We keep a close eye on luxury real estate, rounding up the most over-the-top homes to hit the market in our House of the Day features.

And since the year is winding down, we decided to do an official ranking of our 13 favorite properties that went on sale this year.

From the most expensive compound in America to a multi-home ranch in Las Vegas, these are the coolest properties that hit the real estate market around the world in 2013.

#13 The founder of for-profit education company University of Phoenix put his San Francisco mansion up for sale for $27 million. The nine-bedroom home had 13,000-square-feet with a hidden bar, Art Deco ballroom, and a library. It's still on the market today.

Find out more about the home here >>

#12 Faith Hill and Tim McGraw put their Franklin, Tenn. estate on the market for a hefty $20 million. The 750+ acres have plenty of rolling pastures, fields, ponds, and spring-fed creeks. There are also four different residences.

Find out more about the home here >>

#11 This six-level townhouse in New York was built in 1887 and had 12,000 square feet of space, a glass-and-steel staircase, and a home gym with an indoor lap pool. It was listed in May for $37 million, though the price has since been reduced.

Find out more about the home here >>

The penthouse of New York City's Pierre Hotel hit the market for a record $125 million in late April.

But the property, which belonged to late investor Martin Zweig, has yet to find a buyer, and recently had its price slashed by 24% to $95 million, according to The New York Daily News.

Zweig initially listed the apartment for $70 million in 2007 but later pulled the listing; he died in February.

The apartment encompasses three floors and was originally the hotel's ballroom.

The 16-room spread is listed with Sotheby's International Realty.

The apartment is a triplex, taking up floors 41, 42, and 43 of the Pierre.

It formerly housed the famous hotel's ballroom, and "the living room is considered the most magnificent privately owned room in the world," according to the listing.

There are 16 rooms in total, including five bedrooms.

Chris Brown has listed his three-bedroom, four-story Hollywood Hills home for $1.92 million, according to Zillow.

It's a fairly typical bachelor pad, with black floors and countertops, plus blue neon exterior lights that gives it a distinct nightclub feel. 

The house used to have some more distinguishing features, however. After neighbors complained that graffiti creatures on the house's walls were just too scary, Brown was ordered to repaint the front of his home. 

"There are lots of babies, lots of children, and they're literally frightened. It's like devils on the wall — big scary eyes and big scary teeth, and just the whole vibe is not what we're used to,"a neighbor said to the Los Angeles Times in May. 

The murals were painted over in July, though Brown claims that it was only because he is trying to sell the house. 

The house is more than four stories and has eerie blue lighting at night.

The living room has some more of those creepy graffiti monsters the neighbors were complaining about.

The kitchen's design plays it safe with black floors and countertops.

After more than a year on the market, actress Reese Witherspoon has sold her Ojai, Calif. home at a $816,500 loss, according to real estate blogger The Real Estalker.

Witherspoon listed the ranch in Sept. 2012 for $10 million, just weeks after it appeared on the cover of Elle Decor.

She later dropped the price to $5.9 million, but the still-unknown buyer bought it for just $4,983,500, according to The Real Estalker.

That's far less than the $5.8 million Witherspoon paid for the home when she bought it in 2008 from designer Kathryn Ireland, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The home has nine bedrooms and seven bathrooms.

Meredith Galante contributed to this post.

Welcome to Libbey Ranch. The home was built in 1923.

The ranch is Mediterranean-style, designed by the famed Wallace Neff.

Actor/director Harold Ramis of "Ghostbusters" owned the home before Ireland and Witherspoon, respectively.

Sir Paul McCartney did some Christmas real estate shopping this week, according to The New York Post, which is reporting that he and his wife Nancy Shevell were spotted checking out a 4-bedroom condo on Fifth Avenue. 

The condo has expansive Central Park views and classic prewar design details, like marble bathrooms and a cozy mahogany library. 

The 3,335-square-foot unit has been on the market since October 2012, but it's seen a $500,000 price cut before reaching its current $12.9 million listing price. 

