Listing of the Week: Handyman special for $75 million
'The largest family house in America,' built in the style of the French palace at Versailles, is ready for your finishing touches — like walls and floors — outside Orlando.
By Teresa at MSN Real Estate Sep 30, 2011 12:43PM
We decided to go for wretched excess for this Listing of the Week: a home in the style of the French palace of Versailles outside Orlando, Fla. It's offered at $75 million.The plan to build "the largest family house in America" was announced in 2003 by David Siegel, CEO of the Westgate Resorts time-share company, who has 12 children. But when hard times hit, the Siegels ceased construction in early 2009 and put the house on the market in 2010. Even though it has been for sale for more than a year, the price has not been reduced.
"This mansion is a great anecdote of the overconsumption that led to the housing bust, and it might be the poster child of such overindulgence," South Florida real-estate analyst Jack McCabe told The Associated Press last year.
The house has 13 bedrooms and 23 baths in 90,000 square feet, making it the largest home for sale in the United States. It's on 10 acres on Lake Butler, in the town of Windermere, about 20 minutes from Orlando.
The unfinished Versailles-style palace, as planned, has 10 kitchens (maybe you can rent out apartments), a bowling alley, indoor roller rink, two-story movie theater, video arcade and fitness center, plus a 20-car garage, three pools, two tennis courts and a baseball field. The listing website has more details, photos, videos and renderings.
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It's hard to visualize a house that big. It's twice the size of the White House and 36 times the size of the average American home.
"It's like a living piece of art," listing agent Lorraine Barrett told The AP.
10Comments
Sat 6:26 AM
Please, take a 90-minute tour of this property and we will give you two tickets to Disneyworld. Of course, at the end of the presentation, which really lasts longer than 90 minutes, we will bring in the "closer" to try and convince you that you need to buy, and if you don't buy, the "closer" will stomp off and complain that you just took the tour for the tickets. Westgate Resorts - Ha, ha - I just heard a good joke...
Sat 6:13 AM
Sat 5:55 AM
Sat 5:26 AM
Sat 5:12 AM
quit whining. let the guy do with his money whatever he wants to do. You bleeding heart liberals who feel that anyone with ANY money should be feeding the poor or building houses for the poor or donating to the latest fad for the poor make me sick. where does your money go? do you donate every extra penny you have to causes for the poor or the downtrodden? Do you work at the foodshelf and then donate your pay back to them? I doubt it. Get a job liberal, make some money and see how it feels to have a little extra "play" money. Then when your taxes come due, use the short form and pay all the extra that you should and see how good you feel. Liberals. What a joke!!
Sat 4:58 AM
Had to point out one more thing, it is a 90,000 sq.ft. house surrounded by 3,000 to 4,000 sq.ft. houses. who would build a house that bug next to a subdivision, or in one for that matter.
it lowers the value of the houses around you and lowers the value of the house built-if that big.
so the real kicker here is that the house is for sale, so far over the comps. in the neighborhood or "surrounding houses" that is isn't really worth anywhere near what he's asking for. its only worth the cost of construction minus the devaluation for being a catastrophe. Half finished houses spell
"something went wrong here" and will have every buyer 2nd guessing.
it lowers the value of the houses around you and lowers the value of the house built-if that big.
so the real kicker here is that the house is for sale, so far over the comps. in the neighborhood or "surrounding houses" that is isn't really worth anywhere near what he's asking for. its only worth the cost of construction minus the devaluation for being a catastrophe. Half finished houses spell
"something went wrong here" and will have every buyer 2nd guessing.
Sat 4:39 AM
Again someone has hired a big architect to design a home. it looks like a hotel, and considering
that a 3,000 sq.ft. home (2 stories) typically has 5 bedrooms(with baths), that would mean that if we wanted 12-13 beds (as described in the above article) we would be at about 6,000 sq.ft. to 6,500 to achieve bedrooms with accompanying baths. this does not include the basement space. -What went wrong- I am sure when this guy walked into this architects office it was angels from heaven. My biggest problem is the fact that so many architects are taught to sell their idea, not design with reality and traditional forms. I also have a feeling that this is just another concrete/stucco disaster design. This design probably broke the project. If you keep hiring these big guys, your setting yourself up for failure before you even begin.
that a 3,000 sq.ft. home (2 stories) typically has 5 bedrooms(with baths), that would mean that if we wanted 12-13 beds (as described in the above article) we would be at about 6,000 sq.ft. to 6,500 to achieve bedrooms with accompanying baths. this does not include the basement space. -What went wrong- I am sure when this guy walked into this architects office it was angels from heaven. My biggest problem is the fact that so many architects are taught to sell their idea, not design with reality and traditional forms. I also have a feeling that this is just another concrete/stucco disaster design. This design probably broke the project. If you keep hiring these big guys, your setting yourself up for failure before you even begin.
Sat 4:27 AM
Sat 1:15 AM
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About Teresa Mears
Teresa Mears is a veteran journalist who has been interested in houses since her father took her to tax auctions to carry the cash at age 10. A former editor of The Miami Herald's Home & Design section, she lives in South Florida where, in addition to writing about real estate, she publishes Miami on the Cheap to help her neighbors adjust to the loss of 60% of their property value.
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