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Post by Arxileas on Aug 19, 2008 23:22:59 GMT -5
Real Estate Most Expensive Home Or Image Accessory? Matt Woolsey 08.11.08, 4:00 PM ET The real estate world is abuzz with news that a French Riviera home called the Villa Leopolda, built by King Leopold II of Belgium in 1902, has sold for $750 million to a Russian oligarch. In the gossip-filled sewing circle that is high-end real estate, Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich was originally rumored as the buyer, though he has denied it. The rumor was difficult to believe anyway, as it was only last week that the Chelsea Football Club owner received permission from Kensington and Chelsea council to build his own $285 million dream home in that section of London. He's only worth $23 billion after all. What's astounding is that the $750 million price tag is far above and beyond the going price of property, even on the French Riviera. Though questionable, that doesn't make such a sale impossible; the Russian property grab has reached historic heights in recent years. Russian Roulette "Every year we have more Russians coming for house hunting along the Riviera," says French luxury broker Baris Basaran of Expat Consulting, a Vienna-based company specializing in the Riviera. The competition among them isn't so much about what they have, but what they're able to say they've spent. And with, according to Forbes, 87 Russian billionaires, the competition is fierce. There "are only several villas between $60 and $150 million available," points out Basaran. Related Stories Inside The World's First Billion-Dollar Home World's Priciest Properties Dick Tremblay, an international broker based in Hilton Head, S.C., represents buyers globally, including deals on that stretch of the French coast. "I've got some people going out to see properties from $100 million to $140 million--that area in the Riviera is absolutely nuts," he says. "With Russia and their new economy, people are making some crazy offers sight unseen." What makes this particular villa--built with spoils of Belgian pillaging in Africa under Leopold II-- particularly desirable are its 20 acres of land. This is something impossible to find on the Riviera without combining properties. Even so, the premium doesn't really add up given that no sale in the south of France, or the rest of the world, has come remotely close to that sum. Billionaires' One-Upmanship In 2004, Lakshmi Mittal kicked off the luxury land rush when he paid $130 million for a home in Kensington Palace Gardens, which held the mark for the highest sale until an unnamed buyer paid $152 million for a home in Upper Phillimore Gardens in February. That sale didn't hold the top spot for long; a St. James apartment, between Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's residence, sold for $218 million in March. Not to be outdone, Mittal paid $222 million for American hedge fund chief Noam Gottesman's Kensington home in May and, for good measure, picked up a $133 million property in the same neighborhood in June. The priciest sale in the U.S., this year has been the $100 million sale of Donald Trump's Palm Beach home to Russian Dmitry Rybolovlev. That Villa Leopolda has entered this fray shouldn't come as a huge surprise, since the property has been the site of over exuberance before. In 2005 and 2006, Bill Gates was rumored to have paid $110 million for the property in what would have been a French record at the time--but the transfer never occurred. There's no doubt that billionaires have the scratch to afford a $750 million house--we estimate the cost of Mukesh Ambani's under-construction, 550-foot-high Mumbai skyscraper residence at $2 billion. But to escalate price far beyond going rates speaks more to Russian buyers' efforts to brand themselves and the vanity associated with owning the most expensive home in the world. "I think that they're trying to make a splash, and when you're trying to make a splash this is a clever thing to do in the short run," says Dolly Lenz, a luxury broker with Prudential Douglas Elliman. "This is the group that wants to be out there." www.macedoniaontheweb.com/forum/general-chit-chat/8000-villa-sold-france-us-750-million.html
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Post by meltdown711 on Aug 19, 2008 23:28:51 GMT -5
Thats quite the place of exile. I wonder where the harem will be?
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Post by Kefalus on Aug 20, 2008 2:11:59 GMT -5
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Post by Kastorianos on Aug 20, 2008 2:27:23 GMT -5
Thats life teuta. I find your thinking is wrong...why shouldnt people have the possibility to be richer than others...? You are constricting their rights with that...and thats the wrong way. You albanians, as a former communist state, should know that this "everyone identical" policy leads into "everyone have-not" conditions. Of course you are right that there are millions of people on earth who are starving...while these millionaires are buying such villas...but thats their business...if they prefer to do so instead of helping others who are in great need...its their conscience... if you become rich one day, prove that you can do better.
