Mark Zuckerberg Is The 1 Percent: So Rich He Doesn’t Even Pay Interest On His Mortgage
Mark Zuckerberg is richer than you, but you already knew that. Just how many perks the Facebook founder gets for being so filthy rich might surprise you though.
Zuckerberg was able to refinance the $5.95 million mortgage on his Palo Alto home with a 30-year adjustable-rate loan that starts at 1.05 percent, Bloomberg News reported. Though mortgage rates reached historic lows this year, high net-worth individuals can access rates far lower than the average person, Greg McBride, a senior consultant with Bankrate Inc., told Bloomberg.
“When you can borrow at a rate below inflation, you’re borrowing for free,” McBride wrote in an e-mail. “This is the concept of using other people’s money and it preserves financial flexibility for the borrower.”
Though Mark Zuckerberg’s rate is adjustable, it isn’t likely to change anytime soon as the Federal Reserve has made it clear that interest rates will stay near zero for the next two years.
For homeowners without billions of dollars in the bank, the average for a one-year adjustable-rate mortgage was 2.69 last week, down from a record 2.68 the week before.
With a net worth of $15.7 billion, Mark Zuckerberg is the 40th richest person in the world, though his net worth is falling along with Facebook’s stock. Since going public in a $16 billion initial offering in May, shares of the company’s stock have fallen close to 20 percent.
Mark Zuckerberg’s five-bedroom, 5-1/2 bath home was built in 1903 and takes up 9,011 square feet. The two-floor home, listed at $7 million, is enclosed by a gated driveway and surrounded by thick shrubbery. The home’s one-fifth of an acre also contains a saltwater pool, and the backyard played host to Zuckerberg’s wedding with longtime girlfriend Priscilla.
Homes in his neighborhood sell for an average of $1.875 million, and neighbors include Google co-founder Larry Page and late Apple founded Steve Jobs.
Zuckerberg will now be able to save 1,981 per month on his mortgage, Time reported.
