40 acres!! that barn!! the main residence!! the grounds!! the landscaping!! did I mention the 40 ACRES?!

SPECTACULAR!!

5.5 is a lot of money, but it is pretty amazing how far the dollar can be stretched based on location, location, location.

The owners of this place neither sewed their own wedding gown nor rebuilt their own transmission in the kitchen...
Example of what's possible with solid professional input at the right places.
Casey

I wonder if "house with swans" is a box you can check on any real estate searches.

I was very surprised to see that the web site was a freebie.

For me, the best part would be an indoor pool and spa. Ahhhhh.

Those incredible ceiling height!
How do they reach for the shoes way up there?
Amanda

Sweet! I like Iowa - nice folks. (Have done RAGBRAI a few times and loved it.)

Here's what $5.9M will buy you around here... this a house I've admired from the outside when walking the dog. When I saw the for sale sign I looked it up out of curiosity. From the outside I thought the inside might be kind of 'casually elegant', warm, comfy, etc. But YUCK on the decorating! 5th picture in particular (curvy wood staircase) gives me sensory overload. I guess it's a good thing I like my house better as this one isn't exactly in my price range. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: $6M house, do you like the decorating?

Forty acres and a mule. Excuse me, miniature donkey.

$5.5M is only the start. I would imagine you'd have to hire half of western West Des Moines to look after the place. And, as chicagoans said, I'd have to redecorate. But the greenhouse is lovely.

Interesting to read that the owner is interested in downsizing after fewer than 10 years. Makes you wonder if he'd be keeping the property if he'd built something more modest to start...

Becky

Here is a link that might be useful: Des Moines Register article

Actually Becky the decorating I was 'yuck' about was the one in my link. The Iowa place looks much nicer IMO. But I'm a pretty casual person so the fancy house in my link is beyond me. The Iowa main residence is more my style. (Not that it matters as I don't have $6M laying around!)

I'd have to redecorate both, chicagoans!

Becky

The decor could use more restraint. We get it. You are on 40 acres in the Midwest. Can you please give my eyes a rest, though?

Their ponds need to be better aerated! That pea green is a bit offputting.

I like the exterior more than the interior.

What i really like is the math --- what was it, about $10mn to build and maybe it will sell for $5mn? I am glad to have company in that sorry sad math!

It brings to mind Elizabeth and John Edwards' home in North Carolina - party barn and all. I can't imagine the process involved in the decision to build something like that. The phrase "I might want to sell it one day" must never enter the equation. That being said, I'd love to have just the barn and use it as my residence!

Along those lines, here is what you get about 30 minutes from Birmingham, AL for $4.9 million. 40 acres, reproduction plantation home and large horse operation, all on an island in the lake!

http://tinyurl.com/Lake-Plantation

If you're bent on spending the whole $5.5 million, we have these 40 acres to offer. No barn, but there is a chapel fit for the Borgias:

Here is a link that might be useful: Borgias, y'all

I like the kitchen checkerboard decor in that last one. Not quite what I expected for the house, though. What would Palimpsest say about context?

Amazing... I would have thought a home in Iowa would go for way more then one in eastern Canada. Here's a $7.75 million house just about a 3 hour drive from my house (houses in my city rarely climb over the $3 mil mark). While it is nice and ocean front, its got nothing on the one you posted!

Here is a link that might be useful: PEI house

I'll play along. Here's what you get in my country for 5.5. I think this house is very well designed inside and out. No "misses" at least in my cursory review. A decent stab at timeless. Could skew younger or older.

It may be a 10th of the acreage, but on the plus side it offers access to labor markets that are far more likely to produce buyers in this price range than one might find in Iowa and Alabama. That might help limit investment downside. Also, public schools may be better in this area too, by some ranking measures.

Here is a link that might be useful: To my eyes, totally fits the context

lol COUNTY not country

In my neck of the woods....

http://www.kurfiss.com/listing/PA/NEW-HOPE/3052-RIVER-RD/5344802/555718

So very much not my kind of house. This one OTOH is much better....

http://www.kurfiss.com/listing/PA/Gladwyne/1234-Country-Club-Ln/5703511/551822

Check out the kitchen in this one (which BTW I actually like, and a lot, too):

http://www.bfpsothebysrealty.idxco.com/idx/3111/details.php?idxID=216&listingID=5757901

Wow - amazing someone would build all of that and then be selling it four years later at a huge loss. Really makes me wonder what's up with that. Also makes me wonder just how many people might consider such a piece of property in Des Moines, IA. I wouldn't need to redecorate - that would work for me - must be my Minnesota roots.

