Moving in a few weeks! I have Questions! (Cedar Rapids, Iowa City: apartments, rental)

[lunagirl88]

Hi there!

I am moving to Iowa in the next few weeks (ahhhhh), I received a job offer and will be starting early May. My office is in North Liberty. I've been frantically trying to find a place, preferably a 1 bedroom (no animals). I am in my late 20s, single bi-racial female, and actually went to another BIG 10 university a few states away so I am accustomed to the college town life.

My questions are:

1. If I am working in North Liberty, would a commute from Iowa city or cedar rapids to North Liberty be about the same? I ask this because, I cannot find anything available now or reasonably priced in Iowa city but cedar rapids has many options available. Coralville has about 2 apartments that have availability, but they are pricer, and do not have many amenitities.

2. Is snow a problem on 380?

3. If I lived in cedar rapids is there a lot of traffic going south on 380?

I suppose those are my main concerns. Thanks so much

[601halfdozen0theother]

Originally Posted by lunagirl88

Hi there!

I am moving to Iowa in the next few weeks (ahhhhh), I received a job offer and will be starting early May. My office is in North Liberty. I've been frantically trying to find a place, preferably a 1 bedroom (no animals). I am in my late 20s, single bi-racial female, and actually went to another BIG 10 university a few states away so I am accustomed to the college town life. It's been a while since I lived there, and about 6 years since I've visited, but I'll try to answer your questions as best as I can.

My questions are:

1. If I am working in North Liberty, would a commute from Iowa city or cedar rapids to North Liberty be about the same? I ask this because, I cannot find anything available now or reasonably priced in Iowa city but cedar rapids has many options available. Coralville has about 2 apartments that have availability, but they are pricer, and do not have many amenitities.
Because you will be working in North Liberty, finding housing in Cedar Rapids makes much more sense. CR is more boring and less affluent than IC, but housing is less expensive. It would be much easier to drop down to IC for fun instead of having to make the daily commute up from IC to NL to work on a daily basis. The merge intersection from 80 to 380 is really awful, IMHO! It scares me every time I have to do it. Crazy highway designers. Coralville would be a safe though boring choice. Poor Coralville has become mostly new apartments/condos and commuters over the past decades. Lots of families. But it might be a little more safe (when it comes to crime) than Cedar Rapids.

2. Is snow a problem on 380? Yes, occasionally. But it usually is cleared pretty rapidly. You will have some days you have to be careful, though.

3. If I lived in cedar rapids is there a lot of traffic going south on 380? Yes, the commuters going up and down 380 are growing in number every day. However, the traffic doesn't even compare to that in most urban areas; it's just bad for Iowa.

I suppose those are my main concerns. Thanks so much

It kind of depends on how much you worry about crime. If I were your mother, I might hope you would pick an apartment in safe but boring Coralville. You'd be closer to the fun stuff in IC, too. But on the other hand, Cedar Rapids is more affordable, and the commute would be easier. You'd be going into IC frequently for fun, but that's better to do than to fight a daily commute from the Iowa City/Coralville area up to NL.

Just be aware that there are parts of Cedar Rapids that aren't so nice. In fact, crime in CR is higher than in most other Iowa towns. Avoid being close to downtown and near the river.

If you do look in Iowa City, pick the SW side to make your commute easier.

See if anything is available in Oxford or Tiffin. Plenty of people who work in Iowa City live in the very small surrounding towns.

Wherever you go, don't lock yourself into a long term rental contract.

Good luck, and have fun!

(editing to add - I just checked Craigslist and it shows a condo in North Liberty available now for $880. Why not pick that as a starter place?)

[smpliving]

Originally Posted by lunagirl88

Hi there!

I am moving to Iowa in the next few weeks (ahhhhh), I received a job offer and will be starting early May. My office is in North Liberty. I've been frantically trying to find a place, preferably a 1 bedroom (no animals). I am in my late 20s, single bi-racial female, and actually went to another BIG 10 university a few states away so I am accustomed to the college town life.

My questions are:

1. If I am working in North Liberty, would a commute from Iowa city or cedar rapids to North Liberty be about the same? I ask this because, I cannot find anything available now or reasonably priced in Iowa city but cedar rapids has many options available. Coralville has about 2 apartments that have availability, but they are pricer, and do not have many amenitities.

*** Iowa City is much closer to North Liberty than Cedar Rapids and the commute much easier and quicker. If you work at the University in North Liberty, commuter vans are available for their employees living in Cedar Rapids. I know a few younger people new to the area who started out living in Iowa City/Coralville/North Liberty and then moved to Cedar Rapids because of less expensive housing. if you can handle the commute I wouldn't hesitate to move to CR, but as a new person to the area it might be wiser to pay a little more for short-term housing in the NL/Coralville\IC area until you're more familiar with the area.


2. Is snow a problem on 380?

*** Snow on I-380 can slow down your commute. However, they do a good job of plowing and keeping the Interstate clear. I've driven from Cedar Rapids to Iowa City on a daily basis, on and off, for the past 14 years. Just go slow and watch out for others. There are quite a few accidents mainly from driving too fast.


3. If I lived in cedar rapids is there a lot of traffic going south on 380?

*** Traffic can be heavy at times but not stop and go constantly like in bigger cities. You do have to watch out because at times traffic can immediately come to a standstill without warning. Traffic probably will get worse for the following year or so as construction on 380 and I-80 exchange begins and a new on-ramp to 380 from North Liberty nears completion.

I suppose those are my main concerns. Thanks so much

My answers are above ***

[601halfdozen0theother]

"construction on 380 and I-80 exchange begins"

Whew, I'm so glad to know that they're fixing that awful merge! But sorry that you all have to live through the construction.