A Closer Inspection of Mega Mansions

Historic Hearst Mansion Put On Market For $165 Million

This day and age big isn’t good enough for the wealthy. Celebrities, athletes, executives, and entrepreneurs aren’t satisfied with your typical mansion anymore. They want bigger and just like that we have the latest real estate trend for the uber-rich: mega mansions.

A mega mansion takes the typical mansion, otherwise known as a large dwelling house, and super-sizes it. What exactly are we talking about? We’re talking about at least 15,000 square feet of real estate to start. Then you can add on spas, courts (tennis, basketball, motor), exquisite pools, wine cellars, home gyms, elevators, gourmet kitchens, theaters and more. In other words, you essentially don’t ever have to leave your property to entertain yourself.

As far as price goes, were talking seven figures to start without a doubt. You can slide into a standard version of a mega mansion for $4-6 million, but then you’re walking a fine line between “mansion” and “mega”. The reality of the situation is most mega mansions start at $25 million and go into the $100 million range. Examples of celebrity mega mansions include the following: Oprah Winfrey’s $50 million, 42-acre estate, Simon Cowell’s $25 million, 14,000 square-foot estate, Will & Jada Pinkett Smith’s $45 million, 25,000 square-foot mega, and 50 Cent’s $19 million estate equipped with full gym and basketball court.

Mega mansions are a new fad for the super rich, that doesn’t mean they’re often successful. The aforementioned mega owned by 50 Cent has been on the market for a long time with very little interest for purchase. The difference between that mega and others is 50 has the resources to keep it on the market without worry. Other megas are not so fortunate as a strong percentage of them drop significantly in value after being built or often lead to bankruptcy. There are several mega mansion estates, particularly in California and Florida, that have become foreclosures. Bank of America themselves have foreclosed on several $75 – $100 million mega mansions this past year.

Overall, mega mansions will keep being built by the super wealthy because the super wealthy feel the need to go bigger and bigger and bigger. Unfortunately, about a quarter of these estates will end up owned by the bank before long.

Written by Worthly