Villa Leopold Fetches $750 Million

August 11, 2008 3:46 PM

The most expensive home ever sold, Villa Leopolda (wiki here) on the French Riviera today fetched an estimated $750 million from an anonymous Russian tycoon (more about the sale here, here, here, and here). Formerly owned by banker Edmond Safra, whose mysterious death by fire in his Monaco home in December 1999 resulted in a murder conviction, the Villa's name refers to its original owner, Belgium's King Leopold II (and we all know how he made his fortune), and was reputedly built for his mistress.
posted by ornate insect (53 comments total)

Pffft, whatever, I got like three of those.
posted by The Straightener at 3:56 PM on August 11, 2008

Doesn't even have basic cable.
posted by turgid dahlia at 4:04 PM on August 11, 2008

But I have to ask...does stuff like this make anybody else sad? Just, like, metaphysically sad? Having spent my entire life living only in modern cities (we'll usefully overlook the first 18 years of my life spent in Townsville) in the first world I can't claim to have had any exposure to real poverty, the sort of poverty you'll see in Bangladesh and Brazil and China or, hell, even some of Australia's outback aboriginal communities. But you sorta look at stuff like that, and then you glance over at somebody paying just shy of a billion dollars for a house on a lake, and, I dunno, it just makes me sigh and go quiet for a while. Something went really wrong somewhere and I don't believe we're ever going to be able to fix it.
posted by turgid dahlia at 4:11 PM on August 11, 2008 [8 favorites]

turgid dahlia writes "Something went really wrong somewhere and I don't believe we're ever going to be able to fix it."

Yep, it's called agriculture. Love it or leave it.
posted by mullingitover at 4:19 PM on August 11, 2008 [1 favorite]

Conspicuous consumption is a physically attractive form of starvation.
posted by Smart Dalek at 4:25 PM on August 11, 2008

td--yes it is sad, and the world is upside down; it's somehow even worse knowing that the new owner is most likely just as corrupt and shady a thief as the previous owners were, and that the home itself was built on blood money. Also, I think by "lake" you mean the Mediterranean?

On a related note, a recent pleasant-enough bauble of a French film about the lives of the rich on the Côte d’Azur, Priceless (note: that preview makes it look horrid), scores some surprising points about the emptiness that accompanies the lives there.
posted by ornate insect at 4:27 PM on August 11, 2008

There seems to be a certain standard of size/cost/history that you need to have before the press will refer to your house by a name - The Breakers, Kykuit, Monticello, Graceland, Tara, Rowan Oak, Goldeneye, etc. But the house-naming thing is something I've seen college-aged males do a lot, too. A lot of these rentals are named "Valhalla."
posted by milkrate at 4:28 PM on August 11, 2008

But I have to ask...does stuff like this make anybody else sad? Just, like, metaphysically sad? Having spent my entire life living only in modern cities (we'll usefully overlook the first 18 years of my life spent in Townsville) in the first world I can't claim to have had any exposure to real poverty, the sort of poverty you'll see in Bangladesh and Brazil and China or, hell, even some of Australia's outback aboriginal communities. But you sorta look at stuff like that, and then you glance over at somebody paying just shy of a billion dollars for a house on a lake, and, I dunno, it just makes me sigh and go quiet for a while. Something went really wrong somewhere and I don't believe we're ever going to be able to fix it.
posted by turgid dahlia

Rest easy turgid dahlia. Nature will fix it. Humans are quite temporary. We are here today but will be gone tomorrow.
posted by notreally at 4:31 PM on August 11, 2008

notreally writes "We are here today but will be gone tomorrow.
"posted by notreally at 4:31 PM on August 11 [+] [!] No other comments."

Eponysterical.
posted by mullingitover at 4:35 PM on August 11, 2008

This house already existed. Nothing was created or destroyed in this transaction. All that happened was that one ludicrously rich asshole gave a lot of money to another ludicrously rich asshole. The world is no richer, nor poorer. I'm guessing some slice of the transaction went into taxes, which could be used to fund schools, or welfare.

That $750m didn't evaporate; it just went into another person's pocket. Maybe he'll build a big boat with it, maybe he'll fight malaria. Who knows.

