Mansion owners?

[AndrewG]

^^ Sounds nice. It's good that you left some room for a yard. I HATE when people build a gigantic house on a lot and leave no yard for themselves. What are you gonna do in the summer? Stay inside all day?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Russ H]

I understand the "desire" for having a big, status symbol of a house.

You'd be the envy of all your friends . . .

Well, not really.

Chances are by then all your friends would have big houses, too.

So why the big house?

Could wanting be better than having?

Most of you know I spent 25 years or so working on the houses of the ultra-rich ($10M net worth and up, most $50M to over $2B)

Many of my clients moved *out* of their mega-mansions b/c they were just too big.

"Walking across my bedroom to the bathroom was like walking througha bowling alley!" said one.

Many of them "scaled down" to 3500-5000 square foot houses. This gave them tons of room for everything they needed to do.

And the costs and labor-- and personal TIME-- required to maintain them was MUCH MUCH less.

Just a thought.

-Russ H.

 

[Pinnacle]

You know, Russ, I'd imagine that mansions would serve as the prime home office set-up. That, of course, would mean never having to leave the premises except to get groceries, gas, go on vacation, meet clients, and everything else we homo sapiens do outdoors and/or away from our homes. If I'm not mistaken, I think J. Paul Getty used one of his mansions as a sort of museum, allowing the viewing public to tour the place during times of the year he wasn't living there. He even installed a pay phone so they wouldn't run up his phone bill! Cheapness or logic? I say the latter.

I'm partial to mansions, because I love the grandeur and the palatial elements and atmosphere. Part of it is psychological for me, as well, in that they represent the ability to breathe and have full abundance and freedom. I would simply want to creatively put less frequently used rooms/areas to good use. I've looked on and off at luxury real estate deals over the past few months out of curiosity, and thought perhaps some sort of roommate-type program could be set up that would involve selling to groups of people (i.e. friends, business partners, amateur and professional athletes, etc.) I've even thought about creating a destination club.

Perhaps the best thing to do in those situations is to find a way to produce multiple streams of income from one's mansion(s).

 

[snowbank]

I understand the "desire" for having a big, status symbol of a house.

You'd be the envy of all your friends . . .

Well, not really.

Chances are by then all your friends would have big houses, too.

So why the big house?

Could wanting be better than having?

-Russ H.

Russ,

I agree. I've always wanted to have a HUGE mansion, but if I got it I don't know if I'd love it if I didn't use 95% of the space. It goes back to that post you made a while back about if you bought an expensive sports car but there was no one around to see you in your sports car, you might not want it anymore. And going back to what MJ says about the journey being the best part, not the part where you get your goal. I think it's the dream that keeps everyone doing what their doing. It's most exciting when we can't/don't have something, and are trying hard to get it just because it's what we set our minds to, but by the time we finally reach the goal our goal may have changed anyways. We just really wanted to accomplish what we set out to do.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[AndrewG]

I understand the "desire" for having a big, status symbol of a house.

You'd be the envy of all your friends . . .

Well, not really.

Chances are by then all your friends would have big houses, too.

So why the big house?

Could wanting be better than having?

Most of you know I spent 25 years or so working on the houses of the ultra-rich ($10M net worth and up, most $50M to over $2B)

Many of my clients moved *out* of their mega-mansions b/c they were just too big.

"Walking across my bedroom to the bathroom was like walking througha bowling alley!" said one.

Many of them "scaled down" to 3500-5000 square foot houses. This gave them tons of room for everything they needed to do.

And the costs and labor-- and personal TIME-- required to maintain them was MUCH MUCH less.

Just a thought.

-Russ H.

I see your points, but I think it also depends on where you came from. I for one will always want a mansion and I'll get one. For me it's because a majority of my childhood I lived in a one bedroom house! Yeah it was small with my mother, sister, and I. So I would always dream about having a huge house to have my own space.

And for the bedroom to the bathroom problem, I'd just get a Segway.:smxF:

 

[Russ H]

Perhaps the best thing to do in those situations is to find a way to produce multiple streams of income from one's mansion(s).

Aw Shucks, Pinnacle. Ya gave me that one on a silver platter:

www.oldworldinn.com

You're right, it is a great way to have your "mansion" pay for itself.

