This 7,900 square foot house has 5 bedroom, 6 bath, a 14 car garage and not 1, but 3 race tracks in the backyard. It is a car lovers paradise, and it just came on the market with an asking price of $5.5 million.
Located at 61605 Goodwood Drive, Thermal, California, the custom built residence offers the car enthusiast life in the fast lane. The entire lower level is a garage/man cave that can house up to a 14 cars, and there’s 5.1 miles of private pavement in the backyard for you to race around.
Best of all, your neighbors will be car people as well because the home is built inside the Thermal Club, a 160 hectares private members club for rich car enthusiasts.
The Thermal Club is similar to a golf course, only the homes are built around race tracks. In order to own a home, you have to become a member of the club. Membership starts at $85,000 plus $1,200 per month dues (there is also $250 a month HOA). Once you’re a member, you get access to all the club facilities and three race tracks for you, your family and your guests.
Unit 6105 features a modern open floor plan with spacious living area, and a huge patio that overlooks the Thermal Club race track as well as panoramic desert and mountain views – ideal for privacy and entertaining alike.
However, it’s the garage that is the highlight of this house. it occupies the entire lower level, and extends up into half of the second level. All 3 levels of the house are accessible by stairs or elevator.
The garage has enough space to park up up to 14 cars. It’s also heated and cooled so it’s the ideal place to set up a man cave. Just imagine a poker night between you and your boys, surrounded by your car collection.
Location! Location! Location!
While the Thermal Club looks like a car enthusiast’s dream, the development hasn’t been a roaring success. Since the club broke ground in 2012, only 70 homes have been built on the 268 lots and many of the lots remain unsold. A look at the site on Google Maps shows a ton of empty building lots.
The reason for the lack of sales, other than the crazy high home prices, is because of the number one rule for real estate investing: Location! Location! Location!
The Thermal Club is located in Thermal, California, which is a desert in the middle of nowhere. It’s a not a place that comes to mind when you think lifestyle of the rich and famous.
The club provides the clearest divide between the have and the have not. If this were The Hunger Games, the Thermal Club would be the Capital and Thermal would be District 12. Inside the club, members have a minimum net worth of $30 million, own multi-million dollar homes, and have multi-million dollar car collections.
Outside the club, the median house price is only $128,000 and 33% of the residents live below the poverty line, so you may want to think twice before taking your Bugatti outside the club gate.
Needless to say, the homes at Thermal Club are not the primary residence of their owners. The houses are used as second, third, fourth, or fifth vacation homes. Most members visit during the winter months, when the desert climate is not so hot.
If you can ignore the poverty outside the club walls and stay inside the club bubble, then you can enjoy a lifestyle depicted by this Thermal Club promotional video.
