'People who have everything else want to own a castle at least once in their lives'

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. -- The Searles Castle has towered over this Berkshire town for 120 years, its seven turrets and blue dolomite exterior creating a fortress at the end of Main Street. It has been walled off from the public as a home to the uber-rich and as a private school, and has opened its gates as a conference center and cultural attraction. Now, the French chateau-style castle is for sale -- a $15 million property joining a small niche of the world's luxury real estate market.

''People who have everything else want to own a castle at least once in their lives,'' said Denis Burrus, a sales agent for de Rham Sotheby's International Realty who sells castles in Switzerland. ''It shows that they've achieved something in their lives.''...

Burrus has been selling castles for 15 years in Switzerland, where one or two go on sale each year for as much as $40 million.

The market is more crowded in countries like France, where he said buyers can choose from about 100 properties.

In the United States, seeing a castle for sale is rare.