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Downsizing For Millionaires
My husband Eddie remarked upon watching House Hunters on HGTV last night (the one with the couple and their toddler looking for a small mansion on the Gold Coast): "Is it me, or are rich people real dumb?"
I don't know about dumb, but they sure are obnoxious. Some of that's jealousy, sure. But a lot of that's justified.
They live in another world, a world where they learn quickly to take so much for granted. So all of their observations and choices will seem to the rest of us working class as unnecessary, extravagant, spoiled.
My main justification, if you will, for tuning in is the setting. My beloved Hawaii, the east side specifically, where most rich people reside... Waikiki to Koko Head, Kahala, Hawaii Kai, oceanside, what Mainlanders call the Gold Coast.
Another is my penchant for living vicariously through the rich and famous. I used to live on Robin Leach's Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous during my college and post-college years.
So I oohed and aahed over the fancy wood and stone flooring in the three mansion choices, the pool by the ocean, the impossibly spacious rooms within that only a few million can buy in paradise.
It just puzzled me that this couple with their kid wanted to downsize, primarily to find a more kid-friendly home to live in, and yet they wound up buying mansion #2, another two-story palace with stairs and an unguarded pool. But she loved the kitchen and he had to have his covered garage, even though he had to slum it with only a two-car (the guy collected like, around 10).
I kept wondering what was up with the realtor, showing them mansions that were beautiful and lavish but decidedly not kid-friendly. I mean, the first house had a huge backyard overlooking the ocean with sheer drops, no gate, nothing. All the homes had hard stone surfaces.
When the guy complained about the third mansion only featuring a carport, and what were they thinking to put a measly carport in... I wondered if he knew where he was living. It's Hawaii. Most of the schools aren't air conditioned. Most homes aren't either, and the only kind of garages there are the carports. It's open-air living.
Unless you're rich. Then, you can live opulently as if you're in Beverly Hills, Chicago or the south side of the moon. You can shut out the local island lifestyle and pretend you're still a local, but enjoying only the perks compatible to your upper-echelon personality.
The only thing that was Hawaii to me was the million-dollar view.
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Apr 25, 2008 2:10 PM
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Coggie I can't even watch that stuff because those spoiled out of touch rich folks get on my last nerve.
I want to reach through the TV and smack some sense into them.
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Apr 25, 2008 2:36 PM
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