Mansionmania is near culmination with our final four contestants, as shown in the enclosed map.
You will choose among each pair of houses with the following assumptions:
The purchase price for you is $0.
All maintenance, utilities, property taxes, HOA fees, 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.
I feel like this may just be the run-off to see who gets to get steamrolled by Hawaii (even if Hawaii barely broke my top 10 for this thing - I just would not want to live there for the rest of my life...) [Reply]
Throw out locations, property size and everything else, that Aspen home is probably my favorite house in the tournament. I love the open design. It looks clean but not sterile. It's elegant with tons of windows for natural lighting. I just love the look and feel.
That said, I don't believe I've voted for it a single time in the tourney. The remote location and the cold/snow would just be dealbreakers for me.
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
I feel like this may just be the run-off to see who gets to get steamrolled by Hawaii (even if Hawaii barely broke my top 10 for this thing - I just would not want to live there for the rest of my life...)
Which is funny, because that Hawaii house is remote and isolated from just about everything. That area has few really good restaurants, and shitty roads to try and get anywhere. The redneck ratio is reminiscent of the Ozark backwoods. The big island has a few good beaches, but for the most part it isn't a great beach island as it is too "new" of an island that is actually still in the process of growing.
I mean, it's a nice place to live. I have a college buddy who lives not far from there. Just not somewhere I'd want to live year round. [Reply]
Originally Posted by ThaVirus:
Throw out locations, property size and everything else, that Aspen home is probably my favorite house in the tournament. I love the open design. It looks clean but not sterile. It's elegant with tons of windows for natural lighting. I just love the look and feel.
That said, I don't believe I've voted for it a single time in the tourney. The remote location and the cold/snow would just be dealbreakers for me.
Maryland it is.
I think me too. That house is to die for.
That's the thing some of the cruddiest locations had fantastic houses. Everybody hates Alabama, but that was a fantastic house by my taste. Probably the best kitchen in the whole outfit was the Missouri house. [Reply]
Went with Maryland based on house and property. I actually ingnored the stipend throughout the tournament, for the most part. (Sorry Rain Man.) The only time I factored it in was if I felt major renovations were necessary for my personal tastes. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Buehler445:
I think me too. That house is to die for.
That's the thing some of the cruddiest locations had fantastic houses. Everybody hates Alabama, but that was a fantastic house by my taste. Probably the best kitchen in the whole outfit was the Missouri house.
That's an interesting point that I hadn't thought about. One can argue that the most expensive houses in any state are probably going to be the most amazing houses in less than ideal locations, or less amazing houses in fantastic locations. Of course, that's all relative because all of these houses are going to be nice.
From a mathematical perspective, one would expect the most expensive houses to be amazing houses in amazing places, but maybe if you're building in those amazing places you don't have to have an amazing house.
Or alternatively, on a statewide basis you have a lot of states that by definition don't have the truly amazing places. They'll have lower prices, and therefore it's easier to build an amazing house.
When the tournament ends, I'll ask people to pick their most amazing house without regards to anything else, and ask them what their top pick would be under the current rules. [Reply]
CO for me. House is significantly more appealing to my tastes, and I'm a big snowboarder. If I can't live at the beach, give me the mountains, all day.
Hoping for a CO vs Tahoe final, but have a feeling both those houses might lose in the semis. [Reply]
This one was tough.... had I looked at the other two, I might have voted Maryland as it's the only one left near major metro areas. Colorado (and Hawaii) are two that have enough outdoorsy stuff that more than makes up for it though. [Reply]