The floor plan is beautifully open, and there are plenty of opportunities to catch a glimpse of Central Park and the Reservoir.

The spectacular views of Central Park just can't be beat.

Coffered ceilings give the formal dining room an elegant touch.

Megan Ellison — a producer of "Zero Dark Thirty" and "American Hustle," as well as the daughter of software mogul Larry Ellison — had a whirlwind year in real estate. 

After offloading three properties in the desirable Bird Streets neighborhood of the Hollywood Hills for $46.75 million, Ellison has scooped up another modern mansion in Los Angeles' Mt. Olympus neighborhood. She paid a reported $20 million for the home, plus $10 million for some surrounding land, according to real estate blogger The Real Estalker.

Designed by architect Richard Schwarz and built in 1990, the home has six bedrooms, eight bathrooms, two guest apartments, heated balconies, a pool and a grotto. It also played home to Lou Ferrigno in the movie "I Love You, Man," and was the backdrop of a 2013 holiday car commercial for Infiniti.  

Ellison's new mansion sits in the Mt. Olympus neighborhood of the Hollywood Hills.

A private street leads to the house.

Inside the gates, there's parking for 25.

If James Bond decided to build an ultra-modern nightclub in his secret hideaway, this home in Mallorca, Spain is what it would look like. 

The 26,867-square-foot mansion — known as the "Chameleon Villa"— takes swank to another level. It comes complete with crisp white interiors, colorful LED lights, and a bumping sound system that mimic the atmosphere of a highly exclusive club. 

According to the listing, the house itself is divided up into three different buildings: The first acting as the main residence, the second as a fitness center, and the third as lodging for party guests. 

It's listed with Sotheby's International Realty. Price is available only on request. 

Welcome to the Chameleon Villa.

Dramatically perched on a cliff overlooking Son Vida, Mallorca, the all-white "Chameleon Villa" might be a bit of a misnomer.

You can park your car out front.

In light of news that Khloe Kardashian has filed for divorce from NBA player Lamar Odom amid allegations of drug abuse, it should come as no huge surprise that their mansion in Tarzana, Calif. is now for sale, according to celebrity real estate blog The Real Estalker.

The 8,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style home has seven bedrooms, nine baths, and a fairly large pool area. It's located at the end of a cul-de-sac in the Mulholland Park area of Tarzana, a quiet San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Los Angeles. 

The custom-built house may seem familiar to fans of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" and "Khloe & Lamar"— the family filmed scenes for both reality shows here. 

It's listed for $5.5 million with Ewing & Associates Sotheby's International Realty. 

Enter an ultra-private gated driveway that leads to a front door shaded behind palm trees.

Inside, a staircase with wrought-iron railings leads from the foyer to the second floor.

The master suite has a fireplace, sitting area, terrace, and three walk-in closets.

Ellen DeGeneres, famous for her house-hopping as much as her status as America's nicest funny woman, reportedly laid down $40 million for a 9-bedroom mansion in the exclusive Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, according to TMZ.

Sitting on 2.25 acres next to the Playboy Mansion, the property was commissioned by philanthropists Sidney and Frances Lasker Brody in 1949. The home was impressive in its own right (TMZ calls it "the best house in L.A.), but its unnamed second owner had it renovated in 2010, ostensibly to flip it.

Designer Stephen Stone increased the size of the kitchen, turned the top floor into a second master suite with a study, updated the pool, and added a koi pond. But he did keep the landscaping intact along with some original parts of the house.

Unfortunately, we only have photos of what the home looked like pre-renovation, since it never officially hit the real estate market. But even so, they are pretty remarkable:

Most of the renovations to the house took place indoors. The entryway and landscaping were left intact, only spruced up.

The home still opens to a spacious living area and slatted stairs.

The sprawling ficus, deemed too invasive, in the atrium was replaced with some rare palms.

All the bathroom fixtures were updated from this pre-renovation photo.

Stone installed a new pool in the same space and style of the old one.

The home comes with tennis courts that received a new fence in the renovations.

