Even in the best of times, there are rarely more than a handful of lavish spec houses available around the world, and those are usually priced at less than $50 million. But a boomlet in projects a few years ago, when the market was going strong, has produced something of a glut—just as prices are weakening. Updown Court also has its own history working against it. Two decades ago, the property was just another empty megalot in Surrey. The home that had stood on it burned down, and a local engineer, Anthony Pearce, acquired the land with the dream of building a Middle Eastern-style palace on it. His blueprints called for three acres of marble and lots of round rooms, but the full design was never realized. In the middle of construction, British Customs charged Pearce with money laundering, and in 2001, agents descended on the property, arresting and jailing Pearce.

Allen-Vercoe helped Pearce arrange the initial financing and then bought Updown Court for approximately $40 million—including about $10 million of his own funds (the money went to creditors). He also bailed Pearce out of jail. After an 18-month trial, charges against Pearce were dropped, but the experience left him so bitter that he immigrated to Wilmington, North Carolina, where, according to Allen-Vercoe, he still lives. (Pearce did not return calls.) To resume construction, Allen-Vercoe borrowed another $70 million and partnered with Mackinnon, who didn’t contribute funds but agreed to act as estate manager.

Though the market for prime British real estate has recently been flat, Allen-Vercoe and Mackinnon are full of Panglossian bluster about Updown Court’s prospects. Sitting in the estate manager’s office near the house’s entrance, the duo are having biscuits after a rare client viewing. (They decline to say who it was.) A high-school dropout from suburban London, Allen-Vercoe is dressed dapperly in a gray pinstripe suit, a pink, blue, and red striped tie, and black ostrich loafers. He says he worked his way up in residential real estate. Mackinnon, the more understated of the two, made money in commercial real estate in Germany and Latvia.

Though they were relying exclusively on professional real estate agencies to handle marketing, Allen-Vercoe and Mackinnon recently decided to also promote the estate themselves—an initiative that, if successful, could save them a 2 to 3 percent commission fee. “I’ll read about some billionaire who’s done something successful, and I’ll drop him a line,” Allen-Vercoe claims, in what is either a bit of hubris or hyperbole. “I’ve traveled around, and I’ve met people in fairly influential positions, so I’ll contact them.”

Out of six showings during the past three weeks—up from only two or three in the first six months of the year—at least two potential clients have surfaced, according to Allen-Vercoe. One is “a Far Eastern royal family,” he says; the other he identifies only as a group looking to purchase Updown Court as a time-share.

Allen-Vercoe is opposed to adjusting the price to reflect market conditions. “I would never lower the price,” he says with his arms crossed, “but I have thought of raising it.”