The 5-bedroom, 5-bathroom mansion, located near Academy and Highway 168, was built in 2002 on an airy 20-acre lot in the foothills overlooking Clovis.

Todd Pigott, principal at ZINC Realty, was the listing agent on the home, which was actually his personal residence.

Robyn Graham in Keller Williams Realty’s Tulare office sold the property.

The home featured a resort-style backyard and another 9,000 square feet of additional structures over four acres. Complete with a pool, spa, tennis and volleyball court — and more than 2,000 square feet of patios, courtyards, cabanas and outdoor kitchen areas — Pigott called the Oak Ridge mansion “one of the most sought-after” estates in the entire Central Valley.

“I designed all of it,” Pigott said. “We raised our three children there and were somewhat sad to leave. But our kids were getting older and wanted to be closer to their schools and activities.”

So Pigott let his dream home go in October and moved his family to a smaller house in Copper River.

The Oak Ridge property was sometimes the site of prominent fundraisers. “A few times a year, 600 or 700 hundred people would show up for a charity event,” Pigott said. “We had a lot of fun there.”

Seven prospective buyers toured the estate before it went into escrow, and Pigott said selling the high-end property “was really difficult. Let me put it this way,” he added. “We’re not in Southern California or the Bay Area. There are only so many people here” interested in luxury properties.

Three million dollars may be out of most buyer’s price range but the Valley’s high-end residential real estate market, year-over-year, continues to hit higher highs. Last year, the area’s priciest property, a 7,200-square-foot mansion overlooking the San Joaquin Golf Course, sold for $2.38 million. In 2015, the area saw several other impressive seven-figure property sales.

A gated, 7,500-square-foot estate in Fresno, located at 202 W. Bluff Ave., sold for $2.02 million. Another Clovis property, an older home located at 2777 E. Nees Ave., went for $1.9 million.

The property on Bluff was built in 1995 and sits on two-thirds of an acre. It features an elevator, pool and cabana with kitchenette, wine room and even a custom-made Mugnaini pizza oven. The home, which closed escrow in mid-November, was listed by Rod Aluisi of Rod Aluisi Real Estate.

“It’s truly an amazing property with an award-winning home theater and spectacular backyard views,” Aluisi said. “It had a few years on it but was definitely well maintained.”

The home on Nees, which also closed escrow in mid-November, was actually built in 1968 and sold in “as is” condition.

That property was listed by Realtor Tony Tjuanta and included a rare 4.87-acre lot, which Tjuanta marketed as ideal for “a buyer wanting to subdivide the property — or perhaps build a church.”

“A church group actually bought the property,” said Tjuanta, who described the transaction as “a win-win — for both the seller’s family and for the church.”

Aluisi, whose firm sold five of the top ten properties on this year’s most-expensive home sales’ list, is optimistic about the luxury home markets’ prospects for 2016.

“We expect a great year in high-end home sales,” he said. “Due to the lack of inventory of both high-end homes and lots, combined with construction costs increasing and fear of continued interest rate increases, I think 2016 will see an increase in values and sales.”

Aluisi said many high-end buyers are “waiting for the right home to hit the market,” adding 2016 will be an ideal year for high-end sellers to put their homes on the market, “as well as a great time for a buyer to purchase because of the historic low interest rates — which gives us the best of both worlds.”

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Related: The Business Journal’s list of the year’s Most Expensive Homes.