How to Spend it - Town Mouse, Country Mouse.
Updated: Jul 25
I recently stumbled across an article in Forbes magazine, comparing two pieces of real estate. The first was a 996-square-foot "tear-down" in West Los Angeles. I had to look up the term "tear-down". It is basically a house that no-one wants to live in, and is far cheaper to knock down and build from scratch, than to fix up.
The second property, was a 4,806-square-foot Château in France on 24 acres, with 8 ensuite bedrooms and a guest house. They were both listed for the same price - US$1.2 million.
At first, the comparison seems ridiculous to make - silly, really. One comes with turrets, masses of parkland, centuries of history and enough rooms to permanently mislay your wife. The other, comes with what I imagine to be a very desirable postcode and - if we're using real-estate euphemisms - "a healthy appreciation for such an efficient use of space". They both need a bit of work - although L.A. was a total knock down and rebuild, the Chateau did have a few dusty corners and a slate missing here and there.