You give up the privacy, but get a big house in the bargain.

Our current project (not the above) is a property with 4 houses on it: 2 @ 1000 ft2, one at 2800 ft2, and the last one at about 8500 ft2 plus a 1500 ft2 wine cellar/basement area.

Makes for a nice "compound".

A friend of ours is one of the 18 kids from the real-world family that "Yours, Mine, and Ours" was based on.

They specifically bought a B&B so they could have the whole family over for the holidays.

Pretty cool. :coolgleamA:

-Russ H.

 

[yveskleinsky]

I suppose it's whatever floats your boat. A super big house doesn't do it for me, neither do super fast cars...although I've never been in a super fast car, so maybe I'm missing out and don't even know it! Now, planes, parasailing and boats- I'm there!

My dream house would have an outdoor courtyard, large windows, an indoor/outdoor pool with swim up bar, outdoor kitchen with firepit, open floor plan and that's about it. Oh- and a guest house/pool changing room. Okay and maybe it would be on a lake and have a huge dock- and ideally the lake would be stocked with good fish and cool people and I could grill out year round. Anything else would just be gravy- which is fine because I also like gravy.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[nomadjanet]

We moved out of the "big" house and into the little house at the ranch. We went from a 3500sq ft house with a 1500 sq ft detached pool house and a diving pool on 2 acres to a 1500 sq ft house on 120acres. Less house to clean, yard is a big wild brushy thing, lots of privacy, big bar b que area & my husbands 2800 sq ft car barn for his cars. So the cars have more room than we do & I'm OK with that. I don't need a house keeper so much anymore since we don't have 4 &1/2 baths and two kitchens to keep up. I think the B&B thing sounds good until I think about my husbands micro managing nature and then I think, nahh just live the simple life. Besides we used to worry about traveling & leaving things, we don't anymore we just get up & go.

Janet

 

[Bilgefisher]

Less house to clean, yard is a big wild brushy thing, lots of privacy, big bar b que area & my husbands 2800 sq ft car barn for his cars. So the cars have more room than we do & I'm OK with that.

Janet

Any chance I could talk you into putting up some pictures of those classics he restores. I love classic cars.

 

[Russ H]

Anything else would just be gravy- which is fine because I also like gravy.

Ah, yves, ya crack me up.

-Russ H.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Redshft]

Russ,
And going back to what MJ says about the journey being the best part, not the part where you get your goal. I think it's the dream that keeps everyone doing what their doing. It's most exciting when we can't/don't have something, and are trying hard to get it just because it's what we set our minds to, but by the time we finally reach the goal our goal may have changed anyways. We just really wanted to accomplish what we set out to do.

If that is the case then y'all can write over all your assets to me and make a deposit to my bank account and you can start over again. Time for some more excitement right?? :jiggy:

 

[WheelsRCool]

Wanting a mansion for me has absolutely nothing at all to do with status. It has everything to do simply with my wants. If I move into one and find it too big, no problem, I'll sell it and move into a smaller one. Same with sports cars. I could care less what people think of the car, I just want them for my pesonal enjoyment.

Regarding the cost, time, and maintenance of the big home, I have read about that Russ, I guess I would have to experience it first-hand to see if I like or don't like it. Some people live in the big homes and love them, others don't, so it depends I guess.

For example, in that book "Richistan" I mentioned in another post, the one guy talks about how in his home (mansion) they saw a mouse in the kitchen. To get rid of it, I think the chef told the house manager, the house manager called the exterminators, the exterminators came out and killed in, then the waste management came out and took it away (maybe that's too much, but it was complex like that).

He said it's strange that all that happened, when in a smaller home he'd have just killed the mouse himself and threw it out.

He also mentioned about how he gets e-mails, like, "Please approve $5K funding for so-and-so maintenance," etc...now Tim Blixseth, a billionaire I read about, he lives in like a 30,000 square-foot home on a huge estate that is like a fantasy-land the book says, with lamps lining the roads that are antique from France or something, the whole thing has emerald green grass, thousands of colorful flowers, etc...plus about twelve guest cottages, plus an enormous custom golf course thath as been described by golf course designers as one of the best in the world I think.