SEE ALSO: HOUSE OF THE DAY: Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom List Their Famous Mansion For $5.5 Million

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Celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz has been trying to unload her trio of West Village townhouses for well over a year, and it seems she's finally done it for the discounted price of $28.5 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The seven-bedroom compound was originally listed for $33 million in 2012 with Brown Harris Stevens. After languishing on the market, it was discounted to $29.9 million and taken over by the Corcoran Real Estate Group, complete with bright new pictures of the home.

The trio of buildings were combined and renovated by Leibovitz herself, who started buying them in 2002. The compound has a main home, Leibovitz's studio, and a two-story guest home with its own bedroom, kitchen, and two fireplaces.

In the backyard is a slate patio with a private garden area accessible by the street. The photographer sold her home to reportedly move closer to the uptown school of her three daughters.

Leibovitz's old compound is located on the corner of Greenwich Street and occupies more than 10,200 square feet of space.

Source: Corcoran Real Estate Group

The compound is comprised of three townhouses that have all been meticulously renovated and restored with all new plumbing and electrical systems.

Source: Corcoran Real Estate Group

The brick buildings originally date back to the 1830s, and altogether have 16 rooms and 13 wood-burning fireplaces.

Source: Corcoran Real Estate Group

A 2.5-acre estate that once belonged to Eddie Murphy is now on the market for $12 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The Sacramento, Calif. home has 10 bedrooms (including one with Shrek-themed decor), 14 bathrooms, four wet bars, tennis courts, a swimming pool, and a 9-car garage. The Murphys sold it to real estate investor Patrick K. Willis back in 2007, when Eddie and his ex-wife Nicole were finalizing their divorce.

Willis paid $6.1 million for the house, which is still the largest residential purchase for the Sacramento area. It's currently listed with NRS Luxury Estates. 

Willis reportedly never moved into the house, and the decorations that the Murphys had originally chosen remain in place.

The mansion is situated on 2 and a half acres of land in the Granite Bay suburb of Sacramento.

The entrance is wide and dramatic on approach.

Inside, lots of purple details grab your attention.

Hunter Harrison, Canada's top-earning CEO, just put his sprawling Ridgefield, Conn. horse farm on the market for $55 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Harrison came out of retirement last year to head Canadian Pacific Railway and is ready to move on from Double H Farm, listed with Sally Slater, a horse property expert at Douglas Elliman Real Estate.  

Double H has three houses, one dating back to the 18th century, and sits on 87 acres. There are indoor and outdoor riding rings, two barns, 12 paddocks and three luxury staff apartments.

Double H Farm sits on 87 acres in Ridgefield, Conn.

The main house was built in 2009. It sits at the top of the property.

It has a large, formal foyer.

Last October, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich was in contract to buy three apartments in a gorgeous Fifth Avenue mansion for $75 million.

But a new report in The New York Post says that the deal may be in jeopardy since the seller supposedly wants even more money.

Abramovich originally wanted to purchase three of the five apartments in the building at 828 Fifth Avenue from the family of late British real estate developer Howard Ronson, which included the penthouse, a triplex, and a duplex apartment.

But Ronson's widow — heiress Angelika Ivanc — is reportedly holding out because she believes she can get more money from the mogul.

According to the Post:

Ivanc is challenging the executors’ approval of the co-op sale in court in the English Channel island of Guernsey, where Ronson’s company had offices.

While a European court ruling would not bar the sale in New York, legal experts say that the controversy would likely be enough to force the parties to hold off on the transaction until the court case is resolved.

Even if the deal closes at the current price of $75 million, it would still be the most expensive co-op ever bought in the city beating out the previous record of $54 million, according to The Real Deal.

Abramovich has reportedly bought another apartment in the building, and is trying to purchase the final unit so he can restore the mansion to its former glory, the Post reports.

The eight-bedroom co-op is an interesting mix of classic and modern with tall ceilings and eight bedrooms. There's even a rooftop terrace that looks out over Central Park.

The Manhattan townhouse sits directly across from Central Park Zoo.

It's currently divided up into five units. Abramovich has made an offer to buy three.