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Post by meltdown711 on Aug 20, 2008 2:29:32 GMT -5
The chance for some people to achieve this is what makes this world go around... If these men didnt do what they did, even fewer people would have any jobs to begin with. They may make an amount that may seem absurd, but they launched something more important then simple labor: an idea.
Communism stops that cycle...
Roman Abramovic is no stingy man, he has tons of organizations, specifically involving Russia's high level of poverty.
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Kanaris
Amicus
This just in>>>> Nobody gives a crap!
Posts: 9,587
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Post by Kanaris on Aug 20, 2008 5:49:28 GMT -5
It's no problem being rich....I just don't like the obscene rich.
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libofsha
Amicus
socially inept village idiot who is having a meltdown daily
Posts: 611
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Post by libofsha on Aug 20, 2008 6:14:36 GMT -5
no one has any right to be this obscenely rich and flaunt his wealth around like it is a birth right,
yea, there are millions of people out there starving for food, often its decisions from the likes of these insatiable oligharcs that have condemned these poor people to a life of malnourishment and incessant toil,
its all in how you aqcuire the wealth and how you use it, russian oligharcs are probably the biggest ruthless thieves on the face of the earth, they became rich at the expense of millions of people whose lifes have become expendable and are now just a number, discarded at will, in the monopolised oil and natural gas industry, not to mention the weapons manufacturing plants, which has enslaved an entire nation of people, while the rich get richer, the poor get poorer.
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Post by Kastorianos on Aug 20, 2008 6:32:56 GMT -5
I disagree. I think everyone has the right to show his riches the way he wants to.....you may dislike it, personally I wouldnt also if I was that rich make a show of my possessions...but thats just our very personal opinion and we cannot coerce everyone into doing what we want to with the simple reason that we dont like their way of living. Thats savage mentality.
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libofsha
Amicus
socially inept village idiot who is having a meltdown daily
Posts: 611
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Post by libofsha on Aug 20, 2008 6:50:53 GMT -5
social equality is savage mentality? even distribution of wealth is savage mentality? how many revolutions have come about as a result of such inequalities? what if these rebellions against the latifundists of their time hadn't occurred? what if the rich land owners had not given up (or rather conceded)their vast exapanse estates? would there be any argricultural land for people to feed off on? would me and you be here today? lets not trivialise the topic,
wealth is finite! it is related to all the finite natural resources we see around us, we are born into these world as equal, we all share the spoils of our planet.
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Post by Kastorianos on Aug 20, 2008 6:57:20 GMT -5
Social equality is a task of the state, not the rich people. You are seeing things too emotional. Im for socia equality as well, I also think rich people should pay comparatively more taxes than the others, just one idea. But I dont think affluence should be prohibited by society. Unmeant poverty should be prohibited yes, but not richness.
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Post by albquietman on Aug 20, 2008 13:53:14 GMT -5
I agree with Libofsha. Wealth is finite, and the state should put an order how this wealth should be distributed. I'm not saying to make illegal the chance to be rich, but all of us know that if we see insane numbers of money that belong to one person or a small group of people, most likely the money are not made in the right way. The problem here is not that these people are able or not to buy such villas, but the concentration of the wealth. Feudalism was a system that failed because of this reason. Wealth was in the hands of few people that weren't anymore interested to develop new ways to make the society to go forward, because these new ways would make the mases more independent economically and politically, so they couldn't make anymore money out of them. Don't you think that in some way the same is happening today?
We all know high gas prices today and the raise of its consumption. Anyone of you have seen the oil companies to get worried about it? Of course not, because they make money out of it, but they wouldn't make such huge profits if new technology would make cars move on other sources of energy, like electric. And think about it, the first electric car was built in 1891, and by 1900 of the 4,192 cars produced in the United States 28 percent are powered by electricity, and electric autos represent about one-third of all cars found on the roads of New York City, Boston, and Chicago.
