Facebook CEO buys a $7 million house

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has purchased a new 5,617 square foot house in Palo Alto. Public records show the property in question sold in mid-March for $7,000,000. Here's a description of the place, courtesy of Real Estalker:

The turn-of-the-century residence, set well back from the street behind walls and privacy hedges, was originally built in 1903 and remodeled and expanded over the years. The previous owners–who reportedly still occupy the home as of yesterday–gave the property a complete and expensive overhaul a few years ago that included the addition of an entertainment pavilion with outdoor fireplace and built-in barbecue and a lap-lane salt water swimming pool and spa.

A wide rocking chair porch leads to and impress-the-guests entrance hall and reception area, a formal living with fireplace, banquet hall sized dining room, wood-paneled family room with built-in cabinetry and a large center-island kitchen that opens into a glassed-in sun porch. The master bedroom includes a bathroom with twin Carrera marble topped vanities, separate soaking tub and shower and heated floors for tootsie warming on those chilly and damp NorCal mornings.

The house features a saltwater pool, a music alcove, five bedrooms, five full and two half bathrooms, a glassed-in sunroom, and a spacious porch. It is also a convenient 10-minute drive away from the company's soon-to-be headquarters, according to Mercury News. As a reminder, Facebook's headquarters are currently in Palo Alto, California, but will be moved to Menlo Park, California, in June 2011.

Although he isn't expected to move in for several months, it's almost fitting that Zuckerberg is also settling down. Long after becoming a billionaire, Zuckerberg still rented modest places to live (and claimed to have found all of them on Craigslist), but now the young man finally become a first-time homeowner. The company's CEO has lived in Palo Alto almost the whole time since he moved Facebook from his Harvard dorm room to Silicon Valley back in 2004.

I normally couldn't care less about what celebrities are doing, but Zuckerberg happens to be mildly relevant to to the future of Facebook. I'm just wondering: did the 26-year-old pay in cash?