Glen Oaks Gated community or not? (rent, townhome, neighborhoods)

[DJF]

I was wondering if anyone has experience to share about living in Glen Oaks gated community. We are considering it quite a bit mostly for security reasons. Is it people/family friendly community?

[El Rhino]

Originally Posted by DJF

I was wondering if anyone has experience to share about living in Glen Oaks gated community. We are considering it quite a bit mostly for security reasons. Is it people/family friendly community?

I had a buddy of mine who's dad was loaded and lived out there. For security, it's in the suburbs away from the riff-raff, gated and patrolled. Visitors must check in at the gate and they'll call and confirm that you have someone coming, so no Jehovah's Witnesses or Kirby salesmen.

I would guess that it's somewhat people/family friendly.

[DMRyan]

Glen Oaks is still one of the most prestigious subdivisions in the entire DSM metro, and with all of the shopping that has popped up recently to the north of the development, it's become much more convienent to live there. If you're out that far in the western burbs, I wouldn't really worry much about security--meaning don't let it deter you from shopping around in other upscale subdivisions like King's Valley, Napa Valley or Turnberry too.

[SharpHawkeye]

I've always found the idea of a gated community in Iowa laughable.

[Luke9686]

Me too. If you live anywhere near that side of town, security is mostly a non issue.

I guess if you have the money, go for it. I can't get the image out of my head of the type of person that lives there though.

[capitalcityguy]

I've lived in Glen Oaks for a few years and still own a townhome there (that I now rent out). I agree with others -- security in any western suburb is a none issue, so I'd drop that off your list of considerations and concentrate on other priorities.

Family friendly? I don't know. My impression is that people tend to keep to themselves.

I guess it depends on what you mean by family friendly. If interaction with your neighbors is a priority, you can probably do better in other neighborhoods. I'd suggest looking at nearby Ponderosa as by design, the neighborhood is more traditional and will probably be more condusive to the neighborhood feeling most of us grew up with (and long to recapture).