The ultrawealthy are buying nearby homes to keep staff close—and Larry Ellison and Mark Zuckerberg are two examples

For some of the world’s richest people, buying a mansion is the first in a string of many purchases. They start buying homes nearby—not to live in themselves, but to keep their household staff close by. 

Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, who is worth $195 billion, is one example. In 2023, he paid nearly $10 million for homes in a small gated community in Boynton Beach, Fla., to house members of his family’s staff, including tutors for the five children he shares with Jolin Ellison, his sixth wife, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation. The community sits roughly 30 minutes from the Manalapan, Fla., estate on the ocean he’d purchased a year earlier for $173 million. At the time, it was the most expensive residential property ever to change hands in Florida, according to local outlet Palm Beach Daily News.

The ultrawealthy are increasingly buying up homes for the people who work for them while they build out their own property holdings, the Journal reported. The arrangement keeps employees “close enough to be helpful,” while still giving the family its privacy, according to the Journal, which also reported that the world’s eighth-richest man bought eight homes in Palm Meadows Estates. An Ellison-linked LLC with a California address made those purchases, according to the........

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