Say you live in a home valued at $200K that has a partial view of somewhere amazing but the blockage is a not so attractive cottage that no one lives in.
Sure, I'll bite. The analogy is okay, except that the not-so-attractive cottage in this case is a beautiful and historically significant century-old building in incredible condition. Your numbers are also problematic because the $19 million figure is an optimistic one (
Zillow suggests $12M may be more accurate, but the house was valued at $6.2M mere days before it was purchased by the Winslows) and the $4 million figure for the historic property a pessimistic one, given that it was sold at a foreclosure auction after being listed at $7.5-8.2M. Really, we should probably use $7M and $12M as middle ground, which means a $116k cottage purchase plus demolition costs.
If it weren't for that stupid abandoned cottage blocking your view, you'd have the complete sanctuary in your home and yard that you've always aimed for.
The Winslows moved into the house on 12/29/2008, according to the
Marin County recorder. That means they had been living in the house, and the community, for less than 2.5 years when they decided to bulldoze a historically-significant mansion more than a century old. This home is not their life's sanctuary, it's the latest stop on a decades-long spending spree. Moreover, the attitude of not being satisfied with
a half acre on the bay in one of the most expensive places on earth because there's
not enough room to garden is truly disgusting. Not 'not for me', but actually morally repugnant.