So what happened to them? Don't you think that if we had continued the way we did in the beginning of the 20 century we wouldn't need gas today? Of course yes, but some people want to collect all the money in this world and they don't care about development, technology or if the oil reserves will end one day and if we're not ready for it the economy will collapse globally.
So, millionaires today do not make this world go around, on the contrary they are slowing her down, like the feudalism did before the capitalism. Allowing people to be insanely rich will have such consequences that we will pay them off, the middle class, not the millionaires, that's why the state should control through taxes and laws how the hundreds of millions are made, because it is impossible that 1% of the world's population to have such abilities to get so rich, and we the rest are plain stupid and know nothing...
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Post by panagiotopoulos on Aug 20, 2008 21:30:22 GMT -5
"If by free health care, free schooling and free sheltering for all people is commie, then let it be! If the law is made intentionally for rich people not to pay tax and I pay one fourth of my salary and I dare say it is not right, then I am a commie...and proud of it."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
There is no such thing as Free Health Care. Someone, somewhere is always paying for it. Although I do agree with you guys in many ways the one thing I do disagree with is over regulation of the rich. For instance, overtaxing oil companies or placing heavy burdens on them will make them lose their competitive edge in the global market. How can a nations economy compete in the world market when its own government is royally screwing it. It is a free market economy and minimal regulations that has put nations like America light years ahead of many of the communist countries of past eras.
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Post by panagiotopoulos on Aug 20, 2008 22:27:48 GMT -5
^^^^^ Communism to me signifies the end of all freedom. It seems to me to be a very parasitic ideology which can only survive by sucking the blood out of a perfectly healthy nation. The truth is that it is a dog eat dog world and only the strong survive. This is progress. I only see communism and its ideals as a obstacle to growth and progress. Though I am not rich and sometimes the rich piss me off, I do not want to take what they have but enjoy the freedom and the opportunity to earn what they have.
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Post by panagiotopoulos on Aug 20, 2008 22:37:53 GMT -5
Because like you said, so many people struggle just to pay their rent or put food on the table and some son of a bitch just spent 750 million on a villa. If I was wealthy I would not live like this. Some are not meant to be wealthy. I for one am not meant to be wealthy. I am meant to work and live a reasonable life. If I ever get to that point of extreme wealth I think I would become the laziest person alive and probably be dead within five years. I need hard work and need to struggle because it is what keeps me grounded.
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Post by albquietman on Aug 20, 2008 22:43:08 GMT -5
Lol...when was the last time you got a dollar from a rich man?
And when was the last time you gave them hundreds of dollars?
I know the answer of the second question, last time you paid your bills...
And do not get fooled by the idea that you have "opportunity" to earn what they have...they're not so stupid to give you what they have...not even in your wildest dreams...
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Post by Arxileas on Aug 20, 2008 23:14:15 GMT -5
Now it is confirmed for me as a FACT. Poor people are poor due to a poor thinking mentality. With negative thoughts flooding in such as “there is no money to go around the world, it’s not fair others have that much money, money is bad, money is evil and it’s a bad day today etc; blah blah.
Rich people on the other hand think the opposite, such as “there is plenty to go around, riches are infinite, it’s a great day today etc;” small negative minded people never produces anything and do not have friends are lonely and miserable. Seems some of you chose to be miserable.
IMO
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Post by albquietman on Aug 20, 2008 23:18:11 GMT -5
And...in what group do you belong Arxileas?
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Post by albquietman on Aug 20, 2008 23:23:57 GMT -5
I'm starting to think that was Arxileas the buyer of that villa...
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Post by Teuta1975 on Aug 20, 2008 23:25:46 GMT -5
;D
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Post by Kefalus on Aug 20, 2008 23:56:02 GMT -5
That is because you have never lived in that system. If you lived that time, and this time, you most probably would have seen things differently. pfff
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