Inside Donald's billion-dollar mansion

No sooner has Donald Trump stepped from his sleek red Ferrari than he has spotted something he doesn't like. As he is keen to point out, when you're selling a mansion for US$125 million - in Hong Kong dollars, that's just small change short of $1 billion - the handle on the front door just has to look right.

'Hey, Shawn, get that doorknob changed will you?' he calls over to his director of special projects, Shawn McCabe, gesturing at the seemingly inoffensive sliver of wrought iron. 'That's the old one that was here before, it's gotta go,' he explains.

It may seem a minor detail but then Maison de l'Amitie is the most expensive home ever to hit the American property market and Trump, 59, is the most powerful and particular real estate baron in the country - or, as he would no doubt assert, the world.

Having snapped up the beachfront estate for a shade below US$42 million at a bankruptcy auction just over a year ago, he has lavished US$25 million on its renovation, slapped US$83 million on the price-tag and put it back up for sale. 'If you're going to think anything, think big,' his mantra goes.

But this place isn't just big. It is, in Trump-speak, 'yoooge!' The 68,000 sqft French Regency-style house stands on about three manicured hectares of prime waterfront on the barrier island of Palm Beach, Florida - the nation's most affluent enclave and a playground of the rich and famous, where size matters.

'The person who buys this will be someone who's extraordinarily rich, who wants the best house anywhere in the world, in the best location,' says Trump. He corrects himself a split second later. 'Well, the best house and best location after mine,' he adds, referring to Mar-a-Lago, his 110,000 sqft home and private club a couple of kilometres down the road.