023 · reported by the Business Journals
One of the largest Twin Cities home sales in recent years that we can document in public.
I’m citing it so you have a real number — not as a pitch to go buy it.
Other sales worth knowing
$8.8 million sold — Lafayette Bay / Minnetonka Beach, February 14, 2025 · Business Journals $10.03 million sold — Wayzata Bay / 555 Bushaway Rd, June 2018 · Finance & Commerce $10 million sold — Wayzata Bay / 405 Bushaway Rd, December 15, 2023 About $17–17.5 million in fall 2006 — press often cites this as a Minnesota record. Contemporaneous Finance & Commerce describes a large land purchase for the Locust Hills development on the Grays Bay / Bushaway corridor — not the same thing as today’s single-home sales.
The $50–55 million number is an asking price, not a sale. Press describes the sellers of Lake Point Estate as the estate / trustees of the late businessman Bob (Robert) Lothenbach. We don’t invent who lives there.
By bay
Every bay has its own high-water mark — and some sit well under $5 million.
Tap a sort below. Sold is the highest sale I can document in public reporting for that water — recent first, plus the 2006 press record where it belongs. This is not a full county-record sweep of every sale ever. If we don’t have a clear public leader yet, I’ll say so. Asking is what’s for sale now (or under contract). When a house is still listed, I credit the listing agent.
Showing bays by the highest documented sold price first. Bays without a public sale yet sink to the bottom.
Wayzata Bay
Wayzata
Asking now
No current mega-home ask we’re watching on this bay. 2634 Crosby Rd closed at $6.606 million on July 2, 2026 (water on three sides — Minnehaha Creek / Crosby Cove / Gray’s Bay; confirm the pocket on a map). Compass listing
Highest sold we can document
$10.03 million · 555 Bushaway Rd · June 2018 · Finance & Commerce. More recently: $10 million at 405 Bushaway Rd, December 15, 2023. Fresh close nearby: $6.606 million at 2634 Crosby Rd, July 2, 2026.
Wayzata Yacht Club / Bushaway. The oft-cited ~$17.5 million “2006 record” is better read as a large Locust Hills land purchase on the Grays Bay side — not this bay’s single-home high.
Maxwell Bay
Orono
Asking now
We don’t have a clear public leader for this bay yet.
Highest sold we can document
$13.5 million · July 24, 2023 · Business Journals
The sale people still talk about. Highest recent close I can point to on the whole lake.
Crystal Bay
Orono / Minnetonka Beach
Asking now
We don’t have a clear public leader for this bay yet.
Highest sold we can document
About $9.8 million · 1725 Bohns Point Rd · May 2007 · Finance & Commerce (Hennepin records). Same address later sold for $8.271 million in 2017. More recently: about $8.6 million at 3017 N Shore Dr, May 2023.
Lafayette shore. Strongest public figure I can point to so far — not a full county-record sweep.
Lafayette Bay
Minnetonka Beach
Asking now
We don’t have a clear public leader for this bay yet.
Highest sold we can document
$8.8 million · 2306 Huntington Point Rd W · February 14, 2025 · Business Journals (called the largest Twin Cities home sale since 2023)
Lafayette Bay shore. Strong recent close — not a claim that every older sale has been checked.
Smithtown Bay
Victoria / Shorewood edge
Asking now
We don’t have a clear public leader for this bay yet.
Highest sold we can document
$7.625 million · 6445 Hawks Pointe Ln · December 2, 2024 · Business Journals (a 2024 Minnesota top sale)
Recent documented sale — not a full all-time sweep.
Carson Bay
Deephaven
Asking now
Watch Linwood / Gluek’s Point on the lower lake next door.
Highest sold we can document
$7.6 million · 19955 Cottagewood Ave · September 30, 2024 · Business Journals
Minnetonka Yacht Club / Cottagewood. Recent documented sale.
Excelsior / lower lake
Excelsior, Greenwood, Tonka Bay…
Asking now
$22 million, under contract · 20670 Linwood Rd, Deephaven · Jeffrey J. Dewing, Coldwell Banker · Compass listing
Highest sold we can document
$7.8 million · 5570 Maple Heights Rd, Greenwood · April 6, 2023. Big lower-lake dollar — the listing copy doesn’t name a specific bay, so I’m not inventing one.
