Just as a heads up that if you move to the area, don't buy a Hubbell home. Just a recommendation
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- Thread starter SoapyCy
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Just as a heads up that if you move to the area, don't buy a Hubbell home. Just a recommendation
If you’re going the Catholic school route then your kids will go to Dowling for HS, which is in West Des Moines. Dowling doesn’t have busses (except for commuter busses between Dowling and a few of the Catholic churches about 20-30 minutes out).
There are several Catholic elementary/middle schools all around the metro. They serve different communities and have different areas of focus (one has Spanish immersion, one focuses on STEM, etc.). Most of them do not offer bussing, which is a big consideration.
In my opinion, if you’re going to do Catholic schools it’s more convenient to live closer to Dowling and send the kids to one of the Catholic elementaries that are close by. There’s one that’s quite close and a few others that are not too far away. Depending on your kids’ activities you’ll find yourself af Dowling for camps, clinics, and other school activities, even for middle schoolers.
There are several Catholic elementary/middle schools all around the metro. They serve different communities and have different areas of focus (one has Spanish immersion, one focuses on STEM, etc.). Most of them do not offer bussing, which is a big consideration.
In my opinion, if you’re going to do Catholic schools it’s more convenient to live closer to Dowling and send the kids to one of the Catholic elementaries that are close by. There’s one that’s quite close and a few others that are not too far away. Depending on your kids’ activities you’ll find yourself af Dowling for camps, clinics, and other school activities, even for middle schoolers.
I grew up in that area of WDM west of Western Hills Elementary and would definitely move back if it didn’t shove me another half hour from work. It’s a fantastic area to raise a family. That being said, I really enjoy my established part of Ankeny.
Maybe look at Norwalk, Indianola, Carlisle, Adel, Dallas Center, Bondurant, Polk City. Still not quite suburbs (maybe Norwalk and Bondurant are now??) , but still close enough to work in Des Moines.
Just as a heads up that if you move to the area, don't buy a Hubbell home. Just a recommendation
Out of curiosity, are there specific problems you have had? I am about 9 months into living in one, had some minor issues but nothing that the warranty period hasn't taken care off. To the OP, we recently moved to Johnston. Same type of situation, haven't regretted moving for second.
Ive lived in a Hubbell home in Johnston for 7 years now, no big complaints from me.
https://www.dmdiocese.org/catholic-schools/find-a-school-near-you
Living in Ankeny, Bondurant, Norwalk, Adel, Carlise, Dallas Center, Altoona probably isn't going to make a lot of sense with kids in Catholic schools.
If you truly want a neighborhood feel and being close to a Catholic school, Holy Trinity in Beaverdale is going to give you that feel.
St. Francis and Sacred Heart in WDM are not anywhere close to what you want.
As others have mentioned, once your kids get involved in activities in the catholic schools, everything revolves around Dowling. The closer you can get to Dowling the better.
Not me specifically but with past clients I have seen several. Nothing to the point of catastrophic I guess, but more of the fact there is a lot of cheap material used due to the large amount of cookie cutter homes they do with their volume. Things such as trim, cabinets etc having to be replaced within months of moving in. That could happen with others obviously as well but in my experience it was mostly Hubbell and just some stuff you wouldn't want or expect after buying a new home.
I will agree with a few earlier posts that i also love Cumming.
I disagree with your take on Sacred Heart. That is a pretty tight knit community. I do see where you are coming from to a certain degree since there are a lot f families that go to that school that don't necessarily live supper close to the school. However, those families are all in between activities and youth sports.
I think we can all agree on this.
We made the move from the Twin Cities to Des Moines a little over 3 years ago. Our oldest kid was getting close to starting school so wanted to make the move first.
We waited until I had a job lined up, my wife just had to make a phone call for hers so that didn't matter. I have also made a move before having a job lined up but that was before kids and was renting an apartment.
We ended up in Urbandale but was really just looking for something on the west side for a location close to our jobs. Any suburb would be good, just depends on how far you want to drive for work/school.
We waited until I had a job lined up, my wife just had to make a phone call for hers so that didn't matter. I have also made a move before having a job lined up but that was before kids and was renting an apartment.
We ended up in Urbandale but was really just looking for something on the west side for a location close to our jobs. Any suburb would be good, just depends on how far you want to drive for work/school.
Amazing how the major metro areas (and Des Moines in particular) are just sucking up all the population and economic activity in the state. Looks like OP is living in Marshalltown, which is not exactly a small town by Iowa standards, too, compared to many others.
Urbanization is striking everywhere.
Urbanization is striking everywhere.
I moved back to the midwest after being gone for about 15 years.
Maybe my perspective changed in that time, but so many midwest towns I used to travel through are completely dead. It's very very odd to see
I moved to Boston for about 1.5 years (2011 and 2012, had a lot of fun at the football game in Hartford the fall after I left) and then down to Washington, DC.
I come back a few times a year, either for games, family, and I used to have a sales territory that covers Iowa and most of its immediate neighbors, so there was a lot of driving up and down the various Interstates and state highways and seeing it all.
There seems to be a population of viability -- if you are below it, you begin a downward spiral, and if you are above it, you can hold on and grow. Not much in the middle.
That line seems to be increasing over time, too. Unless you are one of those big cities or can convert into a bedroom community for the same, you are basically screwed.
I grew up in NW IA and this is 100% accurate. My home town relied on the farming community to support it and as the family farms went away the much needed commerce dried up. As a kid it was a very well kept town but now the only reason people live there is because of cheap housing and it's a 10-15 minute drive to various manufacturing and meat processing facilities. There is no sense of community pride left and it's amazing the number of houses that are literally falling apart. It's actually pretty sad when I look back to what town was like as a kid.
But then you will have to change your username! Is the move worth the groveling you'll have to do to CDub to get a new username?
