For my area, Dallas, there’s the New Money in Southlake, and the Home of the Powerful and Wealthy in Preston Hollow. Preston Hollow has the most notable residents and the ultra-wealthy, Southlake has the highest median household income of any small city in the US, with pretty much every household being in the top 5% income-wise.
In my area (eastern Wisconsin, a ways north of Milwaukee), I’m in it. Beachfront property on Lake Michigan is the most desirable real estate for miles around. My front yard is rolling dunes, clean sand, and blue water.
Fortunately my family owned the land since the 1800’s. Inheriting it was far easier on the pocketbook than buying it.
They bought a 140 year old wreck in Coolidge Corner for an embarrasingly low price. The family had owned it for 80+ years so they were eager to get rid of it and retire to New Hampshire.
It is very beautiful but I don’t envy them the restoration process.
Well, for Hoboken NJ, the “Beverly Hills” would be the Hudson Tea condos overlooking Manhattan. But for the greater NYC metro area? I suppose the Upper West or East sides by Central Park. You could also include suburbs like Greenwich, CT or parts of NJ and Long Island. Lot of fucking money around.
Similar story- my grandpa bought a beach house (built some time prior to 1900) on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach, CA, back in the 1940’s for about $4500. My parents live in it now, and also still own “the big house” in Newport where I grew up. Newport Beach, CA is pretty much the Beverly Hills of just about anywhere!
If we were to sell the beach house now, as is (no garage, old roof, built on posts rather than a full foundation, extremely limited street parking, small but with three bedrooms, 3 full baths and an attic, less than 1900 SF), we would easily get $2 million for it, so that the buyer could bulldoze it and build a Big Ugly on the lot. Never gonna happen as long as my brother and I draw breath.
TruCelt was right about Northern Virginia (Washington, DC-area suburbs) - Great Falls and McLean are definitely the ritzy areas. Take these homes (or I should say mansions) for example (links go to Zillow.com real estate site): $2.8M $3.5M $3.9M $6.5M $6.5M $6.5M $9.5M
In Maryland, it’s the suburb of Potomac: $4M $5.5M $5.8M
I always wonder who lives in these huge mansions, and why do they need so much space??
The really good places are hiding behind 4-foot brick walls and/or dense two-hundred-year-old vegetation. Walk just a block off Brattle Sreet in the direction of Concord Ave and it’s shocking how quiet and peaceful the neighborhood suddenly becomes. It feels so secret and remote, even though it’s between two very busy streets. It’s like a curtain comes down between you and the noise of all the life streaming by on Brattle and Concord. Take a peek at some of the houses off Brattle behind the Longfellow house. I want one so badly but I don’t have any spare millions. What I love about them is that many them are not very big, just old and very old-money looking.
The area around Little Five seems to be one of those “depending on the street number and the street it may be a beautifully renovated 80 year old craftsman bungalow or a crackhouse”. Is that the case?
In my hometown of Cape Town, South Africa I would say the ritzy suburban neighborhoods are Bishopscourt and Constantia. Much of it is forested and in the foothills of the mountain, so it is very private and picturesque. If you are more urban in nature then a trendy apartment on the coast in Clifton or Camps Bay would be more suitable.
Here in Sacramento I am not really sure. East Sacramento looks quite nice. I’m not sure about the surrounding suburbs.