So yeah, it's kind of silly to be sad about it. Worry about the guys who reinvest their $750m in weapons manufacturers instead.
posted by phooky at 4:42 PM on August 11, 2008 [2 favorites]

What would Thorstein Veblen say?
posted by blucevalo at 4:49 PM on August 11, 2008

Another Rich asshole spotted on the French Riviera recently.
posted by ornate insect at 4:50 PM on August 11, 2008

phooky writes "Worry about the guys who reinvest their $750m in weapons manufacturers instead."

Pay no attention to my Vice Fund holdings.
posted by mullingitover at 4:51 PM on August 11, 2008

notreally writes "We are here today but will be gone tomorrow.
"posted by notreally at 4:31 PM on August 11 [+] [!] No other comments."

Eponysterical.
posted by mullingitover at 4:35 PM on August 11 [+] [!]

not really.
posted by sir_rubixalot at 4:53 PM on August 11, 2008 [1 favorite]

That $750m didn't evaporate; it just went into another person's pocket. Maybe he'll build a big boat with it, maybe he'll fight malaria. Who knows.

I'm going to guess "big boat".
posted by Flunkie at 5:03 PM on August 11, 2008 [2 favorites]

LOL. My "not really" sure takes a lot of abuse. (me too)
posted by notreally at 5:09 PM on August 11, 2008

Not to be all Robin Leach, but according to the Times UK link, Villa Leopolda once belonged to the late Gianni Agnelli, the Fiat tycoon...Regulars at parties in the Agnelli years there included Frank Sinatra and Ronald Reagan. Its turreted mansion and two guest houses sit in 20 acres of grounds with hundreds of olive, cypress and lemon trees tended by 50 gardeners. And not to be all Ian Flemming, but the article continues: former members of the Israeli special forces are said to ensure Mrs Safra's tranquillity there. I'm thinking Ernst Stavro Blofeld bought it.
posted by ornate insect at 5:20 PM on August 11, 2008

Doesn't make me sad at all. Okay, the fact that the "anonymous Russian tycoon" may be some trumped up mob boss makes me kind of sad, but the idea that there is a house worth $750million doesn't bother me.
posted by Justinian at 5:20 PM on August 11, 2008

Yep, it's called agriculture. Love it or leave it.

Actually I'm more inclined to think that it's capitalism. No I'm not against capitalism and no I don't have any better ideas but that doesn't mean I've got to "love it or leave it".
posted by turgid dahlia at 5:20 PM on August 11, 2008 [1 favorite]

...the idea that there is a house worth $750million doesn't bother me.

No, that doesn't bother me either. It's that some fucker actually paid that much for it.
posted by turgid dahlia at 5:23 PM on August 11, 2008

It's like, isn't there some $700 million house he could have bought instead? $650 million?
posted by turgid dahlia at 5:27 PM on August 11, 2008

So what would you limit the price of homes to, exactly? I don't really understand the problem. Should they just raffle off the place (1 ticket per customer) or something?
posted by Justinian at 5:28 PM on August 11, 2008

A house is just a house my friend. A "home" is priceless.
posted by turgid dahlia at 5:30 PM on August 11, 2008

isn't there some $700 million house he could have bought instead? $650 million?

Well considering Brangelina bought Chateau Miraval for a mere $70 million, I think the Russian guy got ripped off.
posted by ornate insect at 5:32 PM on August 11, 2008

The price of the Villa Leopolda ... has amazed estate agents but fuelled local worries that the invasion of Russian money on the Côte d'Azur is getting out of hand.

The homes, they are sold for a profit, no?

The homes, they remain where they are standing, no?

Reminds me of how all those Japanese investors lost their kimonos buying shit in the U.S., and we all freaked the fuck out about it, and it kind of turned out OK for us and very, very bad for them.

"OMG, the Japanese bought Columbia Pictures! What ever will we do?"

"Umm, light a cigar? Buy a new car?"
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 5:35 PM on August 11, 2008

Assume the buyer was able to finance at the standard 80%. That means he would put up about $150 million and borrow $600 million. At current private-banking rates for a 30-year fixed–around 6.5%–his monthly payments would be $3,792,408 a month. That works out to $45,408,898 a year, or $1.3 billion over the life of the 30-year loan. [1]
posted by stbalbach at 5:38 PM on August 11, 2008

From ornate insect's link: "...and a stream that runs through tunnels and into a moat."

