For those who just can't quite commit to $115M ask, the Beverly House, in Beverly Hills, is the country's priciest rental listing by a landslide—at $600K a month, it's nearly 2.5 times as expensive as the most expensive rental when Curbed took stock around this time last year. Sited on more than three and a half acres of land, the H-shaped home was built in 1927 by architect Gordon Kaufmann; in 1946 actress Marion Davies bought the place for her paramour, publisher William Randolph Hearst. A couple of years after Hearst's 1951 death, John F. Kennedy and Jackie O. honeymooned here. The Beverly House starred in The Bodyguard and The Godfather, as well. With Hollywood history like that, splitting $600K a month 28 ways—there are 28 bedrooms—doesn't sound half bad, particularly when one factors in the "Art Deco" nightclub, the "herringbone parquet floors and a massive carved stone fireplace mantle from San Simeon," and the "lighted tennis court with indoor bar and media center."

Mega-builder Joe Farrell's mega Hamptons Sandcastle mega-funhouse has been looking for a buyer since biblical days, and while it really wants $43.5M, finding someone to pay $550K for the month of July will do, too. By far the most expensive Hamptons summer rental this year—and that's no puny feat—the Sandcastle is stocked with a 40-foot-long living room, a 2,800-square-foot master suite with an additional eight bedrooms, a two-lane bowling alley, a golf room, a skateboard half pipe, a rock-climbing wall, a media room, a nightclub, a "children's performing area," and a combination squash, racquetball, and basketball court (with a retractable hoop), all on 11.5 Bridgehampton, N.Y., acres.

It may look like just a blip from this aerial listing photo, but this Southampton estate is going for $1M for the whole summer (and $400K for July). In the words of Curbed Hamptons, the place seems to whisper things like "This summer, I shall not settle for anything less than Ionic columns around my marble bath. No other order will do. I need my volutes."

Many a Hamptons estate wants six figures for a month, but this Ocean Road number in Bridgehampton, asking $300K for July, wins the award for the best brokerbabble intro: "Traveling with an extensive retinue? A royal court? An extended Family? Half a dozen CEO's and spouses? No problem!" Looking past the 10,391-square-foot shingle-style main house, the property's more unusual amenities include a sand volleyball court, a Har-Cru tennis court, and staff quarters meant, uh, "to accommodate the chef, butler, chauffeur, lady's maid, nanny, majordomo, masseuse, and multiple housekeepers."

Known as Redcraft, this Southampton, N.Y., estate was built in 1897 and has since been renovated and given a major overhaul by designer Steven Gambrel. As is always the case with Gambrel's work, the interiors and landscaping are indeed spectacular, which makes the brokerbabble's claim—that this "is one of the finest properties to ever come to the rental market"—not so easy to scoff at. Redcraft is asking $250K for July.

This Southampton property is currently listed for $25.8M or $700K for the summer (about $230K a month). Like many of its fellow East End chateaus, this, too, is a "magnificent shingle-style mansion" that's "set on park-like grounds with main and service driveways." It's got 10 bedrooms and eight baths.

Being marketed as "Sagaponack Seabreezes" isn't the only thing this castle-like rental has going for it: in August Bill and Hillary Clinton rented the place for an estimated $200K. Perhaps the simple act of summering was a more carefully considered show of bipartisanship on the part of the die-hard Dems: the 3.5-acre property, which boasts an 8,000-square-foot mansion, belongs to regular Republican donor Michael Saperstein.

This five-bedroom, 5,700-square-foot Malibu house is a spectacular, glassy mansion with an open floorplan, a guest house, and 180-degree views from the floor-to-ceiling windows. At $200K a month the 1979 contemporary doesn't come cheap; then again, though, neither do nearly 130 private feet of Malibu beach.

In Beverly Hills, this $195K/month estate, named Palazzo di Amore, is less like a "palace of love" and more like the...palace of a revolving dancefloor in a 24-car garage. Owned by billionaire Jeff Greene, the 25-acre estate (which includes six acres of working vineyards, duh), has been looking for a renter for years, and is even rumored to be quietly floating it on the market for $150M. Better test out that 6,000-square-foot ballroom before making the call.

Known cheerily as Contenta, this palatial Med-style mansion is Miami's most expensive rental, clocking in at $149K a month for 11,000 square feet. The six-bedroom home sits on a rare corner lot of Palm Island, an exclusive area of town.

A quartet of rental listings share the honor of Manhattan's most expensive; first up is this penthouse, perched high atop the Waldorf Towers and asking $135K a month. In this "anything but ordinary" unit, there are crystal chandeliers, a 20-person dining room, French doors, a rotunda, and views of the Chrysler Building, all designed for a "very special resident," as the brokerbabble puts it. (Non-special residents can stop reading now.) Amazingly, the place is still $5K shy of tying the most expensive rental in the Waldorf Towers, ever: Cole Porter's old apartment, which asked $140K a month in 2010.

Not to be outdone by the its fellow countryman The Waldorf, The Pierre, at the moment, has three separate suites all listed for an even $135K a month. Sure, hotel amenities are nice, but even a "rich, opulent history of decorative style" or "white-glove elevator attendants" won't fool most folks into paying well into six figures a month for 1,100 to 1,400 square feet.