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Warren Buffett has been the richest man on Earth. He runs Berkshire Hathaway, a nearly trillion-dollar powerhouse with major stakes in Apple, Coca-Cola, Geico, and American Express. His personal net worth has floated around the $100 billion mark. If anyone could afford a private jet hangar attached to a marble mansion with voice-activated bidets, it’s Buffett.
Instead? He still lives in the same modest house he bought in 1958 — for just $31,500.
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Located on a quiet corner lot in Omaha, Nebraska, the 6,500-square-foot stucco home isn’t exactly small. But by billionaire standards, it’s practically quaint. It was built in 1921 and sits just five minutes from Berkshire’s headquarters — close enough for Buffett to skip a limo and still make it to work on time.
Decades later, he still calls it one of his smartest buys.
“It’s my third-best investment,” Buffett wrote in a 2010 Berkshire letter to shareholders.
And unlike most billionaire real estate portfolios, which stretch across time zones and architectural styles, Buffett has never felt the itch to trade up. He just doesn’t see the point.
“Would 10 homes make me more happy?” he told People magazine in 2017. “Possessions possess you at a point.”
That’s not some catchy slogan. It’s how he lives — and eats.
“I don’t like a $100 meal as well as a hamburger from McDonald’s,” Buffett added. “That’s the way I’m put together. I don’t equate the amount I spend with the enjoyment I’m going to get from something.”
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His entire approach to real estate mirrors his investment philosophy: value first. Early in his marriage, he gave his wife a choice — they could spend their savings on a house or let him invest it. They waited. They bought the house later, when they could afford it without draining their capital. It wasn’t about being cheap. It was about being smart.