ELKHART, Iowa — Now starring in the central Iowa housing market: the biggest house ever to be built in Polk County.

“It’s just the two of us now,” says Kim Menadue. “All of our kids are out of the house, and so we just figured that it might be a good time to downsize a little bit and travel more.”

Passersby in the Elkhart area might never notice the Menadue house is there. But through the closed gates and down the quarter-mile driveway, it appears — their stunning, 15,000-square-foot mansion on 23 acres.

When Mark Menadue finished it in 2007, it was everything he’d ever wanted.

“It was kind of my dream home,” he says. “I’d worked hard all my life and we’ve been very fortunate, lucky and were successful — and this was it. But I never really thought about the other end.”

The “other end” will be finding someone with $4.9 million to spend on a home, and more still to keep up its extensive features. Among them:

• 9 bathrooms
• 9 fireplaces
• 4 laundry rooms
• 3 full kitchens
• 2 swimming pools (one indoor, one outdoor)
• 2 hot tubs (one indoor, one outdoor)
• 1 indoor tennis facility

“If you have the budget for a house like this,” says listing agent, Rick Wanamaker, “of course you want it to look like it’s worth $4.9 million. And this one absolutely does.”

Wanamaker and his wife, Marcia, have sold many of the biggest and most extravagant houses in central Iowa. But even for them, the Menadue Mansion is something else.

“I’ve never sold a house with two swimming pools,” Rick says. “They built the outdoor one so they’d have it during the pandemic, and most of the other features are newly-updated, too.”

“It’s like a vacation house,” Marcia says. “Only you don’t have to go anywhere to take the vacation. It’s right here.”

While the sound of selling an expensive house in the midst of an economy rocked by President Trumps tariffs might sound daunting, the Wanamakers believe there are buyers out there right now.

“People in the market for a house like this sort of have their own economy,” Rick says. “And if you wanted to build this house today it would cost probably twice as much.”

“There are a lot of buyers around here that can afford a home like this,” Marcia says, confidently.

The Wanamakers says the sale—when it comes—might be a bit unconventional.

“Probably we’ll sell this to someone who is not actively looking,” Rick says. “They’ll just hear about it and it intrigues them, and they take a look, and it’s the right house for them.”

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