From Kim Knox Beckius,
Your Guide to Hartford.
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May 31 2007

Looking to trade up from your cozy ranch home to something with a bit more room... and a disco? Rapper 50 Cent has put his Farmington, Connecticut, mansion on the market, and if you have a pile of cash sitting around, you can own this remarkable property.

According to the real estate listing, 50 Cent's 51,657-square-foot crib has 19 bedrooms, 35 bathrooms, a theater, disco, indoor pool and spa, tennis and basketball courts and an infinity edge outdoor pool with a 40-person hot tub tucked inside a rock grotto behind a waterfall. But that's not all. The private compound also has its own Koi pond, gardens, a guest house, a board room and state-of-the-art security systems. The security must be good because the rapper, who is known for having been shot nine times in 2000, has managed to stay out of harm's way since he bought the property for $4.1 million in 2003 from boxer Mike Tyson's ex-wife.

You probably knew that 50 Cent was a rapper, but did you know he was a house flipper? The current asking price for the 52-room property is $18.5 million. Although 50 Cent poured a lot of cash into renovating the house, that still sounds like a pretty good return on his investment... if he can get it. According to the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors, home sales in the area decreased 7.31 percent from 2006 to 2007 for the four-month period between January and April. A Hartford Courant article suggests it may take years for the rapper to find a buyer for the property, which is uncharacteristically enormous and pricey for its suburban neighborhood.

If $18.5 million is a bit rich for your blood, you can still enjoy a peek inside 50 Cent's crib with the virtual photo tour provided by the listing agent, Keller Williams Realty. If you have serious interest in the property, you can request a showing online. Something tells me they probably won't be holding an open house.

After you see pictures of the mansion's opulent interior and fabulous grounds, you may wonder why Fiddy would move away from this swanky place. According to reports, he wants to be closer to his 10-year-old son, who lives on Long Island with his ex-wife.