My wife and I are planning a move back to the Des Moines area next summer. We have been browsing real estate listings for a few months now and one thing we are trying to pin down are towns/areas that we should be focusing on.
What are some of the best towns to live in around the Des Moines metro? What are some of the ones to avoid?
Here is our criteria:
1) We are old house lovers. So, we are looking for a home from 1900-1930. We are not interested in a new development or new house. Living in town (in a smaller town) or in the country is fine by us.
2) Needs to be within about a 45 minute drive (max) from West DSM/Urbandale, which is where extended family is.
3) Size of the town is not as critical. However, we are looking for a town that is healthy/vibrant. A town that holds events within itself or with neighboring towns would be nice. We love DSM, but don't want to have to drive into the metro anytime we want to do something fun. Fairs, festivals, etc in said small town would be preferred.
4) I will be working from home so no need to focus location on place of work. Proximity to the airport would be a plus, though.
5) We have kids that are just entering school age. While we don't need to have them in the best schools possible, we would like to be aware of any towns/areas that have notoriously bad schools. We are both products of the Iowa public school system, so that's where our kids will attend.
Winterset and Indianola are the two we've identified so far. What others should we be looking at?