Which sums up Brad and Angelina's sex life quite neatly, I think.
posted by turgid dahlia at 5:38 PM on August 11, 2008

"Last year, Brad and Angelina took a helicopter along the Riviera, and they were literally landing in people's gardens of houses that they liked and were running in to ask if their properties were for sale," said the source.

Sounds like something a pair of complete assholes would do.
posted by five fresh fish at 5:42 PM on August 11, 2008 [6 favorites]

This all reminds of an anectdote my brother related the other day. He and his wife were driving along an expensive beachfront on the Coast, with multi-multi-multi-million dollar mansions sitting there like polished teeth, an affront to everything good and decent, and she said something like "Oh, look at all those beautiful houses". He nodded and said "They're quite nice, but do you think those people are happy?" She waited a beat before responding: "Too bloody right they are."
posted by turgid dahlia at 5:46 PM on August 11, 2008

I'm going to guess "big boat".

which he'll sail somewhere malarial?
posted by jonmc at 6:00 PM on August 11, 2008

which he'll sail somewhere malarial?

Whilst sipping gin & tonics.

Well, it does have quinine in it.

Which reminds me, I'm feeling a bit malarial myself.
posted by turgid dahlia at 6:04 PM on August 11, 2008

Y'know, if I had that kind of money? That is quite precisely the type of place I would want to live.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 6:04 PM on August 11, 2008 [1 favorite]

Justinian: Okay, the fact that the "anonymous Russian tycoon" may be some trumped up mob boss makes me kind of sad

Sad? That's the shit that makes me livid. Okay, the fact that guys like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are rich is... well, you can't say they didn't innovate something (pretty electronics, functional PCs, technology market practices). And you know, some dude[tte]'s gonna perfect desktop, room temperature sonoluminescent fusion and become a trillionaire; said person deserves every penny. But the notion that there are multi-billionaires who are really nothing more than psychopathic, violent mob bosses who used the fall of communism to get sweetheart, gun-to-the-head deals on national resources and industries for pennies on the dollar to "make" their fortunes?

That, and the current administration, are among the things that make me furious that there is no God, and by extension no Hell.

Russian excess is feeding discontent among poorer people. Pierrette, a housekeeper for one Russian, said: “I attended a party where the guests had fun throwing burning €500 notes into the air while everyone split their sides laughing. The domestic staff were later told to collect the ashes. It was sickening.”

There's a solution for that, discontented poor people. No one laughs when they're head's in the guillotine.
posted by hincandenza at 6:07 PM on August 11, 2008 [3 favorites]

their, not they're. How embarassing! :(

dirtynumbangelboy Y'know, if I had that kind of money? That is quite precisely the type of place I would want to live.

I completely agree; if you're insanely rich, you kind of want a San Simeon palatial estate. Previous owners included, apparently, Bill Gates (which surprised me- I didn't know he owned any place besides his east side custom mansion). But paying that much seems... pointless. Buy a nearby lot for a fraction of the price and replicate the exact same building, with improvements even.

It's just amazing- yet unsurprising- that the people with that kind of money aren't smarter. They didn't get rich from merit, they got it through violence or luck.
posted by hincandenza at 6:14 PM on August 11, 2008

Y'know, if I had that kind of money? That is quite precisely the type of place I would want to live.

Y'know, if I had that kind of money? Two chicks at once, man.
posted by jonmc at 6:21 PM on August 11, 2008 [4 favorites]

actually I'd find out what company makes that silvery shit on scratch-off tickets and invest in that.
posted by jonmc at 6:21 PM on August 11, 2008 [4 favorites]

hincandenza--don't think Gates ever owned Villa Leopolda, just that there was an unsubstantiated rumor he was looking to buy it.
posted by ornate insect at 6:22 PM on August 11, 2008

That is an awful wikipedia page.
posted by smackfu at 6:43 PM on August 11, 2008

But paying that much seems... pointless. Buy a nearby lot for a fraction of the price and replicate the exact same building, with improvements even.

Meh. The seller probably just needed to launder $700-odd-million of dirty money in order to fund the next decade or two of their Eurotrash lifestyle.

The Russian may have paid around $50m to take the house, while the rest of the supposed revenue from the sale was dug out by the seller from wall cavities & Swiss bank accounts.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:50 PM on August 11, 2008

Funny, you guys seem to know a good deal about how this guy got his money.
posted by Student of Man at 6:54 PM on August 11, 2008

Y'know, if I had that kind of money? Two chicks at once, man.

