Cooper Neill
- Jeff Bezos is moving to Miami — some of his neighbors in Washington might not mind too much.
- Neighbors told Business Insider that Bezos was noticeably absent from local social life.
- If I were Jeff Bezos, I probably wouldn't want to go to the BBQ, either.
According to some of his neighbors, Jeff Bezos is not very neighborly. He's not a bad neighbor: He doesn't insult anyone, fail to mow his lawn, or have loud house parties.
Rather, residents in the tony enclave of Hunts Point, a wealthy suburb of about 400 people just outside Seattle, say he's just kind of a ghost.
Business Insider's Madeline Berg and Katherine Long talked to residents to get a better picture of Bezos' time there for their story: "'I've seen a billionaire pick up trash. Not Jeff Bezos': Neighbors dish on living next to Amazon founder."
They found:
Bezos, whose colossal gates are nearly always closed, according to that same resident, is himself rarely seen. "He's not much of a neighbor," said one resident. "He's so busy with all this national stuff." He never seemed to live on Hunts Point full time, two neighbors said.
He doesn't show up to the Fourth of July party, he doesn't participate in the Cleanup Day litter-picking-up event, he doesn't attend fundraising events for the local youth charity (although apparently he does donate money to the charity, which is the whole point of the fundraiser).
Bezos has only lived in Hunts Point since 2019 — and is soon moving his residence to Miami with fiancée Lauren Sanchez.
Hunts Point has also been the home to Coscto founder Jim "If you raise the [price of the] effing hot dog, I will kill you" Sinegal. And is the home to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
Ballmer is apparently more approachable — literally — than Bezos: He leaves his gate open, and answered the door himself when a Business Insider reporter knocked on it to ask how he got along with Bezos. ("Nothing to say" was Ballmer's answer.)
Considering the chance of a disgruntled Amazon Prime subscriber strolling up to his door to demand more seasons of Bosch, it does seem perhaps that Bezos was being reasonable — instead of rude — in his reclusiveness in his neighborhood.
(In 911 call logs they reviewed for Bezos' other homes, Long and Berg discovered that Bezos' security team has in fact had to deal with unwanted visitors, like a woman who showed up trying to give him her resume for a job in-person.)
Personally, I love a little friendly chit chat with my neighbors. My editor, however, admits to dreading getting pigeonholed in a long conversation with the older lady down the hall who seems to have a lot of complaints about package delivery to their building.
Thankfully, neither of us are billionaires with multiple mansions to take care of, like Bezos.
And perhaps, as the old saying goes: Good locked entrance gates with so many personal staff that you need to buy 3 extra houses nearby for them to work out of, makes good neighbors.