Most Expensive Homes in Your Neighborhood

[Countess Anya of the North Parish]

three million.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I live in Encino, CA. A quick look at Realtor.com shows this little beauty for sale at the bargain (no, really, it's a bargain! the price was just reduced!) at $5,995,000.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/4875-Louise-Ave_Encino_CA_91316_M10507-01406

[Torie]

I live in Encino, CA. A quick look at Realtor.com shows this little beauty for sale at the bargain (no, really, it's a bargain! the price was just reduced!) at $5,995,000.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/4875-Louise-Ave_Encino_CA_91316_M10507-01406

I know that house (I grew up in Encino for a part of my youth). It is indeed one of the most distinguished in the hood - and tasteful, unlike some of the horrific nouveau stuff that has spoliated the landscape since.

[Torie]

Assuming the hood means Laguna Niguel - so many candidates behind the gates are competitors.

We have these grotesque hideousnesses:



These packed puppies have awesome views:



But not as awesome of the forever views of the coast staring down the beach from the hill all the way to Dana Pointe and beyond, of these even more tightly packed packages, one of which a friend of mine lives in, with an interior after he dumped about a million into it, that runs laps around the exterior (his is worth about 5-6 million maybe):



And then there are these elongated weirdies, also sporting a sweep of the blue mer below from the top of the hill:



But my favorite, beyond what is the most expensive (and this one might be), is this double lot job, looking down a steep canyon to the ocean below. The smaller building is the garage, with a chauffeur's quarters above:



I once saw the owner of this pad through the window, exquisitely dressed, and well preserved (facelifts?), playing the grand piano in her manse - a vision straight from a movie scene, maybe portending something ominous to come, ala a Hitchcock movie.

But come to think of it, the house that gets the gold may well be below. I mean, yes, the views are limited, but they do have square feet, affording the soothing option, that if you have to live with rug rats under the same roof, at least one can do so without having to interact with them very often - or something:



And then we have my little shack. No, it is not a candidate! 

[rejectamenta]

$699,900



Not strictly my neighborhood, but same area code. Rowan University owns it and they've been trying to pawn it off for a year, but it's a bit too highfalutin for Woodbury. Buy now and you're a mile's walk from Walmart, and right across the street from an abandoned, graffiti-adorned country club.

[Platypus]

Probably the Penthouses of the HMAS Lonsdale Towers.

[LastVoter]

And then we have my little shack. No, it is not a candidate! 

Really Torie? A 3 car garage is what we get greeted with? I thought you had better taste than an average tea partier. As a sidenote, does your shack have 12 foot ceilings too in addition to the 3-car garage? That reminds me of a certain rap song.

[Torie]

And then we have my little shack. No, it is not a candidate!  

Really Torie? A 3 car garage is what we get greeted with? I thought you had better taste than an average tea partier. As a sidenote, does your shack have 12 foot ceilings too in addition to the 3-car garage? That reminds me of a certain rap song.

Ah yes, the cruel architectural constraints of postage stamp sized lots. And yes, the living room dining room has vaulted ceilings, that actually go up close to 2 stories. I quite dislike that feature. The house has its redeeming features however, with a great back yard (landscaped by me) and view.  I have enjoyed living in it the past almost 25 years, albeit I would prefer living back in gay Silverlake, and plan to soon, when the tenant chooses to leave the house that I bought and fixed up for that purpose. Adorable, isn't it? I like its informality. 

[LastVoter]

And then we have my little shack. No, it is not a candidate!  

Really Torie? A 3 car garage is what we get greeted with? I thought you had better taste than an average tea partier. As a sidenote, does your shack have 12 foot ceilings too in addition to the 3-car garage? That reminds me of a certain rap song.

Ah yes, the cruel architectural constraints of postage stamp sized lots. And yes, the living room dining room has vaulted ceilings, that actually go up close to 2 stories. I quite dislike that feature. The house has its redeeming features however, with a great back yard (landscaped by me) and view.  I have enjoyed living in it the past almost 25 years, albeit I would prefer living back in gay Silverlake, and plan to soon, when the tenant chooses to leave the house that I bought and fixed up for that purpose. Adorable, isn't it? I like its informality. 

That second house looks much nicer.

[Simfan34]

There's this mansion in my town, whose estate was most regrettably carved up to form my subdivision, that was listed for $25 million, but only managed $8.8 million. Probably because it has a whopping 7 acres.

34/street_zpsa37c3675.png[/img]

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/5-ridley-street-turner-canberra/1316825827811

In my suburb, $1.3 million

http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/34-quandong-street-oconnor-canberra/1316837740211

Neighbouring area, $1.5 million

[opebo]

There's this mansion in my town, whose estate was most regrettably carved up to form my subdivision, that was listed for $25 million, but only managed $8.8 million. Probably because it has a whopping 7 acres.

