Accurate builds a nice home and so does Gratias. There are lots of smaller builders that do great work also. Check out Breckenridge as well.
New Construction Homes
- Thread starter Clones85'
- Start date
It's very hard to generalize Des Moines. Everything from $2,000 trailers to a 5 million dollar house. I would say 5 years ago the average new house in the suburbs was 2,000 sqft and $240K and mostly pre-fab.
As far as finishing a basement, once again it varies. I had a home theater built in my basement for cheap because I used someone that did it part-time and I was willing to wait to save money.
Johnston
Population in July 2007: 15,261. Population change since 2000: +67.1%
Estimated median household income in 2007: $89,379 (it was $76,094 in 2000)
Estimated median house or condo value in 2007: $284,189 (it was $187,400 in 2000)
Mean prices in 2007: All housing units: $306,338; Detached houses: $323,557; Townhouses or other attached units: $189,755; In 2-unit structures: $251,342; In 3-to-4-unit structures: $128,994
DAMN! I just realized that I'm now over the median age.
Population in July 2007: 15,261. Population change since 2000: +67.1%
Males: 7,497
(49.1%)Females: 7,764
(50.9%)
Median resident age:
36.3 yearsIowa median age:
36.6 years
Median resident age:
Zip codes: 50131.
Estimated median household income in 2007: $89,379 (it was $76,094 in 2000)
Johnston:
$89,379Iowa:
$47,292
Estimated median house or condo value in 2007: $284,189 (it was $187,400 in 2000)
Johnston:
$284,189Iowa:
$117,900
Mean prices in 2007: All housing units: $306,338; Detached houses: $323,557; Townhouses or other attached units: $189,755; In 2-unit structures: $251,342; In 3-to-4-unit structures: $128,994
DAMN! I just realized that I'm now over the median age.
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This. Like I PM'ed. Grew up in Ankeny and love living in Johnston. Reminds me of Ankeny 25 years ago (Holy **** I'm old!)
My comment on Ankeny is relative to when the time comes to sell your house. Lots of competition. I don't think the Ankeny sprawl was planned out very well, either. What suburb has more trailer courts than Ankeny?
Zero good way to get to downtown from Johnston (lack of North to South "quickly" road). Have to go AROUND on the interstates to get anywhere. Hate it for that reason alone.
DSM is built better for living on the West or East vs the North & South.
I would like to see an alternative route(Possibly MLK) but when I come into the downtown it's an easy route from my house to 141 to 235. About 15 minutes from my garage to the parking garage.
It does seem goofy that I have to drive west to get east but it's faster for me than driving down 2nd avenue.
NW 66th Street to 6th Ave never seemed like a bad drive. 6th Ave has less traffic than 2nd Ave going DT.
Kimberley Dev has some new houses that have been sitting for awhile in Ankeny that you might get a deal on, most all are in really good locations/neighborhoods. Easy to get to Ames and downtown Des Moines from Ankeny. Ankeny has non-chain restaurants (Rookies, Chips, Ranallos, Mustards, Leaning Tower, Palmers, Bears, Yannis, Jade, Thai Flavor, some good Mexican, etc.) and plenty of chains too.
There isn't a straight shot downtown but it isn't that difficult to get downtown either. I don't work downtown anymore but when I did, I never had a problem and I lived just off of 86th ST
I live in Ankeny, as far as I know Ankeny has two trailer parks, and both are quite nice, very nice when compared to most. Not sure what you were trying to say, but to me Ankeny is quite nice, has great community areas, parks, restarants, retail, ect. When Prarie Trails is done it will have a nice entertainment district also. Ankeny is very comparable to Johnston, it is just bigger. Good luck on your house hunt.
I'm trying to say just what I said. I don't like the way Ankeny has been planned. Too many houses in the same price range, for example. BTW, there are more than 2 trailer parks in Ankeny. I can name 3 right off the top of my head, without thinking. And I'm not saying anything about trailer parks, just planning.
And talk about horrible road access. takes forever if you are on the N side of Ankeny to get out of Ankeny.
As with any small town that turns into a big town there are always growing pains. I belive they are adding a third Ankeny Exit to I-80 on the Nothr Side of town so that will help with getting out of town from the north side, and I am sure you are correct, but where is the third trailer park? The two I know of are both off Orlabor, where is the Third? It just seems to me that for some reason people pick on Ankeny, not sure why. I did not grow up in Ankeny, not in the State, just not sure why so many people pick on it. To me and My family it is a perfect place to live, is it perfect, no way , but name me one community that is.
I'd avoid Jerry's, sure the workers are all different but the way a company handles you if you back out or something is something you can watch out for and Jerry's has a bad rep with a lot of agents.
Kimberley is building our home in WDM, I know they have won best builder in Ankeny and have worked a lot with us as far as moving dates, making changes, etc.
Kimberley is building our home in WDM, I know they have won best builder in Ankeny and have worked a lot with us as far as moving dates, making changes, etc.
I wouldn't mind living in the western areas of johnston by 86th street interstate access, it's not that much more difficult than a lot of wdm, clive, urbandale.
I prefer wdm to ankeny, just because of the way it's set up. To much stuff on one street for shopping, a lot of the new development is north as has been pointed out and the access to the interstate isn't there yet. Once it's in, it'll be better. That said, I wouldn't mind living in some of the areas near oralabor road, you get pretty good access to everything, including saylorville.