This is one of those things that can only happen if you’re as rich as Elon Musk and see the world the way Elon Musk sees it. The slogan “it sounded great in his head” is an understatement.

A house with more feelings than it’s worth. Elon Musk purchased the former mansion of popular actor and comedian Gene Wilder despite his break from real estate in 2013. It was a property located in the exclusive Bel-Air Country Club area of ​​Los Angeles.

The house, which was located just across the street from Elon Musk’s Los Angeles mansion at the time, had been Wilder’s home since the late 1970s. A foundation connected to Musk purchased the property in 2013. The Tesla CEO paid $6.75 million for the home, but his interest in the mansion wasn’t in its real estate value, but rather in preserving the actor’s legacy and the personal items that adorned its walls.

A sale with conditionsIn 2020, seven years after the purchase, Musk decided to put the house up for sale for $9.5 million, but under one condition: The buyer had to agree to keep the house as is, rather than demolish or radically alter it.

Everything stays in the familyGene Wilder’s nephew Jordan Walker-Pearlman and his wife Elizabeth Hunter showed interest in the house, but the high price tag was beyond the couple’s budget. Walker-Pearlman spent most of his childhood there, so he had a strong personal connection to those walls.

Since the couple appeared to be honoring Wilder’s legacy, Musk agreed to lower the price of the mansion to $7 million and finance the purchase. But here comes the most intriguing part of the story: it turns out he would be the one to loan the couple around $6.7 million so they could buy the house he was selling.

Defaults are hereFour years after purchasing the mansion, Wall Street Journal He published that a company connected to Musk had filed a default notice on this loan and would be foreclosing on the mansion.

According to American media, Walker-Pearlman and her husband were late in paying Elon Musk’s loan after experiencing financial difficulties following the Hollywood screenwriters’ strike in 2023. Walker-Pearlman and her husband have been living in the facility for 90 days.

“Express” sales to pay off debtLegal terms allow property owners to forcibly sell their property to pay off debt, so Walker-Pearlman and her husband decided to voluntarily put the house up for sale for $12.95 million, according to private media. Global MansionThus, the property’s profits doubled in just four years.

It has not yet been revealed whether the couple will continue the condition of preserving Gene Wilder’s legacy for a new owner, or whether the need to sell it to pay off debt will take precedence.

I am grateful to MuskDespite the unpleasant non-payment situation that arose, Walker-Pearlman remains positive toward Musk and his desire to preserve his uncle’s legacy.

In the explanations Wall Street JournalThe owner said he didn’t feel any tragedy in the situation. “Elon gave us a magical opportunity. I have no complaints. I didn’t want to be indebted to Elon anymore. We already have a moral debt to him,” Wilder’s nephew assured. WSJ.

In Xataka | Elon Musk released photos of the “mansion” where he lives: a 35-square-meter prefabricated shed

Image | Wikimedia Commons (Steve Jurvetson)