headed to DSM area next week...need advice (Des Moines, West Des Moines: real estate, property taxes)

[cyerby]

Hey y'all,
I'd like to check out some housing while I'm out in Urbandale next week. The job I'm interviewing for is in Urbandale, but I could live elsewhere. I'd like good mid size schools. Nothing really small or really huge. I'd like to find a place under 200k, the closer to 150k the better!

So, favorite cities in the area would be helpful, but I am very limited on time. I'd really like to know subdivsion or street names where you think a family of 4 would like to live. Also, if there are any MUST AVOID areas due to crime, lousy builders, or any other reason, please let me know that as well.

This forum is really great. Thank you all for your help!
Craig

[Chase2U]

If your moving to the Des Moines area you have a couple options. Since you have a family I would want to stay away from the East Side. Its pretty dumpy. I also would stay away from the North side in which you have the same situation. The best schools in Des Moines I beleave are Urbandale...And West Des Moines Valley this one is full of you upper class people if thats what you would want to call them. It is also on the side of town with most of your shopping and entertainment. Roosevelt and Dowling are also very respectable schools, but I beleave Roosevelt is a chatholic school but don't hold me to it.. The deep south-side has had some good progress in recent years but I'm not sure I would want my children going to school there. If I were looking for a home in your price range I would check out Beaverdale. It has some nice homes and can be a charming neighborhood for you I beleave your kids would go to school in Urbandale if living there. West DesMoines well cost more but it does'nt hurt to look. Your Roosevelt and Dowling schools are more centraley located and have some nice neighborhoods around them. But I'm not sure of the pricing of homes. Remember Desmoines is kinda like a U>F>O shape it feels much further from east to west then it does north to south depending on the route you travel. So take into consideration were you work and wana play. I'm sure if you look on the computer you can find homes in these areas. Good luck
Chase

[cyerby]

thanks for the info! Beaverdale looks nice. It's in des moines or urbandale?

Anyone else have some advice? Should I just drive aimlessly around Urbandale?

[Luke9686]

Beaverdale is a neighborhood in the city of Des Moines. Your kids would most likely not go to Urbandale schools like previously mentioned. They would probably go to Roosevelt. Maybe even Hoover. I however, would not recommend living in the Des Moines city limits. Property tax is a lot more in Des Moines than in the suburbs. Honestly, your best bet would be Urbandale, West Des Moines, Johnston (if you can afford it), Clive (if you can afford it), or even Waukee and Ankeny. Ankeny is a northern suburb that is groing rapidly and has a lot of new construction. It has everything you need out there. My preference would be Urbandale or West Des Moines. When looking at real estate, anything in West Des Moines for under $140,000 is probably in the Valley Junction area of town. That area is a good area, but the homes are older and it is kind of out of the way.

Urbandale is not that big, so you honestly could drive around pointlessly for an hour or so, just to get a feel. I would recommend doing that. Same with West Des Moines.

Traffic in the Des Moines metro is pretty much a non factor, depending on where you are moving from. You can get anywhere you need to go in under 40 minutes, even during rush hour.

There are no bad areas of the places mentioned, so you should be safe in the suburbs.

A couple of good websites are url>www.iowarealty dot com> and url>www.firstrealtyhomes dot com>.

On iowarealty dot com there are 33 homes for sale in West Des Moines and Urbandale that are at LEAST 3 bed, 2 bath, and 2 car garages. I am sure if you added Johnston, Clive, Waukee, and Ankeny that number would go way up.

As for schools, the schools are great in any of the towns listed. The sizes are mid size. No school in the Des Moines area is really that big. Again, depends on where you are coming from.

Avoid anywhere east of about 32nd street in Des Moines. A lot of the east side is run down a little. Most of the people on the east side are good, hard working people. Just not as much money. More blue collar. The eastern suburbs are great also. Such as Altoona, and Pleasant Hill. I am from Pleasant Hill.

There are only 2 major builders in Des Moines. Regency and Hubbell Homes. They both have a good reputation. I'm sure there are subdivision names, but you probably won't be able to navigate by them.

I think I have covered everything, if you have any other questions just ask.

[cyerby]

You have been most helpful. You named all the suburbs that I've been looking into...Urbandale, W. Des Moines, Ankeny, Clive, and Johnston. I feel pretty good about it after reading your post and reading other threads regarding the area. I certainly don't want to be paying higher taxes by living in DSM city limits. I have noticed on IowaRealty.com that taxes are a little higher in IA than what I am paying in SC.

I'm getting excited about the trip and really nervous about the interview!

[Pearlbob]

Just a correction, Roosevelt is not a Catholic school. It's a huge public school, one of the oldest in town. Very beautiful building in a great, great neighborhood.

I don't know where you live now, but Des Moines is generally a great, safe city. Sure there are a few bad areas, but overall, it's so much nicer than 90% of cities out there.

Urbandale is a good, quiet community. Beaverdale is very nice, more wealthy, and is sort of near Urbandale towards the north of the city (i'm trying to think back...) it's not an actual burb though, just an area of DSM. I think the middle part of Des Moines, like around Roosevelt, the Grand Ave area, I don't know if there is a name for it, is so pretty. Huge old homes. Lots to do around there. That's where I grew up, and that's where I would live again. No cookie-cutter, cheap homes like you find in the burbs.

West DSM is a separate city, more exclusive I guess. Valley is a good high school, sort of along the lines of a "valley girl" type of school really. Lots of rich kids.

I personally think if you get too far out of the city, like Waukee, you'd be so far from the majority of town. DSM isn't THAT big where you HAVE to live in the burbs. I can see if you lived around say, NYC, Chicago, Miami, etc....you'd live in the burbs and drive into the city on the weekends. For DSM, that just seems ridiculous. There is no need to live that far outside town. If you want to live way out, fine, but there's no need for it like there would be in bigger cities.

Housing is pretty cheap there, compared to a lot of other same size cities. I think under $200k would be a piece of cake. Just depends on the area, I guess. I have never looked for housing up there, but have lived there many years and still have lots of family there. The western side has seen the most growth. Eastern is the 'dead zone' so to speak. South side is okay but on the lower end. North is where Urbandale is. I don't know about city property taxes, other than they are a heck of a lot lower than where I live now!!!

[RonnieJonez]

The "Des Moines suburbs" (if you will) are pretty much the same. Johnston & Clive are probably considered the most upscale, but West Des Moines is talked about much more (it is a HUGE deal to many people to say you live in West Des Moines). You can be across the suburbs in not even 5 minutes, so it's not a big deal. It's not quite suburban LA or anything major (some in West Des Moines may try to argue that though).

Urbandale police are fairly notorious though for using excessive measures to scare random drivers and hope they make a mistake.

[DSMGuy]

You must live in an idyllic place that puts DM to shame, you should really share where this is so we can all visit.

[RonnieJonez]

Well, like most people in Des Moines, if someone does not think it is the center of the universe, you may consider them an enemy combatant.

All I said was that nothing is ever too far away. Chill out. It really doesn't matter which suburb you live in, there's no point in drawing these sharp divides.

[Tek_Freek]

Well, like most people not in Des Moines, if they think where they live is the center of the universe, you may consider them an enemy combatant.