Where Did I Go Wrong?

Every Friday, the Wall Street Journal has a real estate section.

Of course just calling it the real estate section is not good enough for the Journal.

This part of the paper is called “Mansion”. And if you spend a few minutes paging or browsing through the section you can see why.

Here is a sample from tomorrow’s paper (the Journal makes the next day’s paper available the night before, usually around 9:00):

De Beers Heiress Lists UFO-Style Home for a Record $11 Million

Ted Kennedy’s Former Washington, D.C., Home Asks $22 Million

Ultramodern California Home—and Popular TV Ad Spot—Asks $30 Million

Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s Onetime Malibu Home Sells for About $50 Million

and here some stories from last Friday’s paper:

‘Parent Trap’ Star Dennis Quaid Asks $6.5 Million for L.A. Home

Tinder Co-Founder Swipes Right on Hollywood Hills Home ($26.5 million)

Colorado Mountain Home Inspired by ‘Walden’ Asks $29 Million

Hockey Champ Mario Lemieux Lists Québec Castle for $22 Million

and one more, from two weeks ago, since the prices are potentially record setting:

Bel-Air Homes Duel to Become America’s Most Expensive: Celebrity plastic surgeon Raj Kanodia is asking $180 million for his Los Angeles megamansion—$8 million less than a neighboring property. Both properties are aspiring to become the most expensive home ever sold in the United States. The current record holder is a sprawling estate in the Hamptons that sold for $137 million to hedge fund manager Barry Rosenstein in 2014.

I have to admit it; it’s kind of depressing seeing these houses for sale every Friday. Several thoughts run through my head:

• how can a house be worth that much
• what’s the house like
• what do the people do who are buying (and selling) the house (typical professions include entertainers, athletes, entrepreneurs, Fortune 500 CEOs)
• what would it be like to live there, even for just a week
• where did I go wrong; I probably can’t even afford the driveway that leads to these houses

I know I should be happy with what I have, and I am. I am very fortunate to have a great family, a wonderful home in a wonderful neighborhood, a good job, and over 2,000 followers in Twitter. (Now I’m depressed again, Katy Perry has 106 million).

But I think many of us occasionally wonder what it must be like to be part of the 0.01%, those making more than $7.5 million per year. Or to be a billionaire.

And to be able to buy just about any home that you want, and to furnish it any way you want.

I also wonder if any of the .01% wonder what it’s like for us average folk. I doubt it.

But if any of them ever want to find out, I’d gladly do a house swap for a week or a month. Since my house doesn’t come with a gym, I’ll even throw in a paid membership to Planet Fitness.

*a 38,000-square-foot mansion in Bel-Air that’s been on the market for more than a year is asking $188 million