My brother and SIL got transferred to Iowa (Cedar Rapids, Atkins: houses, work)

[Jess5]

several years ago. They now live in a little bitty town called Fairfax. Anyone from Fairfax on here?

[WoodwardGirl]

Originally Posted by Jess5

Anyone from Fairfax on here?

I'm not from Fairfax, but I have a passing acquaintance with it I live a little north of Cedar Rapids, and Fairfax is a little south. It is a bitty town, but Cedar Rapids' urban sprawl is marching on it as we speak. I asked my dh what he would say about Fairfax and his first thought was "booming!" I teach a business planning class at the local community college and the students and I were all a bit surprised when our data showed that the edge of CR closest to Fairfax, the highway between Fairfax and CR, and Fairfax itself all showed the greatest potential for the types of small businesses in which the students were interested. (Which seems so ironic as the primary topic of "ain't it awful" in CR right now is the ghost town that the large shopping mall on that edge of town has become).

Fairfax has enough of a "town" that I think it will successfully retain its own identity, which will be nice for the residents. If your DB & SIL are homeowners, I expect they are seeing significant appreciation in value. The concrete lawn ornament business there is my favorite, but they have gone to "by appointment only" -- business must be good. There are some great antique shops and at least one restaurant that is worth visiting for lunch when you're tired of what Cedar Rapids has to offer. And DON'T get me started on the homemade chocolate shoppe!

[LRSMOKEY]

Jess, YOU ARE SO LUCKY
Living in Fairfax would be ideal. You are next to, in fact, in a few years, probably be a part of Cedar Rapids, the bigger nicest city in Iowa. You will enjoy the people, the land, the nature, the atmosphere, the LIFE, that Fairfax has to offer. As stated by one of your quoters, living might be a tad high, because of the future Fairfax will become, but it will be worth it.
And just for fun and joy, you are about 15 mintues from the Amana colonies where you can enjoy a day consuming some of their fine food, or get a glass of wine from thier brewers, and they all give you one, so you can get a tingle just by visiting those, smileeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
I lived there (Cedar Rapids) for seven years and wish I was still there. You will enjoy it. Good luck and a premature welcome to IOWA. Smokey

[gcotton157]

Well, I live on the South side of Cedar Rapids (Cedar Hills area) - which is about 2 minutes from Fairfax. I'm here to tell you all that along highway 151, you pretty much can't tell when you leave CR and enter Fairfax. The two cities recently (within the last year) came to a formal agreement on their borders, as CR has now done with all surronding cities, including Palo and Atkins (in Benton county). Those of you who have lived in CR but have not been here in several years would be shocked at the amount of growth - especially on the outskirts of town.

[Jess5]

Oops, misunderstanding. My brother and his family were transferred to Cedar Rapids. Sorry to say, they don't like it and couldn't wait to move. They said the very same things I noticed in another post about why people don't like living there. Then their son got married and his wife had a baby, so they don't want to leave him. They got a good deal on a house in Fairfax, so they fixed it up with the intent on selling it quickly. We went to visit them (first in CR) and we kept saying "something is just weird here." I finally put my finger on it! It was so quiet there! We were in a vehicle driving around with others, and there was no loud music booming from the cars, people definitely do not get in a hurry. (good things, both) It rained lightly every day we were there, but didn't have high humidity afterward. The houses were strange. We hardly ever saw a brick house (except for some old building that was the Governers or Mayors?)Where they lived, the garage was in front of the house!

I had a dental emergency while there; at the dental office, everyone who worked there had jeans on. I've never seen such a casual environment. (good) People are right about the malls having nothing there. We did go to Amana and Tunica. My SIL is a wonderful cook, and they were surprised at the blandness of foods served. Once people tasted her cooking, they all suggested she go into catering and want her to cook for every event. I don't think I could ever live in Fairfax. We went to visit them there over the 4th of July (Huge mistake) The town shuts down and its hard to get in or out of town. A train goes by their house hourly! We couldn't sleep because the darn thing runs all night! They do have a library there. It looks pretty nice for such a small place. Their friends are other people who have moved there. They are still planning on moving, but that little one is hard to leave.My favorite nephew (their son) still lives in CR. They want to move to Boston, so my bro and SIL will definitely move then.