Mega mansion flop: hyped LA home sells for less than half its $500m asking price

The 100,000 sq foot property features 21 bedrooms, 42 full bathrooms, a nightclub, private movie theater … and a host of issues

A Bel Air mega mansion marketed as “America’s most expensive residence” sold in a bankruptcy auction on Thursday with a winning bid of $126m, a fraction of its reported original asking price of half a billion dollars.

The 21-bedroom home – described as “twice as big as the White House” – has been derided as much as praised, making its sale a hotly anticipated event. The elite team of realtors behind the auction touted it as the ultimate dream estate but others called it a “giant white elephant” and “one of the ugliest homes I’ve ever seen”. The New York Post labeled it “the latest example of a hyped Los Angeles mega mansion that failed to perform”, and suggested its failure to meet the listing price meant that the city’s “cheeseball” taste in real estate might be starting to improve.