The Biltmore was constructed over a period of six years during the late 1800s. In order to build it, the Vanderbilt family employed an entire community of contractors. A railway line was run right to the property, and sawmills, lumber yards, brick factory, and woodworking shop were constructed right on the grounds.

The house is located near Asheville, North Carolina, and is still owned by descendants of the Vanderbilt family. These days, you can stay the night there. It’s certainly worth doing if you’re willing to pay for a 4 star hotel in North Carolina. The Inn, as the part where you’d be staying is known, has a number of unique features, including guided tours of the expansive estate.

So, how much house can you build in 4 acres? Apparently, 250 rooms in all, including 34 bedrooms, 65 fireplaces, 43 bathrooms, an indoor swimming pool, a gymnasium, a bowling alley, servant’s quarters, changing rooms, and rooms whose exact purpose no one really knows.

Believe it or not, the Vanderbilt family actually lived in the house. George Vanderbilt, who had the house built, moved his new wife in shortly after their Parisian wedding, and the couple raised their only child at Biltmore.

While I’m sure homeowners insurance premiums were not a big deal for a family like the Vanderbilt clan, it makes you wonder how they ever managed to find each other in that huge place. It must have been great for kids. Can you imagine the hide and seek games when little Miss Vanderbilt had her friends over?

Believe it or not, the Biltmore estate, whose architecture was designed to resemble a 16^th century French chateaux, was built in a very environmentally conscious way (for the time). Much of the estate is reclaimed forest, having been farmland previously. The estate, in fact, boasts the country’s first managed forest, in addition to numerous gardens.

Photo via Kamoteus (A Better Way)

The house’s exterior consists of alternating stripes of Lego’s most common colors: white, red, blue, yellow, and black. Transparent colored blocks are used for the windows.

On the inside, all of the home’s furnishings are crafted of Lego blocks, including beds, other furniture, and working sinks, toilets, and showers, complete with running water. May insists that the house is a fully liveable house.

Or it was, anyway. When May originally set out to build the house, with the help of over 1,000 volunteers, he had an agreements with Legoland in Britain for the house to be moved to the theme park. When that fell through, the house went up on the market. Alas, it turns out there really isn’t much of a market for houses built out of Legos. And just when we were hoping to go into business building them.

Because the land was needed for growing grapes, the house had to be torn down and the Lego bricks donated to charity. Apparently, Lego was concerned that if the bricks were sold to recoup part of the cost of the project, it could seriously dig into Lego sales in Britain.

I’m not sure the homeowners insurance industry even has any actuarial tables that deal with covering houses constructed of Lego bricks, but wouldn’t it be a fun house to live in? In a day when most homes being built are modular construction anyway, maybe we should all build Lego houses for ourselves. It would have to be cheaper than the average cost of construction. And, let’s face it, most of us have experience building Lego houses (albeit a little smaller). We could start a whole new cottage industry.

With the instability of the housing market, and the rapid decline of house and property values, you can never tell if you’ll be able to get back what you put into a house anyway. With a Lego house, even if it falls apart, you will at least have something to play with.So, you go ahead and build your house out of brick and mortar if you want to. As for me, I’m skipping Menard’s and heading to Toys’R’Us for some Legos.

Photo via Acutance

So most of us scrimp and save until we buy our first house. Or, we apply for government aid programs and buy the house with nothing down. Either way, presumably we move into our new neighborhood, glad to be alive and to finally join the ranks of the American homeowner. And then we meet them. The neighbors. No, not the nice ones across the street who came over to say hi and introduce themselves. The other ones. You know. Those ones.

“Those ones” come in several different varieties, but here are the worst:

1. The neighbor who never cuts his grass. Inevitably, he’ll be next door. Just as inevitably, someone will have managed to cut his grass when you were house shopping. Don’t hold your breath waiting for next time. His grass gets cut once every other month whether it needs it or not.

1. The neighbor who cuts his grass every damned day. And then looks at you as if you were bozo number one who never cuts your grass. Of course, this guy is either retired, or has a wife so annoying that the riding mower is his best friend. Still, grass should be mowed once per week. Twice, tops. Any more than that is crazy. And who wants to live next door to crazy people?

1. The neighbor who asks about your homeowners insurance right after you move in. You learn later that he has a long history of slips and falls.

1. The city inspector. How’d he get in the neighborhood? Well, even if it isn’t literally the city inspector, there’s always a guy who seems to know every arcane city code and ordinance passed since the Civil War (usually this guy looks like he might have lived through the Civil War). And he expects that you should know them, too.

Welcome to the neighborhood. We hope that none of these folks live next door to you. But, we wouldn’t bet the mortgage payment on it.

