# Money, Money, Money.



## Michael. (Aug 10, 2013)

*Doing the rounds again*


A luxurious mansion finally been sold for £35million.

(I often drive past the entrance to this property)


Updown Court, in Surrey, was once expected to fetch £75million, but its price was repeatedly knocked down as it failed to find a buyer.

The house was taken over by the Irish government when owner Leslie Allen-Vercoe defaulted on the debt he had taken on to finance the property.

The mansion was redeveloped in 2002 

*Updown Court first came on the market in 2005 for more than £70 million and became the most expensive private residence ever in the UK. *

The developers failed to find a buyer but claim they had interest from one British, one Russian and one Far East buyer.

The property sits within 58 acres of landscaped grounds, formal gardens & woodland and offers several ponds with fountains, 
a heated marble driveway, helipad, a lake, tennis court, security lodge & two guest homes. 

The home itself is 52,000 square feet and features over 103 rooms including a bowling alley, two indoor & three outdoor swimming pools, 
panic room, an underground squash court, 50 seat cinema, underground garage for at least 8 limos and 22 bedrooms. 

It was finally sold at the end of 2011


http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=GFw_qB1dMXc

.


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## Ozarkgal (Aug 10, 2013)

Check this one out. A Russian mogul bought Donald Trump's Palm Beach, Florida mansion for $95M and now wants to tear it down, claiming it is mold ridden. He bought the property in 2008 and had only been there once or twice. His plans for the property after demolishing the mansion is to develop the 6.26 acre beachfront property into lots. 

 Trump purchased the property from disgraced nursing home tycoon Abe Gosman in 2004 for 41.4 M and did extensive renovations to it. Apparently there's great money in owning nursing homes!

Check out the story here with some good pictures and video of the property.
http://gossipextra.com/2013/05/30/donald-trump-palm-beach-house-russian-rybolovlev-2629/


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## Michael. (Aug 10, 2013)

That is one amazing house.

I guess it puts my upload in the shade but the climate and location are everything nowadays.


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## Diwundrin (Aug 10, 2013)

I thought I'd won a lottery when the opportunity to check out a multi-million$$$ Sydney Harbour waterfront 'mansion'  was presented.
The girlfriend of a friend's son was the housekeeper there, and the owners were overseas, and she was permitted to entertain there in their absence so... off we went to have a look. Bwaaahahaha.

It was 5 levels high, built against a cliff.  I'd seen it many times from the Manly Ferry and it looked the goods, but also looked deceptively large, as it was only one room deep on all the levels!

The garage was on top,  at street level, reached down a narrow alley between other houses, and had a turntable as there was no room to turn a car and reversing out would have needed a stunt driver.  The garage had a huge plate glass window with the finest view of Sydney Harbour imaginable, from the Bridge to North head. Gobsmacking!  Hope the cars enjoyed it.

Next level down consisted of her, 'housekeepers' quarters.  1bedroom, ensuite, sitting room, kitchen, kind of a reasonably sized motel unit really.  It opened onto a huge terrace, which formed the roof of the house below,   with 180 degree views of Sydney Hbr.  And she was paid to stay there??  Wow.

Under that were the 3 family living quarters levels.  What a disappointment.  Because it was built against the contours of the cliff the area became smaller the further down it went.  Big living, dining, entertaining area with views for impressing visitors under the terrace, kitchen tucked in the back against the rocks.

Next down, 3 bedrooms off a narrow hallway.  One big main with double bathroom and 2 normal sized for the kids with a tiny bathroom.  Views again of course but more restricted the lower you went.

Bottom level,  long narrow rumpus / junk room opening to the small  yard with small swimming pool and tiny boat mooring pontoon.  But it did have 2 scraggy palm trees for that 'resort' look. 



The overall impression of the interior of that house was  cramped and tacky.   The owner was a 'multi,'  a well known restrauteur but his tastes in food were better than in furniture.  Most of it looked to have come from Ikea.  There was a glass 'bridge' over a fishpond on the lower level but the pond was devoid all life above algae level.  The 'marble' in the bathrooms was resin fake.  All in all, if that house had been laid out at ground level it would have been no better than any found in a far cheaper outer suburb.  Minus the views of course.

I couldn't imagine paying $15-20 mill for it. I could get the view for free from the park down the road and a far better house for 300 grand back then.

'All that glisters is not gold' and after that disappointing example of 'ritzy' I can well believe that Trump's palace is moldy.


