Moving to Ankeny, need help with neighborhoods and schools (Des Moines: to rent, condo)

[NewToDSM]

Greetings. I am relocating to Ankeny from out of state. My fiancee works in Des Moines and I'll be up in Ames, so we settled on Ankeny as a good option, since she has two small kids and we have heard good things about the schools. Any advice on the best schools and neighborhoods in Ankeny? I know it is a fast growing city with lots of new areas. We can afford ~$1,200/month in rent for a townhome or small house, and we will eventually be looking to buy, preferably for a bit under $200k. We are a lesbian couple, so we are sensitive to the possibility of discrimination. We don't mind a suburban lifestyle and the bit of conformity that goes with that, but we want to be sure the kids will be safe in the schools despite having two moms. Any info on living in Ankeny would be much appreciated.

[capitalcityguy]

I would agree that location-wise, Ankeny makes the most sense.

It is good that you’re OK with suburban living because that is pretty much Ankeny in a nutshell. The city has a ton of chain restaurants and not a lot of distinguishing characteristics to speak of IMO. But with that, you get very low crime, clean city, and very good schools. There is no poor Ankeny school.

As far as neighborhoods, I don’t believe Ankeny is large enough to be able to pinpoint differences in neighborhoods beyond the obvious (i.e.…neighborhoods with larger homes = families with more money). I think it is safe to say the city is fairly homogeneous. That said, there are some older, more modest neighborhoods that house a lot of the more blue collar families (i.e.….those working at places like John Deere). Those should be obvious by sight, if that matters to you at all.

While not much for scenery, there are quite of few townhomes/condo’s built up along the Interstate (I-35). I would guess these would be in your price range and the location puts you next to many necessary amenities (i.e.…big box stores, strip malls) but maybe more important to your family, just minutes from the I -35 access to head north to Ames or south to DM.

Good luck and welcome to the Des Moines metro!

[duster1979]

I worked in Anekny for a couple of years, although I didn't live there. I agree with capitalcityguy's assessment. There is a very small "old town" section of Ankeny made up of older homes with a 2-block long business district that is mostly forgotten, most of the town today is made up of subdivisions, strip malls, and "big box" stores. Ankeny isn't the place you'd go to get hard-to-find items at little "mom and pop" stores or a great home-cooked meal at the "corner cafe;" it's where you'd go if you want to hit Menards, WalMart, Kohl's, and your choice of several chain restaurants within a few blocks of each other. So the town really doesn't have a lot of character, but it has all the essential services and is very clean and safe and the schools are top-notch.

As a lesbian couple in Ankeny you will definitely be "noticed," but I wouldn't anticipate any real discrimination. I wouldn't worry too much about the kids, especially since you say they're small. In this day and age kids have single parents, two sets of parents, parents of different races, a parent with missing limbs or other disabilities due to war injuries, more and more live with their grandparents; having parents of the same sex is just another possibility in a growing list of parental options. As they get older the kids will eventually get some flack for having two moms wherever you live, I don't anticipate Ankeny being worse than any other place.

Unless housing prices have really skyrocketed in the last couple of years you should have no problem finding a nice place to rent within your budget. In fact, you can probably find something very nice for a little less and put a some extra away for the down payment when you decide to buy. And when the time comes to buy you should find plenty of houses to choose from under $200K.

[NewToDSM]

Thanks to both of you for the advice. I feel reassured. I am pretty confident, given their young age, that the kids will be ok in Ankeny. Like you say, duster, kids these days are comfortable with all sorts of family arrangements. Next step is to head up there and tour around to find the best places to rent.

[Harpoon]

Yes, there are lots of homes that will be within your price range. Basically, Ankeny is divided into 4 quadrants from the intersection of Ankeny Boulevard and 1st Street. The SE quadrant is going to find a lot of old ranch homes from the 1960's that are valued in the range of $130,000-160,000. The SW quadrant doesn't have too many homes because it quickly runs into the John Deere plant, but many of these homes are also in older more established neighborhoods. The NW quadrant has a lot of the newer development, especially once you get to the west of Irvindale on your way out to Saylorville Lake. There are a ton of townhomes that have flooded the market lately, especially on the east side of Delaware St. and way up north by the new I-35 interchange that is being constructed. This might be a good location to live just due to the convenient access to the highway for the daily trip up to Ames, or down to Des Moines. I agree with the previous poster that the schools are all pretty good, from the Elementary schools all the way up to the high school level. Ankeny will be your best bet between Ames and Des Moines.