Photo via Kris Haamer

Come to think of it, the Beverly Hillbillies weren’t even all that comfortable in their mansion. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you couldn’t be. If you think your home value took a hit with the housing, crisis, though, imagine what happened to their home. Valued at over $25 million at the peak of the housing market, the value plummeted to a trifling $8 million. Admittedly, most of us would be thrilled to be able to own an $8 million dollar house, but still.

One of the TV houses that we think many of today’s families wouldn’t mind living in is the Brady Bunch’s house. While the California split level home screams 1970s, we suspect that there are a lot of step parents who would love to discover the Brady’s secret for solving all of the problems of a blended family in the space of half an hour.

How about the Addams Family’s house. Or The Munsters’? There are a few of us out there just oddball enough that we wouldn’t mind giving it a shot, at least on a trial basis. But can you imagine what the homeowners insurance would run? Yikes!

We can’t think of many places that would be cooler to live that the house on Silver Spoons. Ricky Schroeder never did quite outlive the image of the plucky little kid on the show, but hey, if you got to live in a house with a real working train and an arcade in the furnished basement, why would you even want to grow up in the first place?

Of course, most of won’t ever have the opportunity to live in homes like that, but it’s OK. As the old saying goes, our home is our castle anyway.

Photo via cliff1066™

Here are a handful of neighbors from the small screen that we wouldn’t mind having:

• Ned Flanders from The Simpsons. Ned’s lovable. OK, he’s religious, and probably at least a little bit annoying. But Ned doesn’t shove his beliefs down your throat. He keeps up his yard, and he’s not going to bring down your property values. Borrow stuff from Ned and you don’t need to worry about giving it back because, well, Ned figures you can use it more than he can if you don’t return it.
• Monica and Rachel from Friends. These two would be awesome neighbors. There’s always hot breakfast over at Monica’s. She’s just as likely to help you clean your own kitchen as to feed you, too. If you have a party, she’ll bring an awesome side dish. Just watch out for all of the Ross-Rachel drama.
• The Mertz’s from I Love Lucy. You could just as easily name the show I Love Fred and Ethel. These two are plain fun. Fred is a little uptight, but he never really gets in the way. And, even if you move out of the country, these ideal neighbors follow.
• Wilson Wilson, Jr. from Home Improvement. Thoughtful, interesting worldly advice is just over the fence. Who doesn’t love Wilson? Sure, you might not be able to understand half of what he says, and you surely can’t articulate any of it to someone else, but that’s just part of what makes him lovable.
• Barney and Bettie Rubble from The Flinstones. Who needs Ed Norton when you’ve got Barney? Barney will go along with any hair-brained scheme you can come up with, and he’ll even take the fall for you when it goes south.

Photo via Frenkieb

Then again, your home might just be haunted.

Take, for example, the infamous Amityville Horror house. This is the home of Ronald DeFeo Jr. Its story was made famous in the movie of the same name. It’s now up for sale.

When this five-bedroom house located on Long Island first went up for sale after DeFeo shot six of his family members in their sleep in 1974, the price tag was a mere $55,000. That’s a heck of a deal on such a large house, especially on Long Island.

Even by 1997, as things sort of settled down after more than 20 years, the house sold for $310,000, below the market value of similar homes in the area.

Today, however, the stigma seems to be gone. The newly renovated Amityville Horror house is back on the market, and it has a hefty price tag. The owners are asking for $1.15 million.

The house has inspired a series of films, as well as a book. Probably the most famous of these is the 1979 classic The Amityville Horror, starring Margo Kider and James Brolin. The movie tells the story of a family that stayed in the Amityville Horror house during the years after the murders. The Lutz family actually lived in the house, and they eventually lost that house to foreclosure.

Some former owners even changed the address of the home to protect their privacy. The house was renumbered 108 Ocean Avenue from 112 by James and Barbara Cromarty, who lived in the house between 1977 and 1987. The home was sold again in 1997 to the current owner.

Photo via Anemone Nemorosa

Pee-Wee’s Playhouse

Regardless of what you thing of the show, this is one fun house. How many people can claim to have a genie next to a talking chair? Top that off with talking fish, a machine that has breakfast at the ready, and some crazy colors just put this all over the top.

Beetle Juice House

Beetle Juice has one crazy home. Doors to the underworld, sculptures that come to life and sandworms are the icing to this house. If drawing a chalk door means you can get to and from the underworld, imagine how fast you could get to a deserted island with the correct door placement. The only downside is that completely creepy Beetle Juice guy living in the scale model of the town.

Wayne Manor

Bruce Wayne has one heck of a mansion. This mansion might not have all the cool tech of other home, but it can hold its own when it comes to beauty. Marble and high-end wood adorn this palace like sugar flows in the Wonka factory.

