Should I stay or should I go? (Des Moines, Cedar Rapids: amusement park, credit)

[coffeebean]

We are looking for a move, out of the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area. We want to live in a suburb of a "city" be it in Iowa or Illinois, or somewhere else??? Rural doesn't interest us.

We have 3 kids from 2-6 years old. At the moment we homeschool, and it would be nice to live in a community that has homeschool support. We like to go to local events, and want them more then once or twice a year. We are also in our late 20's, and would like to see some young(er) events for us. We enjoy concerts, dining out, coffee shops. We are relaxed, enjoy markets and organic food. Most of which is hard to come by in the Cedar Valley.

We also want a better market aka higher paying jobs.

If you have suggestions out of Iowa, I'd love to read them too. Otherwise in Iowa, what area would you recommend with the above information for our family. Our second choice would be Northern Illinois, in the suburbs of Chicago.

DH can transfer within Iowa to: Clive, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport,

[Luke9686]

My parents live in Pleasant Hill, a suburb of Des Moines. MY mom homeschools my nephew and has a whole network of kids they are involved with. They are involved with an organization called the ACTS academy. I think he goes there once a week to I guess play with other kids. They also go on outings quite often. To the zoo, amusement park, etc.

If your husband gets transferred to Des Moines or Clive, you could live anywhere in the Des Moines metro. Traffic is basically a non issue, especially when compared to Chicago. I recommend the suburbs of Urbandale, West Des Moines, Clive, Johnston, Ankeny and Pleasant Hill. I am not a huge fan of the eastern suburbs. They are very nice, but everything seems to be out in West Des Moines.

Des Moines has enough to do. A new science center with IMAX, a zoo, a riverwalk. We have the Wells Fargo Arena where we get national acts. The downtown area is getting revitalized. There is a good farmers market, and I am sure lots of other stuff there. New mall in West DSM. There are several coffee shops and I'm sure whole foods stores.

Des Moines is no Chicago by any means, but it has enough to do for a family. Plus Minneapolis, KC and Chicago are a short drive away. You won't have to deal with all the head aches in DSM that you would in Chicago. Sitting in traffic, rude drivers, expensive cost of living, crime, etc, etc.

In the DSM burbs, you can get a nice house for $225,000 and below. Try doing that anywhere in Chicagoland. Plus, would the salary be that much higher in Chicago to justify moving there??

I think the overall quality of life would be much better in Des Moines.

[Stevie]

Originally Posted by coffeebean

We are looking for a move, out of the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area. We want to live in a suburb of a "city" be it in Iowa or Illinois, or somewhere else??? Rural doesn't interest us.

We have 3 kids from 2-6 years old. At the moment we homeschool, and it would be nice to live in a community that has homeschool support. We like to go to local events, and want them more then once or twice a year. We are also in our late 20's, and would like to see some young(er) events for us. We enjoy concerts, dining out, coffee shops. We are relaxed, enjoy markets and organic food. Most of which is hard to come by in the Cedar Valley.

We also want a better market aka higher paying jobs.

If you have suggestions out of Iowa, I'd love to read them too. Otherwise in Iowa, what area would you recommend with the above information for our family. Our second choice would be Northern Illinois, in the suburbs of Chicago.

DH can transfer within Iowa to: Clive, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport,

I would suggest Ames. It only has 50,000 people (which is smaller than Waterloo/Cedar Falls) but it is a far better place to live than the Cedar Valley.

I can probably understand what you're going through. Waterloo is not a place that many people would want to live in. Its reputation is pretty well known to the rest of the state as "economically depressed" and not to mention a rise in "gang activity". Though I will give credit to Cedar Falls for having the UNI…but that’s it!

Ames is much closer to what you're looking for; great schools, plenty of culture/diversity and I would be pretty sure that ISU has higher paying jobs to offer. I've heard several magazines that have ranked Ames as one of the greatest places to live in the country. It is thriving (beat that, Waterloo) and has lots of young people. There are quite a few international students going to the university. It has a lot of computer engineering and stuff.

Concerts? Yes, we get lots of concerts at Hilton Coliseum (that's where I saw Aarosmith play).

Dining out? Yes, there are lots of great restaurants ranging from fancy to fast food (Hickory Park and King Buffet are my favorites).

Coffee shops? Well, I don't go to those much but I'm sure they have plenty of them in the downtown area and if not then try the campustown area.

And homeschooling? Wow, I was actually homeschooled myself! Coincidence… I even participated in a group of some sort where homeschooled kids participated in activities together. I forgot what it was called but it’s definitely a sign that Ames is a good homeschool supporting community.

Ames is what I would recommend but I noticed that Ames was not on your transfer list. The city from your transfer list that I would recommend is Des Moines (I’m a native myself). It’s a bigger city with a metro of about 522,000 and has plenty of things to do and pretty much everything you've listed. In fact the Des Moines metro grew by 54,000 between 2000 and 2006.

If Ames doesn’t have enough of what you’re looking for then you can live there and get an easy commute to Des Moines on I-35 (which is about 35-40 miles south of Ames). Or you can just live in Des Moines. It’s entirely up to you.

I’m not a huge expert on Ames (or Des Moines for that matter). These are just my experiences living here. But I hope they help.

Stevie

[Luke9686]

Also, if you chose to live in Ames the DH can still work in Clive or DSM. He will still probably have the same commute doing it that way if you chose Chicago. Ames to DSM would be open highway, suburban Chicago to Chicago would be bumper to bumper gridlock.

[coffeebean]

Stevie, we absolutely love Ames. DH and I both attended college there, and after starting a family, I got homesick for my own family, and moved back to Waterloo. It was supposed to be temporary... oldest is 6 years old, and there was no end in sight, so I'm getting the ball rolling.

You are right with the logic that in Chicago, commuting would be at least 30 minutes, and I35 is usually pretty good until you get into Des Moines with all the construction, still nothing to Chicago traffic.

I like that Ames is close to a bigger city, and still had all the amenities needed and FUN stuff to do! I'm bored out of my mind here in Waterloo, we take advantage of many things the city offers, sadly there just isn't a lot.

DH doesn't like the idea of moving to the western part of the state, because all of our family is in the north-east, and Chicago 'burbs. So it adds more commute to trips we take on a pretty regular basis - Chicago.

The reasons we never considered Ames before, is that when living there we weren't really in this phase of life, and I know next to nothing on what is offered there for families.

[Tek_Freek]

You are right with the logic that in Chicago, commuting would be at least 30 minutes, and I35 is usually pretty good until you get into Des Moines with all the construction, still nothing to Chicago traffic.

This is the LAST year! Yes!

[Stevie]

Iowa City would probably be a good choice too. You could live there and DH could work in Cedar Rapids. Iowa City has the university and, like ISU, I would think that it would have higher paying jobs. Iowa City would probably be a good homeschooling town. If Ames is then Iowa City should be too. Another good thing about Iowa City is that it is a spot on the map between Chicago and Waterloo (that is of course if you use the interstates) and you won't be too far from either relatives. As for the concerts, restaurants and coffee shops… I’m not so sure. I would assume they have those things. I really don't know a whole lot about the city but I'm always hearing good things.