Extravagant real estate news

Though real estate is a serious matter, you might be quite surprised by the amount of extravagant and far-fetched news related to it in terms of architectural design, unlikely transactions and bizarre news. Here are some of the most interesting examples. Enjoy it !}}}

1. The most expensive house in the United States for rental Imagine yourself as the lucky owner of the Beverly House receiving your monthly rent of an amount of $ 600 000...It is like as if you are in a dream ! However, for the true actual owner of the villa, it is real life ! Located in California, the Beverly House was built in 1925 on a land surface area of 4500 square meters. It is composed of 17 superb high-class bedrooms and more than 30 bathrooms.

With a monthly rent of $ 600 000 (about 462 000 euros), Beverly House is the most expensive house in the U.S. It has indeed hosted former U.S president JFK and his wife Jacky. The house has become famous thanks to Hollywood and its film industry after appearing in movies like The Bodyguard with Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston as well as in The Godfather produced by Francis Ford Coppola with the iconic horse-scene where Jack Woltz wakes up with head of his horse cut and placed in his bed besides him.

2. The insane houses of Naomi Campbell Vladislav Doronin, Russian billionaire has built a futuristic Star Wars-like mansion for his girlfriend, the top model Naomi Campbell known as the Black Panther. Designed by well-known architect Zaha Hadid, this unusual luxurious house has a surface area of 2650 square meters looks like a spaceship to take over the universe...

In 2011, the top-model received as her 41st birthday gift from her Russian billionaire boyfriend, an ecological 25-room house in the form of the eye of Horus in Turquie on her private island. Designed and built by the Spanish architect Luis de Garrido, this house boasts complete self-sufficiency in energy and water. Its steel and glass dome naturally heat the house interior, photovoltaic cells electricity, rainwater-harvesting and bio-treatment systems guarantee sustainable usage of water resources.

3. Broken elevators in the world's highest tower...ill luck for the residents! The month of June has been very harsh for the residents of Princess Tower in Dubaï, the highest tower in the world. The lifts were out of order during more than one week because of water leakage in the tower of more than 400 meters high. Some of the residents were forced to take the stairs of the 97-storey tower according to the Daily Mail!

For a total of 763 apartments worth 2,3 million euros each, a temporary solution was found where only the 50 first storeys were able to used emergency lifts while the rest had to use the stairs. David Beckham and Bradd Pitt are among those unlucky residents!

4. The Nail House According to www.wikipedia.com, is a Chinese neologism for homes belonging to people (sometimes called "stubborn nails") who refuse to make room for development. The term, a pun coined by developers, refers to nails that are stuck in wood, and cannot be pounded down with a hammer. This story took place in China where a retired couple refused to move his house to make way for a redevelopment project in the middle of a highway. They have been struggling for more than 4 years refusing the government alowance of 260 000 yuans (32 400 euros). The tenacity of the old couple was so strong that the local authorities and promoters had no other choices than to circumvent the house.

5. Vienna Museum of Modern Art A visit to the Museum of Modern Art of Vienna is a must for art-lovers where they can experience a wide range (7000 artworks) of modern art from American pop art to hyper-realism from artists like Oskar Kokoschk, Hermann Nitsch and Man Ray. To promote the Austrian artist Erwin Wurm, an individual real-size housemounted on its roof.

6. The Crooked House Situated in Sopot in Poland, this house known as the Crooked House has been opened to the public in 2004. Designed by Jan Marcin and Per Dahlberg, the Crooked House is one of the most amazing buildings in the world and unsurprisingly, the most photographed building in Poland. Have its architects taken Gaudi as model ?

7. A $ 190 million house in the United States Located in Greenwhich, Connecticut, the Copper Beech Farm is close to reach a new record sale price of $ 190 million according to Zillow Blog (specialized in tracking extravagant real estate properties). It should supersede Gianni Versace's house ($100 million) and billionaire's Steven Cohen's house ($115). Built on a land surface area of 1260 square meters, Copper Beech Farm has 12 rooms and 9 bathrooms. Nestled above Long Island, the extravagant house price includes two private islands of 8 and 12 hectares respectively.

8. Palais Maeterlinck transformed into luxury residences Performed under the aegis of Sotheby’s International Realty (IR) France-Monaco in collaboration with Ralph Lauren Home, Palais Maeterlinck which was the residence of former literature Nobel Prize winner, the Belgian author Maurice Maeterlinck, has been transformed into 19 luxury residences. An exclusive option of arranging their residence by Ralph Lauren Home furniture and accessories is offered to buyers. Before becoming the "VillaOrlamonde" in the hands of Maurice Maeterlinck, the palace was intended to be a luxury hotel. It was only the Second World War that it was turned into a prestigious hotel to be bought back by Czech billionaire Radovan Vitek in 2012 to be transformed into those 19 high-class residences unequalled in Europe.