Talk to me about property taxes in the Des Moines suburbs.

Farnsworth

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2006
16,931
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Des Moines, IA
Ankeny does suck, stay away if you don't like taxes. What's crappy is we are one street away from Carney which has way better taxes.
 

2forISU

Well-Known Member
Oct 8, 2008
6,090
2,041
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What are the best values? Clive address with Waukee schools? Johnston? Polk City with Ankeny schools? I’m having trouble finding anything online that’s actually up to date.
Best value? Just moving out of Columbus area saves you thousands. Plus, no RITA or city tax. I would curious COL vs the other cities you're looking at.

The suburbs of Columbus does have some of really good schools.
 

dmclone

Well-Known Member
Oct 20, 2006
20,792
4,920
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50131
Most of the suburbs are about the same, which is pretty high but doesn't seem so bad because Des Moines property taxes are obscene.

In Johnston(Urbandale, Waukee,etc) you'll pay about $6,200 on a $300k house.
In Des Moines, you'll pay about $7,100 on a $300k house.
In Chicago, Winnetka, you'll pay about $6,000 on a $300k house
In Omaha, you'll pay less than $2,500 on a $300k house
 

mkadl

Well-Known Member
Mar 17, 2006
1,872
632
113
Cornfield
What are the best values? Clive address with Waukee schools? Johnston? Polk City with Ankeny schools? I’m having trouble finding anything online that’s actually up to date.

Great question. That is a question non one asks, frequently. Your County Auditor would be able to provide every tax rate in every taxing district in your county. They might not like the question but open records requires them to answer. You are also asking too early. The numbers on the DOM website are almost a year old. The county Treasurers dont bill property taxes until August. The whole process is very complex. PM me if you have any questions about the numbers..
 

Yaz

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SuperFanatic T2
Jun 29, 2018
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One of several possibilities. We really have our pick of where to live now and want to get back closer to the family center and our whims change between KC, TC’s, and DSM every other day so I’m going granular at this point.
TC...Twin Cities? If so, traffic is TERRIBLE. I go up there for work and hate the 494 parking lot. I know someone that move from KC to TC, then back after a year due to the traffic. Food for thought.
 
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Cyched

CF Influencer
May 8, 2009
30,950
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Denver, CO
TC...Twin Cities? If so, traffic is TERRIBLE. I go up there for work and hate the 494 parking lot. I know someone that move from KC to TC, then back after a year due to the traffic. Food for thought.

One of the positives of living in DSM
 
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MuskieCy

Well-Known Member
Nov 4, 2006
3,254
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Most of the suburbs are about the same, which is pretty high but doesn't seem so bad because Des Moines property taxes are obscene.

In Johnston(Urbandale, Waukee,etc) you'll pay about $6,200 on a $300k house.
In Des Moines, you'll pay about $7,100 on a $300k house.
In Chicago, Winnetka, you'll pay about $6,000 on a $300k house
In Omaha, you'll pay less than $2,500 on a $300k house
Regarding Winnetka, you are about only about about 45% off, https://smartasset.com/taxes/illinois-property-tax-calculator#x0q9lFbeL0
 

BryceC

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Mar 23, 2006
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I think finding a good neighborhood is key no matter where you are. I am literally in walking distance of everywhere I want to go, especially now that I'm working from home.
 

TitanClone

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Dec 21, 2008
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One of several possibilities. We really have our pick of where to live now and want to get back closer to the family center and our whims change between KC, TC’s, and DSM every other day so I’m going granular at this point.
I live in KCMO proper, paid ~$1200 on my cheap $85K flipper last year.If moving to the KC area I believe the best option is to live on the MO side outside of KC proper (also work outside of KC) to avoid the 1% city income tax. Though schools tend to be better in Overland Park and Olathe. Lived in Minneapolis for a co-op in college, would not recommend. Great in the summer but the traffic and longer winter aren't attractive to me.
 

dmclone

Well-Known Member
Oct 20, 2006
20,792
4,920
113
50131
I googled "winnetka zip code" and 60043 was the first one that came up. I then plugged in a $300k house on your web page and it says $6,351. Maybe google doesn't know the correct zip codes for winnetka.