Well, for my $375 Million share, I'd even take you up on that.

I could get gender reassignment surgery, modify myself to your exact taste, change back (only bigger, faster, stronger!) and still have enough money left over to build a dazzlingly bejewelled turkish bath, where I could spend the next ten years scrubbing myself clean again.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:55 PM on August 11, 2008 [2 favorites]

It's just amazing- yet unsurprising- that the people with that kind of money aren't smarter. They didn't get rich from merit, they got it through violence or luck.

This smacks more than a little of sour grapes. Along with the typical "rich people aren't happy!" bullshit. Some rich people aren't happy. But then, there's a lot of really goddamn sad poor people. Not being able to afford healthcare while your kid dies is a little depressing, after all.

In my experience, and I have some, rich people tend to be a lot like poor people and middle income people, only with more money. Some of them lucked out and some of them worked really hard to get where they are. Kind of like poor people.

It's absolutely true that most really rich people (that didn't inherit) had to be both lucky and good. But anybody at the peak of some profession or endeavor had to be both "lucky" and good. That's true of actors, sportsmen, writers, scientists, whatever.
posted by Justinian at 7:13 PM on August 11, 2008 [1 favorite]

That's just fucking obscene.
posted by Mephisto at 7:45 PM on August 11, 2008

It's quite bizarre that $750M is around seven times the previous highest known home purchase.

It makes me wonder if there isn't a diminishing marginal rate of return - ie the more you spend, the less you get for every extra dollar.

The place seems to be large, well landscaped & have a nice view, but I find it hard to see how one $750M house is better than, say, seven $100M houses.

For a bit of variety, you could have one high up in the mountains, something with a similar aspect to this in plenty of places around the Mediterranean, one on a private tropical island, one a penthouse in NYC, a grand apartment building on a Parisian boulevarde, an atmospheric old palace or castle somewhere with a bit of life & colour (say, India or Morocco) and - wait, how many am I up to? - a sunny harbourfront mansion in Sydney, and still have enough left over for a snazzy apartment or two in the heart of Hong Kong or Tokyo.
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:15 PM on August 11, 2008 [1 favorite]

The problem with that plan, UbuRoivas, is that you wouldn't then be able to claim to have spent seven times more for your home than anyone ever before in human history.

When ego is on the line, all bets are off.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:03 PM on August 11, 2008

That's true of actors, sportsmen, writers, scientists, whatever.

emphasis mine

HAHAhahahahAHAHAHmwwuuhahahh<snort>aheh. aheh. heh. h.

sob

/crawls under desk, cries self to sleep
posted by porpoise at 9:21 PM on August 11, 2008

you wouldn't then be able to claim to have spent seven times more for your home than anyone ever before in human history

Yes, but maybe only if we're talking about buying somebody else's place off them.

Just to name a few who had their own places built, Justinian, Louis XIV, the Mad Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, the Egyptian Pharoahs (in a different sense) & Ozymandias would all have to be streets ahead of this conspicuous consumer.
posted by UbuRoivas at 9:28 PM on August 11, 2008

porpoise: You don't think there's a healthy dose of "at the right place at the right time" among scientists? That with many breakthroughs the scientist had to do a heck of a lot of work, but if it wasn't him it would have been somebody else not that much later? One of us knows the wrong scientists. Could be me, I guess.

I mean, Watson and Crick kick ass but the double-helix structure of DNA was not going to remain a "mystery" for very much longer based on the crystallography studies and such.
posted by Justinian at 11:25 PM on August 11, 2008

Unless you're saying that the top scientists don't have to be good scientists at all, just good politicians and lobbyists. In which case I'll say that you're even more cynical than me!
posted by Justinian at 11:26 PM on August 11, 2008

I think porpoise was that scientists don't really belong among the other 'really rich' actors and sportsmen and writers.

But then, of course, most actors and sportsmen and writers would have a hearty laugh at that.
posted by twirlypen at 12:09 AM on August 12, 2008

I mean, Watson and Crick kick ass

And steal their ideas from Rosalind Franklin.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:08 AM on August 12, 2008

That's not at all a fair characterization of what happened, fff, even if it is currently a popular one.
posted by Justinian at 10:40 AM on August 12, 2008

airbed and breakfast yes please
posted by baker dave at 11:02 AM on August 12, 2008