Mansionmania continues. I'm going to show you the most expensive homes in every state and a few territories, with a few extras thrown in from the largest states to get the tourney up to 64. It'll be a single-elimination tournament.
You will choose among each pair of houses with the following assumptions:
The purchase price for you is $0.
All maintenance, utilities, property taxes, and cleaning is included.
You must live in the home for the rest of your life.
You can't travel more than 100 miles from home (via google maps drive time) other than 1 two-week vacation each year.
You get $250,000 per year as a living allowance
You get an additional living allowance at the cheaper home, which will be valued at 1% of any cost difference annually. I will note this amount in the poll.
You get the furnishings. If unfurnished, you get an allowance that will give you mid-grade furniture in every room.
You get any vehicles in the garage. But only the garage - nothing parked outside.
I encourage you to click on the maps in the listings to see the general location and neighborhood.
Also, I will only enter contestants if they have a sufficient number of photos to judge, as determined by me.
Admin note: in both cases there was one home listed that was more expensive, but in both cases it appeared that they were multiple-home estates with no single home above 5,000 square feet.
In the case of Hawaii, this second choice is also a multi-home estate, but it's big enough that I think the primary home is probably 5,000 square feet. It was a judgment call, but I think few of us will argue that it doesn't deserve entry into the tournament. [Reply]
That Tennessee home is actually quite nice. I like the stone/brick motif, it's got a cute little pool, located near a major metro area, the mountains in rural Tennessee are actually pretty gorgeous, and it's got a decent little plot of land.
But the other house is in Hawaii.. I mean, come on.. lol [Reply]
Tennessee - darn nice house. It's huge at 20,000 square feet, and has easy access to Nashville. It's got six acres, and it's adjacent to some huge park with trails. On the downside, it's a little more castle-looking than I'd prefer, and it's got the feel of a house that was built in 1999 and is trying to look older, which I can generally spot and don't like. But all in all, it's a nice house and Nashville's not a bad place to be near.
However...
Hawaii - Oh, come on. That's just not fair. The design of the house is great and the views are amazing. It's four separate houses, but they're all tucked in together so you can use different houses for different things. The only downsides that I see are that it's not walkable to stuff, and maybe it'll get destroyed in a volcanic explosion sometime in the next 100,000 years. And in fairness, I might get a little bored without having seasons. But come on. Look at that view. [Reply]
The Tennessee house doesn’t even have a dungeon. And the Hawaii house is probably not the best or close to the best on the islands due to the separate units probably raising the price but it does win this heat. [Reply]
I recognize how badly TN is going to get stomped here.
But forever. Remember that.
I mean think about some fairly benign stuff. For instance, the beef in Hawaii sucks. Screw being expensive because your stipend is probably fine, but even $250K/yr in living expenses is gonna dry up faster than you realize out there.
First blush is 'yeah, it's Hawaii - duh'. But I dunno man, no seasons and I just don't love the tropics after a bit. I need my cool, crisp autumn and spring mornings. Forever is just such a long time and I can't see living out there for the rest of my life.
I've known two people that lived in Hawaii, one made it 5 years, the other 3. Now they didn't live on a cliff overlooking the ocean with a $250K/yr annual stipend, but still - they got tired of it. I feel like I get it.
Meanwhile that TN house is awesome. It's right down the street from Nashville which may be my favorite place to go visit (I think I'd borrow Virus's approach and maintain an apartment there somewhere).
I know I'm going to get steamrolled but I'm going Tennessee. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
I recognize how badly TN is going to get stomped here.
But forever. Remember that.
I mean think about some fairly benign stuff. For instance, the beef in Hawaii sucks. Screw being expensive because your stipend is probably fine, but even $250K/yr in living expenses is gonna dry up faster than you realize out there.
First blush is 'yeah, it's Hawaii - duh'. But I dunno man, no seasons and I just don't love the tropics after a bit. I need my cool, crisp autumn and spring mornings. Forever is just such a long time and I can't see living out there for the rest of my life.
I've known two people that lived in Hawaii, one made it 5 years, the other 3. Now they didn't live on a cliff overlooking the ocean with a $250K/yr annual stipend, but still - they got tired of it. I feel like I get it.
Meanwhile that TN house is awesome. It's right down the street from Nashville which may be my favorite place to go visit (I think I'd borrow Virus's approach and maintain an apartment there somewhere).
I know I'm going to get steamrolled but I'm going Tennessee.
These are very valid points. It's easy to pick Hawaii because it's got a wow factor, but it's beatable. The Tennessee house has a lot of the right tools to beat it. The only thing that I can't abide by in the Tennessee house is that "new trying to look old" vibe.
But I think Hawaii is beatable for the reasons you mention. [Reply]
This is a tough draw for the Tennessee house as it’s definitely better than first round exit, but it’s too odd with the castle design to go far anyways. And I agree it looks like it’s trying to be old and that doesn’t usually work. [Reply]