Classiest Des Moines suburbs (West Des Moines, Urbandale: established neighborhood, good schools, taxes)

[CaptainSoftrock]

So my wife and I recently relocated to Des Moines from a bigger city. We ended up living in a great area, nice local businesses, restaurants, close commute. We are generally happy, but there are some issues. First, new young neighbors moved in next door and like to have outside parties fairly often with "dude bro" frat friends. We've talked, it has gotten better, but still is very annoying. Second, it's a busy street and we have little ones. Third, little bits of "sketchiness" have started popping up in the neighborhood - which we had enough of previous to Iowa. In short, all of this came together to make us aware that we are ready for the burbs or even exploring a bit further out into rural areas. Just looking for peace and quiet. Problem is, we can't get a good handle on what distinguishes them from each other (i.e. what sorts of personality each has)

Here is what we don't want: heavy drinking neighbors, long commute from Urbandale, people that will drive 4 wheelers around on our lawn, schools that are obsessed with sports over education, obnoxious displays of wealth. What we do want: Quiet, older communities, educated/classy/professional people, affordable for a middle class family, independent shops, large lots to acreages.

West Des Moines is not our cup of tea, nor is Urbandale. A few on our short list are: Polk City, Adel, Norwalk, Cumming. Our budget is not very huge. Any ideas?

[schmink]

Pleasant hill, large lots, lower taxes, and lower crime.
I lived there for 42 years before moving to Branson Mo.

[Meemur]

Originally Posted by schmink

Pleasant hill, large lots, lower taxes, and lower crime.
I lived there for 42 years before moving to Branson Mo.

I thought of Pleasant Hill and see that Schmink beat me. I understand about the noise! I have mostly older homeowners around me, but when their grandchildren visit and start playing basketball and yelling, it can get hard to enjoy reading out on my deck.

[capitalcityguy]

I'm glad you explained what you were looking for. The title of your thread using "classiest", isn't really helpful.

[CaptainSoftrock]

Originally Posted by capitalcityguy

I'm glad you explained what you were looking for. The title of your thread using "classiest", isn't really helpful.

Very good point on that.

Great advice everyone, I'll check out Pleasant Hill. Would love other insight.

[fezzador]

Have you considered Des Moines proper? The Beaverdale area is one older, well-established neighborhood that has everything you're looking for. It's affordable and has good schools. The one thing you will need to keep in mind is that while it's a good neighborhood, the area surrounding it (at least to the east) isn't *quite* as nice (it's not bad, just that you have a higher chance of running into the aforementioned issues you described) so try and find something closer to the middle of the neighborhood.

Try looking at Granger (off Hwy 141, 5 minutes from Grimes) and Huxley (off I-35, just 10 mins north of Ankeny) as well. They're small towns (neither much bigger than 3K) but growing quickly, and either have most of the amenities you need or are just a few short minutes away. The commutes aren't that bad, either. Neither is much more than 20 minutes from DSM proper, maybe less when the traffic is cooperative.