Big Houses

I was walking from my house into downtown Portland recently.   There are two different routes you can take to get from where I live to downtown.   You can either go down Broadway Drive which drops you into the south side of Portland, or take Vista Avenue which brings you into the west side.  Depending on where you’re going, either way is viable.   Vista is a much nicer walk though.  There are sidewalks all the way and it winds through a neighborhood of beautiful houses.

Many of the houses on Vista are easily viewed as you drive down.   There are some, however, that can only be seen if you’re walking.    There is one in particular that is just huge.   It has massive grounds and everything you would need in mansion.  (Best as I can tell from the street anyway)   It must be worth well in excess of $10 million.    That much property that close to Portland, is very rare.    I wonder who lives there.  I wonder if it’s someone I’ve heard of.   I’ll bet it’s not.  I’ll bet it is someone who built a successful business and made so much money that they can never spend it all.  You would have to have so much money to have a house like that I can barely comprehend it.   It’s not just the buying of the house; that’s the easy part.   It’s the cost of maintaining it that kills you.   It’s the property taxes, the utilities, and the small army of gardeners that must come every week.   What does it cost to put a new roof on 10,000 square foot mansion?   to paint it?   It’s crazy.

I will never have a house like that and I’m comfortable with that thought.   I know that I won’t because unless I luck into it in some way, I will never work long enough to make that much money.   I will quit when I have a small fraction of it and start spending it as fast as I can.  Even if I did luck into it, I would rather have a few small houses in different places instead of a huge one somewhere.   Maybe I just don’t understand.   Maybe I really can’t comprehend how much money that is.   Maybe once you have that much you really do need a house that big.   Maybe you have to have one because otherwise you really can’t find places to spend your money.   I suppose you can only go through so much high end olive oil.