Having lived in the Boston metro for 4 years, I agree. In terms of traffic, on a scale of 1 - 100, Kalona being a 1 and NYC being 100, DSM is about a 5. Boston is about a 30. With that being said, land is cheap here compared to Boston, so why not stretch out with a big lot and easier drive?
Clearly someone has never been caught up in Kalona's horse and buggy traffic on sale barn Monday...
The houses we are looking at are around $375 to $525k right now. It seems like being around WDM makes the most sense in terms of being close to the job and plenty of good school districts. But I guess I’ll be 3 days in and 2 days remote so like I said it probably won’t be that big of a deal for the commute and also my wife will probably be working at one of the unity point hospitals in Des Moines so her commute is probably more important since she would be driving more.
My drive to the UP hospitals isn't too bad from cumming. Just jump on the interstate. Traffic isn't bad for me. But I'm driving in at 7am.
SOG and NOG have their appeal, especially if you have ample means. Personally, I do not like older homes and I think many people living in them have a false sense of superiority. I would rather pay X in suburb for a new or newer home, than 2X living in an older home. But, it would be closest to working downtown, and it does offer a lot more diversity. For those in quad cities, a close analog to Roosevelt would be Davenport Central.
Sounds like you're headed west, but fwiw, I know doctors and other health professionals who live in Ankeny who work at Methodist. But, I know others who live out west. Good luck to you!
Just wait, new signals are popping up all over town. I live in the NE quadrant and several have gone on Delaware or Trilein in the past year or so.
Good luck to you on your search as the inventory will play a big role in where you search. If you want a mature neighborhood, look around the Grand Ave area of DM and WDM. If you want new and schools with smaller class rooms for your children, then Van Meter might be a fit as well as anything west and south of 80 as there is a lot of development going on in that area.
30 years ago it was the unincorporated fart that came out of Ankeny’s butthole.
Wanted to follow up with this post. We are closing on a home end of May and we chose a neighborhood in Adel. Biggest selling point was the school district and the smaller town feel but being 10 mins away from everything in Waukee, 17 mins away from Jordan Creek, then 30 mins away from downtown Des Moines. Also our $$ went a lot further in the Adel area for a lot and house compared to everywhere else in the western suburbs.
It might be even more Republican than Pella! Lots of good folks in Adel, though.
Only political thing I looked at was shit with the school and it looks like the city voted to build a new highschool south of town. Sign me up
There’s s a lot of competition there with Waukee and Dallas Center/Grimes districts…all solid schools. Plus, Van Meter… all close enough to DSM to demand strong curriculum and hiring competent staffs.
I was gonna say river valley is an underrated course in the area. We had our wedding reception in the clubhouse.
The second best course in town…. A distant second, too.
What's the best in your opinion? I like it, but I'd put it behind Legacy, Otter Creek, Waveland for sure. Probably Blank, Jester Park as well. Also have a soft spot for Toad. And that's just the public tracks. I've never played TCI but I assume that's nicer too. Or do you just mean second best in Adel?
In Adel…Hillcrest. And it is not without flaws. River Valley just is not my cup of tea. Nothing unique or sporting about the lay out. The last hole ruins a bad walk in the outdoors. One if my all time least favorites! And a lot of that is the last hole (green). CHICKENSHIT.
I memba' when they had the girls state championship there. I think they said the average was a 4 putt. I'm assuming they put it on the middle level right next to the drop off.
That’s just one of a million stories in “The Naked City”…