Busy docks. Pending is not sold. Exact bay still open.
Stubbs Bay
Orono
Asking now
$13.4 million · 475 Oxford Rd · On Point Realty · Compass listing
Highest sold we can document
$6.225 million · 475 Oxford Rd · June 5, 2017 · public sold history on Compass / Coldwell. That same address is asking about $13.4 million now — asking is not sold.
West-facing water. Documented sale — not proven as every older Stubbs close checked.
We don’t have a clear public leader for this bay yet.
On the market this cycle. Southways sat on this water historically — that $53.5 million figure was an asking price, not a sale.
Woodland / Gale Road
Woodland / Wayzata
Asking now
Lake Point at $50 million · Engel & Völkers · Compass listing
Highest sold we can document
No Gale Road / Lake Point close. A nearby Woodland high we can document: about $6.4 million on Woolsey Lane in 2018 (Finance & Commerce). Lake Point remains asking only.
Asking-price class for Lake Point. Not sold.
Upper lake
Mound, Minnetrista, Shorewood… (East / West / Halsted / Cooks)
Asking now
$6.995 million · 4100 Enchanted Ln, Mound · Edina Realty · Compass listing
Highest sold we can document
We don’t have a clear public leader for this bay yet.
Upper Minnetonka Yacht Club water.
Bay names are used only when a public listing or press story actually supports the water. Sold figures are the highest I can document in public reporting as of September 2026. Prefer “highest sale we’ve documented” over “all-time record” until county eCRV confirms. Not invented.
Clubs around the lake
These are the clubs people actually mean when they talk about the lake.
Seven clubs on the water or in the lake towns. Being near a club is part of how life feels here — it is not a price tag, not a ranking, and not proof anyone belongs. I don’t publish fees, I don’t claim memberships, and a house does not come with a membership. This page stays on Lake Minnetonka.
Lafayette Club / Crystal Bay — Tony Webster · CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Minnetonka Country Club closed in 2014, so it isn’t on this list.
What’s moved lately
A few things worth knowing as of September 2026
Lake Minnetonka only — the houses and clubs around this water.
The house people mean when they say “the $50 million house” is still for sale: Lake Point Estate, listed by Engel & Völkers (you’ll also see it on Compass). The asking price started around $68 million when it was shopped quietly, then $55 million, now $50 million. It has not sold.
The highest recent sale I can document is still $13.5 million on Maxwell Bay in 2023. The Business Journals called an $8.8 million Lafayette Bay / Minnetonka Beach sale in 2025 the largest since then.
Around the bays: $13.4 million asking on Oxford Road (Stubbs Bay). $5.665 million asking on Orono Lane (Browns Bay — Compass colleagues, not me). $6.995 million asking on Enchanted Lane (upper lake). $7.6 million sold on Carson Bay in 2024. $7.625 million sold on Smithtown Bay in 2024.
Keep an eye on 20670 Linwood Road in Deephaven — $22 million asking, under contract. That is not a sale until it records.
The clubs on this page are the seven around the lake: Lafayette, Woodhill, Wayzata Country Club, Spring Hill, Minnetonka Yacht Club, Wayzata Yacht Club, and Upper Minnetonka Yacht Club. Minnetonka Country Club closed in 2014.
As of September 13, 2026.
Questions I get
Straight answers
Who owns the ~$55 million Lake Minnetonka home?
We only know part of it. Press names the sellers as the estate / trustees of the late businessman Bob (Robert) Lothenbach, who died in November 2023. That $50 million figure is an asking price, not a closed sale. It was $55 million on the MLS and shopped quietly around $68 million before that. We don’t invent who lives there.
What are the most expensive homes on Lake Minnetonka?
Start by separating asking prices from closed sales. A $50 million listing is not the same as the $7–14 million sales that actually closed in 2023–2025. The tables above keep those labeled as asking or sold.
What is the most expensive home in Minnesota?
