Des Moines Most Expensive House In Foreclosure, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Feb 20th 2009 at 1:02PM

The lavish home of West Des Moines developer Dave Walters price isn't just the most expensive resale home in the Des Moines area to ever hit the market at $3.9 million, it's also in foreclosure. The Walters family moved out last year and two banks have mortgages against the home totaling around $4.2 million. Waters was one of the top home builders in the area but became involved in projects that were never completed.

If a buyer is not found in a few months the home will go up for a sheriff's sale. The 14,000-square-foot home was finished less than two years ago. The ten-acre property includes a swimming pool, a 1,500-square-foot guest house, three garages, a quarter-mile walking path and its own football field complete with goal posts. The Des Moines Register says it is estimated that Walters spent about $5.2 million building the home after buying the 10 acres for $850,000 in 2005. It has a massive great room, media room, a huge 1,100-square-foot master bedroom and even a secret room hidden by a bookshelf. It is larger and more lavish than most homes in the area but at $3.9 million it may struggle to find a buyer before the deadline.

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Gallery: A Major Foreclosure in Des Moines

Tags: dave walters, DaveWalters, des moines, DesMoines, iowa, real estate, RealEstate

Filed under: Estates

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

C.S. Feb 20th 2009 3:09PM

No wonder they can't sell it. From the pictures, it looks like it's across the street from a mall or something.

What a horrible, ugly place.

Helen Feb 26th 2009 3:32AM

CS, too bad you have nothing better to do than hang around blogs and belittle people. You gave your opinion and Bri was stating hers. CS, get a life and move on...hm-kay?

DTOlness Feb 20th 2009 3:25PM

this is really quite unimpressive...

Chris Feb 20th 2009 3:27PM

You beat me to it, and it appears to be on a busy road, hardly tucked away in a neighborhood. And could that be a working farm next door? Ahhhh, I love the smell of manure in the morning...

Andy Feb 20th 2009 3:31PM

It is across from a school. With 10 acres, there is plenty of privacy. A lot of house for the $.

CK Dexter-Haven Feb 20th 2009 3:34PM

The theatre and the garage are nice.

C.S. Feb 20th 2009 4:15PM

School. Mall. What's the difference? You'd still have to look at it. And since they didn't seem to see fit to landscape anything -- their dominant theme seems to be "more grass, less trees!" -- they'll certainly be looking at it a lot.

The thing is, I've been to Des Moines a few times. Like the place. Cool vibe. Even some interesting architecture. But a place like this plays into the Midwestern=boring stereotype that most people have when thinking about the plains states. It's just a big tumble of bricks and wood set on a flat plot that's basically been stripped of everything but fairway grass. No thought has been put into it, and no class or taste is on display.

Des Moines deserves better.

Bri Feb 20th 2009 9:48PM

What's the difference between a school and a mall? Where did you learn to read and write, so you could respond to this article? Certainly not at the mall...

beanspants Feb 20th 2009 5:27PM

I assume they ran out of money before they finished landscaping. i mean, it doesn't have a football field, it just has 2 goalposts with no other lines.

miamibulldogs Feb 20th 2009 10:14PM

I nominate this as the poster house for vulgarity. So ugly, we need a new word for ugly.

Mark Feb 20th 2009 10:17PM

Pretty tacky and bland. Looks to me like they visited WalMart too many times for paneling, flooring, and fixtures.

Driver X Feb 20th 2009 10:45PM

Formerly good credit did not buy good taste!

Brenda Feb 20th 2009 11:15PM

If I had the money I would buy this beautiful-spacious place. It is so beautiful...

C.S. Feb 21st 2009 2:01AM

Bri, where did you learn to read? Do you seriously not know that when one asks "what's the difference" one is not actually asking what the difference is, but rather commenting that the two listed items are indistinguishable from one another in the given context. Here, the context is: "things I would not want to see from my kitchen window."

You look at the picture, and the school looks like a mall. I thought it was a mall, and I made a comment stating that it looked like a mall -- and you know what? It does. And if I was being asked to pony up nearly 4 mil for the honor of staring out my window at a mall-looking-school, I'd run the other way. Because you know what? When it's an ugly piece of prefab dung staring at me from across my lawn, I don't care if it's a school, a mall, a church, an army barracks, or the final resting place of my sainted grandmother. If the view is hideous, it ain't worth multiple millions (particularly in suburban Des Moines which -- for all its charms -- does not exactly rival Napa in the price/acre category).

In sum, Bri, lets try to be a little less literal in the future, hm-kay? Life is more fun and less embarrassing that way.

choppo Feb 21st 2009 9:50AM

Great comeback!

C.S. Feb 22nd 2009 12:31AM

My guess is that Brenda lives, loves, and works in Iowa. Perhaps for a certain realtor . . . ?

C.S. Feb 21st 2009 11:44AM

Helen said, among other things: "You [C.S.] gave your opinion and Bri was stating hers."

This, Helen, was Bri's "opinion" in its entirety: "What's the difference between a school and a mall? Where did you learn to read and write, so you could respond to this article? Certainly not at the mall..."

Which I hope you will agree displays a startling lack of either opinion or basic reading comprehension. As for the having nothing better to do than hang around on blogs only to belittle people, well ... pot - kettle and all that. Luxist is certainly a guilty pleasure, but it is a pleasure, and I don't really feel the need to apologize for it. And yes, I do take a certain glee in commenting on the wasteful, distasteful, and downright ugly stuff that people far wealthier than I blow their money on. Perhaps it says something distasteful about me that the only comments I leave on this site are aimed at things of this sort --- ugly monstrosities which poison our landscape, or are designed to take advantage of those with more money than sense. I enjoy tearing down more than building up. Guilty. I'll try to be a better person in the future.

In the meantime, however, I don't really see the harm in responding in kind to comments like Bri's which -- and again, I think you will agree -- were more a hamhanded attempt at a personal attack rather than a comment. Sort of like yours was, Helen, with your misunderstanding of the word "opinion" and the way you casually insinuate that taking ten minutes out of my day to write a little blog comment implies a complete lack of social connection, human emotion, or a job. Fine. Silly conclusion, but whatever.

In the meantime, though, this is still an ugly house, its got a great view of an ugly school, and they're asking nearly four million for it. In my humble opinion, people who long for this should take the time to read a book on architecture, on aesthetics, on art, on something that will stop them from falling into the easy trap of believing that expensive = beautiful, and that the more expensive it is, the more beautiful it must therefore be.

And that, my dear Helen, is an opinion.

mindy Feb 21st 2009 12:11PM

maybe with the collapse of the credit markets we will see an end to these wasteful and stupid monoliths. hopefully the mcmansions will fall out of favor just like the suv's did when gas prices went up. who wants to live in a hotel anyway?

Olive Feb 21st 2009 5:23PM

First, I have to say that C.S. makes several correct and entertaining observations. The house is a complete monstrosity that will be difficult to sell given the current economic climate. I doubt that there is an equally vulgar potential buyer in Des Moines who has somehow held onto his cash, eager to take over this ostentatious heap. People of this ilk tend to be up one moment and down another. I suggest that it be donated to the city and turned into a community center, which would be a nice addition to the neighboring school.

GlobalDia Feb 22nd 2009 4:09PM

i havent got a clue about iowa, but for $4mio, that looks like a decent enough place. try to find 10 acres and 14K sq ft in NY, LA or miami and youre gonna spend >$20mio.

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