Highest-priced home sales. School administrator costs. Iowa’s anxiety and depression ranking. And our universities’ NIL spending.

9/30/2026

Each October, we take a look at property sale records and various home sale sites like Zillow and Redfin to see what the highest-priced residential homes were in the metro since January of this year. 

The focus seems fitting right now, as the most expensive home in Iowa just listed for $10.2 million. If it sells at that price, it will make the record sale in the state, eclipsing a 9-million-dollar sale in Spirit Lake in 2024. While none of the homes in our reporting holds a candle to the roughly 13,400-square-foot Toddville home, which resembles a castle more than a home, these digs are still quite swanky. 

The highest recorded sale price of a home in Polk County since Jan. 1, 2026, on the Polk County Assessors page is at 12870 Ridgeview Drive in Urbandale, sold to Roxann and Darin Roggenburg in May for $4,550,000. Darin is the executive vice president and chief financial officer of Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance of Iowa. The home was built in 2022, sits on a 2.59-acre lot, has three bedrooms and five bathrooms and is more than 3,000 square feet. 

A sizeable gap exists between the price of the first home and the second. The house at 3618 Oakmont Court in West Des Moines went for $2,550,000 in July and sold to Tamara Gaye DeYarman. DeYarman was in our reporting last year after selling a different West Des Moines home for $3 million. DeYarman Auto Group owns a series of car dealerships throughout central Iowa. The home has six bedrooms, five bathrooms and 3,485 square feet, plus a sizable pool in the backyard.

Another West Des Moines home makes this list, this one at 1723 Glenleven Terrace. The home was sold in March from Christina Vahanian to 410 MANDALAY FWB TRUST for $2,200,000. Vahanian bought the home in 2017 for $1.6 million. Inside are six beds, five baths and a whopping 5,048 square feet. 

The next listing takes us to 2505 N.E. Bellagio Court in Ankeny. No casino, but this is absolutely a big home. It was purchased in April for $2,100,000 by Sharon Willey. The stone-clad home has four bedrooms and seven bathrooms and clocks in at 5,309 square feet. It has a pool, hot tub and workshop in the home. The back faces the Talons of Tuscany Golf Course.

We head back to Urbandale for the last home on our list. This one at 12820 Cardinal Lane is located just a few doors down from the highest-selling home. It was bought by Paul and Gwen Conte in June for $2,000,000. Paul specializes in independent medical exams. The home has five bedrooms, five bathrooms and the largest square footage of all of the homes we featured at 7,670 square feet. 

And for those of you who don’t like to go past 63rd Street, the sale of the highest-priced home located in Des Moines proper was at 3534 Arapahoe Drive, sold by Kent Lehs in June to 3534 Arapahoe Holdings for $1,825,000. It has three bedrooms and four bathrooms and is 4,845 square feet. Redfin and Zillow estimate its value between $2.3 and $2.5 million. …

The Common Sense Institute of Iowa released a report showing that administrative growth was outpacing student enrollment in Iowa schools. The report claims that since the 2014-2015 school year, enrollment has fallen 2% while the administrator headcount has increased 11.8%. The reports says national numbers are almost identical with an 11.9% increase in administrators and the same 2% drop in student enrollment. 

Other key findings claim that the administrative staffing gap represents an estimated $27 million in recurring annual salary spending. CSI says if Iowa maintained its 2020-2021 ratio of roughly one administrator per 205 students, the district would employ 202 fewer administrators today. However, they note that this calculation does not suggest any individual position is unnecessary. 

Coincidentally, the nonpartisan CSII — a partner of the State Policy Network, a network of what it calls “conservative and libertarian think tanks” that coordinates efforts to support policy goals, raise funds and amplify the influence of its members — falls in line with Governor Kim Reynolds, who has often chided growing school administrations. Reynolds posted similar numbers from the National Center for Education Statistics, a federal government agency, in February. KCRG dug into the numbers, which showed the increase was in paraeducators and instructional coordinators more so than a general “administrator.” 

These roles increased in large part due to the introduction of the Iowa Teacher Leadership and Compensation Program, which was part of a 2013 education reform bill, supported by then-Governor Terry Branstad. 

According to numbers from the National Center for Education Statistics, KCRG found the largest increases were by paraeducators (3,576) and instructional coordinators (1,885), with school administrators accounting for 265 of the additions.

The CSII report states its administrative growth outpaces its neighbors, which is partially true, but it still ranked Iowa sixth out of 12 on its efficiency index of Midwest states. Nationally, it ranks Iowa fifth for spending on education salaries and benefits as a % of total expenditures. If you are curious, of the four states ahead of Iowa on those rankings, Utah (sixth), Washington (eighth) and Virginia (18th) all rank ahead of Iowa in the U.S. News and World Report rankings for education. …

According to a report by Sage Space Technologies, a sensory wellness technology company, Iowa adults are reporting the seventh-lowest average rate of anxiety or depression symptoms. The study calculated the average percentage of adults reporting symptoms of anxiety and depressive disorders across surveys and showed that 29.83% of Iowa adults reported the symptoms. 

Nationally, the lowest number was reported by South Dakota at 27.51%. The highest came from Louisiana at 37.49%. …

Despite the fact that college universities are public entities, and their financial records should be clear as day, it is nearly impossible to uncover exactly how much is being spent on their athletic programs in the “Name, Image and Likeness” era. The Athletic’s college football staff decided to dive into this topic.

They reached out to coaches, general managers, personnel directors and more to get an idea of what the Power Four teams were spending on players. At the high end, they report that Ohio State University is spending between $49-52 million on its roster. At the low end, they found Boston College was spending between $8-13 million on theirs. A difference of nearly 40 million dollars between schools. 

Joining Boston College toward the bottom are our two Power Four football teams: Iowa State University and the University of Iowa. ISU was the fourth lowest on their chart, spending between $13-17 million. Iowa was ahead, but not by much, at $17-21 million. ♦