By Joel Hanek
If you're like me you are probably constantly wondering the same two things: "How can I get inside a TV star's home without being charged for breaking and entering?" and "What am I going to do with all these millions of dollars piled up in my giant money vault?" Well the answer my friend is celebrity real estate! It's a great time to get into the business (unless you count that whole recession thing) — as the owner of the "Jersey Shore" season-one house has just proved.
According to TMZ, the current owner of this Seaside Heights summer share will now be charging three times the original renting price since the cast of "Jersey Shore" graced the grounds with their presence. Rent will reportedly be $3,500 per night for the house until May, and thereafter the price nearly doubles to $6,500 per night for the six-bedroom, three-bathroom house.
If Snooki and crew could justify this kind of price-gouging, we thought it might be fun to look at some other famous houses (at this time, please change your internal narrator's voice to one that sounds like Robin Leach).
RealWorldHouses.com, a site devoted to former "Real World" abodes (and totally not affiliated with MTV, by the way), reports that the house of the upcoming "Back to New Orleans" season is on the market for $1.7 million. Its Sothebys.com listing doesn't mention "Real World," however, but it does name-drop "MTV Cribs." It's supposedly owned by Los Angeles Clipper Baron Davis, who showed off his home for us back in season eight. What a bargain!
A couple million is just small change compared to estimated value of the luxurious brownstone currently featured on "The Real World D.C." RealWorldHouses.com reports that this building has an estimated value of a cool $5.69 million, but it's being leased right now, so you may have to wait your turn.
Perhaps reality-TV isn't your idea of a safe investment. You could go for something more stable. In one of the odder promotions for a television show, way back in 1997, outside of Las Vegas, an exact replica was built of 742 Evergreen Terrace — yes, "The Simpsons" house. It was actually part of a big sweepstakes. The house has since been repainted and re-sold for $135,000 (according to this real estate site), so you may have to change it back to its more animated palette in order to flip it at a profit.
Also, don't forget about houses from the big screen! The real suburban Chicago home of Ferris Bueller's best friend, Cameron Frye, is now listed at $1.8 million, down from $2.2 million when MTV Movies Blog alerted you about this hot buy last May. Hopefully, the damages to the windows have since been repaired.