Altoona or Ankeny for 50-Something Single? (Ames, Huxley: home, to live in, shop)

[capitalcityguy]

I'm pretty confident you'll find neighborhoods that will meet your needs an Ankeny. My wife and I lived in Ankeny for awhile before we had our daughter and lived in a townhome complex that was nice and quiet. If you want to stick with a house, some of the older neighborhoods might be a nice option for you as I believe families might tend to be drawn more to some of the newer neighborhoods.

Also, I have to believe the little more you pay in property taxes in Ankeny will be more than made up with shorter drives as you'll have your work and many more amenities closer by.

Good luck!

[duster1979]

Originally Posted by capitalcityguy

Welll...if you live in Altoona you'll be forced to take I-80 on your commute. I-80 has some of the heaviest semi truck traffic in the US.

And you have to deal with the Ankeny mixmaster. Which isn't as bad as it used to be, but still isn't much fun.

If you do decide on Ankeny the older part of town will be quieter and made up of a slightly more mature demographic. Most of the newer developments are going to be populated by young families. although I do recall one community off Delaware that catered to people of retirement age or close to it. I think it was Mallard Creek, but I can't remember for sure.

[capitalcityguy]

Originally Posted by duster1979

And you have to deal with the Ankeny mixmaster. Which isn't as bad as it used to be, but still isn't much fun.

If you do decide on Ankeny the older part of town will be quieter and made up of a slightly more mature demographic. Most of the newer developments are going to be populated by young families. although I do recall one community off Delaware that catered to people of retirement age or close to it. I think it was Mallard Creek, but I can't remember for sure.

Duuuuuuude. You're obviously a young pup if you're referring a 50 something to a retirement community!

[duster1979]

Originally Posted by capitalcityguy

Duuuuuuude. You're obviously a young pup if you're referring a 50 something to a retirement community!

Oh heck no, the place I'm thinking of isn't a retirement community, at least not the way I think of a retirement community (Edgewater, Vintage Hills, those sort of places), just a townhome community that caters to folks beyond their child-rearing years. Most of the people I saw coming and going were probably mid-50s to early-70s.

If a person wants to live in a newer development in Ankeny they pretty much have to choose between a neighborhood where four out of five houses are occupied by families with kids or five out of five houses are occupied by people eligible for an AARP card.

Unless a home in Dennis Albaugh's neighborhood is an option, of course.

[Meemur]

Thanks Duster and CCG. I'll look for the older neighborhoods. I want to drive around myself for awhile before I consult a realtor.

I have friends in 55+ condo communities. They can be good or bad, depending on the usual factors. I'm going to try for a small single-family home. If I have a long driveway, I'll spring for a Honda snow blower. I think my shoveling days are about over, but I'm not ready to move to FL or NC, yet. (:

[Lily0fthevalley]

Why don't you go a little north to Huxley? A very easy drive to Ankeny, much quieter, lower taxes, and has a grocery store. Huxley's also an easy drive to Ames, which is more fun for shopping than the DM area. There's also Slater and Polk City in that area. I wouldn't do that awful drive from Altoona to Ankeny on a daily basis for all the money in the world.

[Meemur]

Thanks! I'll look into it.

[duster1979]

We lived in Huxley for a couple of years when I worked in Ankeny and liked it. It's a nice small town, probably 3000 or so people. Like Ankeny, the newer developments are mostly young families but the original part of town is a good mix of demographics.

It's midway between Ames and Ankeny; you can commute to Ankeny either via 2-lane Highway 69 or 4-lane I-35, which route you take would probably depend on where you work in Ankeny and/or what your tolerance for traffic lights is (there are a bunch on 69/Ankeny Blvd. once you get into town). I only had one day in that time that I couldn't make it to work, and that was during one of those once every five years-type snowstorms. I actually got stuck in a drift right in the middle of the highway and made the channel 13 news.

There actually isn't a grocery store in Huxley, but there is a Dollar General that has a pretty wide selection of groceries (certainly everything you'd need for a day if you couldn't travel out of town), a well-staffed medical clinic, HyVee pharmacy, Casey's General Store, Dairy Queen, Subway, Hardware Hank, flower shop, three banks, couple of hair salons, auto repair shops, city-owned fitness center and a nice country club with a golf course. The whole town is very clean with no trashy areas (there used to be one rougher trailer park on the east edge of town, but I think I remember reading that it was being shut down a couple of years ago) and has a very safe feel due to having a very well-staffed police department for a town of its size. Just watch your speed and make sure to wear your seat belt!

We enjoyed our time there, so I would also suggest looking into it if you don't mind a slightly longer (but very easy) commute.

[capitalcityguy]

Originally Posted by Lily0fthevalley

Why don't you go a little north to Huxley? A very easy drive to Ankeny, much quieter, lower taxes, and has a grocery store. Huxley's also an easy drive to Ames, which is more fun for shopping than the DM area. There's also Slater and Polk City in that area. I wouldn't do that awful drive from Altoona to Ankeny on a daily basis for all the money in the world.

I respect you opinion on this, but would pretty confidently say that you most likely hold a minority opinion that Ames would have superior shopping than the DSM metro. I don't even think it is a close contest.

Maybe I don't understand what you mean by "fun for shopping".

[duster1979]

Originally Posted by capitalcityguy

I respect you opinion on this, but would pretty confidently say that you most likely hold a minority opinion that Ames would have superior shopping than the DSM metro. I don't even think it is a close contest.

Maybe I don't understand what you mean by "fun for shopping".

I think she's referring to the old-school main street business district in Ames, which is kind of a neat shopping experience. I seriously doubt anyone who has been to both places would suggest that Ames actually had more variety than Des Moines or anything like that.

Or, maybe people she encounters in Ames are less inclined to call her "Hon" or "Dear".