If I just go straight to your web site and type in Winnetka, IL, it comes back as $6,351.

Looks like the zip code and location that I put in, go to Cook county.
 

Trice

Well-Known Member
Apr 1, 2010
6,884
11,231
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A question related to property taxes...

If you do your own taxes you've noticed that for your Iowa filing you have to look up your school district's surtax rate and that adds a certain percentage to your tax obligation - depending on your district this can range from 0% up into the teens. I haven't done too close an analysis but many (not all) of the Des Moines metro schools are at 0%.

What is the purpose of this tax? Do school boards set it annually? I've always reasoned that whenever people talk about property taxes being higher in one area or another, they need to factor the school surtax rate in as well.
 

Cloned8

New Member
Mar 23, 2017
6
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54
I have lived and worked in Ankeny for 20+ years and will probably finish out my working career there. Great place to live and raise a family. My kids both love being Ankeny Hawks. Taxes are a little higher but you get what you pay for: great schools, great opportunity to be involved in school activities, clean neighborhoods, short drive to wherever you want to go. We are 20 minutes from ISU tailgating, 2 hours to CB/ Omaha, 2 hours from Cedar Falls area, 3 hours from KC & TC, and 5 from from Chicago.

The High Tressle Trail is a few blocks from our house and there are youth sports opportunities everywhere you look. I find the people who don't like the Ankeny Community are the ones who have trouble living up to the standards and looking up in the standings.
 

AgronAlum

Well-Known Member
Jul 12, 2014
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I have lived and worked in Ankeny for 20+ years and will probably finish out my working career there. Great place to live and raise a family. My kids both love being Ankeny Hawks. Taxes are a little higher but you get what you pay for: great schools, great opportunity to be involved in school activities, clean neighborhoods, short drive to wherever you want to go. We are 20 minutes from ISU tailgating, 2 hours to CB/ Omaha, 2 hours from Cedar Falls area, 3 hours from KC & TC, and 5 from from Chicago.

The High Tressle Trail is a few blocks from our house and there are youth sports opportunities everywhere you look. I find the people who don't like the Ankeny Community are the ones who have trouble living up to the standards and looking up in the standings.

We’ve only been here a few years but love most of it. Having two cheap and nice public pools, good schools, the sports complex, etc. They do a great job of keeping the public areas clean, even in the older neighborhoods. Our neighborhood is around 25 years old but last year they repainted the sign coming in and the landscaping around it just to keep things looking nice. Other than some of the decisions around traffic flow, the city really does a great job.

We are also a couple blocks from the tressle trail and use it pretty frequently for bike rides with the kids. The youth activities through the parks and rec are also really well managed and dirt cheap, relatively speaking. They get good participation as well. You can do anything from sports to things like youth cooking classes or STEM classes. My son had 10 or 12 weeks of basketball (one practice and one game every week) and it was like 40 bucks.
 
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CYdTracked

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2006
17,031
7,740
113
Grimes, IA
I love the Grimes community but property taxes are high here and I am not surprised to see that they ranked 50th in rate in that link above. Supposedly the property tax rate was lowered after they passed the local sales tax option last year but assessments not surprisingly went up and the city raised the water rate this year which caused a stir when the July bill came with the new rates and everyone's already expensive water bill had a noticeable increase.

Honestly though, you can probably buy a lot more house for less money in the DM area than you can many other areas in the country so prioritize what matters most to you and don't get too micro with the property tax factor. I like Grimes because even while it is growing it still has a bit of a small town feel to it with growing options of conveniences now. School district is good and its a quick drive up to Ames through Polk City and Slater for ISU games too.