Please help us with Des Moines neighborhoods (Iowa City, West Des Moines: section 8, rental)

[ReloDogs]

We are out of state and doing research on realtor.com on homes in Des Moines. The prices seem incredibly low. Problem is that we don't know which neighborhoods are good and which are not good. We prefer bungalow or older neighborhoods with easy/close access (walking would be great) to city amenities, rather than newer homes or suburbs. We also have dogs so we need a fenced yard. Price - under 175K ideally. Please give us some advice on neighborhoods. Thanks.

[kimberlywinchell]

Hello, and good luck in Iowa. Des Moines can be a safe, fun place to live, but you have to avoid certain areas. Certain east side locations are pretty iffy, especially around the state fair grounds, except for Pleasant Hill. The east side of downtown has experienced renovations and is reminiscent of better days and offers unique shopping. Most areas around downtown are very iffy and unsafe, altho Sherman Hills has beautiful turn-of-century homes. Further out, West Des Moines and it's suburbs are upper class and safer. My favorite in West Des Moines is Valley Junction, an antique-lover's area with the bungalows, etc, you're looking for.

[swlmc2]

I love the Beaverdale neighborhood. I live on a very pretty and quiet side street, but am no further than 5 minutes or less from the supermarket, hardware store, restaurants, and several locally owned specialty businesses. I am between 2 bus lines and a 15 minute drive to downtown.

Most, if not all, the homes here have a nice sized backyard, which you could certainly fence for your dogs.

I am fairly new to DM myself, so can't speak definitively on other neighborhoods, but the Ingersoll area also has a very nice neighborhood; it is closer to downtown though, so it might not have as many homes w/ yards...

I moved here from Iowa City 1-1/2 years ago. I think that the key to finding a great neighborhood is working w/ a realtor who listens to you and works with your priorities.....

I am sure that others will have other suggestions for you. Good luck.

[ReloDogs]

Thank you for all of the information. I have posted twice regarding Iowa and have gotten some information that will be very helpful to us. Really appreciate it.

[nrogers1122]

I suggest Beaverdale. The community is somewhat liberal but it has great charm and atmosphere and is very safe. Waukee is a great western suburb if you don't mind a 15 minute interstate commute to downtown. It has a small town triangle with a coop and small storefronts straight from the 60's (the barber shop really was established in the 60's by the same owner). I would stay away from the south side, the north side (until you get to Ankeny) or the East Side.

[CampbellsChunkySoupra]

+1 for Beaverdale. Stay away from the Drake/Fairground area. Would also reccommend steering away from anything on SW9th street and south of Des Moines.

Good suburban neighborhoods in Des Moines is Norwalk [bedroom community, great schools, 5 min commute to metro] Waukee [expanding a lot, great schools, expensive homes] Johnston, West Des Moines and Pleasant Hill.

[El Rhino]

Originally Posted by CampbellsChunkySoupra

+1 for Beaverdale. Stay away from the Drake/Fairground area. Would also reccommend steering away from anything on SW9th street and south of Des Moines.

I'm going to disagree on the SW 9th advice - there's plenty of decent neighborhoods and homes in this area at good prices. West of SW 9th you'll find a lot of well-kept older neighborhoods. The Drake area has cleaned up quite a bit and may be a good bet for having amenities nearby.

[CampbellsChunkySoupra]

All of my experiences around SW9th resulted in my car getting broken into. Perhaps my judgments are somewhat biased.

I'd think it's' safe to say that the original poster should steer away from SE14th Street. Seems like that part of town is a dump and full of trailor parks.

Drake has indeed cleaned up and is close to many things downtown as well as many major travel routes. It still has a touch of a bad reputation in several spots surrounding the campus.

Cheers!

[El Rhino]

Originally Posted by CampbellsChunkySoupra

All of my experiences around SW9th resulted in my car getting broken into. Perhaps my judgments are somewhat biased.

I'd think it's' safe to say that the original poster should steer away from SE14th Street. Seems like that part of town is a dump and full of trailor parks.

Drake has indeed cleaned up and is close to many things downtown as well as many major travel routes. It still has a touch of a bad reputation in several spots surrounding the campus.

Cheers!

I'm a lifelong Southsider and lived/spent a lot of time near SW 9th. It's not the ritziest part of town, but it certainly isn't the corner of MLK and Forest either. I don't think crime is high enough at all in that area to really advice someone to not move there for their own safety...and like I said earlier, there are a lot of good neighborhoods off SW 9th.

SE 14th. I'm a few blocks away from there now. There are some good homes in the price range the OP mentioned in that area and most of the homeowners in the area are going to be decent folks. The problem with that area is the high volume (and growing!) of section 8-fueled rental housing and yes, the third world trailer parks...we're not talking the nice trailer parks either, we're talking 20 people in a trailer and carpet samples tacked up for windows. Unfortunately a lot of decent neighborhoods have to deal with the issues that come with da welfair crowd that has moved in. Other than some gang graffiti on my tree (seriously.) I haven't had any property crimes in this area though.

[tiki7]

I ditto the vote for Beaverdale. Generally the homes are older but well kept and the population is eclectic and very accepting. I lived here for 7 years in the 1990's before moving out to the 'burbs for a larger house, better rated schools. While I like where I live now too, I miss the "hanging out on the front porch" crowd we had on our street in Beaverdale.

The reputation of the south side isn't as bad as that of the east side but this is largely due to a couple of upper-income enclaves on the southwest side of the city. I am a social worker and the vast majority of my clients are either east side or south side folks. If I had to choose between 1 of those 2 areas to live in, I'd pick the east side. Crime statistics are probably pretty equal between the 2 but more east siders tend to be generational east siders---stable, blue collar families whose parents, grandparents and entire families are devoted to Lee Township. South side has generational devotees too but meth usage during the last 15 yrs in that part of town has been higher than anywhere else in the metro and this has had a major impact on the current generation living there.