Emile Haddad's House

Emile Haddad is one of the few US home-builders who bet on the housing market and won.

In 2007, Haddad sold 12,000 acres of undeveloped California land. Two years later, after the economy crumbled, he repurchased it at half the price and pocketed $277 million. He and his company FivePoint Communities are now on the verge of beginning construction on four new master-planned communities on the land, with a estimated total of 45,000 new homes.

Haddad and his wife Dina have just completed building their palatial new estate here in Laguna Hills.