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Biggest House in metro GR

twoshort

By twoshort
in Grand Rapids Coffee House

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  • 2 months later...

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Libertarian Whistle-Stop

Libertarian

Posted
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It looks like West Michigan to me.

There are literally thousands of homes like that along Lake Michigan and all around the inland lakes (mainly up north). Here are just a few you can find on the lakeshore's MLS for $2,000,000+. Just search homes from $2 - 10,000,000 Million.

.......

You just can't see them from the roads very well because they're all set back on the lakes. Go out in a boat on the some of the Northern lakes and it's wall to wall houses (second homes) like that.

Northern Home and Cottage and Traverse Magazine are good resources if you like to look at (dream about) large cottage homes. You can find them at any local bookstore.

http://www.cbschmidt.com/PropertyDetail.as...amp;QID=2196466

Hey Dad, look I found one for UNDER 2 MIL!

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  • 4 weeks later...
MisterMike Unincorporated Area

MisterMike

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Libertarian, I have lusted over that house for more that 30 years after seeing it in Architectural Digest in the mid-70's. During the summer, the sun sets over Beaver Island and Lake Michigan are breath-taking. For a measly 1.9 mil. it really is an architechural gem.

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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Is this a one-family house? Are you kidding? Talk about excessive. Who needs 18K square feet? I wonder how much it costs to heat. Probably at least double what I make in a year.

Most of the lakefront "cottages" in Northern Michigan are on propane too, which is way more expensive than natural gas. I bet for the 3-4 months they have that place "open", they probably pay about $10,000 in propane.

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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Well if they only use the house for 3-4 months out of the year it's most likely the summer, which means they wouldn't be heating the place. They'd only need hot water. Running the AC in a place like that is undoubtedly expensive though.

Summer in Traverse area still means you run the heat at night (except maybe in July), especially if you are near Lake Michigan. Plus, you have to keep the house between 50 - 55 degrees minimum during the off months to prevent pipes from freezing and drywall from cracking. Just sayin. :whistling:

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  • 3 weeks later...
vandertown Unincorporated Area

vandertown

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Since I grew up near the Amway families, I thought I'd ad my two cents worth. As far as the old compound that Rich & Jay shared on Windy Hill over-looking the Thornapple, those homes are rather small compared to their kids homes in Ada / Cascade (and most are well hidden from the public eye). One of the most impressive, is the contemporary house Doug & Maria Devos have built (around 12,000 sq. feet) off Cascade Rd, near Walden Lake. Their home shares the same gated private drive with that incredible prairie style house (which can be viewed from Burton...no idea on the owner). Also, Dan Pfiffer lives at the end of the drive in a rather large log home. The Devos's built their home across the lake from Maria's mother, Diana Fryling (who has now re-married and moved away). If you drive along the upper ridge in the Watermark development off Spaulding, when the leaves are off the trees, you can't miss the Devos house - it's quite impressive (if you like that enormous house sort of thing...)

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RenZone Whistle-Stop

RenZone

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Windy Hill, eh? Just did Google Maps and saw what I believe to be the compounds you're talking about; wouldn't have imagined that their streets would show up on the map. And, talk about close to Amway? Looks like it's just up the hill from the HQ. It also looks like one of the big ones is actually off of Ada Dr. That has to be one of the DeVos/VanAndels homes there. With both the elder VanAndels having passed away, I wonder if they've sold their house or passed it downline to the next generation? Hard to imagine there are many takers locally for such a big house.

I read back in this forum and noticed some comments about Dan DeVos' home, but I wasn't aware of Doug's. Just did that via Google Maps and I see what you mean about the 3 big ones near that lake, especially the redish tiled roof home - that really stands out in the satellite view.

I feel so nosey inquiring about their homes, but I guess I'm just curious to see how our biggest name billonaires live.

I did see that Dick DeVos' house has been featured in some news stories back from the Gov election. Man, that place looks like a castle from the air.

Thanks for the insight, vandertown.

Since I grew up near the Amway families, I thought I'd ad my two cents worth. As far as the old compound that Rich & Jay shared on Windy Hill over-looking the Thornapple, those homes are rather small compared to their kids homes in Ada / Cascade (and most are well hidden from the public eye). One of the most impressive, is the contemporary house Doug & Maria Devos have built (around 12,000 sq. feet) off Cascade Rd, near Walden Lake. Their home shares the same gated private drive with that incredible prairie style house (which can be viewed from Burton...no idea on the owner). Also, Dan Pfiffer lives at the end of the drive in a rather large log home. The Devos's built their home across the lake from Maria's mother, Diana Fryling (who has now re-married and moved away). If you drive along the upper ridge in the Watermark development off Spaulding, when the leaves are off the trees, you can't miss the Devos house - it's quite impressive (if you like that enormous house sort of thing...)
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WOT Whistle-Stop

WOT

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Has anyone ever seen the monster that sits between Cascade Rd and Burton St? You can view it from Burton as you are heading West, right before it hits Kraft. It sits next to the old Fryling property where that infamous murder occurred. It has an orange roof. That looks like a hotel from the distance.

I believe that is Doug and Maria's crib :unsure:

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chgrnative Unincorporated Area

chgrnative

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Since I grew up near the Amway families, I thought I'd ad my two cents worth. As far as the old compound that Rich & Jay shared on Windy Hill over-looking the Thornapple, those homes are rather small compared to their kids homes in Ada / Cascade (and most are well hidden from the public eye). One of the most impressive, is the contemporary house Doug & Maria Devos have built (around 12,000 sq. feet) off Cascade Rd, near Walden Lake. Their home shares the same gated private drive with that incredible prairie style house (which can be viewed from Burton...no idea on the owner). Also, Dan Pfiffer lives at the end of the drive in a rather large log home. The Devos's built their home across the lake from Maria's mother, Diana Fryling (who has now re-married and moved away). If you drive along the upper ridge in the Watermark development off Spaulding, when the leaves are off the trees, you can't miss the Devos house - it's quite impressive (if you like that enormous house sort of thing...)

Doug & Maria are now building a 16,000 sq. foot "activity barn" on that property. They will also have soccer fields, baseball diamond, tennis court, par 3 golf hole.......

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