NY to Iowa (Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Fairfield: appointed, best cities, real estate)

[momix5]

Hi, I am looking for any information concerning Iowa, my family and I would like to relocate when our house sell in New York, we have heard that the schools in Iowa are wonderful, I saw Cedar Rapids on Nanny 911 tonight and thought it was beautiful. The real estate seems affordable too. We have looked into the Carolinas which are nice but the schools are so so mostly overcrowded, and the test scores are really low. Also, my son has Asthma and when we were in NC his Asthma got really bad which I have since learned the pollen there is real bad hence the asthma. WE are looking for more family,community orientated type of living. Thank you!

[LRSMOKEY]

Dear NY:
If you THINK you like Cedar Rapids, then you have one GREAT intuition. I would strongly recommend that city. I lived there for 7 years, and to this day, wish I would have never left it, but the job demanded me moving. It is one of the cleanest bigger cities in Iowa. It is growing in leaps and bounds. It might get some crime from the bigger cities that are fairly close by, but the law enforcement acts accordingly and handles those situations. Housing is a booming industry in that location, in the seven years I lived there, it went from 80,000 to a 120,000 and am sure it is even bigger now. The area is clean, lawns and houses are kept up, streets are great, and the people are friendly. Education is very high, excellent school systems, local city government is ok.. If your son has ashtma, that area is good clean air, except when the wind is from the south, then Quaker Oats might stink it up for a day*(not really that bad). The city is aggressive in growing and maintaining its stature as one of the best cities in Iowa. Dont hesitate, if moving to Iowa, I strongly recommend Cedar Rapids, you wont be disappointed. Have a good trip. Smokey

[WoodwardGirl]

Momix, what part of New York are you coming from? What do you and your family like to do in your leisure time?

Cedar Rapids is DEFINITELY family and community-oriented! It is one of the best places to bring up kids that I can think of, to the extent that some folks who don't have kids sometimes seem to feel left out ;-)

There are folks who have asthma that live here. Your comment about the pollen in NC makes sense, but I have some concern about "hay fever" season here in Iowa -- you might ask your son's doctor what he/she thinks.

My only other concern is that you might be moving here from somewhere more densely populated and would find yourself missing some of the things you take for granted where you are... that seems to happen to people; in another thread, a couple from Milwaukee are very sad that they moved here because "there is nothing to do," and "in Milwaukee, the small outlying towns would have as much going on as the city does." Cedar Rapids only has a population of 120,000... our small, outlying towns are not suburbs, they are small, outlying towns and are very rural. As has been said by other posters, if you are the kind of person who entertains yourself, you'll be very happy here; if you need a lot of places to go to be entertained, you may not. Does that make sense?

It sounds like you are moving for all the right reasons, though. My family relocated to Iowa for better schools and I've been here ever since and wouldn't trade it for anything!

[my54ford]

You don't say what you plan on doing for work but I'd like to suggest you look at a town called Osage. Booming little town of about 5000, 3 pretty big employers (200+ workers) great school and city infrastructure. They just built a state of the art library and are now building a great new Comm center with indoor pool the whole 9 yards. Actually a very afleunt little town!!!!!!

[summer grace]

Try Decorah. It is the most beautiful town in Iowa- no, in the world. Lets just say I live here, and I love it. I will say more if you want more info. It is a town of 8,000 county seat of Winneshiek County in NE Iowa. There is nothing you could find anywhere, that you couldn't find in Decorah in my opinion. It is a college town, such a wonderful beautiful place surrounded by the limestone bluffs. It isn't a city, but if you thought Cedar Rapids was beautiful ( I have to admit, I've never been there), you will love Decorah.

[voxmama]

Hi,

Well, there's pollen here too. The summers arent long and unbearable like Texas, which exascerbates allergy symptoms, but I do remember seeing an ENT specialist years ago here in IA who said we have a lot of allergens in the air here. The good thing is that it gets cold enough to give relief. Not ideal, but not as bad as other parts of the US.

Good luck,

Sb

PS If you have a choice as to what town in Iowa, may I suggest that you check out Fairfield? There's a description at the link below:
www.fairfieldmarket.com
Great schools, a growing city of 10,000, new and beautiful library, Civic Center that just opened it's doors and expects to draw large name acts, arts and entertainment focused, etc. Also NE Iowa is very gorgeous!

[voxmama]

That last thought was a seperate thread... Fairfield is in the S.E. part of the state.

Dubuque and surrounds is ALSO beautiful, is what I meant to say.

Cheers,

SB