He's hoping to buy the other two and create a single-family mansion.

Last May, a Connecticut mansion went on the market for $190 million and became the most expensive home for sale in the U.S.

Now, that price tag has been reduced to $130 million, meaning the property — Greenwich's Copper Beech Farm — no longer holds that title, according to Curbed (an estate in Dallas remains on the market for $135 million).

The 50-acre property dates back to the 1890s, and is currently owned by timber magnate John Rudey. It carries a reported $120 million in debt, likely accounting for the sky-high initial sale price.

The 12-bedroom home has 15,000 square feet of living space, 7,000 square feet of basement and attic space, and an 1,800-foot-long driveway. There's also a grass tennis court, innumerable gardens, apple orchard, greenhouses, 75-foot-long heated pool, and a carriage house.

The estate is currently listed with Christie's International Real Estate and David Ogilvy & Associates.

Timber magnate John Rudey's $130 million, 50-acre estate is known as Copper Beach Farm.

Source: David Ogilvy & Associates Realtors

It has 4,000 feet of waterfront property on Long Island Sound, as well as two offshore islands.

Source: David Ogilvy & Associates Realtors

The gigantic property also has 15,000 square feet of living space, as well as 7,000 square feet of basement and attic space. It's huge.

Source: David Ogilvy & Associates Realtors

The New York Post reports today that Jay-Z and Beyoncé are looking to buy a Hamptons home, and recently checked out a luxurious property in East Hampton.

The home, on Further Lane, is listed through the luxury real estate firm Corcoran Group. Though the price has not been disclosed, insiders told Page Six that the home owners are asking for "around $25 million."

The 6,500-square-foot mansion has four bedrooms and over two acres of property, complete with an apple orchard, stone pathways, heated pools, and a tennis court.

There's also plenty of indoor space with dark wood floors, vaulted ceilings, and gorgeous furniture which would be included in the sale.

Last year, Jay and Bey spent a reported $400,000 to spend one month in Joe Farrell's Sandcastle home in Bridgehampton, with a bowling alley, movie theater, and spa. Looks like this year they could be ready to buy their own Hamptons hideaway.

Whether or not they buy the home, it's worth a peek inside.

Welcome to 466 Further Lane in East Hampton, the home Jay and Bey were reportedly looking to buy.

Source: Corcoran Real Estate Group

Though they'd have a few neighbors, the property is surrounded by trees and looks private. It sits on 2.11 acres.

Source: Corcoran Real Estate Group

The home has 6,500 square feet and a few fireplaces.

Source: Corcoran Real Estate Group

The San Francisco home of Richard Thalheimer, founder and former CEO of The Sharper Image, has nearly everything you would expect from the domain of a tech mogul. 

Touch-screen monitors in each room control the home's sound system, security cameras, and window treatments. Nine flatscreen TVs situated throughout the house mean that you can get a high-definition movie experience in almost every room, and an internal elevator provides easy access to all three floors. There's even a C-3PO statue in the living room. 

The 7,750-square-foot home is located just off San Francisco's Billionaire's Row, where Oracle's Larry Ellison, Apple's Jonathan Ive, and Zynga's Mark Pincus all own homes. 

After initially hitting the market for $11.95 million in October 2013, the home is asking $1 million less. It's now listed for $10.95 million, Curbed SF reports.

The Mediterranean-style home was built in the 1920s and renovated in 2004.

Pass through tall hedges to get to the glass-paned front door.

In the Great Room, spaces for eating and lounging flow together in one communal area.

Filmmaker Spike Lee just put his Upper East Side townhouse on the market for $32 million, double the price he paid artist Jasper Johns for the property back in 2000, according to The New York Daily News.

The biggest selling point of the 9,000-square-foot home on East 61st Street is its huge courtyard, not usually seen outside of schools and churches in the city. Also known as Hatch House, the townhouse has five bedrooms, three fireplaces and a library.    

Sotheby's International Realty is handling the sale. 

Frederick Sterner designed the house in 1916 for Barbara Hatch, a great-granddaughter of railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt. 

