For reasons that are not clear to me, the Plain Dealer wasted a huge amount of the limited space in its front section to a story about a fancy lakefront property that was on sale for nearly $20 million. The item read like a huge, free, real estate advertisement and fell into the category of what is known as ‘real estate porn’, that showcases the absurdly extravagant homes of the wealthy.
But what struck me was that the 38,000 square foot house built on 160 acres consisted of five bedrooms, nine bathrooms, and seven half bathrooms.
Why would you need sixteen bathrooms for a private home that has just five bedrooms? Do rich people need to go to the bathroom a lot and so must have one handy at any moment?
My wife and I share the same bedroom but use separate bathrooms. If this home (which seems to be a series of connected “pods”) happens to be occupied by five couples like us, they will need ten full bathrooms. Half-baths don’t cut it: someone is going to have to share a shower stall or tub, which is totally unacceptable;).
They think real estate porn will help them get a more upscale New York Times-like readership, far more attractive to advertisers than their current readership made up largely of cranky retirees. They are, of course, delusional about that.
That does seem odd, unless they have a lot of large parties and want to make sure there is never a queue for the loo. But with a place like that I’d expect them to have large weekend parties at which guests could stay the night, in which case one wonders why there are only 5 bedrooms. Or perhaps guests sleep on their boats but come inside to use the showers. They must have had very specific needs in mind.
Nine full bathrooms and seven halfs?
It’s probably so the rich don’t have to flush the toilets themselves, they can wait until the weekly maid comes to do it.
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Heidi,
The people who built this property died when their private plane crashed so we may never know what their thinking was.
I have to say that P. Smith’s explanation is the only one that seems even remotely plausible.
If you think that house is excessive and idiotic, read up on Mukesh Ambani who is building a house worth a billion dollars. I’m not kidding.
http://www.smartmoneydaily.com/personalfinance/billion-dollar-house-ultimate-luxury-or-living-hell.aspx
You don’t get that rich by working for it.
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Well I think the size matters. Though the house only contain just 5 bedrooms it is not stated just how big the bedroom is. Though it is unlikely to only have 5 bedrooms for a 38,000 square foot house. I wonder where they will let their guests sleep.
The individuals who seem to put together this kind of residence past away whenever their own exclusive aircraft crashed therefore we might by no means understand what their own reasoning had been.