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He lives in Germany in the 1000 year old castle he bought in 1999 from the money he made from his ownership in the companies HSC, MetaTools and MetaCreations. The castle was not in the best state back then and was restored by Kai. Here is an aerial photo of the castle from 2009[1]. I lies on the Middle Rhine, a very beautiful area.

[1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Burg_Rhe...




Someone took the “10 European castles that cost less than San Francisco condominiums” article seriously. That’s awesome!


oh man, I didn't even know it was possible to just buy a castle. That's crazy cool


They can be bought and sold like any other realty. Some are owned by the state (esp. those used as public museums) and not up for sale, though.


They can be bought and sold but they come with a lot of obligations. Every modification has to be approved and the specifications are often very detailed. All in all I think a castle is a bit like a yacht - many people can afford one, not so many have the financial means to maintain one. Doesn't mean that owning and living in a castle isn't really cool, just that there is more to it than most people would expect.


They cost a lot of time and money to maintain, that's why you can buy a lot of them in Europe, in various state of damage.


I live on Long Island, NY. It's the home of the "Gold Coast."

In northern Nassau County, there's all these 100+-year-old mansions, on a gazillion acres.

Even though they are often owned by people that can afford the upkeep ("old money"), they tend to get sold or donated to the county or state.

There's a few great museums:

https://www.oldwestburygardens.org

https://plantingfields.org

https://nassaumuseum.org

and a few in Suffolk, as well:

https://bayardcuttingarboretum.com

https://www.vanderbiltmuseum.org

They are a pretty big pain to keep up. There's also a couple that have been abandoned, because the owners couldn't give them away.


They cost a lot of money to maintain and you cannot just let them decay because they come with an obligation that you maintain them. This means not only a vague general obligation but the monument authority will make specific specifications what has to be done and what can't be done. You'll have to get approval for every modification down to little details like the very specific type of window frame and such things. In some areas these obligations can also include that you open your premises for the general public once a year for the National Heritage Day.




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