The Most Expensive Homes Ever Sold In The United States

They say that home is where the heart is. Well, if you own one of these three homes, you must have a very big heart and a ginormous bank account. In 2013, the price of the average American home was a little less than $250,000. $250,000 wouldn't be enough to buy a shoe closet in the houses you are about to see. These are the three most expensive homes that have ever sold in the United States. All three sold for more than $100 million in the last two years. In case you were curious, if you bought a house for $100 million today and were somehow able to get a bank to give you a 30 year loan at 5% interest with 30% down, you would be looking at a monthly payment of $375,755 dollars. You would also have a massive property tax bill every year. In California, your property taxes alone would be around $83,000 a month.

With those numbers, you're spending nearly $500,000 a month to own a $100 million mansion. And you still haven't watered the lawn, mowed the lawn, cleaned the pool, hosed down the orgy room, or paid the heating bill! I might prefer to own a turnkey penthouse apartment in every major city in the world. On the other hand, people who are rich enough to buy a $100 million mansion, probably pay for the entire thing in cash with the stoke of a key on a computer at a Swiss bank. Right? And by the way, most people assume that Candy Spelling's Beverly Hills mansion is the most expensive of all time. The truth is, she put it on the market for $150 million and two years later sold it for $85 million. Not enough to make this list!

Spelling Mansion, Beverly Hills

Here are the four most expensive homes that have ever sold in the United States:

#4: $117.5 Million – Nine Acre Estate in Silicon Valley

On November 27, 2012, an anonymous billionaire paid $117.5 million to buy a nine acre estate in Woodside, California. The property sits on top of a hill in the heart of Silicon Valley and features 360 degree views of the Woodside Mountains. Built in 2005, the main house alone is 8,900 square feet. A Los Angeles law firm purchased the home for a client using an LLC called "SV Projects". It was later alleged that the anonymous buyer behind that LLC is Masayoshi Son, the founder and CEO of SoftBank. Masayoshi Son is worth $18.4 billion today, but might be more famous for setting the record for most money lost in human history. During the original dotcom bubble burst, Masayoshi saw his personal net worth plunge from a peak of $75 billion to an all time low of $1.1 billion.

#3: $120 Million – Copper Beach Estate in Greenwich, Connecticut

In May 2013, an absolutely stunning property in Greenwich, Connecticut went on the market for a mind-boggling $190 million. Almost exactly a year later, a buyer agreed to purchase the 50 acre estate for the low-low price of $120 million. The main house alone is 15,000 square feet. The driveway of this property is 1800 feet long. It was originally built in 1898 by one of the co-founders of Andrew Carnegie's US Steel corporation. It was then sold to a lumber magnate in the 1980s. Amazingly, the person who purchased the house recently will be only the third owner in over 115 years. The mansion sits on 50 acre property that is mostly open fields and forest. It features multiple grass tennis courts, sprawling gardens, two greenhouses, a private apple orchard and a 75 foot heated pool with hot tub that overlooks the Long Island Sound. The property nestled on 4000 feet of water views and private beaches.

#2: $132.5 Million – Broken O Ranch in Augusta, Montana

In November, 2012, real estate billionaire Stan Kroenke paid $132.5 million in cash for the 124,000 acre Broken O Ranch in Augusta, Montana. Kroenke, who owns the St. Louis Rams, Denver Nuggets and Colorado Rapids, is worth $5.6 billion. The Broken O Ranch is an enormous property that actually took more than 25 years to put together. It's a working ranch that produces 700,000 bushels of grain and 25,000 tons of hay every year. It also is home to more than 5000 cows. In addition to being a fully functioning production ranch, the property also has a luxurious 10,000 square foot mansion that has gorgeous views of the rocky mountains and a nearby river. It should be noted that there is a bit of a debate over whether or not the Broken O Ranch should be considered one of the most expensive homes ever sold in the United States. Some believe that the ranch is more of a commercial property that happens to have a luxury home plunked down in the center.

#1): $147 Million – East Hampton Estate, Long Island, NY

On May 3, 2014 it was revealed that a hedge fund manager named Barry Rosenstein spent $147 million to purchase an absolutely stunning estate in East Hampton. That makes it the most expensive house ever purchased in the United States. Rosenstein is the founder of hedge fund Jana Partners which has $4.5 billion under management. In 2013 alone, his fund reportedly delivered a 23% return and Rosenstein earned more than $140 million in salary and bonuses. If you'll notice, this record setting transaction occurred less than two weeks after the #3 house on this list sold for $120 million in nearby Greenwich. Little is known about the specific details of this East Hampton house. The photo below is pretty incredible though!

So there you have it! The four most expensive homes ever sold in the US! If you plan on owning an insane mansion like one the ones above, I have two pieces of advice: #1) Start saving your money.#2) Wait for a recession. This is just my opinion, but when you start seeing private houses selling for hundreds of millions of dollars, something wacky is going on. How much would any of these houses have been worth in October 2008 right after the financial crisis decimated the economy? On average, the United States has a recession at least once every 7 years. The average recession lasts 17 months followed by a little more than three years of expansion. If you want to live in an insane mansion some day, save up a ton of money, wait for huge market downswing then strike. It will happen eventually.