34/street_zpsa37c3675.png[/img]

Looks a bit like a high school.

[Lief 🗽]

This thread reminds me of the 2012 documentary film "Queen of Versailles." You should all watch it.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

I'm a poor compared to you guys, so it wouldn't be much to show.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

There's this mansion in my town, whose estate was most regrettably carved up to form my subdivision, that was listed for $25 million, but only managed $8.8 million. Probably because it has a whopping 7 acres.

34/street_zpsa37c3675.png[/img]

Looks a bit like a high school.

Well it's fugly, regardless of what it looks like.

[memphis]

I'm only looking at home for sale in my zip because it's easier than trying to appraise all home. Anyhow, $3.5 Million buys a lot of house in Memphis, even in this snooty part of town. County tax appraisor has this property at 5 beds/10 baths, and acre and a half of land, over 12,000 square feet. I suppose when you have a house that large, you need as many bath as possible. When you have to go, you have to go.



Fred Smith, dude who founded FedEx, lives just a few blocks from the above house, and the county pegs his property at $4M, but much of that is land as he lives on nearly 12 acres. Ditto for Pitt Hyde, founder of Auto Zone. Also just about a five minute walk for above. $4M and 6 acres.

Just within a quick walk of me and the rest of the peasants, here is the house for sale at the highest asking price, $450k

When I was a child, this entire subdivision was one large property with several horses. When the old man who owned it died in the late 1990s, his children wasted no time in cashing in and up went a few dozen large but not extravagent houses very close together,

[Simfan34]

There's this mansion in my town, whose estate was most regrettably carved up to form my subdivision, that was listed for $25 million, but only managed $8.8 million. Probably because it has a whopping 7 acres.

34/street_zpsa37c3675.png[/img]

Looks a bit like a high school.

Well it's fugly, regardless of what it looks like.

Philistine.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

There's this mansion in my town, whose estate was most regrettably carved up to form my subdivision, that was listed for $25 million, but only managed $8.8 million. Probably because it has a whopping 7 acres.

34/street_zpsa37c3675.png[/img]

Looks a bit like a high school.

Well it's fugly, regardless of what it looks like.

Philistine.

No, someone with taste, who doesn't confuse size and embellishment with quality.

[memphis]

Taste is subjective, of course. I find any very large home extremely tacky. Ditto for anybody who drives a Hummer or wears extremely expensive clothes. What are these people trying to prove? I'm no psychiatrist, but I suspect they are deficient in serotonin and trying to overcompensate. And I don't think that's a good plan because having too much stuff to worry about is restrictive to one's choices and well being. With just a small or medium sized place to hang one's hat, a man (or woman) is so much freer to pursue life outside of a sad culture of obsessive acquisition. But whatevs. We're all different and we're all free to pursue happiness in our legal ways.

[Holmes]

I'm a poor compared to you guys, so it wouldn't be much to show.

Yup. In my hometown, the most expensive houses in my neighbourhood are probably 250k-300k. Even at school in Toronto, I kind of live in a slummy place, so the houses wouldn't be too expensive for the big city.

Is that a TV in the bathroom? Hahaha. Rich people.

[opebo]

Is that a TV in the bathroom? Hahaha. Rich people.

Not only for the rich - just stick it in there:

[Simfan34]

There's this mansion in my town, whose estate was most regrettably carved up to form my subdivision, that was listed for $25 million, but only managed $8.8 million. Probably because it has a whopping 7 acres.

34/street_zpsa37c3675.png[/img]

Looks a bit like a high school.

Well it's fugly, regardless of what it looks like.

Philistine.

No, someone with taste, who doesn't confuse size and embellishment with quality.

Obviously this is not true. Well, apparently, I have been called to defend the honour of my local big old house!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 
 

 

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Over the top... if it were a 16th Century manor house, that'd be fine. But it's an affectation and phony. In fact, it's not even neo-Gothic, it's people with money who thought that had to have all that frou-frou around them.

I respect that SOME like it, I just don't.

[memphis]

And as others have pointed out, it looks so much like an early 20th century high school. Central High School in Memphis. Oldest public high school in town. My dad was class of 1965. They recently celebrated their 100th anniversary. Still a pretty good school by Memphis standards. Not so much by the standards of where you guys live.

[Simfan34]

It's Jacobean! Don't even dare going about making criticisms if you don't know architectural history!

God, modernists are the worst. Modernism is really just terrible to begin with, and it's not surprising that its devotees aren't any better.