After spending a few days with some friends who have an 8000 square foot house and a few other structures on 35 acres there's no way I'd want all that stuff - not that I could afford it even if I did want it.

Hey Lynne,

I grew up in Bucks County! It's so pretty!

It is beautiful! However, what a small little kitchen! Quite a disappointment. Maybe the barn has something better but not shown.....

As nice or impressive as the Iowa house is, I don't think I could deal with it. Its just too much space.

Of course its more, but the house I find most appealing that was posted was the one in Canada.

give me oceanfront access aany day over outlandishly huge houses.

thats not to say that a lot of acrage wouldn't be cool, just not 2 10,000 sqft structures.

I just searched on MLS in my county and I really had a hard time finding something between 4-6M that I would really want to live in.

The houses are big, and well, needlessly fancy. I guess impressive is what they were going for. I think I'd be happier with a $1-$2M house and $3-4M in the bank

htracey - that is definitely not where anne of green gables lived! ;)

hi pinch_me... nice to see you around. OT: what mischief have you gotten yourself into lately?! :)

Personally, if I had 40 acreas, I would want a more reasonably sized house (absolutely not more than 3,500 sq. ft.), a big barn, and lots of critters. But that's just me. I can't even begin to get into the mindspace of these houses and what drives someone to want something so excessive.

This is fun to see all the different high end homes--some very nice, others not so much. Here's a few available in the Denver/Boulder area:

Denver area: http://www.coloradohomes.com/Property/PropertyDetails.aspx?SearchID=1492265&PropertyID=322713&RowNum=13&StateID=10&RegionID=0amp;IsRegularPS=True

Boulder:
http://www.coloradohomes.com/Property/PropertyDetails.aspx?SearchID=1492304&PropertyID=184690&RowNum=5&StateID=10&RegionID=0amp;IsRegularPS=True

Evergreen (in the foothills west of Denver):
http://www.coloradohomes.com/Property/PropertyDetails.aspx?SearchID=1492304&PropertyID=172804&RowNum=6&StateID=10&RegionID=0amp;IsRegularPS=True

And just for fun, here's one from Aspen:
http://aspen.interactiveproperties.com/aspenexperts/property_details2.php?Mls_Num=116488&whichForm=full&Offset=160&Prop_Class_res=1&Asking_Price_from=2000000&Order_By=Asking_Price+DESC&Limit=20&Prop_Type_res[0]=Single Family&

They seem to have imported the Aspen mountain look to Iowa. It looks nice, but so cold there.

Here's what you get for 4.5 million in my area. It's only 27 acres, but the rest is very much like the Iowa house. The big difference is you can sit outside most of the year. Miniature horses are the thing to have around here. Roosters and goats are allowed on city lots for now.

Here is a link that might be useful: 4.5 Million

I grew up in Des Moines and my family still lives there - that's going to be a hard sell in that area.

Like the kitchen? Like the views?

Here is a link that might be useful: only $3 million

ironcook, I've been researching my house- previous owners and residents. It takes a lot of time. It all started with 160 acres and a script warrent from the government to an Ohio soldier in 1847. I've learned a lot of history along the way. Too bad my history classes in school weren't this interesting.

This is what you get for $5 mil. in my neck of the woods.

(And that's why I live in a very modest apartment.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Brooklyn townhouse

Here's a 6 m home close to me....only .75 acres, but it's on the Long Island sound, which commands a hefty premium. I grew up in Ohio, where real estate was nothing like it is here in CT!

Here is a link that might be useful: shoreline house

OK TKO'ers you are really slacking off. I can't believe you didn't notice that there wasn't a vent hood in the original 5.5 house posted. And the cooktop is in front of a window!

Here is what you get in my area for 3.2 million. 18,000 SQ feet and a 8 car garage. Plus a whole lot of history.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vendome Road

LavendarLass needs to see kitchen in the Vendome Rd house.

Oh yeah, that Vendome Road house would really fit my lifestyle. Maybe I could rent it out to the royal couple as a vacation home. And the ID who is responsible for that family room ought to be shot, preferably with pink floral bullets.

There aren't any homes over $1M for sale in my town, and only one in adjacent towns. Of course, it's waterfront and apparently not heatable.

Here is a link that might be useful: NH white kitchen and wallpaper obsession

This house is a couple of miles from me. Gated island, ocean front, built in 1926, 4000+ square feet. The kitchen looks like about 20 year old and some of the decor is a bit fussy but I'd take this house in a heart beat.

Here is a link that might be useful: 5,000,000

The NH house that warmfridge posted above looks like it has a pipe organ over the master bed!