I would definitely stay in a smaller house. It's nice having all that money but buying a mansion or two is a waste. If you buy a mansion you have to spend even more money furnishing it. If you have a home with a few rooms you can spend a lot of time and money making each one of those rooms ridiculously creative and meaningful.

You are talking about Warren Buffet of course. The $31,500 price from 1958, adjusted for inflation is roughly $250,000 today. Incorporate real estate appreciation over that time frame, which over that time period in Omaha, NE averages to 1.5% over inflation per year, then the home should be worth about $350,000, not taking into account the upgrades he has put in, like his handball court and state of the art gateless security system.

Nonetheless, a home worth a fraction of a million dollars for a man with a net worth of $47 billion does seem like a disparity.

I do not believe that I could be as unpretentious as Buffet, but I would not go to the opposite extreme either.

My decision would be based on comfort, security and location. I would shun anything custom built for me. To me, that is ego stroking. I would tend to lean towards something stately, something with a history attached to it. Perhaps an old English manor house. Whatever premium I pay for it would be merited due to its history, as such, in my mind not a waste of money. After all, if I became that wealthy, it must have been due to the fact that I do not waste money.

I would probably move for the wife and kids and this would have been over time I made the money. I am happy with my office and my kitchen and my little chair in the corner. I really don't care about the huge house and I think this is really for Hollywood. I remember when Burt Reynolds married that blond ???? Anderson and she was a bit of a golddigger. She had to have a 12,000 sq. ft. house and they interviewed Reynolds and he said we have dogs that don't even know eachother. For me I am fine here. I don't even drive new cars as they are a waste.

Yes, because I'd rather have several small homes in several locations that I could visit than spend all my money keeping up one mansion.

In my current home no, I'd prefer something more energy efficient with a much larger chunk of land. In the case in question "6,000-square-foot, five-bedroom" here.. that is in no way shape or form a 31,000 dollar home. 31,000 won't get you a trailer. Standard 31,000 homes also don't allow owner's to have "his very own handball court that he uses to keep fit".. I'd say the home began as a 31,000 but this guy has probably added enough upgrades to make it 10-20 times that now. Personally i would rather start fresh, design the place myself... well or move to another country where they still have homes to my liking.

If I were comfortable in the home and not bothered by people coming to look for hand outs (as happens when people find out you have money - or at least for people who win the lottery), then I would stay if I really loved the home and it did everything for me that I wanted it to do. If it didn't have the space that I needed, I might upgrade. If some of the things in the house didn't suit me - like the kitchen or a bathroom - but I loved the area that I lived in, then I would remodel and stay. There are many benefits to living unpretentiously.

I wouldn't want a mansion, even if I could afford one. Too much space. I'd rather have a cozy home, not too small but not too much more space than I needed. I could afford to fix it up however I liked, and that would be enough. My tastes are pretty simple.

If my house is comfortable and suitable to my needs, I might do that. Home means comfort and safety, and as long as we can feel that in our home, then it's perfectly fine to stay in it. In here, there are some billionaires who also stay at their modest house long after they become rich. A lot of times, people who have a lot of money doesn't work for the prestige or luxury they crave, but because they truly enjoy what they do, making money or become powerful. House is also a status symbol. People don't NEED 12000 ft house but they feel they have to prove something by owning it. Once you have a lot of money, more money that you can spend your entire life, you might not have the craving to prove yourself anymore.

If this house met my needs and made me happy, then I would stay. I think if you have lived in the house that long, you love the house.
Just because you have money doesn't mean you have to move into a mansion.

We have actually fantasized together about what we would do if we won the lottery. We are like dsaldridge: we would prefer to have several smaller homes and travel between them. It would be awesome if friends lived in each of these smaller homes and kept them up for us, and would be there for company when we visited, too.

The house we are currently buying from the bank and that we live in was also built in 1958, just like the one in the question. Eerie.