In one home, you have a fantastical, sprawling castle in the woods and lush fields of Iowa.
In another, you have a smaller, trendy California abode that’s disappointingly normal for the price.
For the home alone, the decision is easy for many onlookers. The $10.2 million Iowan mansion covers more than 13,000 square feet and dwarfs the $9.9 million Carpinteria home at 2,135 square feet of space.
The contrast exposes an obscene housing market in the Golden State, one of the most expensive in the country, that forces consumers to look smaller and smaller to afford a decent property.
The impressive Iowan estate is in Toddville, a few miles north of Cedar Rapids. It has a 15-acre lake, a pond, and miles of woods.
One of its owners, Dawn Ameling, said she assumed it was some expensive California home when she first saw the listing.
“I assumed it was some $20 million estate in California,” Ameling told The Wall Street Journal. “Then I looked closer and thought, ‘Oh my gosh, this thing is in Iowa!’”
The home’s facade is made of a fossilized stone, and the updated landscaping is akin to an Italian villa’s, Ameling said. The house has five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, and a spacious backyard pool.
The Carpinteria home, located in Santa Barbara County, is much, much smaller — but does offer “spectacular harbor, islands & sunset views.”
“This 4 Bedroom beach house offers an open floor plan with an enclosed glass windbreak terrace at beachside and private gated walk-up courtyard and entry deck.
“Large oceanside terrace with more than enough room for family and friends and your private steps to the sand, Serena Cove and Loon Point,” the home’s description says.
The home has beachside and island views with access to the ocean. It has four bedrooms and three bathrooms along with a spacious front patio area.
Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, told the California Post she wasn’t surprised by how close in price the two properties were despite the massive size difference.
“There is a mantra in real estate: location, location, location. These two houses exemplify that,” she said.
Hale said it is largely up to buyers to determine which house they prefer. Even though the Iowa house has a massive size advantage, the Golden State home “has a lot of location advantages that just aren’t matched by the Iowa property.”
There’s also the fact that the Iowa home, Hale theorizes, has much fewer comparable properties to compete with in price. The Santa Barbara market is much more competitive with similarly priced homes, she said.
But Hale says the difference is also due to the Golden State’s inflated housing market — that a relatively small property can equal a massive castle elsewhere in price.
“These two properties show how disconnected from the rest of the US California home prices are,” she concluded.
California is significantly more expensive to live in than Iowa.
A Bureau of Economic Analysis report showed the Golden State as having the most expensive cost of living in the country, while Iowa sat among some of the cheapest states.
