$301 Million Parisian Mansion Snapped Up; No Buyer For $1 House

Has the world gone mad? Looking at the title, you may agree that it may very well have, but let’s take a closer look into it before we go jumping to conclusions. 😉

The World’s Most Expensive Home

Looks like it came straight out of a Jane Austen novel

Earlier this week, reports emerged about a mansion outside Paris that sold for a reord price of over 275 million euros ($301 million or approximately RM1.28 billion). The villa, Chateau Louis XIV, is set in a 56-acre park between Versailles and Marly-le-Roi and took three years to construct.

“With elegantly planted parterres, a gleaming gold-leafed fountain, an infinite array of flowers, marble statues, bridle paths and a hedged labyrinth, the property’s park and gardens evoke the genius of Le Notre, ” Cogemad said on its website, referring to the gardener of King Louis XIV of France.

Indeed, the mansion – which was completed in 2011 and built in the style of a 17^th century chateau – boasts architecture, furnishings and trimmings that will transport the occupant into aristocratic French opulence. According to the Telegraph, the chateau houses 10 bedroom suites, a grand reception room with a 52ft-high frescoed dome ceiling, a library and a “meditation room” within an aquarium filled with huge sturgeon. Meanwhile, the Daily Mail revealed that the vast mansion boasts of a lavish ballroom, underground nightclub, a cavernous wine cellar with space for 3,000 wine bottles, a squash court and a home cinema.

Of course, such a grand piece of property must have security that befits its status. Chateau Louis XIV is also heavily guarded with 40 state-of-the-art surveillance cameras which can be viewed from around the world from an iPad, as well as a hi-tech alarm system.

The buyer is from the Middle East, who requested to remain anonymous because the sale is private. Christie’s International Real Estate was involved in brokering the deal, but have declined to comment, along with Cogemad, the company which developed the building.

Check out this video to catch a glimpse into how the mansion was made and its glitzy interiors.

The previous record for most expensive home was in 2011, when a penthouse in London sold for about $221 million.

No Buyer For NZ$1 Auckland House

This brick house is yours for only $1… with a catch

Despite having a booming property market that sees modest homes in Auckland selling for millions, Iliyas Adam is have trouble selling his house for NZ$1.

More than a month after listing his house in Auckland’s Mt Roskill for $1, Adam said he was still looking for a buyer to take it off his hands. The three-bedroom brick and tile house has a rateable value of $155,000 and has all the trimmings including native timber, brick cladding, kitchen, bathroom, hot water tank and stove. However, savvy investors will know that a brick house is best left unmoved or just simply demolished.

The owner said it would be a shame to demolish the house if it could be used by someone else, but would call in the demolition crews if it was still unsold by mid-January.

The catch? Whoever buys the house needs to remove it from the site. Yes, $1 is for the house itself, and does not include the land on which it sits.

Interestingly enough, this man isn’t the only one bold enough to ask $1 for their his asset. Last year, a couple from Christchurch listed their uninsured, red-zone home for $1 and it sold for $10,500 a fortnight later. Likewise, a seller from Gisborne (a city in northeastern New Zealand) put up his 1082 sqm lot – valued at $120,000 – for sale for $1. Similar cases have been reported in West Auckland and North Shore.

Nevertheless, property experts say that putting a $1 reserve on a house is a very risky move, and is mostly done for publicity. The theory is, the more people that turn up to the auction, the more money you can potentially get from bidders.

Think $1 homes are only a trend down South? These $1 homes in the US beg to differ. Of course, there’s the fine print that you need to look out for…

Source
Domain.au (link)
Bloomberg (link)
Malaysia Chronicle (link)