Hawaii, plus $250,000 annual stipend 48 57.83%

Maryland, plus $350,050 annual stipend 35 42.17%

You know what? I still can't decide. 0 0%

I like being in the vicinity of DC but I just don't get the appeal of the Maryland house. It's not even in my top 5 of the houses that have been in this tournament plus it gets cold in Maryland.

Hawaii all the way.
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The vibe of the Maryland house is definitely like a mansion straight out of the 1980s.
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Fortunately I also have a 1980s vibe.

I just looked at the virtual tour. The Maryland house has its own waterside cliff and also a funicular. Check it out.

When I really stop and look at the Maryland photos, there are a lot of areas where I'd enjoy hanging out. It's got a couple of great outdoor spaces, and several comfortable looking rooms. The closer I look, the more I like it.
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:-)

I don't know which way to go here. I mean, I've said from the beginning, Hawaii is the one place I'd pick the place over the house and let's be real here, that house is awesome.

Rain makes some compelling points. And let's not forget the money.

I'm going to have to think on this, but probably Maryland.
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It's fucking asylums from the turn of the century, man. Someone here turned me onto the proper people who explore abandoned shit. They've done several asylums and they all look like these fucking provincial houses in the Northeast.













Yep. Insane Asylum Vibe.
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Damn.

Hard to turn this down.


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Pretty tough to walk away from this shit either.




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I was able. Stay strong. Vote that Hawaii house.
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Only vote Hawaii if you like very limited options.

MD is the better choice.
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I can’t believe that Maryland house made it this far. Not even in my top 10. Hawaii by infinity.
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As much as I hate snow and cold, you'd think HI would be the place for me. But there's just too many drawbacks to living in that place. First of all, there's no beach front. WTF man, if I'm going to live in a mansion in Hawaii, it better have a private beach. Second is the lack of infrastructure. Friends that have lived there tell me that everything is expensive because it has to come from the mainland. That's most of your food, all of your fuel, building supplies, and other goods. Living on the big island would be even worse since almost everything is routed through O'ahu. I keep hearing my friend Leroy telling me that an island is not the place to live forever.
The Maryland house will have snow and cold, but there's an indoor pool and a well stocked wine cellar to keep me warm. That house was built in 1922, but I'd wager all the plumbing and electrical has been updated. There's some pretty snazzy cars in the garage I'd be able to drive to some civilized place. Then there's the boats -- 2 of them. On top of that, there's a covered cooking area that would be great for summer. Sure enough I'd probably have to put up with some retired squid brass neighbors, but I'm used to that since I have to put up with a lot of retired ground pounder brass now. The Maryland house is a real mansion, complete with a cool name, The Friary. Such a place could surely host secret meetings with the DC power brokers, including me since I'm the host.
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The Hawaii house has a beautiful view and great weather, absolutely. But Rain Man hit on the major issue -- all of your activities will have to be self-directed. There aren't great museums or restaurants. I doubt you're getting much in the way of concerts or sporting events. I could absolutely live in that Maryland house year round and take my two weeks vacation at the Hawaii house.
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Hawaii, not even close. Maryland traffic and weather sucks.
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I believe that we, the voters, were selecting on the following criteria (not listed in order of importance)

1.) The house itself: design, style, decor, number of rooms and baths, number of animal heads affixed to the walls, indoor and outdoor pools, etc.
2.) Extras included: cars, boats, stocked wine cellars, gyms, etc.
3.) The Grounds: amount and quality of the acreage. What you can do on your land.
4.) Locale in terms of scenery: Mountains, oceans, rivers, vistas.
5.) Locale in terms of entertainment options: available dining, shopping, cultural venues, accessablility, etc.
6.) Locale in terms of perceived political climate
7.) Locale in terms of weather.
8.) The stipend: a semi-arbitrary amount of money that changes depending on the other house in the competition.


My opinion only: The stipend and the idea of profit pulls on all of us and can mute our opinions about the more 'fixed' values of house style, location, etc.

(In reality, I think I had some point to make when I started typing this out, but by the time I finished it had fluttered out of my skull)
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Neither of these were probably in my top 5. Or maybe even top 10. That being said, I'll still vote in the spirit of the tournament.

Maryland gets my vote for many of the reasons RainMan listed above. I'm not in love with the interior of the house. There were a handful of other "old estate" houses I thought were more my taste. But the size of the lot and the size of the house both help. It's proximity to amenities and other big cities is nice.

With the HI house, you're kinda just stuck. Sure, it's not a bad place to be stuck. But there isn't entertainment that comes to the island. So no sports, no concerts, etc. You're also an extremely long and often expensive trip for friends and relatives to visit. And lastly, it doesn't look like the water right off the property is something you can just dive in and swim. Looks as though it's too rocky and maybe dangerous to get in the ocean straight from your property. So yes....you have second to none views but that alone isn't enough to make me want to stay there forever.
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