WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — This run of warm weather has kicked all sorts of spring activities off to an early start…including home sales.

“We’ve got 2,400 homes for sale, which is up 24% from this time last year,” said Rick Wanamaker of Iowa Realty.

One of the highest-grossing agents in Iowa, Wanamaker said home sellers and home buyers who’ve been putting off a move in hopes that interest rates would plummet back to their former lows have cleared their heads.

“That little 3% interest rate period we went through was just a once-in-a-lifetime situation,” he said. “It’s never going to repeat itself, nobody expects it to happen again. But life goes on, people want to buy a different house, they have to buy a different house, they can’t wait.”

With a median home price of $285,000, homes in the Des Moines metro are more expensive than ever, but still far below their peers in other metro areas, even in the Midwest.

Wanamaker was after far bigger fish than that, today.  

As he placed his “For Sale” sign in the ground at 1576 S. Stonewood Drive in West Des Moines, he became part of a new metro record. The home behind him became the most expensive spec home ever built in the Des Moines metro.

“This is something that almost never happens,” Wanamaker said. “Most homes this expensive are custom-built. A buyer designs it with a builder, and then has to go through a two-year process before they can move in. This one is ready right now.”

The 7,300-square-foot stunner on the 1.5-acre lot is ready because builder Bill Kimberley combined his own money and expertise to create what he considers a home with “the best of everything.”

“This isn’t just a spec house,” Kimberley said. “This is a house that’s been well-thought-out, well planned, fits the land, and every detail has been attended to.”

With seven bathrooms, four decks, a heated cigar lounge, and a huge den with full-size wet bar, it’s a house that’s set up to entertain.

Surrounded by mature trees, and with heated floors, fireplaces, and solid wood throughout, it’s a house that feels far warmer than the typical mansion.

Kimberley believes despite its price, the house won’t take long to hook the right buyer.

“I’m hopeful that people are going to come in here and fall in love with it. There are buyers in Des Moines who can afford and are spending this kind of money, and I think we’re gonna sell it.”

To see the listing for this home click here.