He said one guy who was over playing golf once with him was so in love with the place that the guy was willing to write a $200 million check to buy the whole estate on the spot! (Blixseth declined).

So this guy I imagine very much likes his big home.

For me, the home I've seen that closest matches my dream home design was when I saw Master P's home on "Cribs," with the solid gold plating in the bathroom, imported gold chandeliers, solid gold this and that, the swimming pool solid marble, basketball and tennis courts, etc...the whole place was 40,000 square feet, $20 million.

I am the type of person who loves grandeur though, so...now Donald Trump, he turned his 50K-something square-foot home into some type of club, now me on the other hand, my home would be MINE, no club or anything

Regarding a destination club, I'm not sure what that is, but I know one of the ways that Tim Blixseth (according to the book) got started on the road to Billionaireville was after he sold his stake in a timber company for $20 million (this after he'd been a real estate tycoon who then lost everything and had to start over again!), he got the idea to start a ski and golf club I think it was on some mountain area he'd purchased, with homes for the people staying there, and no one would have to wait for the ski lift or anything, etc...and make it exclusive, strictly for rich folk, and he'd charge enormous prices for it as well. Everyone told him he was nuts to think that would be successful, well it was tremendously successful, Bill Gates is a member, the Newscorp CEO is a member, etc...very exclusive. He has since gone on to start building resorts throughout other portions of the world as well, he has like some type of special vacation set up where you can travel to Europe and stay in a castle (that Blixseth owns and restored) for a few days, then tour the Meditarranean in a yacht, then do something else, etc...so now he's worth about $1 billion. He HAD gotten to about $2 billion (he said once you make the first billion, getting the next is a lot quicker), but then he and his wife split, so now he's back to $1 billion

 

[michael515]

I'm just the opposite. I'm all about small houses.

• Less of a stress on the earth
• Less to clean
• We are all in the same room 95% of the time anyway
• More money to make the home beautiful and well crafted
• More money for Investments
• Did I mention less to clean?

For me, it is bye bye McMansion - Hello quality of life.

:iagree:

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[randallg99]

I am a firm believer in keeping costs low and living below my means.... Splurging on a mansion at this juncture prevents me from buying a shore home and a florida home. I am also looking for the biggest bang for my dollar. I would sure like to have an indoor basketball court, but I don't think I want to spend 250k just to have one in my house when I can go right down the block and shoot hoops at the high school... the same goes for a 20 burner stove in my kitchen. My wife is a great cook with the 4 burners... and my grandmother fed her family using fire for cooking.

Priorities are required- A large property can be a nice reward for a lot of hard work, so I won't discourage anyone from wanting to get a mansion, but I will repeat the obvious: Smaller homes = smaller bills and less headaches.

A 2000 sq ft home is suffice for 3 of us... but with another kid on the way, we are looking for homes in the 3-4k sq ft vicinity. Main concern is that the sale prices are still running approx $200-300 per foot in the areas we like. As a result, we will move across the river into Pennsylvania and save money on the home as well as income taxes (and most likely RE taxes, too)

Mansions in our area are getting significant premiums - but they are increasing their presence on the market now in the $2-4 million range - and they're asking about $400-600per foot depending on land size and ammenities. Most expensive one is on the market now for $12 mil... if memory serves correctly, it's "only" 7k ft, but it's a gentleman's farm and has 10+/- acres in prime area.

 

[BEAR]

I don't own a mansion but I do spend a lot of time around some very impressive homes in my business.
I find them very inspirational, and enjoy the small conversations with the owners (both millionaires and billionaires).
I found this one on google, and it is my current background.

The World Islands in Dubai.

 

[Russ H]

Mouse down the page for the video:

http://realestate.theemiratesnetwork.com/developments/dubai/world_islands.php

Quite a development.

-Russ H.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[John]

I can't imagine what I'd do with a 20,000 sf mansion!

We're currently building our "dream home." We did a lot of thinking and soul searching as we planned it out. What we settled on is a 4500 sf house on 25 acres of land. The upstairs will serve as an office area for our business. We decided we really didn't want anything bigger house-wise. This is probably the house we'll spend the rest of our lives in. I can't see us ever adding on to the house, but we may eventually buy up more of the surrounding land.