Little interest in ambitious crowdfunding campaign to buy $97 million ranch

An American is trying to raise enough money to buy a nearly $100 million luxury ranch, but possibly due to how far-fetched it is, the project is having a little trouble getting off the ground.

High-end fashion designer Tom Ford has put his US$75 million ($97.4 million) Cerro Pelon estate on the market and the photos are enough to make you consider spending crazy amounts of money to live there.

But a week after his crowdfunding page to buy the ranch went online, Ben Gold still hasn’t gotten any donations.

“For the first time ever, we’re taking a multi-tens-of-millions-of-dollars property and breaking down the purchase by making it accessible to a lot of people in vacation-sized chunks,” he writes on the campaign page.

As the head of his own self-titled high fashion label as well as a film director, Ford has made a career out of good aesthetic taste, something keenly reflected in the incredible 8000-hectare ranch.

The property spans across New Mexico’s Galisteo Basin, offering endless desert views and open spaces for your inner cowboy. 

Its two main “house” compounds are a modernist masterpiece designed by Japanese “starchitect” Tadao Ando, looking onto a reflection pool and elevated walkway. 

Nearby are the four staff quarters and two private guest houses, a separate office building and even a tennis court that’s impeccably stylish.  

There’s also a stable for eight horses and circular indoor and outdoor riding rings.

If that wasn’t enough there’s an airstrip and a hangar, in case travel by horse or car breaks down. 

The property doubles as a film set: the fictional town Silverado (from the 1985 western film of the same name) still stands and the vast paddocks that truly look like the Wild West have been used in several other films.

You can see why Gold wants help to buy the place, as well as raise $US660,000 to pay the staff maintaining it.  

Donating $US97,000 to the campaign buys a one week’s stay at the ranch, meaning Gold will only have to book 780-weeks, or slightly over 15 years, of stays to buy the property.

There’s still a month left to secure the funding.