In a new article in The Wall Street Journal, mansion owners have gone on the record to say that living large isn't as easy as it sounds.
The homeowners have complaints ranging from employing enough staff members to contacting family members in opposite ends of the house.
The first homeowner profiled, Claudio Stivelman, owns an 11,000-square-foot house in Golden Beach, Florida. Stivelman said that hiring staffers was just too much work, and that he's leaving his home. He employed "two housekeepers, a weekly handyman, and regular visits from a pool guy, landscaper and pesticide sprayer," the Journal reports. Stivelman said he was "tired of...all this maintenance."
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Carolyn Mullany-Jackson, meanwhile, resides in a comfortable 20,000-square-foot home in Paradise Valley, Arizona, and said it's far too difficult to contact others in the home "when they are out of shouting range." Mullany-Jackson told the Journal that sometimes she will resort to texting the others rather than use the house's intercom system.
Norm Snyder, who, along with his wife, is selling his 14,000-square-foot house on Kent Island in Maryland, had a similar problem with his residence. The home includes a nightclub with a stage and full bar, a car showroom, and a two-story movie theater, along with eight bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. "It took me six months to find my way around and feel comfortable," Snyder said.
The Journal also notes that while the size of the average American home is increasing, the 2013 average was still only 2,598 feet, making these mansions far from common. And if you're wondering, the average asking price for homes larger than 10,000 square feet is $3.5 million.