Most expensive public listing right now (2025–2026): Lake Point Estate, asking about $50–55 million on Lake Minnetonka. Historic “record” talk: press often cites about $17–17.5 million in fall 2006. Contemporaneous reporting describes a large Bushaway / Locust Hills land assemblage on the Grays Bay side — not a clean “one house on Wayzata Bay sold for $17.5 million” story. The strongest recent single-home close I can document is $13.5 million on Maxwell Bay in 2023. Private deals may exist — we just don’t have them in public.
Who are the top realtors on Lake Minnetonka?
I’m not going to rank myself. I work this lake, I help with complicated family transfers when that’s the situation, and I’ve worked with 360+ families. If you want to talk, call. That’s enough.
The $50 million house
Lake Point Estate — Minnesota’s highest-profile asking price, not a sold price.
2770 Gale Road sits in Woodland, with a Wayzata address, on the west-facing lower lake. About 8 acres, roughly 650–655 feet of shoreline, and a compound the press and Compass put around 29,000 square feet.
The asking path is the part people miss. It was shopped quietly around $68 million in August 2024, came on the MLS at $55 million in May 2025, went off the market in late October 2025, and came back at $50 million on January 28, 2026 (MLS #6812564).
As of September 2026 it is still an active $50,000,000 asking price on Compass. The listing brokerage is Engel & Völkers Minneapolis Downtown / Lake Minnetonka — not my listing. Taxes are listed around $320,880 a year. Press describes the sellers as estate trustees.
That $50–68 million band is an asking price, not a sold price. The shoreline sales that make the papers still sit much lower.
What actually closed
Sales we can point to in the press
Sold price
Area / bay
When
Where we saw it
$13.5 million sold
Orono — Maxwell Bay
July 24, 2023
Business Journals
$10 million sold
Wayzata — Wayzata Bay (Bushaway)
December 15, 2023
MLS / lake press roundups
$8.8 million sold
Minnetonka Beach
February 14, 2025
Business Journals
About $8.6 million sold
Orono — Crystal Bay
May 2023
Business Journals
$7.625 million sold
Victoria — Smithtown Bay
December 2, 2024
Business Journals (a 2024 Minnesota top sale)
$7.6 million sold
Deephaven — Carson Bay
September 30, 2024
Business Journals
About $17–17.5 million (historic, press-cited)
Wayzata / Lake Minnetonka
Fall 2006
Robb Report / Star Tribune phrasing
Excelsior homes and docks — Tony Webster · CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
What actually makes a lake home expensive
People ask this like there’s a formula. There isn’t — but there are a handful of things that almost always show up in the price.
Shoreline — how many feet, and what kind. Level sand is a different house than a steep lot. A protected bay is a different house than one that takes a beating from open water. And can you actually dock a boat.
Which bay, and which way it faces. West and southwest light, and the coves that stay private, tend to cost more.
Land. A multi-lot compound is a different thing than a tight Cottagewood lot. You’re not comparing the same product.
Privacy. The biggest asking prices often start quietly, off the public list. It’s normal for those houses to sit for years.
Boat life and the extra buildings. Boathouses, guest houses, sport courts show up in the $10 million-and-up stories.
Taxes. Lake Point is listed around $320,000 a year. Other houses in this range carry six-figure tax bills too. That’s the real carrying cost, not a footnote.
The gap between asking and sold. Southways once asked $53.5 million and later got subdivided. Lake Point has come from $68 million down to $50 million and still hasn’t closed. Asking prices are marketing. Sold prices are what happened.
Listings to watch
What’s on Compass at $5 million and up
These are Lake Minnetonka shoreline houses you can actually click into. Photos live on Compass. I credit the listing agent on every one — none of these are mine unless I say so.
2770 Gale Rd, Wayzata (Woodland) — Lake Point Estate
Beth Ulrich & Chelsey Danielson, Compass — not Geoffrey Serdar · Compass listing
Families and estates
When a landmark lake home is also a family transfer
Some of the lake’s most-watched listings come through estates and trustees. Lake Point’s press story is one example. If you’re figuring out a family home after a death, start with calm facts — not fear.
