Mansionmania Tournament: Round 1, Heat 12
 

Mansionmania continues. I'm going to show you the most expensive homes in every state and a few territories, with a few extras thrown in from the largest states to get the tourney up to 64. It'll be a single-elimination tournament.

You will choose among each pair of houses with the following assumptions:

• The purchase price for you is $0.
• All maintenance, utilities, property taxes, and cleaning is included.
• You must live in the home for the rest of your life.
• You can't travel more than 100 miles from home (via google maps drive time) other than 1 two-week vacation each year.
• You get $250,000 per year as a living allowance
• You get an additional living allowance at the cheaper home, which will be valued at 1% of any cost difference annually. I will note this amount in the poll.
• You get the furnishings. If unfurnished, you get an allowance that will give you mid-grade furniture in every room.
• You get any vehicles in the garage. But only the garage - nothing parked outside.

I encourage you to click on the maps in the listings to see the general location and neighborhood.

Also, I will only enter contestants if they have a sufficient number of photos to judge, as determined by me.

Your entries in this heat are:


Kansas:

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...8_M98451-43225

Delaware:

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...0_M58295-90451

lol at the Kansas ranch. 3500 acres of empty space to cover the fact that the house sucks

Would you starve to death in that Kansas place? Is there anywhere to even purchase gas or groceries within 100 miles of there?

Christ that's desolate. Just...no.

I'd rather live in Guam.

25 photos of scrub grass didn't put you over the top?

Both of these places pretty much suck, but one of them overlooks an ocean.

I suspect I'd be able to live there about 8-10 years before I decide to just walk out into it one day, but it's longer than I'd last on the dark side of the moon there in Kansas.

Before I continue badmouthing it - have we confirmed that it's not actually Buehler's place? Because I'd feel kinda bad if it were.

I mean - not TOO bad...because if he lives there, he's already dead inside.

Whew.

We have two very different contenders here. This is comparing not apples to apples, but rather kumquats to vienna sausages.

Kansas - it would be great to hang out at Buehler's house, so I'll mention that as a positive. The house is pretty nice, and I actually kind of like the plains setting. I've done my share of driving in plains states and I don't mind it at all. On the negative side, I have no interest in owning 3,500 acres of farmland here other than just leasing it to somebody. And is there a restaurant within two hours of this place? I like isolation, but I don't need this much isolation. I'll ask Buehler's thoughts on how much I could make with a lease, because that's a factor here. On the whole, the house is okay but the location is kind of a deal killer given how I'd want to spend my leisure time.

Delaware - The house is nice, but doesn't wow me in any way. And I've never really wanted one of those "walkway to a bunch of sand" beach houses without a tree in sight. I have little interest in being in the house itself. The big positive here is that the house is in a touristy area, so I could wander to one of the beach towns every day for lunch. I did a race in Rehoboth a while back, and it was nice. I didn't fall in love with it, but it was nice.

I dunno. This is a heat where I'm not enthused about either option. It might come down to money, and the Delaware property wins that. I don't know what income the Kansas property would generate, but if it's less than $160,000 a year, then Delaware wins with a noncommittal shrug.

I suspect Kansas can't beat Delaware's income enough to make it worthwhile. I'll go Delaware.

If he doesn't live there, I think he's next door.

I actually kind of like western Kansas. But for the rest of my life? It takes a better man than me to drive that far to a restaurant.

LOL No but it is 65 miles from my place.

This is easy money for me. I can change nothing about my life, add (rough back of the napkin math) $14M worth of irrigated farmland (which from what I'm guessing is more water than any of my current irrigated farms), sell about 2/3 of that equipment, and I probably wouldn't even need to borrow any short term money for inputs. Then air BNB that house and move on.

I'm the only one voting for it, but...lets just say there are extenuating circumstances.

No trees or hills allowed in this round, apparently.

Oh, so like five houses down.