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## SifuPhil (Aug 11, 2013)

So many of these so-called high-end homes are just dead fish wrapped in mink. Mike Tyson had *a palatial set-up* in Ohio which he lost in the late '90's before he declared bankruptcy in 2004. The home was bought by a gentleman who was subsequently arrested for drug dealing, and the house fell into disrepair for several years. It is now privately owned by another party and supposedly has been brought back up to snuff, but the amount of money that was exchanged - several times over - for this testament to excess and bad taste is simply amazing.



Like George Carlin said, a house is just a place to keep your stuff.


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## Ozarkgal (Aug 11, 2013)

Phil: 





> So many of these so-called high-end homes are just dead fish wrapped in mink.



Yikes...that hurts my eyes...all that money and no class to back it up.


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## That Guy (Aug 11, 2013)

Ozarkgal said:


> Phil:
> 
> Yikes...that hurts my eyes...all that money and no class to back it up.



Ain't dat da trut.  Ya can't buy class.  In fact, ya can't even rent it...


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## Anne (Aug 11, 2013)

Wow.  Those are some awesome places, but that last one is really tacky.   I'd like a little adobe house, or one of those hobbit houses you see online.


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## JustBonee (Aug 11, 2013)

SifuPhil said:


> So many of these so-called high-end homes are just dead fish wrapped in mink. Mike Tyson had *a palatial set-up* in Ohio which he lost in the late '90's before he declared bankruptcy in 2004. The home was bought by a gentleman who was subsequently arrested for drug dealing, and the house fell into disrepair for several years. It is now privately owned by another party and supposedly has been brought back up to snuff, but the amount of money that was exchanged - several times over - for this testament to excess and bad taste is simply amazing.



In Bloomfield, yes, I have been past it a time or two to gawk when Tyson still owned it .. never saw it up close.  His buddy, promotor, Don King, the crime boss, murderer, originally from Cleveland,  suggested the far out location,  and then helped do him in.  A lot of talk around about the whole deal back then.  ...very strange stuff for the quiet countryside. 
And speaking of strange, forgot to mention the Lion Head statues in front of the property, ala Las Vegas style.


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## TICA (Aug 22, 2013)

All I can think of when I see these mansions is how much more there is to clean.  No Thanks!!


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## That Guy (Aug 22, 2013)




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## SifuPhil (Aug 22, 2013)

Boo's Mom said:


> In Bloomfield, yes, I have been past it a time or two to gawk when Tyson still owned it .. never saw it up close.  His buddy, promotor, Don King, the crime boss, murderer, originally from Cleveland,  suggested the far out location,  and then helped do him in.  A lot of talk around about the whole deal back then.  ...very strange stuff for the quiet countryside.
> And speaking of strange, forgot to mention the Lion Head statues in front of the property, ala Las Vegas style.



Not being a sports fan I never knew of the existence of this place until I came across that website. There was another set of photos I ran across (but have since lost the link) that were taken by some "urban explorers" of the house when it was at its saddest, and they were terrifying: the pool was filled with stagnant water, everything was either graffiti-covered or broken, bushes and small trees growing inside ...


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## Pappy (Aug 22, 2013)

There is a program where this guy builds luxury tree houses. Some of them are absolutely beautiful. Maybe I could get one of these, when my ship comes in. It would be a good place to practice my Kookaboora calls.


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## Pappy (Aug 22, 2013)

Kookaburra....:doh:


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## Anne (Aug 22, 2013)

TWHRider said:


> Is it still ok to say "RIGHT ON SISTA!!"  :thumbsup::thumbsup:  even if the "given" is that one would have enough moohlah to hire all the cleaning, they probably wouldn't do it right.



I'm with ya, but if we had a mansion, we could sell it, and use the $$ to buy just what we wanted!!!!  :happy:


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## SifuPhil (Aug 23, 2013)

Anne said:


> I'm with ya, but if we had a mansion, we could sell it, and use the $$ to buy just what we wanted!!!!  :happy:



... a couple trailer parks, YEAH! NOW you're talkin'!

I'd drive up to my new parks in this, just to show my good taste - 



... and then the purgings would begin. Not by my OWN hand, of course - hired help.


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## That Guy (Aug 23, 2013)

Pappy said:


> There is a program where this guy builds luxury tree houses. Some of them are absolutely beautiful. Maybe I could get one of these, when my ship comes in. It would be a good place to practice my Kookaboora calls.



First, you need to find a luxury tree.


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## Pappy (Aug 23, 2013)

That Guy......this will do nicely.


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## Diwundrin (Aug 23, 2013)

That ranks up there with the silliest things I've seen.


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## That Guy (Aug 24, 2013)

House is nice, Pappy, but the tree is not luxury...


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