Mark Zuckerberg has gotten into the real estate game, but not in the traditional sense. On Oct. 11, the San Jose Mercury News reported that Zuckerberg spent $30 million snatching up four properties that surround his own.
Is he building a Zuckerberg mega-mansion? Maybe a Facebook museum? Nope. The young multi-billionaire in fact wanted to keep their neighborhood from becoming an attraction. Mercury News' report cites a source close to the info saying that Zuckerberg heard of a developer with plans to buy one of the properties, build a giant house and market it as the home next to Mark Zuckerberg's. So, in a move that began in December of 2012, he started buying four homes that surround his house.
And these won't just be empty buffer homes either. The same families that were living in the homes before the sale are currently living in them now. Zuckerberg just leased the homes back to them, which gives him control of who will be living next to him. However, because these property-owners weren't likely all selling their properties at the same time, the prices he ended up paying for the homes was definitely on the high side. Mercury News wrote that he ended up spending as much as $14 million for one home.
GeekWire writes that this particular act mirrors how Bill Gates also handled things in his residential area. The Gates family, as well as family and friends, still own many properties close to the Gates home.
via Examiner National Edition Gadgets & Tech Channel Articles http://www.examiner.com/article/2013-10-11mark-zuckerberg-30-million-four-homes-neighborhood-privacy?cid=roadrunner