I need a change (Des Moines, West Des Moines: housing, rent, lease)

[wdrice]

I live just outside of Atlanta, GA and I need a change. I currently work for CompUSA and I need out of city life kinda. I perfer the outdoors and country live then city life any day of the week. I am single male, late 20's with no kids and I am thinking of transfering to the Clive location. I will be looking to rent apartment or buy a house near the store in the country if possiable. Keep in mind I work in retial so I do not make much money. Can you please tell me after what I have told you if I will be making a mistake. I want some place that is low on crime and clean air.

Thank you.

[Luke9686]

I think you will be pleased if you do end up moving to the Des Moines area. It will be a slower paced, but what I have heard about Atlanta the slow pace of Des Moines more than makes up for the pitfalls of A town. Housing is drastically cheaper in Des Moines, air quality is much better, and the city is much cleaner. Oh yeah, and Des Moines virtually has no crime. Here is a statistic from this very website: Des Moines-population 198,682, only 8 murders. Atlanta: 416,474, and 112 murders. Its only about double Des Moines population but more than 10 times more homicides. There is no smog in Des Moines.

Clive is of the nicer suburbs, so the expense will be there. I looked on url/desmoinesregister.com/url and you can rent a two bedroom apartment for around $500-$700 per month. Des Moines is a huge insurance town so there are plenty of jobs in that industry also. Buying a house in Clive will be around $250,000 though. You may consider living in West Des Moines, Urbandale, or even the city limits of Des Moines. Even the eastern suburbs of Altoona, Pleasant Hill, or Ankeny are good too. Traffic is not bad, even during rush hour. I live in Cali and it takes me 45 minutes to get 10 miles. You will never experience that in Des Moines. I lived there last year and commuted from Pleasant Hill to western West Des Moines in about 25-30 minutes during rush hour. It's about 25 miles.

For being single I think West Des Moines or Des Moines proper would be a better fit. If you want more info on neighborhoods in Des Moines, just reply back to me and I will let you know.

There is plenty to do for a single people. Probably not as much as Atlanta, but you will like the tradeoff.

[duster1979]

Clive is pretty much right in the heart of Metro Des Moines anymore. If you really want to live in a rural area, you're looking at a 15-20 minute commute to the west. Which would probably be a lot cheaper than buying or renting a place in Clive, just depends how you like the drive.

In your retail job, are you compensated based on sales in any way? If so, you should do well in Clive. That part of the metro area is growing like crazy , and those folks seem to like to spend their money! I work for a big home improvement retailer that has a location in Clive; they're always in the top 5 in the company, and might be higher if they had enough time to get their stock put out on thefloor in a timely fashion!

[steve.kelley]

I say go for it! My wife and I moved from Gwinnett county to Johnston (just north of DSM) and LOVED it. The pace is slower, traffic is nothing like 285, and people are so much nicer in Iowa. They even have QT there so you can get your gas and coffee. (My wife and I were managers and transferred up years ago). Don't be alarmed though if you pay more for a case of Coke. .05 deposit per can. Save the box, rinse out the cans, and take them back to avoid the deposit the next time.

We are in FL but hoping to move back to DSM ASAP!

[Tek_Freek]

If you want to be "country" you can - with the drive. I've worked with people that commute 50 miles each way just to stay away from the city life. Around here it doesn't take that long.

Been here pretty much my whole life (old fart) and I can tell you (having lived in a number of other states/regions) that you will like it here IF you show up with a good attitude. Check posts by Cactus Sam for a bad attitude and the result.

Welcome, and I'll be seeing you. I'm a self employed computer consultant and I spend a lot time in the CUSA store here.

Tek

[wdrice]

Thank you all so much. I am doing some research on towns near the store. I want country life but not to far as of now since I will be new to the area. I want a place that is not to expensive and low crime. Like I said. Steve I am from Gwinnett County and it is getting worse by the day let me tell you. 285 is a parking lot any road in GA is becoming a parking lot. Like I said I am doing some research but you people are making it easy for me. I am a nice person, I am from Canada originally but live in GA now. Tek_Freek what is the store like? Like I said I am still diceding and getting up the nerve to leave the place I have called home for 16 years.

[wdrice]

Luke any info will be great

[Packerman]

I was born and raised in Urbandale. We moved to Florida 2 years ago and am moving back. We have a daughter in middle school and didn't realize until we were away from Iowa what a great place it is. Less traffic, crime and family is there. Although we love the weather in the winters in the south here we miss the change of seasons. West Des Moines has a lot of traffic and gets a little crazy. I would look in Urbandale (next to clive) or Waukee, Adel, or many small towns just west of Clive. They are all small commutes to that store. Des Moines is a wonderful place to raise a family. Downtown Des Moines has been renovated and there are a lot of Arts and Theatre and so forth to do too. You really have a mixed bag if you want to get into the Arts or if you just want rural. Good luck and hope you make it up there.

[Packerman]

I was born and raised in Urbandale. We moved to Florida 2 years ago and am moving back. We have a daughter in middle school and didn't realize until we were away from Iowa what a great place it is. Less traffic, crime and family is there. Although we love the weather in the winters in the south here we miss the change of seasons. West Des Moines has a lot of traffic and gets a little crazy. I would look in Urbandale (next to clive) or Waukee, Adel, or many small towns just west of Clive. They are all small commutes to that store. Des Moines is a wonderful place to raise a family. Downtown Des Moines has been renovated and there are a lot of Arts and Theatre and so forth to do too. You really have a mixed bag if you want to get into the Arts or if you just want rural. Good luck and hope you make it up there.

[Tek_Freek]

The CUSA store in Clive is not huge, but it is a nice store. Usually busy when I'm there. It's next to a Kohls, JC Penney Home store and a couple of others. Across the street is an Office Depot, Best Buy, Home Depot, S&K, Famous Footware, Target, book store, and a mall is three blockss away. Younkers, Penneys, Von Maur, etc. Lowes is a few blocks away as is Office Max, and a slew of restaurants, stores, groceries, pretty much anything you need within 1 mile, eh.