You’ve certainly seen such TV shows showcasing lavish and glamorous celebrity mansions. The amount of money spent by some people on their luxurious houses also seems to us ridiculous. Despite being worth millions of dollars, some celebrities agree with you and live in modest homes though it might be hard to believe. Matthew McConaughey and his motorhome, John Krasinski and his bachelor’s flat and Kesha and her bungalow should support this point. These are just a few examples of celebrities who voluntarily choose to live in low-cost homes.
1. Robert Pattinson
About 6 months after finishing his relationship with Kristen Stewart, with whom he shared a large Los Angeles house (which, to be exact, was 4,026 square feet in size), he decided to sell his property and move to a nearby home in the same area, but it was much more modest. Pattinson purchased a nearly 2,000-square-foot home for a mere $2,176,500, with an approximate fortune of $100 m.
The house is furnished with a “rustic” feel with high-end finishes and just 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Another modest feature of the home serves as a sanctuary for the star, hidden behind another building, which is accessible only via a long, enclosed corridor.
2. Vincent Kartheiser
Kartheiser, who on Mad Men played advertising executive Peter Campbell, stayed in a kind of 500-square-foot booth. Sure, 500 square feet, you read that right. It turns out that the actor purchased this place at the wrong time, and the home underwent a complete remodelling while he was staying there in an effort to get his money back. Inspired by the idea of Japanese industrial houses, Kartheiser tried to build an apartment with all the comforts while taking advantage of every available inch.
He was eventually able to sell the house, but because the original price was $808,000 he sold it for $650,000 for much less than he had anticipated. However, he purchased the domain for $547,000. But considering the overall remodelling job, which probably cost him over $100,000, you could say it was not exactly a highly profitable investment.
3. Jennifer Lawrence
This renowned actress, who was named the best-paid actor in the world by Forbes in 2015 (collecting $52 million that year alone), even had her “humility” moment. Jennifer Lawrence continued to stay in a 1,413-square-foot condo in Santa Monica, even during that high-grossing year. She had told in an interview in 2012 that she was used to living in “normal” locations, so finding herself alone in a large mansion would be unusual for her. Notwithstanding these claims, however, she made two big investments: she purchased a 5,500-square-foot Los Angeles house in 2014 and a $9-million-dollar Tribeca condo in 2017, over 3,100-square-foot.
4. Matthew McConaughey
In show business, it is well known that McConaughey has such bohemian tendencies. And it’s no wonder: for a few years, he lived in a house trailer of just under 28 square feet. The actor used his trailer as a home and office, even before finally leaving it in a trailer park and renting a house with his girlfriend after the birth of their first child. What “luxuries” does this little truck have? A satellite dish on the deck, a back barbecue, and a few racks and netting where he kept his books and scripts. How else have you got to lead a happier life?
5. Lena Dunham
The hit series’ protagonist and author, Girls, as hard as it may be to believe, lived in an apartment with only one bedroom and one bathroom. In 2012, the year of the premiere of her show, Dunham bought this 800-square-foot estate for just $500,000. When we see where the home is located, however, the price appears low compared to the price tags found in the vicinity. The apartment was set in Brooklyn Heights, New York City ‘s affluent residential area.
Yet she hasn’t lived long in that apartment. She rented it out in 2014, and eventually sold it for $850,000 in 2017, receiving over $300,000 in income.
6. Elijah Wood
Elijah Wood certainly will not be content with great luxuries. The star purchased his Austin home in 2013 for just over $1 million. The property belonging to the actor best known for his role as Frodo in The Lord of the Rings is built in a Victorian style and it is around 3,200 square feet in size and its price is just over a million.
7. Deion Sanders
Sanders, who has a spot in the NFL Hall of Fame, has a net worth of $ 40 million as well. But he preferred to live in a 29,122-square-foot home in Prosper, Texas.
While not being a big location, this forest refuge has some luxuries in keeping with an American football star ‘s lifestyle such as a miniature cinema, a barbershop, a two-lane bowling alley, a motor court, two swimming pools and a rooftop terrace with yoga practice space.
8. Kesha
Between 2014 and 2015, Kesha lived in a 1,400 square meter Spanish-style bungalow in Venice Beach. Although not a mansion, there was extraordinary beauty to this place. It was built with a very romantic main room and French doors leading to a secluded patio with a fireplace in the exterior.
The famous singer purchased this property for $1,650,000 and sold it over $1,800,000 a year later.
9. Warren Buffett
Warren Edward Buffett, president and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, still lives in the same house he purchased in 1957 for around $31,500 (currently priced at over $600,000), despite having equity estimated at about $70.5bn. His small house in Omaha, Nebraska is about 65,000 square feet and it has 5 bedrooms and 2,5 bathrooms.
His house is by no means modest, but it is tiny given his enormous wealth. This 89-year-old billionaire could live any place he wanted in the world but chose to stay in the city he was raised in.
10. Tom Shadyac
This name may not be well known, at first glance. Still, behind famous comedies like Bruce Almighty, Ace Ventura, Liar, Liar and The Nutty Professor, Shadyac was great mind among others. Between the late 1990s and 2000s, this American writer, director, and producer produced much of his fortune which he then invested in a mansion of about 17,000 square feet. But, following a car crash that left him with a depressive illness, he had a breakthrough. He wanted to sell his big home, moving to a trailer park.
11. Lea Michele
When the show Glee was at its peak of popularity in 2012, Lea Michele, the series’ main protagonist, lived in a cosy Los Angeles house that she bought for $1.4 million. The property wasn’t big but it had its luxuries, like a beautiful kitchen marble finish and a solar-heated saltwater pool. The actress lived there until 2015 when she decided to move to a $3-million-dollar mansion which has a 2-story gym among other items.
12. Mark Zuckerberg
Tech pioneer Mark Zuckerberg lives on a property worth $7 million, a price that isn’t small at all. Nonetheless, given that it is situated in Silicon Valley, an incredibly costly area when we’re thinking about real estate and given that Facebook’s worth of Zuckerberg is around $76.4 billion, we may easily infer that this house is not an unnecessary luxury.
The most important cost to Zuckerberg is anonymity. He spent $30 million buying four properties around his home just to tear them down and construct smaller ones.
Preview photo credit Jeff Rayner/ Coleman-Rayner / EAST NEWS, Matthew McConaughey / Instagram
