If Pixar’s Elemental taught us anything, it’s that fire and water do mix.

Hello, friends. Welcome to another installment of Hey Look At This Rich Guy’s House (Biweekly)! As a programming note, I do have a few leads on stories that might involve some quirky smaller builds and other sorts of interesting abodes, but alas, none of those are ready to go just yet. So this week, we’re headed up to Del Mar, a town that we haven’t visited in nearly six months, despite its being within the second-priciest ZIP code in San Diego (and 51st most expensive nationwide).

“Peaceful Tranquility surrounds this contemporary architectural masterpiece encompassing a magical nearly two totally private acres, which is just a short 1.5 miles to the Pacific Ocean,” opens the Zillow pitch for 4314 Vista De La Tierra, a seven-bedroom, eight-bath compound with nearly 9000 square feet of living area under roof. Let the ogling begin.

Our tour begins at the “resort-style saltwater pool which features fire and a stone waterfall.” Yes, there’s fire in the pool, provided by a gas-powered fire bowl pushed a few feet into the water from one side. There’s also a hot tub at the other end surrounded by the entry steps If it were up to me, I probably would have placed the fireplace closer to the spa. Come curl up by the fire and get warm! We’ll follow that pool pic with an aerial shot showing the main house, as well as two detached guest houses that seem to flank the pool — plus a “lighted tennis court complete with a viewing pavilion.

“For the most discriminating clients, the entire compound is meticulously appointed and exudes world class elegance with unsurpassed craftsmanship throughout!” the listing boasts (or continues to boast). I’m not sure; from the street shot that follows, the place looks like your run-of-the-mill McMansion from the mid-2000s, although I do like the little round room out front that I’d call a turret if it weren’t shorter than the rest of the building. All that said, the covered entryway that follows is pleasant, even if it is styled more like a resort than a residence, what with its commercial-style dual glass door entry giving way to a foyer and curved staircase inside.

Lots and lots of refrigeration. Very cool.

Now we’re in a living room. Take a look at the tiered ceiling with an indent painted to look like a cloudy blue sky — nice! If I had any artistic skill or faith in my ability to get the lighting right, I might try to do a fake skylight like this for myself. Then the photo spread shoves us right back outside into the yard, where a stone path through a painstakingly-manicured lawn takes us to a seating area in front of another firepit. We don’t stay long, though, because now we’re passing through the dining area we saw at the back of the living room shot, on our way to a kitchen that features “numerous English Sycamore lacquer cabinets, Wolf ovens, 2 Sub-Zero full size refrigerator & freezer, plus 4 Sub-Zero refrigerator drawers, Sub-Zero Wine cooler, and 2 Miele dishwashers and espresso maker.” I don’t know how much food and beverage you regularly need to refrigerate if you’re this rich, but if I actually filled all that storage space, I think even my teenager and her friends would have trouble eating through everything before the expiration dates passed.

Next we get a bedroom with sitting area, and another one of those round ceiling recessions – sadly, there’s no mural inside this one. We then file past a fireplace into a bathroom, where a pair of green vessel sinks add a pop of color to the vanity; beyond, we see a room with floor-to ceiling textured tile, multiple shower heads, and a bathtub off to one side. The space in there alone is bigger than most residential bathrooms, which makes me wonder why they couldn’t have put the toilet anywhere other than in the middle of the open space between the vanity and shower.

We jump back outside to the pool deck before peeking into an office with a mysterious pink orb in the ceiling and black granite surfaces that very much harken to the home’s 2004 build date. Then it’s time to pass through the entryway and head back out to the pool, except now we’re looking up at the back of the house. Then we see the same outdoor fireplace we saw earlier, and take yet another glance at the path between the pool and house. At this point I’m getting a little confused as to where exactly we’re going, or why. Have I been drinking? Has the listing manager?

Now we get another living room...or perhaps this is the “family/theatre complete with Crestron wireless system,” as it appears we’re passing through “rain glass” doors that the listing says lead into it. Another set of pool deck photos follows before we head into what I believe is one of (possibly both of?) the guest houses, at least one of which has a room set up as a nursery. We take a quick look at the lighted tennis court and an outdoor kitchen area, and then bounce back and forth between guest house shots and even more pool views before abruptly being shown the door, so to speak, via one last aerial.

“Never leave the compound while enjoying the walking paths through the tropical oasis that you will call home,” the listing advises. I’m sure I’d be plenty comfy here, but eventually, I’ll probably want to go to the beach or something. We are in Del Mar, after all.

Public records list a DGG Trust as the current owner of the Vista De La Tierra estate, it last sold in 2017 for just under $4.2 million. Following attempts to re-sell with an asking price as high as $10.9 million dating back to last July, it’s currently available at the reduced price of $9,750,000. If you’re the lucky buyer, perhaps you can help me put these listing photos in order so that I understand the layout.