Bowman Woods (Cedar Rapids, Ankeny: sales, custom home, neighborhoods)

[hockeymomma8]

Anyone familiar with Bowman Woods area of Cedar Rapids? Any info would be helpful schools, neighborhood etc.

[WoodwardGirl]

Bowman Woods is a series of developments by Skogman Realty. Since it was developed by a single company, it is the most "cookie cutter" area of Cedar Rapids. The company did a nice job of varying house models -- For some reason, Ankeny comes to mind when I think of block after block of houses that all look EXACTLY alike, although I know there are undoubtedly similar developments in Cedar Rapids -- and they have been there long enough that there are some trees. The neighborhoods are as safe as a neighborhood ever is -- there certainly aren't a lot of police calls to the area. You're a lot more likely to have your house TP'd by your kids' classmates than you are to have it broken into, for example.

The schools are all LinnMar, I think. There is a swim and raquet club for the developments and I've never heard anything about it. My experience is mostly with going to a house in Bowman Woods for garage sales or a club meeting of some sort. I think it's generally a very safe, pretty clean, and largely affordable way to be in a home where it's convenient to raise your family, especially in a case where you have kids in a lot of different activities -- you're close to the schools and in an area where chances are REAL good someone is driving to something, so maybe you can manage less of the "3:30 elementary pickup, 3:45 dance class drop off, 4:00 softball game, 4:45 dance class pickup" kind of schedule for yourself.

The area is very convenient to the primary shopping and restaurant area on the northeast side of Cedar Rapids, and there are doctors and dentists and so on close by. So I'd say that while the houses may not be the grandest or most individual, it's overall a great family neighborhood.

[zz4guy]

It's expensive. Probably the most upscale neighborhood for that side of town. I was shopping for houses there about 4 years ago and was blown away at the prices on basic ranch homes there. But they are nice homes. A lot of them are brick and are landscaped very nicely. I'm sure they hold their value too.

It's not a bad location either. You are only about 5-10 minutes to I-380. Also pretty close to the Lindale shopping area.

[chocoholicmom]

We have a lot of friends that live there, and son has many friends there. It's very family friendly. Not the most expensive in this area at all. There are some custom homes in the new area by different builders now, but in the older areas the homes can be 25 + years old. It is very safe and near everything. Different schools depending on where you live but all Linn Mar.