Possibly moving from Philadelphia to West Des Moines...Help! (Urbandale: mover, mortgage)

[csquared_sr]

Hello!

So, as my title states, I've been recenly been given the opportunity to move from Philadelphia to West Des Moines...(job related reasons.)

I've been doing some very preliminary research on the area...my job will be located in the Jordan Creek area, and, ideally, I would be looking to move into this area, to minimize my commute to work (if possible.)

A few questions (to start)...is there a particular school district I should be looking to move into? Also, we may want to consider a Catholic school as well...any particular parish we should be looking to?

Housing stock...it seems that the area around Jordan Creek is fairly new/a little upscale? Does the housing stock reflect this? Are there any areas/housing developments that stand out/are desirable? (My housing price range would be in the $225 - $275,000 range, would this work in the JC area?)

Taxes? Any averages people could share (Can't imagine that the cost of living there would be higher than where I live in Philadelphia, but...who knows??)

Climate...it is seasonal in Philadelphia, our summers are hot and our winters can get really cold, but, it sounds like the winters in West Des Moines take it to a whole new (colder) level. Are the winters as brutal as I am hearing (from folks who don't have a whole lot of experience there.)

Overall impressions...things to look for, things to avoid...any info that could be helpful would be MOST appreicated....

Thank you!!!

[Lizle79]

Congrats on the new job opportunity! We just bought a house in WDM, and think we're going to be very happy there. It's a beautiful area, with lots of nice parks and good shopping. If you don't have a realtor yet, we can recommend Michelle Price at Iowa Realty -- she's done a good job for us (and we've moved a lot, so I speak from experience!); she quickly helped us to narrow down the area where we might want to live, and then found us the perfect house for our needs. We ended up with a spec house; there is an abundance of new construction in the area, and we simply didn't find an older home that would work for us. I can't speak to what's available in your price range, but a search on Zillow or similar site should help you with that.

Our kids are grown now, so we didn't look at school districts, but I can tell you that the taxes are a WHOLE lot less than in Texas!! Our mortgage guy (in Texas -- I can recommend him, too, as he's done a number of mortgages for us in different states) couldn't believe how low the taxes and fees are in Iowa!

As for climate, well, I know winter is gonna be colder than in Houston! We did our house-hunting in late June and again in late July, and found the temperatures to be very comfortable. One thing we noticed, though, was that there always seemed to be a pretty strong breeze -- felt great in June & July, but probably won't feel quite as nice during the winter months!

Overall impressions...beautiful area, nice people (everyone we met made us feel welcome, including a neighbor across the street from where we're building), newer and upscale so costs are likely to be higher than in other communities. Everything seems fairly close in Des Moines, so I would recommend that you visit some other nearby areas, as well. Clive and Waukee come to mind...maybe Urbandale...Ankeny was too far out for us, 'tho we liked the houses we saw there. The city of Des Moines has lots going on, and I was excited to see the extensive skywalk system (I can stay out of the cold when I go downtown in the winter -- yea!) and miles of bike trails.

And, you didn't ask, but we can also recommend Graebel Van Lines for your move -- they've moved us at least 3 times; the one time we had to use a different mover, we could really tell the difference and were happy to go back to Graebel with the next move.

Good luck to you!!

[ElleTea]

One of the things I hate about living here is the wind. It's so often windy; not a light breeze but windy like yesterday's 20mph gust; that it just wears me down. This winter you will learn to get used to the wind howling and rattling the windows and blowing that snow around. UGH. I can't wait to move away from that!

[runewell]

You can easily find a cookie-cutter home 3br home for $200K no problem. (Heck, I'll sell you mine for $215K) Expect to pay about a bit $3,500-$4,000/yr in property taxes on that amount of home. The area has grown a lot over the last 8 years that I've been there. Lots of shopping, everything you could need, perfectly fine school system getting 9/10 and 10/10 ratings on greatschools.com Some people live in Johnston, some live in Waukee, some are out in Ankeny. No big difference really. West WDM is a perfectly fine community.

The winters will be colder, and expect about 3 feet of snow per year, you might consider getting a snowthrower if you don't have one. Humidity is moderate in the summers - probably better than Philly I'm guessing. People complain about it here but it really isn't bad at all; I figure most of them have never experienced east-coast humidity.

[fezzador]

SnowTHROWER? Is that what they call them now?

And I thought Alaskans were weird for saying "snow machine".

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by fezzador

SnowTHROWER? Is that what they call them now?

And I thought Alaskans were weird for saying "snow machine".

The term I usually hear is snowblower.

[Lizle79]

The term I use is "honey"...as in, "Honey, will you please go shovel the sidewalk?".

When we moved from Ohio to Houston, our snow shovel was accidentally moved with us. Guess it's a good thing we hung on to it... (heck, who were we going to sell a snow shovel to in Houston, anyway?).

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by Lizle79

The term I use is "honey"...as in, "Honey, will you please go shovel the sidewalk?".

When we moved from Ohio to Houston, our snow shovel was accidentally moved with us. Guess it's a good thing we hung on to it... (heck, who were we going to sell a snow shovel to in Houston, anyway?).

I don't have anyone to shovel for me here. When I was married I was the one who did it anyway. He was a real gentleman. Not.

I have a long driveway, too. Ugh.

[capitalcityguy]

Originally Posted by ElleTea

One of the things I hate about living here is the wind. It's so often windy; not a light breeze but windy like yesterday's 20mph gust; that it just wears me down. This winter you will learn to get used to the wind howling and rattling the windows and blowing that snow around. UGH. I can't wait to move away from that!

Wind can be tiresome but it can also be controlled at least partially. If this is a big concern, then I suggest locating in a more densely populated area with larger trees as opposed to outskirts of the metro. When I lived in Ankeny, wind seemed to consistently be an issue as it is so flat there and not a lot to cut down the wind. Where we live now, we're in more of a river valley and big trees, so wind is hardly ever an issue (at least near our neighborhood.

[steel03]

The Catholic schools in Des Moines are great. I know lots of people who have gone through that system and had really good experiences with it. Dowling Catholic High School is on the eastern edge of West Des Moines.

Catholic Schools :: Diocese of Des Moines