This only leads to the bat cave of course. Here technology freaks can enjoy super computers and the latest military technology. The Tumbler only makes the whole package complete.

Tony Stark’s Mansion

Why does the man who dons an iron suit make the list? Why because Tony lives in a fact palatial estate, that’s why! Tony Stark’s mansion is full of technology that we have yet to see in real life. This is truly the home for gadget lovers.

Tony’s mansion sits on a set of rocks overlooking the ocean. His home comes fully automated with the likes of Jarvis. Jarvis controls everything from the doors to the tinting on the windows.

Tony also has one heck of a garage. Sports cars from all over litter the floor. If exotics are not your cup of tea, Tony also has some American muscle that he likes to tinker with as well. In fact, the hot rod red of the Iron Man suit is all because of this love for his American Muscle car.

Hatfield House (Laura Croft’s Mansion)

Laura has one of the biggest homes of any action hero. This is only compounded when you take into account she has a full training ground in her basement. The training facility comes complete with a danger room and robots that want to kill you.

After a fun time running for your life you could step outside and walk around fat gardens. If this seems like a bore, why not strap into a harness and bungee jump all over your living room. This house is full of win. Now if only you could get Laura as the butler for the home as well.

Photo via bdjsb7

So, over the years, I’ve noticed several instances when homeowners are going to be looking at the possibility of a homeowners insurance claim. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Independence Day. Let’s face it, a lot of homes are laid to waste. Usually, homeowners insurance doesn’t cover alien invasion, but you never know unless you read the policy.
2. Alvin and the Chipmunks. You’ve seen the damage that Alvin and his reckless little brothers cause. I wonder if Dave’s homeowners policy covers animals, especially if he willingly brought the animals into the house. I’m thinking he might need a special rider to cover that.
3. Gone with the Wind. Frankly, Scarlett, you’ll be hard pressed to get a homeowners insurance policy in the middle of a war. And if you do, it’s likely that combat damage will be excluded.
4. Home Alone. While that Culkin kid may have kept the invaders at bay, the house never quite goes unscathed.
5. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. I wonder if the Griswolds wound up suing the city for the sewer fire?
6. Mr. & Mrs. Smith. The home that launched the romance between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie wound up riddled with bullet holes. I’m thinking that was going to cost a fortune to fix up, and probably isn’t covered.
7. The Notebook. OK. I actually haven’t seen this movie, so I don’t know if the house is injured in any way. But, hey. I should include at least one chick flick.
8. Sleepless in Seattle. Maybe two chick flicks. The homeowners insurance on a house on the water like that has to be crazy expensive.
9. Twilight. I’m guessing that the homeowners insurance won’t pay to get blood out of the Cullen’s carpet.
10. Panic Room. I wonder if Jodie Foster gets a discount on her policy for having a safe room inside the house?

Photo via Alan Light

Click to see the graphic!

In this infographic HomeownersInsurance.org has displayed the worldwide deaths from natural disasters from the years 1979 to 2008.

Embed the above image on your site
<a href="http://www.homeownersinsurance.org/danger-zones"><img src="http://www.homeownersinsurance.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/HI-Danger-Zones-v3.jpg"> <br />Danger Zones! Worldwide Deaths From Natural Disasters (INFOGRAPHIC)</a>

Of course, you probably already know that. In most cases, you need an extra rider on your homeowners insurance policy to cover things like earthquakes and flooding. There are plenty of other things that your homeowners insurance just won’t cover, too. Here are a few disasters that you can probably avoid, and that won’t be covered if you don’t avoid them:

• Meth Lab Explosion. OK, look. We understand that you feel the need to pretend like you’re a mad scientist and make your own socially-destructive drugs. The good news for us is that meth lab explosions are often fatal. The bad news for you is that, if you live through your meth lab explosion, your insurance policy isn’t likely to cover it.
• Elephant Stampede. In most countries, an elephant stampede just isn’t a likely occurrence. It would require some malicious person to first round up a herd of elephants from zoos and circuses, probably in a 500-mile radius. They would then have to get the elephants to stampede. Most homeowners insurance companies are likely to see this as an act of terrorism or an act of God. In either case, you’re probably going to be out of luck.
• Tornado Trip to Oz. For those that wonder if Dorothy’s trip was real, consider this: her house went with her to Oz. When she clicked the ruby slippers, she was back in Kansas, in her house. How did the house get back? We may never know. You can rest assured that Auntie Em’s homeowners insurance didn’t pay to have it moved back.

Make sure to check your policy and talk to your agent about what is and what is not covered. You can always add coverage if you think you’re likely to face a flood or be struck by meteors hurled toward the earth from alien spacecraft.

Photo via Bexy Wood