Why your home is better than a billionaire's

Why your home is better than a billionaire's

- Laugh at the hidden hassles of living in a mansion

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If you had a billion dollars, what kind of house would you live in, and where? I don't, but am fascinated by the idea, so I watch videos of how people like that live, in properties worth tens of millions.

At the same time, I'm watching numerous videos about people living in campervans and even cars, extremely cramped and poor. The contrast is amazing - particularly between the tense, brave, very social make-do life of some of the smiling poor compared with the life of some tense, miserable very rich.

COMICAL WEATHER

Horrible weather: Many such properties are located in roasting hot desert areas, dreary boring for miles around, huge swimming pools for relief, big sun awnings to prevent you being barbequed by the sun. And desert-freezing at night. Or arctic snow and ice in the winter, under the wheels of your five expensive, exotic cars.

INSECTS AND PREDATORS

Horrible insects, snakes, parasites, etc. Being in a flash house or a flash convertible car doesn't mean the mosquitos keep away. You can have a 14 metre wide open glass frontage onto a sea view, but, the flies and mosquitos will use their cell phones to swarm in the whole whanau for a blood bank banquet on you and your friends. Or you'll have to seal the house and drape mosquito nets the same as the poor of the world.

ARCHITECTURE MISTAKES

Ugly architecture despite high price. Some of the buildings are truly beautiful. I mean, look at the frontage of the one below, 'majestic, elegant, thrilling. But others are grotesque imitations of Roman has-been glory, and filled with seedy echoes of owner lifestyle, such as casino tables, dead trophy tigers, deer, sex movies, etc. You can do better with a vase of flowers from you garden or a nearby shop.

CLEANING & CARE

Quite a few properties seem designed without thinking of the way dust and insects dirty a chandelier or an ornate staircase. Huge places. Cost, loss of privacy if you are paying cleaning staff. And imagine how careful you'd have to be, not to damage anything. Perfection can make you tense.

SECURITY

When you're that rich, privacy is a security aspect. That's why some places are so desert-remote, or fenced in and placed like castles on rocky hills. If you're that remote, there's no community around you to care about you or protect you, so you may have to have paid guards. Compare that with good neighbours, traffic outside in the street, nearby police.

WHY PEOPLE BUY MANSIONS

I've watched lots of walk-through videos. It seems the 'opulence' is partly 'show off', which can bring negative responses of having to compete, and security issues.

Also, 'grandeur' puts you in the misery of having to be 'larger than life' - to be a fake like a movie star. And the question of 'sharing' your showy wealth generously with the less fortunate. Does your present life burden you with that?

Spacious living. How long does it take you to walk from your bedroom to the fridge in the kitchen? Probably five seconds. Imagine the trekking involved in a mansion, including stairs.

Investment value increases, and if the place is used for business as well as home life, there are tax write-offs. Alternative investments though, can compete with that. Safe ones like shares, or riskier big gainers like bitcoin which, despite huge volatility, has been doubling each year since about 2017.

Browse YouTube for a few views of million dollar mansions. Think about them. Would you rather live in them or your present home..? Hooray for ordinary.