Mansionmania Tournament: Round 3, Heat 5
 

Mansionmania continues with our Sweet 16 3rd-round contestants. You will choose among each pair of houses with the following assumptions:

• The purchase price for you is $0.
• All maintenance, utilities, property taxes, HOA fees, and cleaning is included.
• You must live in the home for the rest of your life.
• You can't travel more than 100 miles from home (via google maps drive time) other than 1 two-week vacation each year.
• You get $250,000 per year as a living allowance
• You get an additional living allowance at the cheaper home, which will be valued at 1% of any cost difference annually. I will note this amount in the poll.
• You get the furnishings. If unfurnished, you get an allowance that will give you mid-grade furniture in every room.
• You get any vehicles in the garage. But only the garage - nothing parked outside.

I encourage you to click on the maps in the listings to see the general location and neighborhood.

Also, I will only enter contestants if they have a sufficient number of photos to judge, as determined by me.

Your entries in this heat are:

California:

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...7_M18383-06951

Nevada:

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...-91767#photo35

Oh no. I think these are my two favorite houses of the entire tournament.

Incline Village 100%

I haven’t voted the Cali house yet. Just too much money. Tahoe and 750K please.

California. That's my favorite house in the tournament.

I had to go Tahoe, but it was close. Ultimate reasons were more cash, a change of seasons, and probably a healthier lifestyle in general.

This one is kind of cruel, because these are both incredible houses.

An interesting offset is that both houses have neighbors right on top of them, which is not what you'd expect at this point in the tournament.

Nevada has Lake Tahoe and crisp clean air, but apparently no pool since you can swim in the crystal clear waters of the lake. But since I can't swim I don't swim in lakes. You get a big stipend in Nevada and you're near decent services in Reno. Skiing is convenient, though I don't ski. I like the house a lot, but it's not my ideal style.

California is a gorgeous home design. It's convenient to city services, has the best outdoor pool in the tournament, I think, and you can use it year round. The outdoor spaces are superb, and on breezy days it looks like the entire house more or less converts to a lanai. The climate is going to be great as well.

California. I have to go for California. You just can't beat everything that it offers.

Nevada by a long shot.

Especially if you're 14 feet tall.

Rain Man, I found you the perfect Christmas gift. We'll meet under the mistletoe.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/...AC_SL1206_.jpg

N E V A D A

I refuse to believe that the California house can lose to a house with no pool. The city lovers will show up to vote soon and will correct this wrong.

I may have to restart this poll. Something's clearly wrong in the system if the California house is losing.

I went with California. Tahoe is incredible, but the access to LA over rides that for me. These are getting tough.

This is a cruel heat - should be the finals. My two favorite houses, dammit...

Yeah, the Sweet Sixteen is pretty much a murderer's row of candidates. We've got some tough choices coming up.

Nevada all the way. Just fantastic location, home, and more money to spend.

This round is delivering much harder choices. California or Near California. One has the ocean within the reach, plus a couple million more people.

I'm taking Lake Tahoe - for the gull wing car and the boats.

The CA house is one of my favorites. I just can't see myself in NV when I could have LA and starlets in bikinis vs. snow and ski bunnies. Too many things to do in LA.

Context matters. If we were looking at all of these as "which would be the best bachelor pad" then I would have gone California. Wouldn't have been a slam dunk as the cash stipend plays in a lot, but that house would own. However, my bachelor days are far behind me, so now it's more about owning a boat on Lake Tahoe that I can take out fishing. Not sure I need a pool but would definitely have a hot tub put in out back.

My bachelor days are long behind me as well, but it doesn't mean I can't window shop for my grandsons. I'm a city guy. I don't fish or hunt so a boat on a lake or a whole lot of land doesn't hold much value for me. The point I've been making is that you have to stay within that 100 mile limit for 50 weeks a year. There's only so many things you can do for that 50 weeks in some of those locations where there's plenty to do in LA.

These are 2 of my favorite houses in the whole tournament. The Tahoe house plus the cash or an LA house with a lot of perks nearby. If it's a house I have to live in forever, then I'm taking the Tahoe house and the cash and I can waste away in the casinos or fishing on the lake.

Slip me $515,000 under the table every year and I'll "fix the glitch".

So I thought maybe that was the Godfather 2 house when I looked at it in Round 1.

Turns out it isn't - but man it looks EXACTLY like it and you could maybe even see the Godfather house from this place's shoreline. It's directly across the lake.

https://www.mansionglobal.com/articl...million-212841

So if you want to Cosplay as Michael Corleone - the Nevada house is easily close enough to get you there without even having to squint. You could even row yourself out to the same spot if you ever felt compelled to have your brother...taken care of.

**** California

Wow, this is a landslide, which I didn't expect. I wonder how much of that is the anti-CA political vote, which seems very prevalent around here.

I'm kind of wondering that as well. Both are great properties, but I think this is not just an upset, but a thrashing of an upset. I didn't expect that and keep thinking it's going to even out, but it's holding.

I believe the other CAL spot advanced, though - yes?

California has moved along just fine thus far in this thing. And it's not like Nevada is cherry red in its own right. I don't think politics is driving this vote - Tahoe is just pretty uniquely awesome.

Alabama pulled off the Leon Spinks upset against Ojai. California has three properties in the Sweet Sixteen and two of them are down right now, with the third still on deck.

Not to mention 2 sweet cars and a boat to go along with that Tahoe house.

As others have said, shit is getting real.

Surprised the CA house is getting murdered, figured it would be one of the closer votes.

I'll do this for $495,000 and for only the next 10 years.

Everything about that Nevada house is amazing and any of us would be blessed to have it and all that comes with it. But how do you turn down that Cali house with that location and views?

Pretty sure I've voted for the loser in 4 of these round 3 heats. I guess my tastes differ from the rest of the board.

The smog views?

I think our definition of a 'nice view' differs.</br></br> https://ap.rdcpix.com/6b32b5605d3d18...0_h360_x2.webp </br></br> https://ap.rdcpix.com/424b21aea8ec39...0_h770_q80.jpg

I love both these houses, but the California one is simply stunning.
On the flip side you have an amazing house in Nevada plus the stipend, plus the lake. If you ski this house is the one for you.

Got to go Nevada even though I want the Bel-Air home

Have you ever seen a buxom starlet in a bikini have a coughing fit?

No shit?

Well that was a mistake.

Bunch of savages in this town...