It features a rare courtyard.

Hatch House has three fireplaces, including one imported from Europe in the 18th century.

The property is 32 feet wide, almost double the average width of a New York City townhouse.

A series of famous people have previously owned Hatch House. Modern artist Jasper Johns and burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee owned the home before Spike Lee.

The oak and mahogany floors have a herringbone and parquet pattern.

Here's a view of the stately townhouse from its front entrance.

SEE ALSO: Jay-Z And Beyoncé Reportedly Checked Out This $25 Million East Hampton Mansion

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The New York Post revealed today that power couple David Lauren and Lauren Bush Lauren bought celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz's West Village home for $28.5 million.

David Lauren is the son of designer Ralph Lauren, while Lauren Bush Lauren is the niece of former President George W. Bush and the granddaughter of former President George H.W. Bush.

The Post also reports Bush Lauren’s mother Sharon Smith Bush — a broker at Corcoran — helped represent the couple in the sale.

Leibovitz had been trying to unload her trio of West Village townhouses for well over a year, and she finally succeeded in January, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The seven-bedroom compound was originally listed for $33 million in 2012 with Brown Harris Stevens. After languishing on the market, it was discounted to $29.9 million and taken over by the Corcoran Real Estate Group, complete with bright new pictures of the home. The 10,200-square-foot property finally sold for $28.5 million in January.

The trio of buildings were combined and renovated by Leibovitz herself, who started buying them in 2002. The compound has a main home, Leibovitz's studio, and a two-story guest home with its own bedroom, kitchen, and two fireplaces.

In the backyard is a slate patio with a private garden area accessible by the street. The photographer sold her home to reportedly move closer to the uptown school of her three daughters.

Leibovitz's old compound is located on the corner of Greenwich Street and occupies more than 10,200 square feet of space.

Source: Corcoran Real Estate Group

The property is comprised of three townhouses that have all been meticulously renovated and restored with all new plumbing and electrical systems.

Source: Corcoran Real Estate Group

The brick buildings originally date back to the 1830s, and altogether have 16 rooms and 13 wood-burning fireplaces.

Source: Corcoran Real Estate Group

Bill Maris, managing partner of Google Ventures, has listed his Palo Alto home for $2.85 million. 

According to Realtor.com, the home has four bedrooms and a beautifully modern design, but the most interesting part of it may be who happens to live next door. 

Maris' home actually shares a small piece of land with a similarly designed house belonging to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Cook reportedly bought the modest 2,095-square-foot condo for $1.9 million back in 2010, around the same time Maris moved in.  

The decision to keep the rival close by is interesting, especially considering that other tech executives like Marissa Mayer and Mark Zuckerberg have been known to buy surrounding properties just to keep other people away. 

Maris reportedly moved to Mountain View in 2012, meaning that the opportunity to be Tim Cook's neighbor is yours for the taking. 

The house is listed with Zane MacGregor & Co. 

The 2,065-square-foot home is situated at the end of an ultra-private driveway, to the rear of Cook's home.

Enter through this glass-paned front door.

The entryway is decorated with some pretty interesting modern art.

Former Google CEO and current executive chairman Eric Schmidt leads a fabulous life filled with luxurious yachts, homes in Silicon Valley and New York City, and even his own private jet. 

Now the New York Post is reporting that the tech mogul has scooped up yet another home: a 9,182-square-foot"French chateau" in Los Angeles' Holmby Hills neighborhood. 

According to the Post, which cites unnamed sources, the seven-bedroom house once belonged to Veronique Peck, the late wife of Hollywood legend Gregory Peck. 

And luckily for Schmidt (who's rumored to be a bit of a ladies' man), the chateau is about a five minutes' walk from the Playboy Mansion. 

Schmidt reportedly spent $22 million on the purchase, which had been listed for $24.995 million with Coldwell Banker. That's a minuscule amount compared to his estimated net worth of $8.3 billion. 

The house was originally built in 1932.

It sits on 1.3 acres of land.

The formal living room's decor is lavish, though a bit outdated.