The most expensive home in the U.S.

By Christine DiGangi | Credit.com

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  Yahoo Homes/Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate - pool

At the moment, the most expensive property on the market is a $139 million palace in Broward County, Fla. What does one get for that hefty sum, you ask? Plenty. The place is practically a giant jewelry box, given all the gold it contains, starting with the 13-foot, 22-carat gold leaf gate, according to a news release on the listing.

Before getting into the specs of this place, let’s look at the neighborhood. After all, what good is a multi-million-dollar palace if you don’t love the view?
Ambience likely won’t be an issue for whoever decides to purchase Le Palais Royal (yes, that’s what it’s called, and yes, it means “the royal palace” in French). It’s situated among other lovely properties in Hillsboro Beach, a part of the Miami metro area, with a private dock for a mega yacht on the west side of the narrow strip of land known as Millionaires’ Mile (the actual street name is Hillsboro Mile).
The Atlantic Ocean is on the other side.
The infinity pool alone is larger than the average home in the United States — 4,500 square feet. According to the 2010 census, the average home was 2,392 square feet (the median was 2,169).
You might as well entertain with a place like this, because there’s a 30-car underground garage. Then again, if you don’t care to entertain at all you might still enjoy the space, especially if you happen to have an extensive automobile collection. There’s also a putting green and six water features to enjoy, along with that mega yacht you’ll hopefully have, because leaving the dock empty seems like a terrible waste. The rest of the exterior comes with your standard beautiful-palace stuff: built-in grill, open balcony, wraparound porch.
Inside, there are 11 bedrooms and 17 full bathrooms, two of which are dedicated to the master suite. The grand staircase cost $2 million and two years to build, but the real indoor attraction is the IMAX theater, an apparent first for a residence. There are some other fun things, like an elevator and an area billed as “maid/in-law quarters,” but beyond that, it’s just a regular palace, constructed with an impressive amount of marble and mahogany. And gold. Don’t forget the gold.
On the more serious side of things: If you’re looking to finance a palace like this, you’d need excellent credit. (Don’t know if you have excellent credit or not? It’s not a bad idea to check your credit scores to find out, which you can do for free through Credit.com.) Even with the low 30-year mortgage rate of 4.12% (last month’s average, according to Freddie Mac), you’re looking at a monthly payment of $550,559 for Le Palais Royal. Annual taxes are $143,425, and if you plan on putting down less than a 20% down payment ($27.8 million), the loan will be even pricier..