Mansionmania Tournament: Round 1, Heat 12
 

Seeing that Kansas house really reminds you how once you go 50 miles off the main highways on the plains there is basically nothing but wild prairies and farmlands as far as the eye can see.

This is a super weak heat but Delaware wins it.

Under the rental agreement with my landlord that pays nothing except property tax, if the irrigated will yield what it says, nothing for the grass (I can get you something), and a real conservative number on the dryland, I'd be paying you in the neighborhood of 2.2 Million for 2021, plus I could probably get you $.1/bu bin rent, that would get you another 24 K. If you were interested in renting the shop, probably 20K ish provided there is water I could get out at Volume.

Let's just say 2.25M for this year.

Looks to me like if you liquidate the equipment, sight unseen, you're looking at another 1.5 -2M

I'd definitely be interested in renting that.

Speaking of irrigation, I'm assuming the reason every one of those sections in the satellite image has a massive circle in the middle of it is because of center-pivots?

I knew there were plenty of 'em out there but I didn't realize they were quite that pervasive.

I actually live in town, dicknose. ROFL It isn't THAT desolate out here. But it kind of is up there. Sharon Springs has about 900 people in it.

Who would actually buy that Kansas house? Lot of farmers have 25 million to spend or qualify for loans?

This is the first heat where I would turn down the offer entirely. I'm good.

That part of the world is hugely irrigated. In the water table there are like stones, instead of sand, so water flows into wells really easily. It's deep and takes some power to get out, but there are some big ass wells up there. Part of Wallace County is in my GWMD and they're trying to get some restrictions on it up there, but currently the pumping limits up there are 2 Acre Ft/allocated acre. And places up there can hit it.

For reference, my farm is about 30% irrigated, dads is less than 10%. And none of our systems pumped over 12 ac/in (half the allotment) for a lot of years now.

It's definitely different up there.

There are a couple (not me), but I'm guessing they're looking for outside money with that particular post.

Damn it....I was hoping this was going to be the Kansas entry so I could keep arrowhead within 100 miles....zero interest in Sharon Springs...if we're talking driving distance, I can't even get to Garden City....

https://www.realtor.com/news/unique-...ld-water-park/

Give me Kansas, I love being alone and like farming. Perfect combination for me, well the Wyoming house is my dream house but this would do

Wait, wait, wait. So you're saying that my annual stipend for Kansas would go up from $250,000 to $2,750,000 with only a little contract signing work? If that's the case, I might enjoy living on an isolated farm.

But still...how am I going to spend that money? Garden City is 99.9 miles away, so I can get there.

Maybe I'd devote my time to building a giant pyramid or something.

And wait - if I got a $25 million loan at 5 percent (just guessing), that's a payment of $1.25 million per year. And you'd pay me $2.25 million a year to use the land?

(Logs onto checking account to check balance.)

Farm ownership loans are at 2.5 percent from the USDA.

https://www.fsa.usda.gov/news-room/n...ural-producers

Yeah. At 5.25 corn.

Colby has reasonable amenities, but nothing to do. Real answer is a personal chef and a helicopter, then build whatever you want to do. Unless you want to get to **** you money, then we can work the lease a little harder, leverage the equity in land, buy a bunch of other farms, and after their paid off, then you can have **** you money on the back of my labor. :D

Yeah, you won't qualify for those.

If you do this, I want in.

Is it because of those emails that I sent to Gruden?

We'll figure this out. Maybe we can mobilize the chiefsplanet investing club. I think your labor can make me - er, us - a rich man.

You're in. We've got momentum building.

If you can get it from a bank, it's better. USDA sucks.

Now THAT place would get my vote...

Yeah, Jesus. That is a house. Let's be real here, the Sharon Springs outfit is a farm operation. This is a $10M HOUSE. That's something.

In the literal middle of no where. There is nothing within 100 miles of that place.

Christ Rainman, you've got to redo this one.

