The house the televangelists bought in Newport Beach is most likely a decent sized home with a boat dock on Lido or Linda Isle. If you saw it, you would most likely not classify it as a mansion, although the kitchen appliances and decor probably cost more than an average house in the midwest.
US$ 5 million in Malibu (the market I'm most familiar with) will buy you a three or four story architectural beach house on a good beach, or a very nice bluff house with a magnificent ocean view. It might get you something you would describe as a mansion, but only if you go pretty far from the ocean. I saw a mansion on Cliffside Drive that was listed at $11.9 million, and no, it was not the most expensive house in Malibu. A old, small house in need of updating on the same street would run in the $2,500,000 range, although in nearby Birdview I found a $1,795,000 bargain. These prices are similar to, if not a little lower than Newport Beach.
I hope this has given you some perspective. If they're going to use the house to give large parties and the like, it might not be a bad investment for them. It's an expensive house, but far from the most expensive in the area; it would not be noted for its extravagence in the way Aaron Spelling's $46 million Brentwood house was.
D
Disclaimer: The house I live in is worth about $250,000.
"Meow-meow" side note re: Jan's horrifying appearance--Tammy Faye was truly scary to look at, but at least she didn't have PINK HAIR!!!!! What IS it with these TV evangelist broads? Too many of them look like hookers from the movie "Cabaret" or worse!!
I think that if Paul and Jan Crouch wanted to "serve the Lord" (if they what they call what they're doing over at TBN) in a $250,000 house, they certainly could handle it. Jan might have to go to the beauty parlor and actually get a HUMAN hairdo to to fit inside a smaller house, but I think she could handle living a less glamourous dwelling.
Jesus did.