Some wealthy home owners scoop up millions renting out their luxury abodes for extravagant parties.
Jane Siann, who owns the “Emma Estate,” a four-bedroom Tuscan-style ranch on three lushly landscaped acres in Rancho Santa Fe, makes $3,500 per day renting out her home for weddings and other occasions. When booked, she rolls up rugs, locks up valuables, boards her parrot, puts her five cats in the garage, and checks into a hotel with her two dogs, The NY Times reports. In 2013, Siann logged a dozen weddings, and her estate was fully booked.
Buyers rent homes for various reasons, whether they want something different, more malleable, less public, or a sort of Gatsby-esque residence on the ocean. Paul Rodriguez, 30, and Judith Carr, 35, of New York City paid $25,000 for a nine-bedroom Victorian in Southampton, New York so that their families could get acquainted.
“Lone Star Mansion,” an antebellum-style home on 18 acres in Burleson, Texas
Alex Ailara, 22, and her husband Jamie Whitman, 23, reserved “Lone Star Mansion,” an antebellum-style home on 18 acres in Burleson, Texas, for their wedding reception. It was the man cave in the basement that hooked them: The 73-inch flat-screen TV, a pool table, a poker room, and a dry sauna. “It felt like the day was special not only for the bride but for the groom as well,” Ailara says.
Other high-end residences may be rented for week-long gatherings or family reunions. One like this is a log cabin mansion, affectionately named "Rocky Mountain Castle," located on over 13 acres in Sun Valley, Idaho. Its website describes its enchanting design as characteristic of "the robust iron, stone and log style of the Rocky Mountain west."
"Rocky Mountain Castle," a log mansion on 13+ acres in Sun Valley, Idaho
Big Domain, one of the many companies that caters to anyone seeking a short-term rental, offers ranches, hotels, villas, and yachts for 10 or more people to stage a luxury stag or hen weekend.
According to its website, you can: "Lap up the sunshine on the French Riviera, enjoy sangria in Spain, relax on one of Portugal’s beaches, tuck into a traditional dish in Italy, soak in a Turkish bath or marvel at the cultural brilliance in Greece. We have properties even further afield too with large party houses to rent in South America and North America as well as Africa and Australia meaning that you are certain to find the perfect location for your celebration."
Images courtesy of LoneStarMansion.com / Rocky Mountain Castle
