The most expensive and impressive houses in the country
As one might expect, members of the Forbes 400 have some of the most expensive and impressive houses in the country, and they buy, sell and trade real estate the way some Americans might trade or sell books.
The various homes that Forbes 400 members have listed on the open market in recent years have been priced between $7 million and $75 million, and there's no way of knowing how much their privately held homes may be worth. They keep real estate all over the country, and every property is as different as the billionaire who owns it.
Some billionaires--such as Ted Turner, who ranks at 118 on this year's list with a fortune of $1.9 billion--have an insatiable appetite for land. Turner is the largest landowner in the U.S. and owns more than 1.8 million acres across such states as Colorado, Florida, Georgia, New Mexico and Montana. Others, such as Donald Trump, like to limit their real estate holdings to the ultra-luxurious parts of the country, such as Manhattan and Palm Beach, Fla.
Billionaires often keep a few spare homes that they may not get around to using often. Henry Kravis, one of the original barbarians at the gate, who co-founded leveraged buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, lives in New York City, but he recently sold his Meeker, Colo., retreat that he bought in 1991, invested several million in and was hoping to sell for up to $18 million. (The house was sold to golfer Greg Norman for an undisclosed sum.)
Kravis wasn't the only billionaire who had a house or two for sale this year. Marvin Davis, the billionaire dealmaker--known for buying and selling 20th Century Fox, now a subsidiary of Fox Entertainment Group, as well as the Beverly Hills Hotel--created a splash when he listed his massive Beverly Hills mansion for $70 million. Shortly after, the price was dramatically reduced to $59.5 million.
Billionaire Oprah Winfrey has her Rolling Prairie, Ind., country home on the market for $6.9 million, a fraction of what she paid for the Montecito, Calif., home that she reportedly nabbed for more than $50 million.
While most billionaires are fairly tight-lipped about their homes, others make a splashy public display with their real estate. Steve Jobs, co-founder and chief executive of Apple Computer, has been fighting for his right to tear down his historic Woodside, Calif., home, presumably to build something that fits better with his modern tastes. This isn't the first time Jobs has gone up against city planners. In 1997, after he bought the property next to his home, he upset some locals with his plans to demolish the historic home there and build an apricot orchard in an effort to protect his privacy.
