Moving to Des Moines area from Wichita (West Des Moines, Ankeny: relocating, estate)

[MozMoving]

My company is relocating me and my family to the Des Moines area in May. I grew up in Treynor, IA, but have lived out IA for almost 20 years. Now that I am coming back I am looking for a great neighborhood with younger families. We have 4 kids, 7, 6, 2 and a 4mo old. So we are definately looking for family friendly neighborhood or medium sized town within 30 minutes of Des Moines. Also we are looking for homes under 180k price range. We love hiking, biking, hunting, fishing, etc. So we are not looking for urban type living, but not living on a farm either.

We are so looking foward to being in Iowa, we have lived in Kansas and are ready to get out of here. We won't have family nearby, but we sure look forward to being around friendly people again.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

[JMZ]

I sound repetitious, but I am convinced if you are looking for a nice quite, young family, development area, look in the southeastern side of town called Three Lakes Estates. Its a great area away from major highways and about a 15 minute drive to the capital. Plus it has three awsome little ponds stocked full of large mouth and good sized panfish. And its on the outskirts!

[El Rhino]

Originally Posted by JMZ

I sound repetitious, but I am convinced if you are looking for a nice quite, young family, development area, look in the southeastern side of town called Three Lakes Estates. Its a great area away from major highways and about a 15 minute drive to the capital. Plus it has three awsome little ponds stocked full of large mouth and good sized panfish. And its on the outskirts!

That is a nice area and there are a lot of neighborhoods that fit that criteria. I'd also suggest Polk City. It's about a 20-30 minute drive from downtown, but it's very close to Saylorville lake, which provides a ton of outdoor recreation. I'm honestly not sure what $180k buys up that way though. Ankeny is nice too and closer to Des Moines. There are a lot of areas close to the city with decent access to outdoorsy stuff.

Remember, if you don't like where you end up you can always click your heels and repeat "there's no place like home". Ha ha.

[tamir]

I agree the southeast side is a nice area. Born and raised here. I currently live on the north side of Easter Lake and I love the the area. Very peaceful even though it is a dog friendly/kid friendly neighborhood. I am, however, moving out of state but highly recommend this area because it is an easy drive to downtown.

[metro223]

I think you would like Polk City, I haven't been in the area long so I'm not going to say much... but from my personal experience, I think Polk City has a great outdoor experience.

[WhiteSandsYucca]

Congrats on moving to Des Moines. I feel it really is a nice city, a city with a love for great design and art and architecture. The downtown is impressive, and even things like local landscape design looks up-to-par and creative. I think the local house styles are really nice, the new construction having really nice rooflines, gables, and placement of windows (some with shutters).

If moving there, I would be most attracted to the western suburbs of West Des Moines, and Clive, ect. I really like the developing area north of I-80, west of that loop interstate that winds people north around West Des Moines (I can't remember the number).

[MozMoving]

After talking with several people in Des Moines and looking on the Net I am curious if the Waukee area would be a good area to start looking? I have been told that there are several new housing areas that might be in our price range, 3br houses.

Does anyone know of specific housing developments or areas within Waukee to start looking?

[El Rhino]

Originally Posted by MozMoving

After talking with several people in Des Moines and looking on the Net I am curious if the Waukee area would be a good area to start looking? I have been told that there are several new housing areas that might be in our price range, 3br houses.

Does anyone know of specific housing developments or areas within Waukee to start looking?

Honestly, I don't think there's much out that way in the 180k range, except maybe in the older part of town (by the grain elevator). About 20 years ago that town used to be just a small town close to Des Moines, now due to growth it's a suburb and there's no farmland between here and there anymore, just sprawl.

Obviously anything is worth looking into, but to me Waukee doesn't quite sound like what you're looking for. Adel, Van Meter, yes, Waukee no.

[katychicago]

Unfortunately, most people in Iowa are NOT friendly. The job situation is so bad and the economy so strapped that even those who appear friendly at first can often turn out to be the first one to stab a person in the back - if you're moving here with a job - congrats - but watch your back - if its a good job, the back stabbers will be after it.

[El Rhino]

Originally Posted by katychicago

Unfortunately, most people in Iowa are NOT friendly. The job situation is so bad and the economy so strapped that even those who appear friendly at first can often turn out to be the first one to stab a person in the back - if you're moving here with a job - congrats - but watch your back - if its a good job, the back stabbers will be after it.

Sounds like someone had a bad experience.



I'm here to help though.

Would you care to share about your experience with back stabbers stealing your job and people not being friendly to you in Iowa? I believe that talking about it will help you find the inner-peace you so desire. Remember, I'm here to help