October DealsAmazon USOctober deal check: compare before you payAmazon US: current deals, useful picks and tech finds.Check DealsClean PCRecommendedOne scan can reveal what keeps slowing WindowsLook for cleanup and repair opportunities.Run ScanOctober DealsAmazon USDeal season is back - check today's better picksAmazon US: current deals, useful picks and tech finds.See Picks×
Skip to content
The Finance Base
The Money Desk · Blog
Re:

Inside Billionaire Warren Buffett’s $31,500 Nebraska Home

Warren Buffett’s Omaha house is often called modest beside billionaire estates. He paid $31,500 in 1958 and valued the family memories it held as well as its financial story.
From TheFinanceBase Team2 min to read

Free tools Windows power users keep installed

One-click scans. No signup required.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

Warren Buffett bought his Omaha, Nebraska, home in 1958 for $31,500. He later described it as one of his best investments—not because it maximized his financial return, but because it gave his family a home and, over 52 years, “terrific memories.” The house is often called modest in comparison with billionaire estates, though at about 6,570 square feet it is not objectively small.

Where Warren Buffett lives

In September 2026, recent profiles still identified Buffett’s Omaha house as his residence. Forbes and Realtor.com reported on the home that month. Residence status can change, so this describes what those reports said at that time: Forbes’ September 2026 profile and Realtor.com’s September 2026 article.

The personal residence is not a public attraction. Its interest lies in the contrast between Buffett’s wealth and the home he chose to keep, not in inviting visits or photographs.

What the house is like

Architectural Digest describes the stucco house as having five bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, and approximately 6,570 square feet. Realtor.com also reports five bedrooms and approximately 6,570 square feet. These are figures from secondary reporting, not a property record. Architectural Digest; Realtor.com.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

The home was built in the early 1920s; Architectural Digest and Realtor.com give 1921, while Omaha Exploration dates it to 1922. Buffett and his then-wife, Susan, raised their three children there, according to Architectural Digest and Realtor.com. Architectural Digest; Omaha Exploration; Realtor.com.

How much Buffett paid—and what he said it was worth

Buffett said he paid $31,500 for the house in his 2010 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, published in 2011. He called buying it “the third best investment I ever made.” In the same passage, he acknowledged that he would have made more money by renting and investing the purchase money in stocks. His reason for valuing the home was different: it had given his family 52 years of “terrific memories” by the time he wrote the letter. Berkshire Hathaway’s 2010 shareholder letter.

Rank #2

That distinction matters. Buffett did not present home ownership as a guaranteed path to superior investment returns. By his own account, the financial alternative would have paid better; the house’s value to him also came from the life his family lived there. The $31,500 is the purchase price he reported, not a current estimate of the home’s value.

Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Support on Ko-Fi

Why the house became a symbol of restraint

The story endures because the purchase is easy to contrast with the image of billionaire-scale luxury: Buffett bought one Omaha home decades ago and stayed there, while tying its worth to family life rather than to the largest possible return. The “modest” label is relative to estates associated with extreme wealth. A 6,570-square-foot home is substantial by ordinary standards, so the more precise point is that Buffett’s residence became a symbol of restraint in how he chose to live, not proof that the house itself is small.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

For a wider biographical account, Alice Schroeder’s The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life offers context on Buffett’s life; it is not a house-specific guide. Architectural Digest’s overview identifies the book as biographical context.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

More post from the Money Desk

  1. The Money DeskBlogTheFinanceBase09 OCT 267 minMortgage Escrow FAQs: Taxes, Insurance, Shortages, and Refunds
  2. The Money DeskBlogTheFinanceBase09 OCT 265 minHow Mortgage Escrow Accounts Work and What Homeowners Pay For
  3. The Money DeskBlogTheFinanceBase09 OCT 265 minHow to Read a Stock Chart, Volume and Market-Cap Data
Recommended PC Tool
Recommended PC Tool
PC Slower Than It Used to Be?Free scan - under a minute
Outdated Drivers Are Slowing You DownFree scan - exact matches

Two free Windows tools

One Free Minute Could Fix That PC

Before you go - each of these free tools takes about a minute and tackles what quietly slows a Windows PC down.

Special offer. View Outbyte info, uninstall instructions, EULA, and Privacy Policy.