Neighbors reveal what it's like to live next to Jeff Bezos

• Jeff Bezos bought four properties in and around an exclusive Seattle-area enclave in 2019.
• Neighbors, though, say they've rarely seen Bezos, the planet's second-richest person.
• "He acts like he owns" the neighborhood, one resident said.

Every spring, the residents of Hunts Point, a wealthy neighborhood outside of Seattle, come together for a day of service called Cleanup Day. Hedge-fund managers, tech titans, and high-powered attorneys join together to plant trees, weed gardens, and pick up trash. There's a continental breakfast, a barbecue lunch, and a bouncy house for the kids.

One resident, though, is notably absent: Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and second-richest man on the planet.

"I've seen a billionaire pick up trash on Cleanup Day. Not Jeff Bezos," one resident told Business Insider.

Hunts Point is an affluent enclave of fewer than 400 people east of Seattle. It's no stranger to billionaires and the business elite, counting former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Costco cofounder James Sinegal among its residents.

In 2019, a new billionaire came to town: Bezos. Then the richest person in the world, and now the second richest, Bezos purchased a $37.5 million waterfront estate on the heels of his divorce from novelist MacKenzie Scott. Bezos also snapped up three smaller homes nearby for his staff, Business Insider previously reported.

Bezos announced earlier this year that he's leaving the Seattle area to make Miami his primary residence. While the purchase of the Hunts Point properties had not been reported before this week, over his four years on the exclusive peninsula, the billionaire has made an impression — primarily by his absence, eight residents said in conversations with Business Insider.

A spokesperson for Bezos did not respond to a request for comment.

In the tightly-knit community, Bezos' absence from events like Cleanup Day, the Fourth of July party, and fundraising events for a local youth charity, Bellevue Lifespring, were remarked on. (Though he didn't attend the events, Bezos did donate to Lifespring, said two residents involved in that charity.)

Bezos' staff, though, are neighborhood fixtures. His chef cooked meals in a more modest house to the south of the peninsula and delivered them to Bezos' main residence in a "very cute" golf cart, one resident said.

Bezos' security guards lived in a house overlooking the neighborhood's only entrance and exit. They were pleasant neighbors, said the same resident, who recalled them bringing misaddressed packages to her doorstep.

"We did feel a lot more secure knowing that he had all these people watching his property," another resident said.

That extra security, though, has occasionally created complications.

Twice, Bezos security guards called the police to report suspicious people who, after police questioned them, turned out to be employees and contractors of other über-wealthy people on the street, according to 911 call records obtained by Business Insider.

Their omnipresence could be overbearing, one resident told Insider. "Jeff Bezos acts like he owns Hunts Point," they said.

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. Business Insider has previously reported he owns properties in Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, DC, and Texas.

Bezos' absence is all the more notable given that his enormous wealth isn't particularly exceptional compared to many of his neighbors — some of whom are much more accessible.

"There are a lot of spectacular people that don't act spectacular," one resident said.

Steve Ballmer, for example, is also worth triple-digit billions, with his wealth pegged at $129 billion by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, while Bezos' net worth is estimated to be $169 billion.

In contrast to Bezos, Ballmer's gates are usually open, one resident said. His property is listed in his name, not a maze of LLCs, county records show. Plus, he answers his own door, as Business Insider discovered firsthand.

"Nothing to say," Ballmer said, swiftly shutting the door, when Business Insider knocked to ask how he got along with his neighbor Bezos.

Know more about Jeff Bezos? Want to share a tip? Email reporters Madeline Berg at mberg@businessinsider.com or Katherine Long at klong@businessinsider.com, or reach out via the encrypted messaging app Signal at +1-206-375-9280.