Yeah, I'm torn on how to define eligibility on some of these places. If most of the value is in the land, is it really eligible for a mansion contest? I decided that I'd include places only if they had more than 5,000 square feet in the residence, and the Sharon Springs place has more than that. It's a darn nice house, but it's not a $10 million house.

Wow.

That place sold at auction for $2.25 million in August.

https://www.realliving.com/homes-for...6217-301777176

That kinda feels like a bargain.

$2.25? I would've bid $2.26. I like that place.

Rain Man, this needs a redo with this home inserted. It's a contender!

Sadly it's not presently on-market so it's ineligible.

Mansionmania Tournament: Round 1, Heat 12
 

This is more like what I was expecting for a Kansas house. Something just stupid luxurious and over the top, some land, and still way cheaper than you would expect.

Unfortunately, my hands are tied. It's not the most expensive 5,000+ square foot home on realtor.com.

Mansionmania Tournament: Round 1, Heat 12
 

It seems like the auction winners are flipping it. The article says it’s for sale, including the name of the listing agent.

Never mind that article is September 2020. So they went from $10 million to $2.25 million.

Sometimes you have to break the rules.

Your submission is like a house on 25,000,000 worth of land.

Eh, after the ranches and such in California, this was pretty much EXACTLY what I expected in Kansas.

Some sprawling ranch house on a few thousand acres in the middle of nowhere. My wife's uncle owned an Angus breeding operation in south-central Kansas and it was worth a fortune. They had a fire burn up 40,000 acres and still had 10,000 acres untouched. They had so much space that even with like 3/4 of the county burnt up, they only lost like 5-600 cattle.

He recently sold his interest to his brother and moved to Texas - guessing he got a mint from that...

Ouch. I wonder what the story is. It seems like a deal at $2.25. It doesn't seem like a deal at $10. I wonder if they had a loan come due or something.

Hey, how come Andrew gets to get up? If he gets up, we'll all get up - it'll be anarchy!

Mansionmania Tournament: Round 1, Heat 12
 

I just never would have guessed farmland could be so expensive.

If I was given this Kansas house I’d probably turn it into a prehistoric fossil quarry and have people pay to come dig up mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, and all kinds of other prehistoric ocean life.

This does bring up a rules question. I have a few big states - CA, TX, FL, NY, maybe one other - where I'll provide more than one candidate to get the field up to the proper 64-mansion field.

In most states, you get a good spread of houses, but in TX I think I'm picking 4 houses and all or nearly all are in one neighborhood in Houston. They're pretty different houses and are all gorgeous legitimate mansions, but they're all within a mile or two of each other. I'm torn between maintaining the system and putting them each up, or replacing at least one with a different property elsewhere in Texas. It's a pretty big state to have all of the candidates in one neighborhood. What do y'all think - stick with the most expensive or spread them out?

Delaware is the easy option for me. The home itself is actually rather modest, but I'm OK with that. The ocean view/access win it for me.. Oh, and the fact that the I literally wouldn't pick that Kansas property even if it was the only option in this entire tourney.

Spread them out

A few other questions:

-It looks like the most expensive house in WA is currently pending. Will it qualify?

-The most expensive property in HI is actually a development of 3 houses, which combine to more than 5,000 sqft. Would this qualify?

-What will you do if a property wins its round and then sells before the next round?

That's what I'm leaning toward. Don't tell lawrenceraider that I'm changing my rules.

I may put two up from that neighborhood because of a particular selection rule in my system. But I'll spread out the other two.

50,000 acres is 78 square miles. That’s a….lot.

Paid for ground makes money man.

We're kind of screwed if a house sells, because the listing goes down. I think my only choice will be to put up the next most expensive house in that state as a proxy. I'll probably take the risk and put a pending up, because I think these sales probably take a long time.

On the HI house, I haven't looked yet and will make the determination when I see it, but I think my rule will be that the main house has to be 5,000+ square feet. I've already bypassed a place or two where someone was selling a bunch of houses as a package for a lot of money, and none of them were mansions.

If it was just me, I would have vote for Kansas without hesitation. Knowing absolutely dick about farming I would need Buehler's phone number ASAP after taking ownership. Are there even phones in the middle on nowhere? I might need to have Mike Tyson come and train some pigeons for me. But I digress. With a wife and two teenage sons to think about, I would take the beach house.

I'm pretty sure that the Pony Express runs through that area.

If I had to stay within 100 miles of that Western Kansas place for the rest of my life except for two weeks a year I think I'd hang myself within 3 years.

With that much land, just make it into a hunting preserve. You could have people from all over the world come and see you. Heck put in your own airstrip and make your own town.

With all that land, money, and time, I'd build enough stuff that future archaeologists would think that a small civilization lived in the area.

Do what you gotta do, bro.

But I'm not living in Houston.

Kind of an underwhelming one here. The Delaware house looks like it's begging to get washed out by the sea. Inside it looks like a mid 90's condo.

The Kansas house must be so tranquil and quiet, so that's nice. It's a nicer house but i think i'd get pretty dang bored.

Delaware for me.

Ugh.

Feel like this is probably the worst heat so far for me.

If I choose Kansas I feel like I would probably add to the statistics of suicide in the farming industry. I would get bored out of my ****ing mind. But it's got the land I've cherished in just about every selection I've made.

On the other hand the Delaware house has no land but is more appealing as a home to me because its not like living in a lodge. You have the ocean which opens up many more activities, but every major city is just out of reach.

I dont know... flip a coin. Delaware.

Spread them out.

Yeah, my memory is it was on right at 48K acres.

It's like 8 generations owned. First folks bought about 150 acres as homesteaders in the late 1800s and in/around the depression they started expanding. They first started angus breeding in the 1930s and now they're internationally known.

It's a hell of an outfit.

Plow into some of the crops and build a baseball diamond. Someone might make a movie about it one day.

By year 3 in that KS home I'd have to create some type of Squid Games death competition out of sheer boredom

Sharon Springs without a doubt. I love Western Kansas. Lease the land out and Pave a 4 mile road course for auto racing.

LMAO 100%

Use your stipend to fly in squads of homeless folk from across the country and shit.

Also **** FSA, hated working with those ****s

Same ****s. FSA is under USDA. The FSA office you were in was probably a "USDA service center"

Yeah, River Oaks is the elites elite. I believe the Bush's reside or rather, resided there.

5M for that 90's era Delaware place seems steep. I like that it's waterfront there at least, and all the neighbors aren't coyotes and cornstalks. Like to know the reason the KS place is for sale two years after it was built, not that it matters. Not a fan of either of these places.

Worst properties of the series so far.

Yeah. Honestly, if you gave me the choice of my current house or that one, I'd stay in my current house. And it's not selling for $5+ million. I don't really like that setting.

Is there any house that has won their heat so far that loses to either of these?

Can we move the Lake Quivira D&D house to either of the Delaware or Kansas locations?

Weak, weak round. But I love me some land and the idea of having nobody around me is fantastic. A bit too fantastic.

Delaware has to edge this one out because looking at the ocean is always awesome even if you have people all up your ass.

If you thought that KS house was bad wait until we get into the Dakotas. That's some real barf territory there.

I might get buyer's remorse for that Delaware house and it's free... just the thought of it being worth $6 million is absurd, even with the ocean view.

If the Delaware house just had a little bit of acreage, it would be an easy vote... but, isolation > people.

Kansas "wins".

I guess you could use your stipend for it. I wonder how much it costs to move a house like that.

That Kansas house is ****ing brutal. $25 million for that ugly piece of shit? It looks like a place where your whole family would get murdered In Cold Blood-style.

You wouldn’t want to let go of the income. You’d want to save some of the income and buy some adjacent land for that stuff.

Like most of the other big acreage pieces, the value is in the land. And this is a lot of high producing land.

And In Cold Blood happened in town in Holcomb. Which I think is roughly the size of Gardener or maybe Lansing.